When ESPN opted out of its contract with Major League Baseball in February, the network was hoping to get a reworked package at a lower cost while Commissioner Rob Manfred thought the sport could optimize its rights in the short term for Home Run Derby and Wild Card round.
In the end, both parties may get what they want.
According to people familiar with negotiations, ESPN is nearing a deal to distribute out-of-market games while NBC/Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV are in talks for regular-season packages, the Wild Card round and Home Run Derby.
All sides hope to have everything finalized by the end of the regular season next month, three people told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contracts have not been finalized or announced by either side.
The negotiations around the three-year deals is complicated due to the fact that MLB is also trying not to slight two of its other rights holders. MLB receives an average of $729 million from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports per year under deals which expire after the 2028 season.
While ESPN would be losing the playoffs and Home Run Derby, it would be gaining something it considers more valuable — the MLB.TV streaming package of out-of-market games as part of the direct-to-consumer service that launched on Thursday. ESPN would also sell the in-market rights to the five teams whose games are produced by MLB — San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland and Minnesota.
“We are engaged. We are having healthy conversations with them. Nothing to announce today, but we’re very interested in baseball in general,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said on Tuesday during a presentation about the network’s DTC service.
ESPN, which has carried MLB games since 1990, opted out of the final three years of a seve