ESPN executives discuss the WWE rights agreement; Rob Manfred reveals that MLB will not play games in London next season; and Rick Cordella discusses the reported deal for NBC Sports to air “Sunday Night Baseball” starting next season. Plus news about Tyrese Haliburton, the Tampa Bay Lightning, John Kuhn and “MLB Central.”
ESPN exec says viewers should expect “regular” WWE coverage
ESPN will treat the WWE “just like we cover other sports” and viewers should expect “regular coverage of WWE” going forward, ESPN+ SVP John Lasker said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. While ESPN shows have welcomed WWE talent and executives previously, the sides’ relationship is changing as the network prepares to begin a five-year media rights agreement with the company starting this weekend.
Lasker said ESPN views the WWE as being “infused in the bloodstream” of the network. “What evolves from there over five years? Like who knows? I’m excited to see what that becomes. Is that a studio show? Is that something else? We don’t know, but there’s not one launching tomorrow.”
While ESPN’s first WWE PLE this Saturday will air exclusively through the ESPN direct-to-consumer platform and requires either a standalone subscription or valid MVPD authentication to access, the company has a minimum threshold of WWE PLEs that it needs to simulcast on linear television as well.
“We’re still so early in all this that I think the most important aspect of the simulcast piece is, ‘How do we use our megaphone?’,” ESPN VP/programming and acquisitions Matt Kenny said Wednesday. “If you think about ESPN as a funnel, ‘How do we get as many people into the funnel as possible?’ Ultimately, that accrues benefit to the diehard WWE fan and then also expanding the audience and exposing more and more people to the WWE, which we want to do.’”
Manfred: MLB will not play in London next season
Major League Baseball has called off its planned London games next season due to scheduling issues at Olympic Stadium and a lack of availability on the Fox broadcast network. The matchups between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays were slated to occur on June 13-14, but the timeframe did not give the West Ham facility enough time to convert its surface from soccer to baseball following the Premier League finale on May 24.
On top of that, Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reported that Fox did not have enough broadcast slots for the games if they were to be moved later in June. Fox is the U.S. rightsholder for the FIFA World Cup 2026, which takes place across North America from June 11 to July 19. The company continues to showcase MLB games under its existing seven-year rights contract with the league reportedly worth $728.6 million/year.
“We think London is an important jumping off point for us,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during an interview at the Front Office Sports Tuned In Summit on Tuesday. “We have a facility that has come a long way since the first Yankee-Red Sox game. It’s a much better ballpark now than it was due to their willingness to make investments in it. We continue to believe that there’s an opportunity there and that we can get at the developed economies in Europe through that London entrée.
Manfred is hoping to continue the expansion of MLB in Europe, and he mentioned how India and Mexico can provide opportunities as well. Manfred: “I think we have worked very hard to develop better relationships with the Mexican professional leagues. We think we can ultimately build those relationships in a way that they look like Japan and Korea. The domestic professional league thrives, but we have enough players coming to the U.S. to play that it drives our business here in the U.S.”
Cordella: ‘Being in business with baseball is fantastic’
NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said at the Front Office Sports Tuned In Summit on Tuesday that “being in business with baseball is fantastic,” marking the first confirmation from NBC that it is poised to acquire an MLB rights package. Cordella: “Having a great game of the week with fantastic production and storytelling, literally 50 weeks a year is what we’ll have between the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA, that’s something that I don’t think has ever happened before in broadcast TV history, so we’re pretty excited about that.”
At the same event Tuesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said that Major League Baseball has reached agreements “in principle” with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix on media rights deals. NBCUniversal would be airing “Sunday Night Baseball” under the proposed terms, giving NBC a year-round lineup of primetime football, basketball and baseball.
While NBCUniversal has ownership stakes of some regional sports networks that broadcast regional MLB games (Phillies, Mets, Giants, Athletics), the NBC broadcast network has aired only two MLB games since Game 6 of the ALCS in 2000. Those games were part of an NBC-produced Sunday morning MLB package that aired primarily on Peacock. The streamer is likely to be a significant player in the new MLB deals as well.
“The NBA launches this fall, and we expect that to have a boost of Peacock overall,” Cordella said. “Again, assuming baseball will launch this coming late-March, and that will have an increased impact. The legendary February with the Olympics and Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game will have an impact of Peacock growing.”
Plus: Tyrese Haliburton, Tampa Bay Lightning, John Kuhn, MLB Central
- Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton will take part in a pre-event show for WWE “WrestlePalooza” airing on ESPN2 this Friday at 3 PM ET. Haliburton will be on the airwaves for the show alongside ESPN New York host Peter Rosenberg, who has contributed to various WWE premium live events over the years.
- Tampa Bay Lightning regional live game broadcasts will now be available on WXPX-TV, which has subsequently been re-branded to “The Spot – Tampa Bay 66” by the E.W. Scripps Company. In addition, Lightning games will be available through a direct-to-consumer option accessible on the team app and contain the broadcast team of Dave Randorf, Brian Engblom and Gabby Shirley.
- Audacy-owned 105.7 The Fan in Milwaukee, Wisc. has announced a new weekday lineup that includes the addition of former Green Bay Packers fullback John Kuhn to middays. Kuhn had previously worked at iHeartMedia’s 97.3 The Game but was “relieved of his duties” last November.
- Robert Flores, Lauren Shehadi and Mark DeRosa will broadcast Thursday morning’s edition of “MLB Central” live at 10 AM ET from Citi Field in Flushing, N.Y. The broadcast will lead into the afternoon baseball game between the San Diego Padres and New York Mets.
