A deal with its players remains elusive, but Major League Baseball has reportedly struck a lucrative contract extension with TBS.
MLB and Turner Sports have agreed on the “broad terms” of a media rights extension that will keep regular season and postseason games on TBS through 2028, Sports Business Journal reported Saturday. Under the deal, Turner would pay $470 million per year, up 40% from its current $325 million price tag. The New York Post first reported the agreement.
Per the Journal, TBS will continue to air one League Championship Series, two Division Series and a Wild Card Game each season, but its regular season inventory will shift from Sunday afternoons to weeknights.
The deal has not yet been formally signed according to the Journal, but ESPN and the New York Post reported Saturday that it is complete.
MLB previously reached an extension with Fox Sports through 2028. Negotiations with ESPN are ongoing.
Turner will have held national MLB rights for 21 years by the end of the deal, having first broadcast playoff games in 2007. Prior to acquiring a national package, TBS aired Braves games.
The TBS MLB deal is the second major rights agreement since the majority of sporting events were called off in March. The NFL awarded rights to its two new playoff games to CBS and NBC in March and extended its streaming deal with Amazon in April. On a lesser level, UConn reached a deal with CBS Sports in May to carry its home football games starting this season.
