NBC Makes Offer For MLB Broadcasts Carried By ESPN - MLB Trade Rumors

In February, MLB and ESPN each triggered an opt-out clause in their broadcasting agreement for the 2026-28 seasons. That means that as things stand, this is ESPN’s final year carrying MLB games. The network carries an exclusive regular season game every Sunday night, the Home Run Derby, and the Wild Card round of the postseason.

Joe Flint and Jared Diamond of The Wall Street Journal report that NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, made MLB an offer this month for the package of games from which ESPN walked away. The length of the offer isn’t clear, nor are specifics on the rights fees. However, The Wall Street Journal reports that NBC’s offer was for “much less” than what ESPN currently pays. In February, Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported that ESPN would have owed $550MM annually for the 2026-28 seasons had it not opted out.

Obviously, ESPN determined that price was above market value when it opted out. The network said at the time that it was “open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.” Diamond and Isabella Simonetti of The Wall Street Journal reported in March that ESPN had indicated it was willing to pay a maximum of $200MM per season during renegotiations leading up to the opt-out date. MLB balked, and the sides agreed to terminate the contract after this season. NBC’s offer is evidently for well below $550MM per year. It’s unclear if it tops the $200MM annual sum which ESPN had floated.

Edited May 22, 20251 yr by rmc523

NBC is going to have year round sports on Sundays at this rate

13 minutes ago, Admin said:

NBC is going to have year round sports on Sundays at this rate

I'm OK with this. Hell I'm an extremely casual soccer "fan" but I'll turn on one of their EPL matches on a Sunday morning/afternoon if I'm bored

17 minutes ago, Admin said:

NBC is going to have year round sports on Sundays at this rate

It'd make it easier to find programming.

I hate having to search which networks games are on (mainly playoff rounds that swap networks on various days/series like the NHL, for example).