ESPN and Major League Baseball appeared headed for an ugly separation after the network opted out of its rights deal in February.
Nine months later, it appears to be the best thing to happen to both parties.
ESPN has a reworked deal that includes out-of-market streaming rights while NBC and Netflix will air games as part of a new three-year media rights agreement announced by MLB on Wednesday.
“I think it’s really important that we manage to continue a relationship with ESPN. They’ve been kind of the bedrock of our broadcast program for a long time,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said.
NBC/Peacock will become the new home of “Sunday Night Baseball” and the Wild Card Series while Netflix will have the Home Run Derby and two additional games.
The three deals will average nearly $800 million per year. ESPN will still pay $550 million while the NBC deal is worth $200 million and Netflix $50 million.
How ESPN benefits
ESPN, which has carried baseball since 1990, loses postseason games and the Home Run Derby but gains something more valuable for its bottom line by becoming the rights holder for MLB.TV, which will be available on the ESPN app.
ESPN also gets the in-market streaming rights for the six teams whose games are produced by MLB: San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland, Minnesota and Seattle.
Even though ESPN no longer has “Sunday Night Baseball,” it will have 30 exclusive games, primarily on weeknights and in the summer months.
“We’re excited to have a midweek package back out there,” Manfred said. “This is an evolution of a relationship. Long relationships go through these things, and it’s an evolution that I think is significant. I think it is consonant with ESPN’s focus on streaming going forward.”
Baseball is the second league that has its out-of-market digital package available in the U.S. on ESPN’s platform. The NHL moved its package to ESPN in 2021.
Welcome back, NBC
NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and ’95 and then aired playoff games from 1996 through 2000.
Its first game will be on March 26 when the defending two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The 25 Sunday night games will air mostly on NBC with the rest on the new NBC Sports Network. All will stream on Peacock.
The first “Sunday Night Baseball” game on NBC will be April 12 with the next one in May after the NBA playoffs.
The addition of baseball games gives NBC a year-around night of sports on Sunday nights. It has had NFL games on Sunday night since 2006 and will debut an NBA Sunday night slate in February.
NBC will also have a prime-time game on Labor Day night.
The Sunday early-afternoon games also return to Peacock, which had them in 2022 and ’23. The early-afternoon games will lead into a studio Whip-Around Show before the Sunday night game.
NBC/Peacock will also do the Major League Futures game on the day before the Home Run Derby and coverage of the first round of the amateur draft on the Saturday heading into the All-Star break.
Netflix and baseball
Netflix's baseball deals are in alignment with its strategy of going for big events in a major sport. The streamer will have an NFL Christmas doubleheader this season for the second straight year.
Besides the Home Run Derby, Netflix will have the first game of the season on March 25 when three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees visit the San Francisco Giants. It also has the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game at Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13, when Minnesota faces Philadelphia. Netflix will stream a MLB special event game each year.
Don't forget the others
The negotiations around the other deals were complicated due to the fact that MLB was also trying not to slight two of its other rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year under deals which expire after the 2028 season.
Fox’s Saturday nights have been mainly sports the past couple years with a mix of baseball, college football, college basketball and motorsports.
Apple TV has had “Friday Night Baseball” since 2022.
The deals also set up Manfred for future negotiations. He would like to see MLB take a more national approach to its rights instead of a large percentage of its games being on regional sports networks.
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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.
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