ESPN will not renew its Major League Baseball broadcast rights agreement after the 2025 season. The network is focusing on its future streaming services. This decision, anticipated by many, was confirmed on Thursday by both ESPN and MLB, marking the end of a long-term partnership for national broadcasts.
ESPN has held these rights since the 1980s, using regular season and playoff games to strengthen its cable presence. However, in recent years, ESPN has scaled back its baseball programming, including reducing its studio show, “Baseball Tonight.” ESPN's move away from MLB coincides with the launch of its standalone streaming service later this year. The network has been carefully reviewing its sports rights portfolio due to broader cost-cutting measures at Disney. Last summer, ESPN extended its NBA rights deal for 11 years, while restructuring or dropping other contracts.
“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans,” the company stated. “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.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, in a memo to team owners, explained the separation as necessary for the league to maximize its media rights value. “We do not think it’s beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform,” Manfred wrote. “In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going into our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.”
Manfred noted that MLB is in talks with various broadcasters, without revealing specifics. The league has explored new distribution strategies due to changes in the sports media landscape, including taking over local broadcasts from regional sports networks that have ceased operations or reorganized. ESPN’s MLB coverage has been a significant part of the sport’s national presence for decades, particularly its exclusive “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasts. While the network will continue airing games until 2025, the absence of ESPN as a national broadcaster could significantly alter how fans access MLB games. This decision also illustrates broader shifts in sports media as leagues and networks adapt to decreasing cable subscriptions and increasing demand for streaming.