As ESPN and MLB find themselves in the “early stages” of renewed negotiations after the network’s decision to exit its current deal with the league following this season, viewership for Sunday Night Baseball continues a strong trend.
According to ESPN PR, Sunday’s game between the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers averaged 2 million viewers, up 66% from last year’s game between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. The game’s audience peaked at 2.3 million viewers.
Per Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, Sunday Night Baseball is now averaging 1.75 million viewers per telecast, up 11% versus this point last year. It is the largest audience the package has seen at this point in the season since 2017, though the 2017 season did not have the added benefit of Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing measurements.
Regardless, ESPN’s premier baseball package is off to a strong start in what appeared to be the network’s final season until recent reports indicated ESPN and MLB have reengaged in media rights talks. Those negotiations, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports, would focus on local rights as well as select pieces of ESPN’s current package. Sunday Night Baseball‘s recent success could provide some motivation for ESPN to retain that portion of the package.
However, ESPN is just one of many suitors for the open inventory. Apple TV+, NBC, and Fox have all reportedly expressed interest in parts of the package ESPN opted out of earlier this year.
MLB is unlikely to recoup the $550 million per year ESPN was originally paying for its baseball inventory, no matter how the league decides to slice and dice its rights. But this season’s ratings could provide at least a partial lift to an asset that apparently wasn’t attractive enough for ESPN to retain at its current price.