ESPN AND MLB MUTUALLY AGREE TO DROP OUT OF FINAL 3 YEARS OF THEIR DEAL || What Does This Mean For Baseball?
Edition #221
I didn’t expect myself to be talking about the MLB so soon, but here we are.
Whenever I think of Sunday Night Baseball, I can only imagine sitting on the couch and basking in some amazing Mookie Betts plays, massive home runs, and amazing commentating and reporting. I remember submitting a question to Mookie one time, and unfortunately, I didn’t get an answer, but it was still a fun experience regardless.
So, to think, that ESPN won’t be showing Sunday Night Baseball anymore, gives me chills. All those amazing memories… gone.
ESPN doesn’t just mean Sunday Night Baseball, though. It also means the Home Run Derby, the wild-card postseason series, and 10 Spring Training Games.
The last few years though, and especially since the new contract began, ESPN has been walking away from baseball.
This is 35 years of history, and while some may have predicted this move happening, especially because ESPN already cut down the game they were showing to 30 from 90, it’s still shocking that they would pull away in 2025, but reasonable.
The sides agreed to a seven-year deal in 2021 that averaged $550 million per season. Apple pays $85 million per season for a Friday night package. Roku's deal for Sunday afternoon games is worth $10 million per year.
Woah… that’s a huge uptick.
Besides, ESPN isn’t doing much to promote baseball anyway. Baseball Tonight was the only thing they were doing, and they weren’t talking about baseball much in their multi-sport shows.
I can’t say that this isn’t ESPN’s fault, because it is sort of is. Baseball is experiencing a revival in America and beginning to get light in all other parts of the world. The MLB wanted more money than they were already getting from ESPN, and that’s more than $550 million. Not just expensive. Very expensive, especially for a network not even interested in baseball anymore.
But, more than this, it is obviously Robert Manfred’s fault. Or as the public like to call him, Roberth Manfraud. You know, because he’s a fraud for humans. You’re already getting 550 million. You have absolutely no right to say this.
"Unfortunately in recent years, we have seen ESPN scale back their baseball coverage and investment in a way that is not consistent with the sport's appeal or performance on their platform," MLB said in a statement. "Given that MLB provides strong viewership, valuable demographics, and the exclusive right to cover unique events like the Home Run Derby, ESPN's demand to reduce rights fees is simply unacceptable. As a result, we have mutually agreed to terminate our agreement."
Okay, wait wait wait. When anyone thinks of sports programming, they don’t think of Amazon Prime Video (more on that in a second). They think of ESPN. ESPN is the pinnacle for sports writing, broadcasting, video, and more. While ESPN doesn't average as many views as their FOX games, they average more than Apple TV, MLB Network Games, MLB on TBS games, and most MLB studio shows combined every time they have a game. So, it’s not like nobody’s watching the game.
Does the MLB provide strong viewership? It’s gradually increasing. Valuable demographics? Sure. The MLB Home Run Derby averaged the lowest views since 2014, with 5.45 million combined with ESPN2. It’s an exclusive event. Doesn’t seem like it with views though.
ESPN’s demand to reduce rights fees is not wrong. It’s 30 games plus a postseason game and a homerun derby game and if the postseason game is $400 million worth, then I’m sorry, but you’re getting a deal with no one. I’m not going to say it should be worth under 450 million, but it isn’t worth more than that.
Then again, this is the MLB you’re talking about, a league with Manfred in charge, a league that is slowly but surely losing all its providers, and a league that consistently tries to take a weirdly different path that almost never works.
But forget all of this. What happened, has happened. We common people can’t do anything to stop a millionaire commissioner who everyone calls a fraud. Instead, what we can do is chart out the future.
What we’re hearing right now is that Manfred is keen on exploring streaming options, and he already says there is a huge interest in taking ESPN’s place. The question is really going to be, are any of these tech giants in the streaming land, willing to offer the same amount or even more than what ESPN was offering?
We don’t know.
Remember what I said about how Netflix is going to Revolutionize the Sports Industry? This could play into things here. Now obviously, Netflix hasn’t streamed a pro baseball game yet, but they were very successful in streaming the NFL Christmas Day games, and things could become even more lucrative for the network if they acquire what I call the next generation of baseball.
Then you also have Amazon Prime Video, who are currently the leaders in taking ESPN’s spot. They have a lot of experience in streaming sports already and have signed a huge contract with the NBA. HUGE.
I don’t really know what I should call this for the MLB. A plus or a minus? That’s for you to decide in the comments section. From what I know right now, here’s what I think.
It’s most likely goodbye to Bally Sports next or next to next year.
The MLB is going to sign a shorter deal with ESPN giving them a few games a season because the ESPN chairman loves baseball.
The Dodgers are too smart… I know that has nothing to do with this topic because this is national TV stuff, but signing that contract has benefitted them so much.
As always, thanks for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it. I promise I’ll get on a basketball article soon. Most likely going to focus on that as Spring Training rolls on. Also, the Sports Summit is beginning soon, and I’m super excited for it. All you should know is we’re going to be breaking a Substack record in this one.
