Major League Baseball announced new three-year media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix that will cover the 2026-2028 seasons.
“Our new media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix provide us with a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment, and marquee events,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
“Following our last World Series game that averaged more than 51 million viewers globally, these partnerships build on MLB’s growing momentum that includes generational stars setting new standards for excellence, new rules which have improved the game on the field, and increases in important fan engagement metrics like viewership, attendance, participation and social media consumption.
“We’re looking forward to tapping into the unique areas of expertise that ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix each bring to the sport for the benefit of our fans.”
As part of the new agreements, ESPN will receive a national midweek game package each season while also acquiring the rights to sell MLB.TV, the league’s out-of-market streaming service.
ESPN is no longer the home of Sunday Night Baseball or the Wild Card Series, which go to NBCUniversal. NBC also re-acquired the rights to MLB Sunday Leadoff games, which it previously carried for the 2022-2023 seasons on Peacock.
Netflix will now air the Home Run Derby, an Opening Night exclusive and other special events such as the Field of Dreams game.
While MLB has several new broadcasting partners, a portion of their national TV rights remain unchanged. Fox networks will continue to air select contests during the regular season, the All-Star Game, Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series.
Turner networks will also continue to televise regular season games on Tuesday nights, the Division Series and League Championship Series. Apple TV+ additionally remains the home to Friday Night Baseball doubleheaders throughout the regular season.
MLB media rights deals
ESPN
With their new TV agreement in place, MLB and ESPN continue a partnership that dates back to 1990.
The network’s national midweek game package includes Memorial Day coverage and the second half opener between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets coming out of the All-Star break.
ESPN will also continue to carry the Little League Classic and stream over 150 out-of-market games via its new app.
NBCUniversal
MLB and NBCUniversal are reunited after previous broadcasting partnerships from 1947-1989 and 1994-2000. The new media rights deal will bring MLB games to NBC, NBCSN (NBC Sports’ new cable network) and online stream via Peacock.
Some Sunday Night Baseball games will only air on NBCSN and Peacock during weeks in which there is overlap with previously negotiated media rights deals on NBC.
The network will also air special event games, including primetime matchups on Opening Day and Labor Day. NBC’s first broadcast in 2026 will be an Opening Day matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, March 26.
The network will also have a presence during All-Star week as the MLB Draft and Futures Game are going to be carried by NBC platforms.
Netflix
After previously collaborating on several documentaries, Netflix will now help MLB start the 2026 season with a single game on Opening Night, the evening prior to a full slate of Opening Day games.
The 2026 Opening Night game is matchup between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants.
Netflix will also be the exclusive home of all 47 games of the 2026 World Baseball Classic to viewers in Japan.
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