Unless we see a change of heart in the form of a new offer, ESPN will officially be out of the baseball business after opting out of its media rights deal with MLB. And on Wednesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred opened up about his feelings on losing ESPN as a partner.
Despite the league initially framing the breakup as a mutual one, it was ultimately ESPN’s call to opt out of their current deal with MLB, which now makes it so the 2025 season will be the last where baseball games appear on the network.
The decision from ESPN to opt out of the final three years of its deal with the league reportedly comes after ESPN sought to cut its rights payments to MLB from $550 million to $200 million.
Manfred revealed how he felt about the ESPN fallout in a memo obtained by Evan Drellich of The Athletic, where Manfred wrote that MLB believed it “wouldn’t be beneficial to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform.”
On Wednesday, Manfred further expanded on his thoughts on the looming end of MLB’s deal with ESPN during an appearance on Mad Dog Unleashed with Chris Russo, outlining how he believes that ESPN neglected to cover the sport adequately.
“Were you surprised?” asked Russo. “Were you keeled over when ESPN said they were going to opt out of the contract. Or did you see it coming?”
“I didn’t have to see it, I could read it,” replied Manfred. “I mean, there were leaks going back a year. It’s unfortunate that was the mode of communication. But, you know, eventually it got to the point where they told us what they were thinking. But we had been reading leaks for over a year before that phone call took place. That’s unfortunate, it did not help the conversations. Look, there was a level of dissatisfaction on our part. It started with the end of Baseball Tonight.
“I think if you watch ESPN, and I do, where we appear on SportsCenter in the morning, there were issues there too. You know, there was a level of dissatisfaction. Having said that, did we want to be partners with them? Yes, but you know, taking less money… Look, I said this publicly because I said it to them. They stepped up for the NBA. They stepped up for football. And to come back to us and say we want to cut you… We felt like we were being treated disrespectfully. Particularly if you listen to their own rhetoric when they are marketing baseball. We are up for them. We were up on 18 to 34 (year olds); we deliver a nice Hispanic audience. We do a great job in terms of gender breakdown. So like I said, it was an unfortunate thing. They were a great, great partner.”
“Were you surprised when ESPN said they wanted to opt out of the contract… or did you see it coming?” –@MadDogUnleashed
“Well I didn’t have to see it. I could read it. There were leaks going back a year. [It’s] unfortunate that was the mode of communication.” -Rob Manfred 👀 pic.twitter.com/usgq9rxp2Y
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) March 26, 2025
Despite ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro recently claiming that the network is “open to re-engaging” with MLB on a new deal, Manfred sure doesn’t sound optimistic about that possibility.
If a new deal is mutually beneficial enough for both parties, the war of words can likely be put to the side in favor of what is best for business.
But unless ESPN significantly improves its offer from the proposed $200 million annual compensation for MLB, it sure sounds like Manfred will be looking for other networks to take ESPN’s package.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.