Like an old married couple, the split earlier this year between ESPN and Major League Baseball appears to have reminded both parties what was great about the other.
Suddenly, after exercising a mutual opt-out in February, the Worldwide Leader is reportedly getting back in bed with MLB, albeit through an acquisition of MLB.tv. From ESPN’s standpoint, it will allow the company at a key moment in its history to maintain a relationship with one of America’s biggest sports, with an eye toward a potentially larger package at the end of the decade.
And for baseball, it keeps the sport relevant on the biggest sports content platform we have. The level of MLB coverage on ESPN has been a significant source of friction between the two sides for at least a decade, but the launch of ESPN’s new subscription streaming app could lead Bristol to invest in baseball once again.
According to Andrew Marchand on the latest episode of his podcast, a new deal between ESPN and MLB could lead to the return of the beloved Baseball Tonight daily.
“It would not surprise me if (ESPN) added more studio shows,” Marchand said on his Marchand Sports Media podcast. “When you have ESPN DTC (direct-to-consumer), why not have a new Baseball Tonight? So you can put more baseball on (the app) in terms of studio. Could you come up with an MLB RedZone package?”
Despite the strong language from both sides at the time of their February breakup, ESPN is willing to recommit to putting more baseball content on-air if it means keeping momentum toward buying more postseason and local rights in the future.
For years, ESPN was required to air a daily studio show as part of its partnership with MLB. But in 2017, management decided it could no longer justify producing Baseball Tonight daily. Instead, ESPN aired MLB Network’s Intentional Talk for a year before finally getting out of that obligation entirely.
The return of a daily Baseball Tonight would be a great dose of nostalgia, but this history shows the network has had trouble monetizing its baseball content. A digital Baseball Tonight would likely cost less to produce than it did for television. ESPN also has improved its output on YouTube and social media, where clips of studio shows and highlight packages can pay dividends for the network. With top baseball reporters like Jeff Passan and Buster Olney, plus analysts like Eduardo Perez and Doug Glanville on staff, ESPN has more than enough talent to fill out a studio show.
It seems the alleged end of ESPN and MLB’s relationship early in 2025 could actually mark the beginning of an even broader partnership than ever before.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.