Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says the league will soon resolve the matter of ESPN’s expiring rights deal, though not in time for the league’s All-Star festivities.
Manfred told Sports Business Journal Monday that MLB has made “real progress” toward a new rights deal to replace ESPN’s expiring contract and that an agreement is coming “shortly,” though not by the All-Star Game as he previously hoped.
ESPN exercised the opt-out in its $550 million/year rights deal in February, prompting Manfred to pronounce the sides’ relationship as over after this season. In the months since, MLB has attracted interest from Apple, Comcast (NBC) and more for at least some portion of the rights, but by all accounts for far less than ESPN is currently paying.
Late last month, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported that MLB and ESPN had returned to the negotiating table.
According to SBJ, Manfred said Tuesday that MLB has yet to determine whether the ESPN package will be awarded to one company or split among multiple. Keep in mind the ESPN package consists not only of the linear domestic television properties — Sunday Night Baseball, the MLB Wild Card Series and Home Run Derby — but international and radio rights. The only bidder who would have use for the ESPN package in its entirety is presumably ESPN.
Manfred has previously said MLB was having “three different sets of conversations” about the rights, though it was not clear whether MLB intended to split the rights three ways or was deciding between three options.
However the negotiations shake out, the new deal will cover only what would have been the final three years of ESPN’s contract — 2026, 2027 and 2028 — after which all of baseball’s media rights will be available.