![]() ![]() This deal also comes with further playoff games for ESPN, at least potentially. In September, Turner Sports renewed its deal through ’28 at an average cost of $470M per year - a 65% increase. Fox signed an extension that also runs through ’28, worth an average of $730M per year - a 40% increase over Fox’ previous deal. It is likely that a digital media company will pick up those games.Įven with the lower rights fee from ESPN, MLB has found success with its rights renewals. ![]() MLB is currently shopping rights to those midweek games, with a source saying that an announcement is coming. ESPN will get less content with this deal, so its rights fee dropped - though its cost per game increased. That’s down from the current $700M annual average that ESPN is paying MLB. The seven-year deal is worth around $560M per year, sources said. As per John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, this new deal is for $560 million a year, a drop-off from the $700 million a year ESPN was paying previously, but that seems fine for MLB considering that they saw increases from Fox and Turner and that they now have a midweek package (the old ESPN games) to shop elsewhere:ĮSPN has renewed its MLB deal through the ’28 season, keeping exclusive rights to “Sunday Night Baseball,” but walking away from a weekday schedule where games ran side-by-side with local telecasts. The new deal will start in 2022 and run through 2028, and will feature 30 regular-season games on TV per year (down from around 90 under the previous deal), but all of those games will be exclusive (at least two-thirds of ESPN’s games under the previous deal were not exclusive, and were also carried on the participating teams’ regional sports networks). ESPN and MLB both announced details of that deal Thursday, with ESPN putting those out around parent corporation Disney’s earning call. As discussed in November and January, ESPN’s next MLB deal will indeed feature far less TV games and somewhat less money, and will focus on exclusivity. ![]()
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