Apple is apparently happy with the viewing results of its “Friday Night Baseball” Major League Baseball doubleheaders, as Apple TV+ is in the running for the rights to MLB’s “Sunday Night Baseball” rights.
In a recent interview with CNBC, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said there are three bidders for the “Sunday Night Baseball” package, Apple, ESPN, and NBC. ESPN had opted out of the package earlier this year, but has apparently changed its corporate mind. Manfred said he plans to choose a winner to award the rights to within the month and that they could be split up between two bidders.
ESPN had opted out of the package earlier this year, choosing not to pay an average of $550 million a year for the last three years of a rights package, so it’s a bit surprising that ESPN is back in the running. Particularly since Manfred likely hurt feeling at the sports network with his blunt comments at the time.
“We do not think it’s beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform,” Manfred wrote to MLB owners in February in a memo first shared by The Athletic.
As for splitting up the rights to the baseball package between two bidders, it isn’t such an odd idea, as NBC is a traditional broadcasting network, while ESPN is both a traditional network and streaming service, and Apple TV+ is strictly streaming. This means NBC, who was thought to be the frontrunner for the package not so long ago, could handle the broadcast end of things, while Apple TV+ could stream.
ESPN is likely returning to the table, due to ratings for ESPN’s MLB games are up 6% from last season, averaging 1.71 million viewers per game. That’s the highest average audience at the All-Star break in eight years.
All Star Game Home Run Derby ratings this week were up 5% over last year on ESPN. The rights to the derby are part of the “Sunday Night” package for 2026-2028.
ESPN looks to be the front runner for the package now, as long as it’s willing to pay enough to keep MLB officials happy. Any deal that is made will likely be just a three-year deal, allowing MLB to reorganize its media rights following the 2028 season.
“Our goal would be to accumulate all of our rights (national and local), go to the table, and develop in concert with the potential buyers packages that are most valuable to them,” Manfred told me. “I think our goals would be to have more national exposure, increase our reach. In addition, we think we have a cluttered environment right now. There’s a lot of places you have to go if you’re a fan of a particular team, and we think that we should strive to create a more fan friendly environment.”
