MLB strikes new three-year media deals with ESPN, NBC and Netflix

3 hours ago7 min read1 comments

Major League Baseball just dropped a massive news bomb that’s going to change how you watch your favorite team, announcing a fresh set of three-year distribution deals with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and, in a curveball move, Netflix. This isn't just some boring corporate shuffle; it's the league finally getting with the times and trying to solve the nightmare of finding your local team's game without a cable subscription that costs as much as a month's rent.The whole package is valued at a cool $800 million per year, and the breakdown is straight out of a fantasy sports draft. ESPN is the big spender here, dropping around $550 million annually to basically become the digital hub for out-of-market games with MLB.TV, plus they get a 30-game national package and exclusive rights to the Little League Classic, Memorial Day games, and the second-half opener—think of them as the star quarterback of this media lineup. Then you've got NBC stepping up to the plate, with its sports network NBCSN and streaming service Peacock, snagging all the Sunday night games that used to be ESPN's territory, along with wild card playoff games, for about $200 million a year.But the real head-turner is Netflix, the streaming giant that's been dipping its toes into live sports, now landing the Home Run Derby for roughly $50 million a year. Yeah, the same Netflix you binge-watch shows on is now in the sports biz, following their earlier deal for the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Japan.This whole reshuffle was forced after ESPN and MLB mutually agreed to end their 35-year run after this season, which sounds like a polite breakup but probably had a lot of behind-the-scenes drama. It gave MLB a chance to get ahead of the game, especially with local rights mostly locked until 2028, but the national talks opened the door for earlier renegotiations.Commissioner Rob Manfred has been pushing hard to nationalize local rights under one streaming roof, a smart move as regional sports networks, which have carried most local games, are looking shakier than a rookie in the playoffs. Remember last November when Amazon cut a deal to distribute games from those struggling RSNs through Prime Video? That was part of a bigger play to help Diamond Sports Group, now Main Street Sports, crawl out of bankruptcy.Meanwhile, Fox and Fox Sports 1 aren't going anywhere, keeping their grip on the All-Star Game, regular season games, the World Series, and the LCS and Division Series, while TBS holds onto Tuesday nights and more playoff action, and Apple TV sticks with its 'Friday Night Baseball' doubleheaders. The timing couldn't be better, as MLB is riding a ratings high—over 24 million people tuned into this year's seven-game World Series in the U.S. and Canada, the best finale since 2016, thanks to rule changes that made games faster and more fun to watch.In the bigger picture, this media free-for-all is like the playoffs for TV networks, giving them a shot at a lucrative sports contract in a market that's more competitive than a pennant race. And it's not just about baseball; this sets the stage for the next big showdown, likely when the NFL decides to opt-out of its current deals, possibly as early as 2029, with Commissioner Roger Goodell already hinting that talks could start sooner. So, grab your popcorn, because how you watch sports is changing faster than a fastball, and MLB is right in the thick of it.

#featured

#MLB

#media rights

#streaming

#ESPN

#Netflix

#NBC

#broadcast deals

Stay Informed. Act Smarter.

Get weekly highlights, major headlines, and expert insights — then put your knowledge to work in our live prediction markets.