REPORT: ESPN Opts Out Of Their Broadcast Deal With Major Sports League In Shocking Move
2025 will mark the end of an era for ESPN and Major League Baseball, as their decades-long partnership is coming to an end.
According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the Worldwide Leader in Sports and MLB mutually agreed to terminate their broadcasting contract after the 2025 season. Their deal was set to run through the 2028 campaign.
Per Drellich, ESPN and MLB had until March 1 to decide on potentially opting out of the last three years of their agreement. Both sides agreed to end the deal, with Drellich adding that the league was set to get an estimated $550 million annually from the network:
“A March 1 deadline loomed for both parties to opt out of the final three years of a contract that otherwise would have run through 2028. The broadcaster informed the league of its decision to opt out on Thursday morning, according to two people briefed on ESPN’s thinking. The league, in turn, then proceeded to say it too would opt out.
The network was due to pay the league an estimated $550 million each of the next three years, which it deemed way above the current market value, according to people briefed on the network’s thinking.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred lit into the Worldwide Leader in Sports in a letter that Drellich shared. Here’s what the letter read, in part:
“Over the past several months, ESPN has approached us with a desire to reduce the amount they pay for MLB content over the remainder of the term. Publicly and privately ESPN has pointed to lower rights fees paid by Apple and Roku in their deals with MLB. We believe arguments based on the Apple and Roku deals are inapt and we have rejected ESPN’s aggressive effort to reduce rights fees for several reasons.
“Furthermore, we have not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage...
Based on the foregoing, we and ESPN have mutually agreed to terminate our agreement. While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform, particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think its beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform.”
To clarify, ESPN will continue its ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ and wild-card round broadcasts through the end of 2025. The Worldwide Leader in Sports has aired Major League games since 1990.
ESPN still has broadcast contracts with the three other “big four” North American professional sports leagues, the NFL, NBA and NHL. Last summer, the network and the NBA agreed to an 11-year extension on their broadcast deal that runs through 2036.
The network’s coverage of the NHL ended after the 2003-04 season, but they regained the rights in 2021-22 after NBC lost its coverage.
Another Significant Change At ESPN
The Worldwide Leader in Sports has undergone a plethora of changes over the past few years. Less than four years after resuming their broadcasting rights with the NHL, the network has decided to end a 35-year partnership with MLB.
This stunning decision comes two years after the network cut a plethora of big-named talents in budget cuts. That list included Suzy Kolber, Jeff Van Gundy, Jalen Rose, Matt Hasselbeck, Steve Young and Max Kellerman.
