Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani (17) throws a pitch during the MLB game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 16, 2025 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA.
Brian Rothmuller | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
Major League Baseball officially announced a new three-year media rights agreement with NBC, Netflix and ESPN on Wednesday, foreshadowing the league’s more significant TV deal to come in 2028.
The new deal stems from ESPN’s decision to opt out of its “Sunday Night Baseball” package earlier this year. ESPN struck a new deal with MLB, acquiring the rights to MLB.TV and a midweek game package. NBC Sports will take over the Sunday Night games, and Netflix will be the new home for the next three Home Run Derbies. All the deals begin with the 2026 season.
CNBC 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 marquee events,” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement.
The new deal foreshadows MLB’s quest to raise TV revenue at the end of the 2028 season, when it will get these rights back plus existing broadcast rights from Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
While it’s not an exact apples-to-apples comparison, MLB had to take a haircut of about $300 million per year relative to what ESPN had been paying before opting out earlier this year. NBC is paying about $200 million a year for its new package, and Netflix is paying about $50 million annually for the Derby, CNBC reported in August. The two packages, together, roughly make up what ESPN had been paying for.
Even so, MLB has a chance to expand its reach through the new and streaming-exclusive partners.
The average ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game averaged 1.8 million viewers this past season.
The loss in revenue for the Sunday Night package suggests MLB may have to get creative with the way it carves up new packages of games in 2028 to ensure it continues to grow media revenue. In aggregate, the league is now making more in overall media revenue, but it needed to sell ESPN rights and games it hadn’t previously offered. ESPN is paying about $550 million for its new package, CNBC reported in August.
The NBA nearly tripled its national media revenue in its most recent rights deal, and the NFL is so confident it can generate a huge increase on the deal it signed in 2021 that it’s open to accelerating talks with its current media partners as early as next year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC in September.
New deal details
ESPN’s new deal allows it 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 also will sell and distribute MLB Network and in-market games for select MLB teams via the ESPN app. Those teams are the Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies — franchises whose games have been produced and distributed by MLB after the collapse of regional sports networks that carried those teams.
NBC will now have MLB, NBA and NFL on Sunday for its broadcast network, its new cable sports channel, and its Peacock streaming service. NBC will also carry MLB’s entire Wild Card round, ranging from eight to 12 games each season.Â
In addition to three years of the Home Run Derby, Netflix will own the rights to a singular game on Opening Night for the next three seasons. Netflix will also exclusively deliver all 47 games of the 2026 World Baseball Classic to its audience in Japan.Â
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
