Major League Baseball could split ESPN’s expiring rights package into three separate agreements, according to the latest reporting.
The current ESPN MLB rights package that includes Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and MLB Wild Card Series may be divided into three parts, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Wednesday, with NBC believed to be a “contender” for the Sunday games and Fox a “potential favorite” for the Derby. Per Marchand, no contender has emerged as of yet for the Wild Card Series.
ESPN, which opted out of its MLB deal last month, remains interested in reaching a new deal. Network president Jimmy Pitaro told Marchand that if MLB is “interested in re-engaging with us when the time is right, we’ll be ready to have that conversation. … If folks on that side are interested in re-engaging, we’re always going to listen.”
After ESPN opted out, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred informed team owners in a memo deriding ESPN as a “shrinking platform” that provided insufficient coverage of the sport. Pitaro told Marchand that while Manfred’s comments “were not flattering,” he would not take it personally. Pitaro: “We’re grown-ups. We’re unemotional. You kind of grin and bear it and you move on from that.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, ESPN wanted to renegotiate its MLB deal down to $200 million/year, less than half of the nearly $600 million it currently pays. By splitting the rights among three different partners, it seems fairly likely that MLB would be able to comfortably exceed that figure, though it may not be able to avoid a haircut from its current deal.
While the Home Run Derby would be a relatively simple addition for FOX, which already carries the MLB All-Star Game, shifting Sunday Night Baseball to Comcast would be a significant change. To begin with, NBC has Sunday night commitments during the NFL and NBA seasons that would result in its broadcast network carrying games only in the months of June, July and August. It is likely that in any deal, Sunday night games the rest of the season would be exclusive to Peacock.
Peacock previously carried exclusive Sunday MLB games for two seasons in 2022 and 2023, but Comcast was reportedly unwilling to renew its $30 million/year deal and instead sought a reduction to $10 million.
