Major League Baseball (MLB) has seen a steady rise in ratings and a resurgence in popularity, and now some major new media players want to cash in.
According to Yahoo, Apple TV+ is ending its business with MLB, and Netflix is ready to swoop in and pick up the Home Run Derby, along with several other major changes.
While no deal has yet been made official, an agreement that would give Netflix the Home Run Derby and sell MLB TV to ESPN is being described as “all but certain.”
Apple’s deal with MLB runs through 2028, so a major part of the reported deal may still not come to fruition. However, if Apple is truly out, then NBC and Peacock would claim Friday Night Baseball, in addition to Sunday night games and postseason games.
ESPN opted out of its media deal with MLB following the conclusion of the 2025 season. However, both ESPN and MLB are in talks on an extension.
“We’re having very detailed conversations with a number of parties, including ESPN,” Manfred said, according to Sports Business Journal. “We hope to have it resolved in the next couple of weeks. It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle, but we will have it resolved in the next few weeks.”
Breaking their deal will necessitate some negotiations on the part of Apple, given the company’s seven-year agreement with MLB that they signed in 2022.
As for Netflix, acquiring the Home Run Derby adds to the network’s increasing footprint in live sports programming. In recent years, Netflix has featured Christmas NFL games as well as WWE’s Raw and celebrity boxing events.
ESPN’s acquisition of MLB TV coincides with its acquisition of NFL Network, which, along with ESPN’s existing ownership of NBA broadcasting rights, gives the network a commanding ownership of the media entities of the nation’s two most popular sports and the broadcasting rights to the third most popular league.
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