It appears MLB will enter the 2026 campaign as a free agent looking to land a new national television deal.
The Athletic's Evan Drellich reported Thursday that MLB and ESPN have "mutually agreed" to end their national television contract after the 2025 season.
In a letter obtained by The Athletic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred noted that the league has "not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage." However, a future deal between MLB and ESPN is not out of the question.
MLB opted out of the contract that was set to run through 2028. The full partnership, which includes ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and its wild-card round playoff coverage, will continue this season.
The sports network was looking for MLB to accept a lower rights fee instead of the $550 million average value in place. Drellich noted how ESPN was trying to get MLB to change the price as the market has changed. For instance, Apple is paying $85 million per year for baseball rights while Roku pays $10 million per season.
“Over the past several months, ESPN has approached us with a desire to reduce the amount they pay for MLB content over the remainder of the term,” Manfred wrote in the letter. “Publicly and privately ESPN has pointed to lower rights fees paid by Apple and Roku in their deals with MLB. We believe arguments based on the Apple and Roku deals are inapt and we have rejected ESPN’s aggressive effort to reduce rights fees for several reasons.
“First, the inventory involved in the Apple and Roku deals is very different from the ESPN inventory. The ESPN deal contains the only truly exclusive regular season windows on Sunday nights, the exclusive right to an entire round of playoffs, and the Home Run Derby, one of the most exciting events of the summer. In contrast, Apple and Roku have games that compete against a complete slate of other games broadcast in local markets.”
ESPN released a statement shortly after the news dropped.
"We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN's coverage super-serves fans. 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 audiences across linear, digital and social platforms. As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025."
ESPN statement on our decision to opt out pic.twitter.com/V8cABUQ8sc
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 20, 2025
ESPN and MLB have been partners since 1990. The seven-year deal that will be terminated was agreed upon in 2021.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as MLB, ESPN Agree to Drop National TV Contract Following 2025 Season.
