ESPN and MLB To End 35-Year Partnership After 2025 Season, Citing Costs and Coverage
Since 1990, ESPN has been home to Major League Baseball — but soon, the Great American Game will no longer be on Disney’s sporting mainstay. On Friday, Disney and the MLB announced that they would “mutually” end their decades-long partnership after the 2025 season. However, just how mutual that decision was remains in dispute.
- A source told CNN Sports that ESPN reportedly opted out of its MLB contract, with the organization citing “fiscal responsibility” in its portfolio — the company felt what it got was no longer worth it.
- The MLB Commissioner, in a letter to the league, characterized the parting as a “mutual” decision, partially driven by ESPN’s desire to reduce the $550M fee it pays for its media rights, as well as diminished coverage of baseball by the media giant.
What did ESPN give up? ESPN’s media rights deal included 30 games, primetime Sunday games, opening night games, and the Home Run Derby. But ESPN — which has spent billions to expand its slate of college sports, NBA and WNBA games, and other programming options — figured it was money better spent elsewhere.
What’s next? ESPN wants to continue to engage MLB in some capacity but no longer wants to pay for the league’s second-largest national TV package. That means that the league will have to test media firms’ appetite for baseball, which could be robust after the league’s record.) attendance and TV viewership in the 2024 season.
