The new MLB media rights deals have yet to be announced, but one of the more unique aspects has reportedly been finalized.
ESPN has finalized its acquisition of MLB.tv, John Ourand of Puck mentioned in his newsletter Monday. The digital out-of-market package is one of a select few properties exclusive to ESPN Unlimited that will not be available on YouTube TV as part of the sides’ recent carriage agreement, per Ourand.
The Ourand report would seem to be the first confirmation that any aspect of the ESPN rights deal — which consists of a wholly new slate of rights than the company currently owns — has been finalized.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said more than two months ago at the Front Office Sports “Tuned In” conference that the league had reached agreements in principle with NBCUniversal, Netflix and ESPN on new rights deals to replace the expiring contract that ESPN opted out of in February. But there have yet to be any official announcements, and Manfred said at the time that there were issues that still needed to be resolved.
NBCUniversal has come closest to making it official, mentioning last week in a press release announcing the return of NBCSN that the cable channel will carry “dozens” of MLB regular season games and some postseason contests in a “soon-to-be-announced agreement.”
In addition, NBC Sports president Rick Cordella has openly discussed the role MLB will play in NBC’s year-round Sunday night sports line-up, including in an appearance on the Sports Media Watch Podcast. “It’s a very easy concept to understand that we’re going to have the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball — the three biggest professional sports in America — having the best players, the best matchups, great production on Sunday nights,” Cordella said last month.
Even Manfred confirmed has details of the agreements, telling MLB Network during the World Series that it was “important” for ESPN to stay involved with the game, that MLB being part of NBC’s year-round Sunday night sports lineup will be “really good for the game,” and that the league is “bringing in really a huge presence in the media space, Netflix, for some of our event-ized games.” Manfred: “It was a nice mix for us, all the way around.”
If anything was to hold up the official announcement, one would think it would be the ESPN agreement, which consists of properties that MLB has not previously sold to a national broadcaster. In addition to MLB.tv, ESPN is expected to acquire local rights to five MLB clubs and a more conventional slate of weeknight regular season games.
