ESPN Going, Going, Gone (after this season)

[The Great Hambino]

https://www.reuters.com/sports/mlb-espn-opt-out-tv-deal-2026-28-seasons-2025-02-21/

"When someone says it's mutual, it never is.  But this was mutual."

- Michael Scott Rob Manfred

Can MLB find a better deal elsewhere?  Tough to say, although apparently a rival executive said it would've been "fiscally irresponsible" for ESPN not to opt out of the deal, so take that for whatever it's worth.

In any case, I'd bet we should prepare for more streaming, not less.

[nicksaviking]

It sucks, but honestly ESPN is a huge part of the current economic disparity. Until the mid 1990s, the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and Dodgers were just your average MLB team, despite the bigger markets. ESPN was showing games fairly evenly, until they decided that ditching every other team and promoting the hell out of every Red Sox/Yankees game was their biggest draw. Followed by broadcasting the other games more frequently based on the market size. 

I mean, I get it, they all want to maximize profit, but it just funneled more and more viewers to the big market teams which in turn funneled more and more money to them as opposed to the flyover country teams.

Not to say there aren't other factors in this growing problem, but ESPN certainly holds a seat at that table.

[Vanimal46]

ESPN’s coverage of the sport continued to get worse over the years. I still have nostalgia for Baseball Tonight in the early 2000s but those days are long gone. 

My hope is getting more games on over the air, easily accessible channels. Perhaps FOX expands their coverage to more than just 1 “Game of the Week”. Maybe CBS gets in on the action. ABC likely not since they’re also owned by Disney. 

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

ESPN’s coverage of the sport continued to get worse over the years. I still have nostalgia for Baseball Tonight in the early 2000s but those days are long gone. 

My hope is getting more games on over the air, easily accessible channels. Perhaps FOX expands their coverage to more than just 1 “Game of the Week”. Maybe CBS gets in on the action. ABC likely not since they’re also owned by Disney. 

I still think they need to figure out something with the major streamers. It seemed all football season long there was an icon/ad with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen on Amazon Prime's homepage promoting the upcoming games. MLB should want that too, even if it's a fraction of the time.

[ashbury]

E Football

S Football

P Football

N Football

The initials have stood for this for decades now.

[TheLeviathan]

I bet Apple is who sweeps in and buys up the rest.  

I also bet it won't be for $550M a season.

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I bet Apple is who sweeps in and buys up the rest.  

I also bet it won't be for $550M a season.

I'll be surprised if it's 425 mil a season.

[Trov]

This is a huge sign of how much money from broadcasting MLB will be losing over the years.  The players are demanding more money but the league is starting to pull in less money.  This will lead to another work stoppage sooner than later.