MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is confident in his conquest to take local broadcast rights for all 30 MLB clubs to market by 2028.
He said as much earlier this week at the Front Office Sports “Tuned In” conference. When asked if the league will be able to fully consolidate local broadcast rights by 2028, when MLB will have its full complement of national broadcast packages to bring to market as well, Manfred said, “If I had to guess today, we would have the availability of all 30 clubs.”
That won’t be an easy lift. Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees have lucrative local broadcast deals that span well into the 2030s, providing little incentive to consolidate into a package with other clubs, thereby helping them financially. Some teams also own the regional sports network they air on, which is yet another hurdle for consolidation.
Still, Manfred believes it can be done, but was light on the details of how everything will come together. “The best I can do for you on that right now is to say we’re not going to centralize local media as a standalone deal,” the commissioner said. “There will have to be other gives and takes, that make sense for all the clubs.”
In some way, shape, or form, clubs like the Dodgers and Yankees will need to be made whole in order to go along with a nationalized package of local rights. Success in baseball, more than any other North American sports league, is greatly assisted by the financial might of a team. Lucrative TV contracts give teams like the Dodgers and Yankees a huge step up over their competition, and they won’t easily give that up for the good of the league.
By the sounds of things, Manfred will look to include this centralized local broadcast package as part of a greater package, perhaps including national broadcast rights, rather than selling it as a standalone product. No matter what, the local package will have to be compelling enough to attract a massive bid from a prospective partner in order to keep all 30 clubs satisfied with the New World Order.
This will be Manfred’s loftiest goal for the next three years. But if achieved, it will fundamentally change how fans consume their favorite teams for years to come.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.