MLB and ESPN Break Up Their Baseball Team Over Fees and Coverage

After tipping their pitches considerably in recent years, Major League Baseball and ESPN announced Thursday that they have “mutually agreed” to end their broadcast rights deal with three years left to go.

While MLB and the sports network have been paired in one form or another since 1990, their current deal was supposed to extend seven years into 2028 and pay the league $550 million a year. It will now end after the 2025 season after both sides faced a March 1 deadline to opt out of the contract. 

“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans,” ESPN said in a statement. “In making this decision, we applied the same discipline and fiscal responsibility that has built ESPN’s industry-leading live events portfolio as we continue to grow our audience across linear, digital, and social platforms.”

The network noted that it remains open to “exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”

How we got here

ESPN apparently balked at continuing its current agreement, especially over MLB’s other less lucrative deals. More recent MLB rights deals have Apple shelling out $85 million for Friday night games since 2022, and Roku pays $10 million a year for Sunday afternoon games. But the league took a bat to that argument.

“Given the strength of our product, we do not believe a reduction in fees is warranted,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday in a memo reported by The Athletic. 

ESPN’s current contract includes 30 regular-season games, mostly on Sunday nights, and the wild-card postseason series. ESPN also hosts All-Star weekend’s Home Run Derby and 10 spring training games.

The eight-year deal beforehand, from 2014 through 2021, aired up to 90 regular-season games and the “Baseball Tonight” news and highlights show, which ESPN dropped in 2017.

“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.”

MLB also has an annual $729 million deal with Fox and a $470 million yearly deal with Turner Sports. Those contracts run through the 2028 season.