2028 is the year where MLB commissioner Rob Manfred would like to reorganize the entire structure of the league’s local media rights deals.
Manfred’s goal is to coalesce enough MLB clubs to sell a package of local media rights to a tech company like Amazon or Google. The proposed system would, in theory, end blackouts and simplify the experience for fans, creating a one-stop-shop for local MLB broadcasts and eliminating the need for a pay TV subscription.
For small and medium-market teams, the arrangement is a no-brainer. These teams will likely attract larger fees from a nationalized local rights deal than they would from declining regional sports networks, many of which have already slashed local rights payments just to stay solvent.
For large-market teams, however, the decision to align with Manfred’s grand plan is much more difficult. Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees have highly lucrative local rights deals already, and would likely need financial incentive to ditch their current arrangements to join onto a nationalized local rights deal. Of course, a bundle of local rights is only so attractive if it’s without MLB’s highest-drawing franchises.
But according to John Ourand of Puck, at least one big-market team seems to be on board with MLB’s local media rights plan. San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer told Ourand last week that the team is “very open” to bundling its local rights with other franchises to sell to a national streaming platform. Baer added that “most teams are very open” to the idea as well.
That’s an encouraging sign for Manfred, who will have a tough job when it comes to convincing teams like the Giants to get in line.
The Giants own about one-third of their regional sports network, NBC Sports Bay Area, which recently began making its games available to stream on Peacock.
There’s still a few years until Manfred will need firm commitments from teams, but the more ball clubs like the Giants that he can get on board, the more valuable the totality of the league’s local media rights package will become.