Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred took a parting shot at ESPN while announcing the end of the media rights deal between MLB and ESPN at the end of the 2025 season.
In a letter to league owners obtained by The Athletic, Manfred explained the reasoning behind the parting of ways, citing “the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage.”
Aware of MLB’s discontent, ESPN offered to pay $550 million each of the next three years, which the sports network thought was above market value. However, with an opt-out clause upcoming on March 1st, both sides elected to end the partnership rather than rework a new deal.
“We do not think it’s beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform,” Manfred wrote to the owners. “In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.
“To that end, we have been in conversations with several interested parties around these rights over the past several months and expect to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks.”
Despite the decision to end the 35-year relationship, the two sides remain open to working on a new deal after the agreement expires.
“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,” Manfred wrote. “As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”
ESPN attempted to reduce the $550 million they pay MLB by citing what they believe are very favorable deals. For example, Apple pays $85 million annually for game rights, while Roku pays $10 million.
That reasoning did not compute with Manfred, who viewed MLB’s exclusive inventory for ESPN as far more valuable than what Apple and Roku receive.
“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,” Manfred explained. “In contrast, Apple and Roku have games that compete against a complete slate of other games broadcast in local markets.”
Fox could emerge as a potential landing spot for MLB if they cannot come to a new agreement with ESPN.
