Here’s a Look at MLB’s New Media Rights Deals with ESPN, NBC, and Netflix

On Wednesday, Main League Baseball introduced a slew of nationwide media rights offers with ESPN, NBC Sports activities, and the streaming service Netflix.These new offers, which run from the 2026 to the 2028 seasons, stem from the rights offers ESPN forfeited earlier this yr with three years left to go, in addition to a content material deal beforehand held by Roku.Right here’s a have a look at the main points:ESPNIn addition to securing the rights to promote and distribute MLB.TV on the ESPN app, ESPN will now have a 30-game nationwide bundle with matchups airing on its linear networks and its direct-to-consumer streaming service. As well as, starting in 2026, it should have unique native in-market rights for six MLB groups: the Padres, Guardians, Mariners, Twins, Diamondbacks, and Rockies.For subscribers to the ESPN Limitless plan, the community will ship greater than 150 out-of-market MLB video games every season throughout a particular “sport of the day” schedule.ESPN stays the unique dwelling of the MLB Little League Basic and now provides Memorial Day baseball and second-half opener video games. Nonetheless, it should lose its Sunday Night time Baseball window, which it’s ceding to NBC Sports activities after a 35-year run.NBC SportsThe NBCUniversal-owned entity is rising its sports activities programming portfolio with the addition of this new media rights deal.With the inheritance of Sunday Night time Baseball, NBC Sports activities will even be the unique dwelling of MLB Sunday Leadoff, Opening Day, Labor Day primetime video games, and your entire postseason Wild Card Spherical, which can air throughout NBC, NBCSN, and Peacock.The addition of Sunday Night time Baseball to its schedule completes the loop of year-round dwell sports activities programming on Sunday night time, which additionally consists of Sunday Night time Soccer and Sunday Night time Basketball.Additionally, NBC and Peacock will solely current all 15 MLB video games on Sunday, July 5, 2026. The streaming service will stream a dwell Sunday afternoon whip-around present following MLB Sunday Leadoff, and dwell stream one out-of-market sport day by day. Lastly, regular-season and postseason Peacock-exclusive MLB video games will even be proven on NBCSN.NetflixThe streaming big will stream a number of dwell MLB occasions annually, together with kicking off the season with a singular sport on opening night time, the night earlier than a full slate of conventional Opening Day matchups. It should additionally air the T-Cellular Residence Run Derby, in addition to a further special-event sport annually, beginning with MLB at Discipline of Goals in 2026.This new rights announcement comes on the heels of MLB’s information that Netflix can be the league’s unique media rights companion in Japan for the 2026 World Baseball Basic.All in all, these three media offers are reportedly anticipated to herald round $1.3 billion in new income to the MLB. These newest agreements are separate from the prevailing offers the MLB has with Fox Sports activities and TNT Sports activities, that are set to run out in 2028.