Alyssa VanPelt, Staff Writer
ESPN, or the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, has had their TV agreement with Major League Baseball since 1989, but now that will most likely come to an end after the 2025 baseball season. The Major League Baseball commissioner, according to USA Today, Rob Manfred, announced the end of their agreement with ESPN in a memo.
In 2021, both the MLB and ESPN renewed their original agreement with a seven-year extension. In this agreement, in the USA Today article, “ESPN had the exclusive rights to 30 regular-season games and the entire MLB Wild Card Series, in addition to the Home Run Derby and the Opening Night telecast.” However, both parties would have the option to “terminate the final three years of the deal on or before March 1, 2025.”
Who’s idea was it to terminate the agreement? Well, it seems to be the MLB that initiated the termination. Rob Manfred was elected to be the 10th Commissioner of MLB on August 14, 2014. According to the official MLB website, “Since Manfred began as Commissioner, two labor agreements have continued MLB’s streak of uninterrupted play on the field since 1995, an unprecedented span of at least 31 consecutive regular seasons.” Manfred, according to MLB, has historically been one of the best Commissioners, so it is no surprise he would choose to honor the MLB by withdrawing from their ESPN contract. In a statement Manfred gave to USA Today, he said, “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,’ Manfred wrote in a memo to team owners Thursday. ‘Given the strength of our product, we do not believe a reduction in fees is warranted.” Additionally, the MLB is unhappy with the amount of coverage they receive from ESPN in the last several years outside of live coverage. Furthermore, in a Twitter post on February 20th from MLB Communications, or @MLB_PR, it states, “The positive energy around the sport has also led to significant interest from both traditional media companies and streaming series who would like to obtain the rights to MLB games. We will be exploring those opportunities for a new agreement, which would start in the 2026 season following the conclusion of ESPN’s agreement at the end of this year.”
ESPN also released a statement on February 20th on their choice to opt out. In this statement released by ESPN PR, it states, “We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans. In making this decision, we applied the same discipline and fiscal responsibility that has built ESPN’s industry-leading live events portfolio as we continue to grow our audience across linear, digital, and social platforms. As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”
Although ESPN alludes to having a “reunion” or still trying to engage with MLB fans, it is currently uncertain whether ESPN will be successful in that goal in the 2026 season. Manfred has made it very clear that he is in communication with several parties who are interested in receiving the rights to MLB.
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