Major League Baseball released a statement Thursday night announcing the mutual agreement to end its longstanding partnership with ESPN, which dates back more than 35 years.
The league stated Thursday recent rules changes and wave of talent across baseball have “generated increases in attendance, viewership, streaming, international growth and overall fan engagement,” and that MLB “will be exploring those opportunities for a new agreement which would start in the 2026 season following the conclusion of ESPN’s agreement at the end of this year.”
“Unfortunately in recent years, we have seen ESPN scale back their baseball coverage and investment in a way that is not consistent with the sport’s appeal or performance on their platform,” MLB stated.”
ESPN stated Thursday night it will “remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”
According to ESPN, “there was a March 1 deadline for MLB and ESPN to opt out of the final three years of their contract.”
ESPN currently broadcasts “30 regular-season games — mostly on Sunday night — and the wild-card postseason series” in addition to the Home Run Derby and 10 spring training games, according to the network.
Leave a Reply