Twins TV Broadcast Being Shopped to ESPN, Peacock, AppleTV

[Vanimal46]

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/nbc-apple-espn-bid-sunday-night-baseball-package-rob-manfred.html

However, Manfred also revealed that the Sunday Night Baseball package could be split between two bidders. NBC, in particular, could be a sensible destination for the inventory during the summer to bridge its gap between the end of Sunday Night Basketball and the start of Sunday Night Football in the fall. ESPN could then, hypothetically, bookend the season with the package while NBC has NBA and NFL obligations. Last week, Sports Business Journal reported Apple is a front-runner for the package, so they shouldn’t be counted out either.

Perhaps even more notable, Manfred suggested that a potential ESPN deal could include the local broadcast rights for the five MLB clubs the league currently controls production and distribution for: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres. 

Any deal reached between MLB, ESPN, or others would only be short-term, ending in 2028 when the league can reorganize its entire suite of national media rights. MLB’s other primary national rights agreements with Fox and TNT Sports expire in 2028.

[TheLeviathan]

I hope this doesn't happen.  MLB needs to stop piecemealing their broadcasting by market.

It's the root of so many problems the league has.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Agreed the piecemealing needs to stop. I'm a bit surprised at this news, as everything I've seen up to this point indicated that MLB is trying to set up for a big swing in 2028. They're trying to convince as many teams as possible to sign through the 2027 season and no later, then work on selling the entire works as a bundle.

Which makes all the sense in the world, which is very un-MLB-like.

[Take it Lightly]

On 7/17/2025 at 1:12 PM, TheLeviathan said:

I hope this doesn't happen.  MLB needs to stop piecemealing their broadcasting by market.

It's the root of so many problems the league has.

It’s always been that way. In every sport. The league sells the rights to nationally televised games (Primetime games like Sunday Night Baseball, plus the playoffs). And then the teams get to sell the rights to their local broadcasts. It just didn’t seem like it, because Fox Sports used to own the rights to most of the league’s local broadcasts. 

[mac098]

On 7/17/2025 at 10:42 AM, Vanimal46 said:

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/nbc-apple-espn-bid-sunday-night-baseball-package-rob-manfred.html

However, Manfred also revealed that the Sunday Night Baseball package could be split between two bidders. NBC, in particular, could be a sensible destination for the inventory during the summer to bridge its gap between the end of Sunday Night Basketball and the start of Sunday Night Football in the fall. ESPN could then, hypothetically, bookend the season with the package while NBC has NBA and NFL obligations. Last week, Sports Business Journal reported Apple is a front-runner for the package, so they shouldn’t be counted out either.

Perhaps even more notable, Manfred suggested that a potential ESPN deal could include the local broadcast rights for the five MLB clubs the league currently controls production and distribution for: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres. 

Any deal reached between MLB, ESPN, or others would only be short-term, ending in 2028 when the league can reorganize its entire suite of national media rights. MLB’s other primary national rights agreements with Fox and TNT Sports expire in 2028.

The issue with ESPN tsking those over is that they're all "small" market teams. Now SD is a another story as they have made some moves and have some bright young superstars blossoming. Arizona has had some good runs in the past and they've shown they're willing to spend some money to upgrade they're team. 

 

Cleveland continues to succeed with homegrown taken but they don't take much in terms of free agents. Colorado is, well Colorado. And the Twins aren't a major hub for free agents. Yes we got Carlos Correa, but he tried 2 big teams but they didn't wanna pass him on their physical. So he defaulted back to Minnesota where he knew he could get a contract. We usually get 2nd choice free agents,  reclamation projects, or players who can't hack it in the pressure of NY or LA.