MLB Could Limit Playoff Viewers With Apple TV+ Deal: Report
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Major League Baseball is enjoying strong growth this year, though a major aspect of the near future is in doubt.
After ESPN announced it would be ending its partnership with MLB three years early, questions about how commissioner Rob Manfred would make up that revenue going forward have risen.
"Major League Baseball is off to its best start in years," according to Lucas Shaw and Hannah Miller of Bloomberg, who reported that ESPN, TBS and Fox are all enjoying double-digit viewership lifts this year, while game attendance hit a seven-year high in 2024. "And yet, the league is scrambling to find a buyer for a major TV package that includes 30 regular season games, the Home Run Derby, the Wild Card playoff round and up to 10 spring training games."
Without ESPN, MLB is left to scramble for a new partner to broadcast some of its most popular events, particularly the wild card playoff round. And it might have found that new partner in a broadcaster whose reach is not nearly as wide as ESPN's.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 11: Rob Manfred, Commissioner, Major League Baseball speaks onstage during the Growing the Game panel, at the Fortune Global Forum on November 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo...
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 11: Rob Manfred, Commissioner, Major League Baseball speaks onstage during the Growing the Game panel, at the Fortune Global Forum on November 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo byfor Fortune Media) More
Countess/Getty
"Major League Baseball is close to announcing a new TV deal for the package that ESPN opted out of from 2026-2028, and a source indicates that Apple TV+ is currently the highest bidder," per Boston Red Sox reporter Sean McAdam of MassLive. "Baseball is, like most sports, out to make a deal for the most revenue possible, but if MLB puts an entire round of its postseason on a streaming service with just 45 million subscribers, it deserves all the grief it's going to catch."
MLB and Apple TV+ recently partnered on a "Friday Night Baseball" package that gives the streamer exclusive rights to high-profile matchups each week. Those broadcasts can frustrate fans of the involved teams as they require a subscription to watch.
But as Manfred seeks a profitable replacement for ESPN, he seems likely to move the package to whichever partner makes the highest offer. Soon, that could mean some of baseball fans' favorite moments will require a new subscription.
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