As had been widely expected, ESPN has officially decided to opt out of its Major League Baseball rights deal after the 2025 season.
“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans. 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,” the Disney-owned sports operation said in a statement. “As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”
The split had been predicted given the downward trajectory of MLB ratings in recent years apart from October playoffs and the World Series. The move was first reported by The Athletic, which indicated the league was dissatisfied with the decreased presence for MLB on ESPN. The company, which used MLB games and studio shows as a major draw starting in the 1980s as it was beginning its rise to the top of the pay-TV heap, recently limited the number of games and marginalized studio show Baseball Tonight.
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ESPN is preparing for one of its biggest initiatives of its existence, the launch this fall of a stand-alone streaming version. Ahead of that debut, it has been looking to lock in certain rights, extending carriage of the NBA in an 11-year renewal signed last summer, and reconsidering others given the larger austerity efforts occurring companywide at Disney and other media companies.
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