After securing a groundbreaking deal that brings live major-league American sports to free ad-supported streaming, details regarding Roku's acquisition of Major League Baseball's Sunday Leadoff games package have begun to emerge.
According to The Athletic, Roku is only paying $10 million a season to stream the 18-game package on the Roku Channel.
Also read: Roku and MLB Make It Official, 'Sunday Leadoff' Is Coming to The Roku Channel
For its part, incumbent rights holder NBCUniversal reportedly paid around $30 million to stream Sunday Leadoff on Peacock the last two seasons. The Athletic also reported that NBCU offered the same $10 million to retain the package.
Citing an unidentified source, The Athletic also said the deal has an "opt-out" clause, although it's not clear as to whether that belongs to Roku or MLB.
The agreement is also described as being somewhat backloaded, with Roku paying $10 million this season, $8 million in 2025 and $12 million in 2026.
Sunday Leadoff debuted on Roku Channel on Sunday, with the Boston Red Sox beating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3.
