Major League Baseball is currently going through a work stoppage, but that hasn’t stopped the league from making deals off the field. After announcing an agreement with Apple to broadcast Friday night baseball games live on AppleTV+MLB and NBC Sports have reached a multi-year deal to bring America’s Pastime to peacockaccording to a new report by Mike Ozanian of Forbes.
More details on the deal in Ozanian’s report:
Besides, Forbes learned that MLB has entered into a two-year streaming agreement with Comcast’s NBC Sports for Mnoday games and Wednesday Night ESPN has not resumed in its new agreement with MLB, primarily to broadcast on Peacock. That deal starts this season and is worth $30 million a year.
It was reported last week that MLB and NBC Sorts were in “serious talks” to bring the league to NBC’s broadcast network where a “slice” of games will air, with most games airing on Peacock.
According to Ozanian’s report, MLB saw a 26% increase in national media deals with the new Apple and NBC Sports deals. A rights fee of $55 million combined with $30 million in advertising will add up to the $85 million per year, over 7 years, that Apple will spend on its Friday night doubleheaders, according to sources who spoke to Forbes. in private.
Prior to the league’s latest deals, it had received $1.55 billion from its domestic media partners: $700 million from ESPN, $525 million from Fox, $325 million from TBS, which was split between the 30 MLB teams under its revenue-sharing agreement. With ESPN waiving rights to weekday games and the league adding Apple and NBC as partners, the new national media deal is worth $1.96 billion: $550 million from ESPN, $755 million from Fox, $535 million from TBS, $85 million from Apple, and $30 million. from NBC Sports.
As the league has bolstered its media presence with increased revenue, this could be the first step for players and owners to come to an agreement to start the season. With no product on the field, MLB made the decision to delay automatic renewals from MLB.TV.
Cord-cutting MLB fans are weighing their options as they wait to air the Big Show again. The national deal could also be a first step for the league to find a new way to bring games to market by putting the game directly into the hands of consumers.
The league’s 162-game regular season looks under threat, but if a deal is reached quickly, fans will have a grand slam of streaming services to watch the upcoming season.
Raymond McCain 