SI

Where We Stand With MLB’s Broadcast Deals

Let’s sort out how baseball television will look for the next several years.

Jimmy Traina

Where and how you watch Major League Baseball will be different in 2026.
Where and how you watch Major League Baseball will be different in 2026. / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

1. There is a TON of speculation out there about Major League Baseball’s broadcast future. There have been “reports” and leaks and confusion.

I’ll try to sum up where we stand.

The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported on Thursday that ESPN and MLB have the framework for a deal that will give the Worldwide Leader 30 exclusive regular-season games. These games will air during the week. There will be no more Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.

In addition, ESPN will replace MLB.tv and have the rights to sell all of MLB’s out-of-market games.

I’ve already received a ton of questions about this, but I don’t have any answers yet. The deal is not even officially done. So there is no information available yet on pricing or whether ESPN will use the MLB.tv technology. All we know is that ESPN will be using the out-of-market package to beef up its new direct-to-consumer product.

Will you have to pay $29.99 for the ESPN product and then another $149.99 (the price of MLB.tv in 2025) for out-of-market MLB games? Nobody knows yet, so sit tight.

With Sunday Night Baseball moving off ESPN, it appears NBC will be picking up that package, which would give NBC a year-round sports night on Sundays with the NFL, NBA and MLB. The MLB deal with NBC would also see games airing on Peacock.

The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint reports that NBC and Peacock would get the rights to “some” postseason baseball. That could mean MLB may have a deal with another partner to air the rest of the postseason games. Or it could just mean NBC and Peacock will air the entire wild-card round. We don’t know yet.

All of the new MLB deals will be for three years. That just so happens to be how long Fox and TNT have on their current television deals. Meaning, in 2028, baseball’s rights to not only the regular season and postseason, but also the World Series will be up for grabs.

As for 2026 to ’28, it’s sure sounding like if you’re a big baseball fan, you will need access to Fox, FS1, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, TNT and possibly one other outlet.

2. When the NFL season begins in less than two weeks, get ready for a barrage of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The league has decided to crack down on violent and sexually suggestive celebrations, which is just so silly and stupid. But they don’t call it the No Fun League for nothing.

We just hope Detroit’s Jameson Williams can handle this new rule.

3. The salaries of the top analysts in the NFL are out there, but if you’ve ever wondered what some of the folks on lower crews make, here’s something for you. Jay Feely, who was part of CBS’s lowest-ranked crew and called the worst game on paper each week, was reportedly making $220,000 per year.

4. The Yankees embarrassed themselves in a 6–3 loss at home to the Red Sox on Thursday on what was George Costanza Bobblehead Night.

The only saving grace as a Yankee fan and Seinfeld die-hard is that we at least got a great New York Post backpage today.

New York Post
New York Post

5. Today is Bill Parcells’s 84th birthday, so I need to post what is a top 10, maybe even a top five, all-time sports quote.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast is half “Traina Thoughts” and half mailbag, with WFAN’s Sal Licata joining me for the entire show.

Topics discussed include the onslaught of sports docuseries, ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer app and its best feature, preseason NFL magazines and the perils of MLB betting.

In the mailbag segment, we tackle questions about the possibility of a woman becoming a full-time NFL game analyst, UFC leaving ESPN for Paramount, Howard Stern’s future on SiriusXM, ESPN buying MLB.tv, ESPN’s plan for its direct-to-consumer product, Russell Wilson vs. Jaxson Dart, the pinnacle of HBO’s Hard Knocks, Cris Collinsworth’s future with NBC, MLB realignment, my aversion to flying and whether Sal has called 911 recently.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since we mentioned the George Costanza Bobblehead Night, here’s Jason Alexander on his favorite Seinfeld line.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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