Major League Baseball has locked in its new TV deals.
The league announced Wednesday afternoon it had struck three-year media-rights agreements with ESPN, NBC and Netflix that will run through the 2028 campaign. NBC and Peacock will officially become the home of Sunday Night Baseball and the wild-card round of the playoffs over the next three seasons. Netflix will get the Home Run Derby, the Field of Dreams game next season and a standalone Opening Day prime-time game.
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ESPN will get MLB.tv, which will give it the rights to all out-of-market games for teams and six in-market clubs. It’s unclear how ESPN will sell MLB.tv next season, but it is expected to be priced at $150 a year — which is the same that subscribers paid when the service was under the league’s control, according to The Athletic. ESPN will also get 30 weeknight games during the season, too.
The new deal is a direct result of ESPN opting out of the final three seasons of its deal with MLB earlier this season. ESPN was due to pay about $1.65 billion before the deal was restructured. They will still pay that amount over the next three seasons.
According to The Athletic, NBC is expected to pay MLB nearly $200 million a year. Netflix will pay $50 million a season. Netflix’s Opening Day game will feature the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. The Field of Dreams game in Iowa will feature the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins. NBC’s first standalone game will be the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.
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ESPN, according to The Athletic, will have the ability to add more in-market rights to clubs if they become available over the next three seasons. It currently has in-market rights for the Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Seattle Mariners, Twins and Diamondbacks.
“Our new media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix provide us with a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment, and marquee events,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
“Following our last World Series game that averaged more than 51 million viewers globally, these partnerships build on MLB’s growing momentum that includes generational stars setting new standards for excellence, new rules which have improved the game on the field, and increases in important fan engagement metrics like viewership, attendance, participation and social media consumption.
“We’re looking forward to tapping into the unique areas of expertise that ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix each bring to the sport for the benefit of our fans.”
Fox will continue to air regular-season games, the All-Star Game and several playoff games — including the World Series. AppleTV+ will get two games each Friday night throughout the regular season, too.
