Major League Baseball in recent years has made a significant effort to infuse more money by giving certain streaming services exclusive rights to games.
That was evident last season when the league reached a deal with Peacock to stream early-morning games on Sundays. However, that agreement appears to be coming to an end as MLB is in talks to make Roku the new home for Sunday morning games.
Aside from streaming, MLB has traditional television rights contracts with Fox and TNT. Fox’s broadcasts are highlighted by the World Series, while TBS, which is part of TNT Sports, has a league championship series.
ESPN also carries Sunday Night Baseball games, in addition to the Home Run Derby and select postseason matchups, but could reportedly opt out after the 2025 season, via Andrew Marchand of The Athletic:
The league is also staring at the possibility of ESPN opting out or threatening to opt-out to reduce the $550 million yearly deal it has for Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and first round playoff games. The Disney-owned network has the option in its current deal to exercise the opt-out after next season.
ESPN restructured its contract with MLB at the end of the 2020 season after decreasing the number of non-exclusive games it carried by more than half.
ESPN’s relationship with MLB dates back multiple decades and they would like to see that continue:
ESPN, like Amazon and potentially Apple, would like to be part of the solution for the failing regional sports model as MLB evolves its plans.
MLB is facing a dilemma with its regional sports network model as major cable provider Comcast has dropped Bally Sports, leaving 12 teams’ games unavailable on that service.
This could lead to MLB streaming more games as opposed to televising them. The league currently has deals with Apple TV+ and Amazon, and in the past, streamed games on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well.
Dodgers selected for 3 ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ broadcasts through June
The Dodgers were selected for three of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasts through June, and their next appearance is slated for June 9 when they face the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
It is likely that the network will pick up additional Dodgers games in the second half.
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