Two Frontrunners Emerging to Acquire Some of ESPN's MLB Broadcast Rights

A shakeup appears imminent for baseball on television.

Detroit Tigers bench coach George Lombard talks with Tim Kurkjian of ESPN before game two of the Wildcard round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs against the Houston Astros. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

For 36 years, Major League Baseball has been a fixture on ESPN's airwaves—but it appears that partnership is coming to an end, and two new platforms are poised to capitalize.

Apple TV is a leading candidate among streamers to land an expanded MLB rights package when baseball's agreement with ESPN ends after this season, according to a Monday afternoon report from Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. NBC, per Karp, remains a leading player among traditional television networks.

"The league—like many other properties—is weighing the pros and cons of potentially fewer dollars from a legacy media company with more reach vs. more dollars from a digitally native platform with fewer eyeballs domestically," Karp wrote.

At stake is the fate of Sunday Night Baseball, an ESPN institution since 1990 and still the country's most reliable window into regular-season baseball; both Apple TV and NBC are reportedly players for the package.

Intriguingly, Karp suggested that any deal or deals composed of ESPN's constituent events would last three years. That would align MLB's entire national rights package for a potential windfall after the 2028 season.

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