MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Targets 2025 to Launch New In-Market Baseball Streamer With No Blackouts
The commissioner painted an optimistic picture of blackout-free baseball, but the devil lies in the details with his plan.
Major League Baseball’s digital rights are a mess. The league’s in-market streaming rights are scattered; some are currently owned by the teams themselves, a few are owned by Diamond Sports Group (DSG) for distribution on Bally Sports+, and many of the largest teams have already invested in in-market streamers of their own, like NESN 360 for the Boston Red Sox and the YES App for the New York Yankees. Despite this state of affairs, The Athletic is reporting that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wants to launch an in-market streaming platform for his league by 2025.
- Manfred wants at least 14 teams for a new MLB streaming platform that will put an end to blackouts for the teams involved.
- It’s not yet clear if MLB will distribute the new streamer itself as it does with MLB.TV, or if it will turn to a partner like Apple or Amazon.
- Much of the plan depends on the resolution of Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Are MLB Blackouts Coming to an End?
There is a fantastic opportunity for the league to create a new streamer that will end in-market blackouts for teams who participate. Commissioner Manfred has been adamant about the issue of ending blackouts for some time, but he’s never been closer to making that dream a reality.
“Realistically, my target to having a digital package I can take to market would be for the ’25 season,” he told a group of reporters following an MLB owners meeting.
Still, the actual work involved in creating such a streamer will be intensive. It’s going to take a lot of effort to gather the digital rights needed to make such a service a reality, as Manfred believes a stable of at least 14 teams will be necessary to ensure it has a wide enough fanbase. It’s not yet clear if the commissioner envisions the league distributing such a platform itself as it does MLB.TV — which allows out-of-market fans to watch their favorite teams’ non-nationally broadcast games — or if it will package the rights for sale to an outlet like Amazon or Apple for distribution.
Why Diamond Sports Bankruptcy Case is So Important to MLB’s Future
If the league wants to get to at least 14 teams, it may be relying on the streaming rights currently owned by Diamond Sports Group for distribution on its Bally Sports+ streamer. DSG has the streaming rights to the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays, but judging by the tenor of relations between Diamond and the league since the company entered bankruptcy proceedings last March (and before) suggests that a cheery surrender of those five teams’ rights to MLB is not imminent.
Major League Baseball has not, as yet, finalized a new deal with Diamond for all 12 of the teams that are set to appear on Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) in 2024. The Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers are signed only through the 2024 season, making their rights available if commissioner Manfred can get his own streamer up and running by 2025.
If MLB agrees to a deal with Diamond similar to the ones struck between that company and the NBA and NHL, it might be able to get all of its broadcast and streaming rights back after the end of the 2024 season. But Amazon’s promise to invest $100 million in DSG to help it with its bankruptcy restructuring may have cooled Diamond to the idea that it has to make such a deal with MLB, as it may now believe it has a viable path forward after 2024.
As of now, it’s hard to imagine teams like the Yankees or Red Sox who have already established their own in-market streaming platforms will join with Manfred’s proposed service. These teams get to keep a larger portion of the revenues earned with their own streaming platforms, and owners may feel like they’re being forced to subsidize smaller clubs if they end up on a league-wide streamer.
Manfred’s goal of launching an in-market MLB streaming service by 2025 is an admirable one that will clearly benefit fans if it comes to pass. In-market blackouts are one of the most confounding things about trying to watch baseball on TV, but it will take a lot of legwork for the league to acquire enough teams’ digital rights to make the venture worthwhile.
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 their Multi-view feature.