Apple and NBC are the “final contenders” for MLB’s “Sunday Night Baseball” package, and “presumably” Wild Card playoff games, says a report from The Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand. Apple TV+ already streams MLB’s Friday Night Baseball games.
Netflix and ESPN also remain in negotiations with MLB officials to stream games and other content, with Netflix a frontrunner for MLB’s annual Home Run Derby and ESPN in negotiations for weekday games, the report said.
While ESPN held the rights to Sunday Night Baseball through the 2028 season, but the sports network and Major League Baseball mutually pulled out of the $550-million-per-year contract earlier this year, so ESPN’s contract will now expire after this season. Apple and NBC are now looking to carry those those final three seasons.
Since ESPN also held the rights to the American League and American League Wild Card series, Apple may be able to land those playoff games as well. However, the report also noted that MLB could split the rights to Sunday Night and Wild Card games.
As for splitting up the rights to the baseball package between multiple 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, and ESPN could do both.
Once a 2028 MLB World Series champ is crowned, all all regional and national MLB media rights will expire and MLB is looking to sign an bigger, inclusive package including everything. This could interest Apple, as it would allow them to offer a baseball version of its Major League Soccer package, MLS Season Pass, through Apple TV+.
