Roku Emerges as Potential Landing Spot for MLB’s ‘Sunday Leadoff’ Package
According to Wall Street Journal reporter Joe Flint, The Roku Channel could serve as the new home of the package that lived on Peacock for the past two seasons.
The Roku Channel could be preparing to step up to the plate. The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint posted on X (the social media site formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday that free streaming platform Roku has emerged as a potential landing spot for Major League Baseball’s package of Sunday morning games that had been shown on NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Key Facts
- “Sunday Morning Leadoff” shows one MLB game on Sunday mornings during the MLB regular season.
- Peacock’s quest for greater profits likely led to its decision not to pursue the package in 2024.
- Roku already offers live Formula E races, but this would be its first live sports deal with one of the top major leagues in the U.S.
There are no agreements in place between Roku and MLB yet, and there’s a good chance that nothing comes of the streamer’s interest. But no outlet has acquired the rights to “MLB Sunday Morning Leadoff” so far, despite the fact that the 2024 season is nearly a month old already. Flint reports that Roku has “emerged as a suitor” for the package, which shows around 18-19 games per season.
Some baseball media news: Roku has emerged as a suitor for the Sunday morning streaming package of games known as “Sunday Leadoff.” NBCU’s Peacock had the package for last two seasons but their deal expired and as yet there is no new home for the small package of games.
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) April 23, 2024
Peacock has built quite a reputation as a sports streaming service, with weekly offerings of “Sunday Night Football” during NFL season, college football and basketball from the Big Ten, Notre Dame football, and much more available on the streamer. So it was a bit puzzling to see NBCU’s streamer let “MLB Sunday Morning Leadoff” rights walk out the door.
The streamer’s efforts to become profitable likely played a role in the decision to let this bundle of MLB games go. Peacock has been increasing revenues and cutting its losses, but it still ended the fourth quarter of 2023 with $825 million in the red. A streamer with revenue goals like Peacock’s has to trim the fat off its budget wherever it can, and it’s likely “MLB Sunday Morning Leadoff” was sacrificed in service of this goal.
One potential complicating factor in Roku’s pursuit of the “MLB Sunday Morning Leadoff” bundle is that its streaming app is not available on Apple TV devices. Viewers can use AirPlay to cast The Roku Channel to Apple TV boxes, but The Roku Channel app cannot be found there, and the fact that games won’t be available to this subset of customers may sour MLB officials on Roku.
What Other Sports Are Available on The Roku Channel?
If The Roku Channel did swing a deal to acquire rights to “MLB Sunday Morning Leadoff,” it would be the second major live sports deal in the free streamer’s history. In June 2023, Roku announced its first-ever live sports deal when it agreed to stream a package of Formula E auto races, which are also shown on CBS and Paramount+.
As a free streaming platform, The Roku Channel has to rely heavily on ad revenues in order to help fund its pursuits. That’s why executives at other free streaming services like Tubi have said the ad-supported streaming model isn't well-suited for live sports rights, but it’s highly unlikely that Roku would have to shell out billions of dollars to get this relatively small bundle of MLB games.
The league has much bigger streaming ambitions than just moving a small subset of games to The Roku Channel, however. In February, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred revealed he wanted to launch an in-market streaming platform featuring around half the teams in the league by 2025. There are lots of hurdles to be cleared before such a streamer can be created, but Manfred is determined to deliver more games to fans by any methods necessary, and streaming is the perfect medium for doing so.
The 2024 MLB season is well underway, and the league will have to act fast if it wants to sell the rights to “MLB Sunday Morning Leadoff.” Roku could be a tempting partner for the league, and its desperation to get the games showing somewhere may help it ignore the fact that The Roku Channel is not available on Apple TV devices.
Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is a free live TV streaming service that provides 350+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows. The library contains entertainment from several different decades, including some major hits.