The mutual opt-out between ESPN and MLB ending their decades long relationship sent a shockwave through the sports media universe. And now it seems that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred realizes that it’s not what is best for business.
ESPN and MLB decided to go their separate ways earlier this year. ESPN was looking to re-negotiate a far friendlier rights fee while Manfred went public over his dissatisfaction with the network’s treatment of baseball.
While there seems to be plenty of suitors on the open market, Manfred wishes he was not in this predicament. In comments this week at the league’s owners’ meetings published by The Athletic, the commissioner signaled some regret over the opt-out with ESPN.
“Look, we agreed to the opt-out as part of a set of compromises that got us to the deal we had,” Manfred said at MLB headquarters, where the league was hosting owners’ meetings. “We liked the deal we had. You know, looking backwards, do I wish I wasn’t in a position to sell three years, so we can line our rights up to 2028? The answer to that is yes.”
Part of the reason why Rob Manfred may be having regrets is that Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN is having a great season in ratings and viewership. The most recent Dodgers-Yankees game was the highest rated edition of the marquee regular season package in seven years. And so far this season, SNB is putting up its best ratings numbers since 2017.
But the other factor as Manfred states is that it breaks up MLB’s rights windows and the new deal that is being shopped isn’t a long-term investment, it’s more of a test drive. As he states, he is going to sell the ESPN package to a new network only through 2028 when the Fox and TBS deals expire so that all of MLB’s rights will hit the open market at the same time.
MLB’s short term deals with Apple and Roku may have gone some way in devaluing their overall rights portfolio. With this being a short term investment, it may be harder for MLB to get what they truly want and feel that they deserve for just three years. And whatever price they are able to get now is going to help set the market for when all of the packages are up for bid three years from now.
As for where the ESPN package may go, Manfred hinted that at least some of it could end up on broadcast television as he talked about the power of reach.
“I would overweight reach, because reach is significant to … the larger negotiation we’ll have for the post-’28 period,” Manfred said of his approach to the ESPN rights. “We continue to believe that reach drives our live business, and the combination of those two things, at least for that short period of time, I would definitely overweight reach.”
When Adam Silver negotiated the new NBA TV deals, he increased the number of games on national television with NBC but was also able to link up with a streamer thanks to Amazon. This both/and approach seems like it’s the blueprint for the next decade, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a current partner like Fox pick up some morsels like the Home Run Derby while a streamer like Apple (who is reportedly the clubhouse leader) gets the bulk of the ESPN package.
One place we probably won’t see MLB? ESPN. There have not been any reported talks between the two sides since the opt-out earlier this year.