MLB inks new $1.6 billion annual deal with NBC, ESPN and Netflix

ESPN and Major League Baseball appeared headed for an ugly separation after the network opted out of its rights deal in February.

Nine months later, it appears to be the best thing to happen to both parties.

ESPN has a reworked deal that includes out-of-market streaming rights while NBC and Netflix will air games as part of a new three-year media rights agreement announced by MLB on Wednesday.

NBC/Peacock will become the new home of “Sunday Night Baseball” and the Wild Card Series while Netflix will have the Home Run Derby and two additional games.

The three deals will average nearly $800 million per year. ESPN will still pay $550 million while the NBC deal is worth $200 million and Netflix $50 million.

ESPN, which has carried baseball since 1990, loses postseason games and the Home Run Derby but gains something more valuable for its bottom line by becoming the rights holder for MLB.TV, which will be available on the ESPN app.

ESPN also gets the in-market streaming rights for the six teams whose games are produced by MLB: San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland, Minnesota and Seattle.

Even though ESPN no longer has “Sunday Night Baseball,” it will have 30 exclusive games, primarily on weeknights and in the summer months.

NBC, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, has a long history with baseball, albeit not much recently. The network carried games from 1939 through 1989. It was part of the short-lived Baseball Network with ABC in 1994 and ’95 and then aired playoff games from 1996 through 2000.

Its first game will be on March 26 when the defending two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The 25 Sunday night games will air mostly on NBC with the rest on the new NBC Sports Network. All will stream on Peacock.

Netflix’s baseball deals are in alignment with its strategy of going for big events in a major sport. The streamer will have an NFL Christmas doubleheader this season for the second straight year.

Besides the Home Run Derby, Netflix will have the first game of the season on March 25 when three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees visit the San Francisco Giants. It also has the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game at Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13, when Minnesota faces Philadelphia. Netflix will stream a MLB special event game each year.


(AP Photo Julio Cortez)