Will MLB, ESPN renew their deal after all?
Will MLB, ESPN renew their deal after all?
According to reports, ESPN isn’t operating internally as if 2025 will be the last season it offers MLB games.
Many around the sports media industry were surprised that ESPN and MLB decided to mutually break up following the 2025 season. Both sides exercised their options to opt out of their existing broadcast deal in February, meaning the package of games currently shown on ESPN could be found on another channel next year. But according to a report from Sports Business Journal, people at ESPN aren’t exactly acting as if this year will be the last that the channel has live pro baseball games.
Key Details:
- One source close to ESPN told SBJ that it’s “business as usual” when it comes to MLB broadcasts.
- The channel believes there is “some optimism” that a new deal could be reached.
- MLB wants more money for its ESPN package, while the channel wants to get its hands on MLB local rights.
Although ESPN was the first party to opt out of the MLB contract, it sounds like people at the worldwide leader in sports are not necessarily convinced that the relationship between the two sides has ended for good. SBJ spoke to a source with knowledge of ESPN internal operations, who says that things are continuing essentially as they have in the past at the network.
“No one is packing it in,” the source said. “No one’s treating this like a lame duck year at all. It’s all business as usual.”
In 2025, ESPN will offer 30 regular-season games, the Home Run Derby, and games from the Wild Card round. The dispute between the two centers on MLB’s insistence that it be paid more for that package, while ESPN wants to get more content if it has to pay more money.
Other outlets, such as Netflix and Prime Video have reportedly had discussions with MLB about the available package now that it is hitting the market. However, SBJ’s source says that ESPN still thinks “there’s some optimism” about a deal to keep baseball on the network.
An MLB source says that the league will still need a raise in rights fee payments if ESPN wants to come back into the fold. ESPN has previously said that it wants to get more content if it’s going to pay more, and has had its eye on MLB local rights that can be distributed on its forthcoming streaming service Flagship.
The source close to ESPN told SBJ that seeing its staple “Sunday Night Baseball” on another outlet would be “like a ‘wow’ moment,” and that the Home Run Derby is a “pretty good property to have.” All of that sounds as if ESPN is trying to soften the ground for a renewed negotiation with MLB, and it seems more and more likely that the two sides could reunite in the near future.
ESPN Select
ESPN Select is a streaming service that replaced ESPN+ and provides access to live NHL, MLB, and MLS games, PGA Tour Golf, international sports events, ESPN original programming, and a complete archive of “30 for 30.” Find out our review of the service and how to start streaming ESPN Select.