Major League Baseball announced new national television deals for the 2026-28 seasons with ESPN, NBC, and Netflix on Wednesday. NBC/Peacock will be the new home of Sunday Night Baseball and the first round of the postseason, and return as the host of Sunday morning games. Netflix will air the standalone Opening Night game, the Home Run Derby, and the Field of Dreams Game.
“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 Robert 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.”
The New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants are scheduled to play in next year’s Opening Night game on March 25. That is the only game on the schedule that day and it will be a Netflix exclusive. The Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies will play in the Field of Dreams Game on Aug. 13 in Dyersville, Iowa.
Sunday Night Baseball will air only on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, when there are conflicts with the NBA and NFL. Peacock broadcast Sunday morning games from 2022-23 before those games shifted to Roku in 2024.
ESPN, meanwhile, gains rights to the popular MLB.TV service, which allows fans to watch out-of-market games for all 30 teams. ESPN also has in-market rights to six teams (Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners) and the option to add more if they become available. ESPN will also carry 30 exclusive weeknight games.
“This fan-friendly agreement allows us to showcase the great sport of baseball on both a local and national level, while prioritizing our streaming future,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement.
It is not yet clear how ESPN will sell MLB.TV, though the price is expected to remain the same, reports The Athletic. An agreement allowing T-Mobile customers to receive MLB.TV for free is expected to continue as well.
MLB and ESPN mutually opted out of their previous agreement in February. At the time, Manfred said it “wouldn’t be beneficial to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform,” adding he was unhappy with ESPN’s coverage of baseball.
ESPN was set to pay MLB $1.65 billion from 2026-28 as part of the previous agreement. National television money is split equally between the 30 teams.
Fox will continue to broadcast the All-Star Game, Division Series and Championship Series games, and the World Series.
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