ESPN, MLB announce stunning breakup ahead of March opt-out deadline

In what was announced as a mutual breakup of two longtime media partners, Major League Baseball and ESPN announced they would opt out of their contract ahead of their March deadline to do so.

ESPN has aired MLB games since 1990, but that relationship could come to an end at the end of the 2025 season unless they renew talks on a new contract. However, recent reports suggested pessimism that either side had interest in opting in, or even re-negotiating a new deal if one party opts out.

Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, citing people briefed on the network’s thinking, reported that ESPN "has long been expected to opt out." Thursday, the network made it official.

"We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN's coverage super-serves fans," ESPN announced in a statement announcing it was opting out of the contract. "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."

MLB released a statement of its own.

“We have had a long and mutually beneficial partnership with ESPN that dates back to its first MLB game in 1990," the statement read. "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.

“Entering the 2025 season, MLB is enjoying tremendous momentum led by generational talent on the field and an entertaining brand of baseball due to rule changes which have improved the pace of play and action on the field. The results have generated increases in attendance, viewership, streaming, international growth and overall fan engagement. The positive energy around the sport has also led to 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.

“The MLB-ESPN partnership has been an important and long-lasting relationship that has helped both organizations achieve great success. As we get ready for the 36th season of Sunday Night Baseball, we look forward to a successful final year of MLB on ESPN in 2025.”

Had the two sides opted in to the final three years of their contract, ESPN would have continued airing MLB games through the end of the 2028 season. Commissioner Rob Manfred had been targeting that year in public interviews as a potential time to seek national contracts for its teams that were no longer bound to long-term RSN contracts.

Now, that timetable could be accelerated.

According to Drellich and Marchand, ESPN was due to pay the league an estimated $550 million each of the next three years, which it deemed "way above the current market value."

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