Major League Baseball could put some of its most valuable inventory — out-of-market local rights — on the market.
Major League Baseball has discussed potentially selling exclusive rights to MLB.tv as part of upcoming media rights talks, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Wednesday. The out-of-market package is already available to purchase as an add-on through multiple third-party platforms, including Amazon, Sling and Fubo, but has always remained under the auspices of MLB.
The report Wednesday did not indicate whether MLB has begun talks with any specific contender for the package, but local MLB rights have long been coveted by Amazon and ESPN. It remains to be seen whether MLB would have any interest in negotiating any deal with ESPN, which opted out of its contract earlier this year — prompting commissioner Rob Manfred to pronounce the sides’ relationship over after this season.
Per Marchand, MLB could use MLB.tv rights to “goose” the rights fee for the expiring ESPN package, which the league hopes to sell to a broadcast and/or streaming partner. ESPN is currently paying a reported $550 million per year, and according to The Wall Street Journal wanted to reduce that to $200 million. One imagines that exclusive rights to MLB.tv could make up that difference.
It is not entirely clear how MLB will be able to maximize the value of MLB.tv in a short-term deal, especially given the league’s intent to overhaul its media strategy starting in 2028.
MLB would join the NFL and NHL in selling exclusive rights to its out-of-market package. NFL Sunday Ticket had long been the exclusive domain of DirecTV before the league sold rights to Google in 2022, and the NHL sold rights to its out-of-market package to ESPN as part of its 2021 rights deal. The NBA did not sell exclusive rights to NBA League Pass as part of its new media rights deal.
