ESPN to stop airing MLB games after 2025 season
ESPN to stop airing MLB games after 2025 season
Major League Baseball will invoke an opt-out clause that will end their current deal with ESPN.
ESPN and MLB have mutually agreed to end their current agreement, thus ending a partnership that began in 1990. The opt-out clause in the current contract allows ESPN to exit the current deal before the original 2028 end date. ESPN currently airs national MLB broadcasts, including exclusive games, full rights to an entire playoff round, and the Home Run Derby.
Key Details
- ESPN and MLB will end their current broadcast partnership after the 2025 season
- ESPN argued that their prices for broadcast rights were too high compared to other providers
- The current contract would have run through 2028
The current deal, valued at $550 million annually, had ESPN hosting numerous national MLB broadcasts, including exclusive Sunday night regular-season games, full rights to an entire playoff round, and the mid-season Home Run Derby. While other partners like Apple and Roku have their own agreements, none were as exclusive as ESPN’s previous deal. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed dissatisfaction with ESPN’s limited baseball coverage beyond live game broadcasts, while ESPN is refocusing its resources toward more profitable ventures, stating he has “not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage.” As a result, MLB is exploring new broadcast and streaming partnerships to enhance its media rights and reach a broader audience.
Based on the foregoing, we and ESPN have mutually agreed to terminate our agreement. While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform, particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think its beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.
Baseball fans will also feel the impact of this change, as they will have to turn to various other streaming services and platforms to access national broadcasts. With ESPN exiting the picture, viewers who relied on the network for consistent coverage must navigate potential new territory. Many regional sports networks now offer coverage via the MLB app and MLB.TV, and the availability of in-market games is getting broader, slowly narrowing the need for extended broadcast coverage on national networks. Existing MLB broadcast deals, such as Friday night games on Apple TV+, may not fully replace ESPN’s extensive coverage, leaving fans uncertain about where to watch their favorite teams. The situation will largely depend on where MLB secures new broadcast and streaming rights after the 2025 season.
MLB.TV
MLB.TV is the official streaming service of Major League Baseball. You can see every out-of-market game live or on-demand and choose home or away TV and radio feeds. The app allows fans to watch up to four games simultaneously on the same screen through its Multi-view feature. MLB.TV can be added to your Sling TV or Prime Video subscription.