The next Major League Baseball season will reportedly begin on Netflix.
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Thursday that Netflix has acquired rights to next season’s standalone Yankees-Giants Major League Baseball opener, marking the first MLB event to air on the streamer. It has been reported for months that Netflix is poised to acquire the Home Run Derby, but there had been little concrete indication that the company would acquire any actual games as part of its deal.
Not only will Netflix carry the Opening Night game next season, but it is also “expected to share” at least some portion of the MLB Special Event contests, such as the recent games from the Field of Dreams, Rickwood Field or Bristol Motor Speedway. Fox has owned rights to those special event games and may still air one, but per Marchand, “a handful” will air on Netflix and/or NBCUniversal.
Netflix and NBCUniversal are close to three-year deals to acquire the slate of rights ESPN opted out of earlier this season, which includes Opening Day, Sunday Night Baseball (NBCU), the Home Run Derby (Netflix) and Wild Card playoffs (NBCU). ESPN is poised to acquire an entirely new package of rights that would include a new night of exclusive games, MLB.tv, and local rights to five clubs.
It was not clear from Marchand’s report whether Netflix will air a standalone season opener every year or just next season. Next year marks the first time since 2015 that the baseball season has opened with a single game, marking a shift after the past five seasons opened with a full slate of games.
Netflix continues to beef up its live sports slate with a number of one-off events. MLB Opening Night joins the NFL on Christmas Day, occasional boxing cards, and the next two FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments.
MLB will be the only of the major leagues to begin its season on a direct-to-subscriber streaming service. The NFL season begins annually on NBC, and starting this season, the NBA season will as well. One might have thought that if MLB was to strike a deal with NBC, the MLB season would begin on the network as well. (Rounding out the “Big Four,” the NHL season begins annually on ESPN.)
