Back in 2021, Disney’s ESPN renewed their contract with the Major League Baseball (MLB) to extend their contract to broadcast baseball games on ESPN platforms until 2028.  The deal was going to cost ESPN around $550 million per year, and in the agreement was a clause that gave ESPN an option to end the contract early in 2025, as long as it did so by March 1st 2025.

This week, ESPN activated that clause to conclude their partnership at the end of the 2025 season, allowing them to opt out of the final three years of the deal, potentially saving ESPN over $1.5 billion dollars.

One of the reasons why ESPN has opted to end the deal early is because they wanted the MLB to agree to a new contract for less money, having seen the MLB sign deals with Apple and Roku for much lower rates.  Apple currently pays $85 million per season for Friday Night Games, and Roku only pays $10 million a year for Sunday afternoon game rights.  While FOX pays the MLB $729 million per year and Warner Brothers Discovery pays $470 million a year for access to some games.

The MLB and ESPN have been partners since the 1990s, and the two companies signed a deal in 2014 that saw up to 90 regular season games being broadcast on ESPN platforms.

ESPN said in a statement regarding ending their deal early:

“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans.  In making this decision, we applied the same discipline and fiscal responsibility that has built ESPN’s industry-leading live events portfolio as we continue to grow our audience across linear, digital and social platforms.  As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”

The MLB also issued a statement saying:

“Unfortunately in recent years, we have seen ESPN scale back their baseball coverage and investment in a way that is not consistent with the sport’s appeal or performance on their platform.  Given that MLB provides strong viewership, valuable demographics, and the exclusive right to cover unique events like the Home Run Derby, ESPN’s demand to reduce rights fees is simply unacceptable. As a result, we have mutually agreed to terminate our agreement.”

MLB also added that there is “significant interest from both traditional media companies and streaming services who would like to obtain rights to MLB games.  We will be exploring those opportunities for a new agreement, which would start in the 2026 season following the conclusion of ESPN’s agreement at the end of this year”.

There is a lot of speculation about who might end up taking on the package ESPN had, since Amazon and Netflix are trying to boost up their sports offerings.  ESPN could still make a deal with the MLB, but it’s going to be difficult to see if the MLB will be willing to do that.

Disney is set to launch a new ESPN Flagship streaming service later this year, which will include access to all of ESPN’s content.  And it will all be available within Disney+ at an additional fee.  Disney needs to have access to major sports programs to make them valuable to customers.   But there is also a limit to how much they are willing to spend.

Roger’s Take: ESPN does need live sports and obviously felt they were overpaying for what they were getting.  MLB obviously wants as much money as possible, and ESPN wants to pay as little as possible, so it’s about finding the middle ground.  There is also a problem with fewer people watching baseball, as, for example, out of every World Series, four out of five of the least viewed events have been in the last five years. 

ESPN opted to end the contract because they feel they are overpaying, and it’ll be interesting to see who picks up the package or if ESPN is able to secure a cheaper deal.  However, many baseball fans have said that ESPN’s cover of baseball has been lacking compared to other sports, but maybe that’s because people aren’t tuning in, but with cable viewership declining year on year, MLB also isn’t happy with how fewer people were watching on ESPN channels too.

What do you think of the MLB and ESPN ending their deals early?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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