MLB announces new media rights deals for NBC, ESPN and Netflix

Major League Baseball officially announced a new three-year media rights agreement with NBC, Netflix and ESPN on Wednesday, foreshadowing an even more significant league television deal to come in 2028.

The new deal stems from ESPN’s decision to cancel its “Sunday Night Baseball” package earlier this year. ESPN has struck a new deal with MLB, acquiring the rights to MLB.TV and its midweek game package. NBC Sports will handle the Sunday Night games, and Netflix will be the new home for the next three Home Run Derbies. All deals start with the 2026 season.

CNBC had previously reported most of the details of the agreement in August.

“Our new media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix provide us with a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment and major events,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

The new deal heralds MLB’s push to increase television revenue at the end of the 2028 season, when it will regain those rights in addition to existing broadcast rights from Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Although it’s not an exact apples-to-apples comparison, MLB would have had to take in about $300 million more annually compared to what ESPN was paying before pulling out earlier this year. NBC is paying about $200 million a year for its new package, and Netflix is ​​paying about $50 million a year for the derby, CNBC reported in August. Together the two packages make up roughly what ESPN was paying for.

However, MLB has an opportunity to expand its reach through new and exclusive live streaming partners.

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball averaged 1.8 million viewers last season.

The loss in Sunday Night package revenue suggests that MLB may have to get creative in the way it segments new packages of games in 2028 to ensure it continues to increase media revenue. Overall, the league now generates more overall media revenue, but needs to sell the rights to ESPN and games it didn’t show before. CNBC reported in August that ESPN is paying about $550 million for its new package.

The NBA nearly tripled its national media revenue in its latest rights deal, and the NFL is so confident it can deliver a significant increase on the deal it signed in 2021 that it is open to accelerating talks with its current media partners as early as next year, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC in September.

ESPN’s new deal allows it to sell and distribute MLB.TV, the league’s out-of-market streaming service, through the ESPN app. ESPN will also receive a new 30-game midweek package of live games on ESPN’s linear networks and the ESPN app.

ESPN will also sell and distribute MLB Network and in-market games for select MLB teams via the ESPN app. These teams are the Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Colorado Rockies — clubs whose games were produced and distributed by Major League Baseball after the collapse of the regional sports networks that carried those teams.

NBC will now have MLB, NBA, and NFL Sundays for its own streaming network, its new sports channel, and the Peacock streaming service. NBC will also carry the entire MLB Wild Card Round, which ranges from eight to 12 games per season.

In addition to three years of Home Run Derby, Netflix will own the single-game rights to Opening Night for the next three seasons. Netflix will also deliver all games of the 2026 World Baseball Classic exclusively to its fans in Japan.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.