ESPN and Major League Baseball (MLB) separate each other at the end of the regular season of 2025, ending their partnership on media rights.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred explained the reasoning behind the end of the partnership in a letter to the owners of the League, according to The Athletic.
In the letter, Manfred noted that the league had “not been satisfied with the minimum coverage that MLB received on ESPN platforms in recent years outside the live game cover”.
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The Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Robert D. Manfred Jr., speaks during the recovery of the MLB 2024 presented by Nike to Cowtown Coliseum on Sunday July 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Daniel Shirey / MLB photos via Getty Images)
To this end, ESPN had to pay the League about $ 550 million in each of the next three years, which, according to him, was greater than the current market value, according to athletics.
With a deadline of March 1 for ESPN and MLB to withdraw from the last three years from the agreement, they both agreed to do so.
“We do not think that it is advantageous for us to accept a smaller agreement to stay on a narrowing platform,” wrote Manfred in the letter to the owners. “In order to position the best MLB position to optimize our rights through our next transaction cycle, we believe that it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our regular season matches Brand, Home Run Derby and Wild Card Playoff Round on a new diffusion and / or streaming platform.
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“To this end, we have been in conversations with several interested parties around these rights in recent months and we expect to have at least two potential options to consider in the coming weeks.”
ESPN will continue to broadcast its “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasting, the Jokers playoff matches and the rest of its partnership details with MLB are going through the 2025 season.
MLB has a partnership with ESPN since 1990, and due to the long -standing relationship, they are both ready to work on a new agreement.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, before the Fourth MLB 2024 World Series match between Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York on October 29, 2024. (Images of Brad Penner-Imagn)
“By making this decision, we have applied the same discipline and the same budgetary responsibility that built the live event portfolio of the ESPN industry while we continue to develop our audience on linear, digital and social platforms “wrote Manfred. “As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to the exploration of new ways to serve MLB fans on our platforms beyond 2025.”
ESPN would have proposed national and regional programming ideas for the MLB to be examined.
Manfred noted that the ESPN approached the MLB to reduce the annual total of $ 550 million, citing Apple paying $ 85 million a year for game rights, while Roku pays only $ 10 million.
Manfred’s argument for the MLB was “the inventory involved” for ESPN much larger compared to Apple and Roku.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks to the media during the media day of the Printemps League cacti in Arizona Biltmore on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 in Phoenix. (Daniel Shirey / MLB photos via Getty Images)
“The ESPN agreement contains the only really exclusive regular season windows on Sunday evening, the exclusive right to a series of playoffs, and the Home Run Derby, one of the most exciting events of the summer,” wrote Manfred. “On the other hand, Apple and Roku have games that compete with a full list of other games broadcast on the local markets.”
OVC MLB would associate itself, if a revised agreement with ESPN is not understood, remains to be seen.
