MLB Media-Rights Shakeup Overview: ESPN, NBCU, Netflix Ink Three-Year Deals
ESPN gets new 30-game package, MLB.TV; NBC extends Sunday nights; Netflix adds tentpole events
Story Highlights
Major League Baseball announced new three-year media-rights agreements with Netflix, ESPN, and NBCUniversal today, marking a new era for how the game is consumed by fans. The agreements will extend MLB and ESPN’s long-term relationship to 39 consecutive seasons, mark the return of MLB games on NBC for the first time in 26 years, and signal Netflix’s most significant expansion into the sport to date.
Meanwhile, the league’s existing deals with FOX Sports, TNT Sports, and Apple remain in place. According to The Athletic, MLB will receive almost $750 million per year in total over the next three seasons.
ESPN’s new MLB rights deal will dramatically reshape how fans watch baseball beginning in 2026, especially as it pertains to streaming. The multi-year deal adds a new 30-game national television package while making ESPN the exclusive home of MLB.TV and granting the broadcaster exclusive local in-market streaming rights for six MLB clubs. According to The Athletic, ESPN will pay the same $1.65 billion over three years for the newly created package as it did for the previous package it opted out of in February.
MLB returns to NBC Sports with a showcase package of exclusive games and events across NBC, NBCSN, and Peacock. The deal includes primetime’s Sunday Night Baseball, a Peacock-exclusive MLB Sunday Leadoff package of games, a Sunday-afternoon whip-around show on Peacock, an exclusive Opening Day primetime game (March 26, 2026), a new Labor Day primetime tradition, and the entire Wild Card round of the postseason. NBC/Peacock is expected to pay nearly $200 million per year, according to The Athletic.
For the first time, fans will be able to watch MLB games live on Netflix. Beginning in 2026, Netflix will livestream multiple MLB events each year, including a single game on Opening Night, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, and an additional special-event game each year, starting with MLB at Field of Dreams in 2026. Netflix will pay $50 million per season, according to The Athletic. As previously announced, Netflix will also deliver live coverage of all 47 games of the World Baseball Classic to its audience in Japan starting in 2026.
As for the league’s existing rights deals, FOX and FS1 will continue as the home of the World Series, LCS, LDS, All-Star Game, 2026 World Baseball Classic, and selected regular-season and special-event games. TBS will continue as the home of LCS and LDS games, plus regular-season games on Tuesday nights. Apple TV will continue to stream Friday Night Baseball doubleheaders throughout the regular season. And MLB Network will continue to air live games and its full slate of studio shows.
ESPN Gets 30 National Games on Linear, MLB.TV Exclusively on ESPN App
ESPN’s new deal features a broad range of national rights, plus local in-market and out-of-market rights. As part of the agreement, ESPN also becomes exclusive rightsholder of MLB.TV, making thousands of games available each season on the ESPN App, in addition to MLB platforms, in 2026.
Under the agreement, ESPN will integrate MLB.TV directly into the ESPN App, making thousands of out-of-market games available each season alongside ESPN’s other sports programming. Both new and existing MLB.TV subscribers will be able to access the service through the ESPN App and MLB’s digital platforms. The partnership marks the first time MLB.TV will be distributed through an external digital platform, signaling a major step in ESPN’s ongoing direct-to-consumer strategy.
The deal also expands ESPN’s reach into local markets. Beginning in 2026, Padres, Guardians, Mariners, Twins, Diamondbacks, and Rockies games will be available to purchase and stream on MLB platforms, reflecting MLB’s efforts to stabilize local-media rights in the wake of regional-sports-network disruptions.
ESPN will also deliver more than 150 out-of-market regular-season games every season across a special “game of the day” offering for subscribers to the ESPN Unlimited plan.
ESPN will produce a new, exclusive package of national regular-season MLB games each year for its linear networks and direct-to-consumer offering. The 30-game schedule will comprise primarily weeknight games, with a focus on the core summer months.
Other rights include:
- Fans with an MLB.TV subscription also have access to MLB Network and its 24/7 programming
- ESPN’s MLB studio rights for Baseball Tonight will continue
- Existing audio package continues as ESPN Radio remains the national audio home of the World Series, the full MLB Postseason, the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, weekly Saturday games and Sunday Night Baseball
- ESPN retains Spanish-language rights for its new, linear games package
- Rights for SportsCenter and additional ESPN studio-show presence at signature MLB events, including the World Series
- Rights in Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, Netherlands, and China
CLICK HERE for more details.
NBC Adds Sunday Night Baseball, Peacock-Exclusive Game, Wild Card Games, and More
NBCUniversal’s new MLB agreement is headlined by exclusive packages across NBC, NBCSN, and Peacock, including primetime’s Sunday Night Baseball, a Peacock-exclusive MLB Sunday Leadoff package of games, a Sunday-afternoon whip-around show, an exclusive Opening Day primetime game (March 26), a new Labor Day primetime tradition, and the entire Wild Card round of the postseason.
The Sunday Night Baseball package consists of 25 primetime games per year, a mixture of games on NBC/Peacock (in all available Sunday-night broadcast windows) and Peacock/NBCSN exclusives.
The deal also includes the entire Wild Card round, with 8-12 games each season on NBC, NBCSN, and Peacock.
MLB Sunday Leadoff will return with 18 games with late-morning starts — 17 Peacock/NBCSN exclusives, one Peacock/NBC simulcast — over the course of the season. The package debuted on Peacock for the 2022 and 2023 seasons and created a new and popular window of exclusive baseball action for fans nationwide.
Following each MLB Sunday Leadoff game, Peacock will stream an afternoon whip-around show with look-ins at all the live action around Major League Baseball.
A special Sunday, July 5 “Roadblock” will feature all 15 MLB games exclusively presented on Peacock and NBC, beginning with MLB Sunday Leadoff on NBC/Peacock, every afternoon game exclusively on Peacock, and Sunday Night Baseball on NBC/Peacock.
The agreement creates two new traditions: exclusive Opening Day and Labor Day primetime games. NBC and Peacock will be the exclusive home of the primetime game on the first full day of games (March 26, 2026, in the first year of the agreement). In a first for MLB, there will be an exclusive Labor Day primetime game on NBC/Peacock. No other game will be played at that time.
Other rights include:
- Regular-season and postseason Peacock-exclusive games on the new NBCSN cable sports network
- Spanish simulcasts on Telemundo Deportes and Universo
- Game 2,430 (the most consequential game on the final day of regular season) in 2027 and 2028
- One of MLB’s popular special-event games in 2027 and 2028
- Live coverage of the MLB Draft (July 11, 2026) on NBC, NBCSN, and Peacock
- The All-Star Futures Game (July 12, 2026) on NBC and Peacock
- MLB highlights, short-form content, and documentaries streaming on Peacock
- Rights to the aforementioned NBC and Peacock games for Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland
CLICK HERE for more details.
Netflix Lands Opening Night, Home Run Derby, Field of Dreams
Beginning in 2026, Netflix will livestream multiple MLB events each year, marking a major expansion into the sport. From 2026 to 2028, Netflix will kick off each MLB season with a single game on Opening Night, the evening prior to a full slate of traditional Opening Day matchups. Additionally, Netflix will air the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and an additional special-event game each year, starting with MLB at Field of Dreams in 2026.
MLB Network’s production team will produce Opening Night, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, and MLB at Field of Dreams in partnership with Netflix’s production team.
As previously announced, Netflix will also deliver live coverage of all 47 games of the World Baseball Classic to its audience in Japan starting in 2026.
CLICK HERE for more details.
