Major League Baseball and ESPN announced on Thursday that they have reached agreement on a seven-year broadcast extension through the 2028 season.
The deal is worth about $560 million per year, a drop from the current deal of $700 million, according to Sports Business Journal.
As part of the deal, ESPN kept the exclusive rights to “Sunday Night Baseball” but did not keep the weekday schedule. ESPN will have exclusive rights to 30 regular-season games, 25 of those being the Sunday night package.
“ESPN has been one of MLB’s longest and most important partners,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “This extension continues the evolution of our relationship with a focus on utilizing ESPN’s extensive assets to shine a spotlight on key matchups throughout the year. With reach across broadcast, cable, streaming, and social, ESPN is able to deliver MLB action to our broad fan base across multiple platforms.
“As the way in which fans consume baseball continues to change, this partnership provides expanded opportunities for fans to engage with our content and we are excited to present those new opportunities.”
ESPN also retains right to the Home Run Derby held in conjunction with the All-Star Game, an Opening Night game and the MLB Little League Classic.
ESPN has been televising MLB games since 1990.
MLB is shopping the rights to midweek games to other organizations, including digital media companies, Sports Business Journal reported.
As part of the agreement, ESPN reserved the right to broadcast games from a potentially expanded wild card round on its platforms. Baseball experimented with an expanded postseason in 2020 due to its coronavirus-shortened season, but the sport is back to a 10-team playoffs — for now — with individual wild-card games as opposed to wild-card series.
“ESPN’s longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball has been a driver of innovation for three decades,” said James Pitaro, ESPN chairman of sports content. “This agreement solidifies Baseball’s ubiquitous presence across ESPN platforms, including ESPN+. The impactful collection of exclusive content, including Sunday Night Baseball which has served as the signature MLB series for more than 30 years, will be amplified by the surrounding rights we have to make these live events even bigger. We thank Commissioner Manfred and the MLB ownership group for their partnership and commitment as we collectively uncover new ways to serve fans.”
It’s up to the players’ union to sign off on expanding the postseason on a permanent basis going forward.
ESPN recently acquired the NHL’s premier broadcast package for the next seven years, lured SEC football away from CBS and re-upped with the NFL.
–Field Level Media