Major League Baseball has confirmed a three-year package of media rights deals with Netflix, ESPN and NBCUniversal, reshaping the US distribution of regular season, special events and out-of-market games from the 2026 season.
Running from 2026 to 2028, the agreements see Netflix take a headline special-events role, with exclusive coverage of Opening Night, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and at least one MLB special event game per season, including a 2026 return to the Field of Dreams game in Iowa. The streamer will also carry all 47 games of the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Japan.
ESPN will acquire the rights to sell and distribute MLB.TV, the league’s out-of-market streaming service, via its digital platforms from 2026, alongside a new exclusive 30-game midweek package on its linear networks and app. The reworked deal follows ESPN’s decision to exercise an opt-out on the final three years of its previous long-term contract, which would have cost the network more than $1.5 billion (€1.30 billion) over the 2026–28 period.
Comcast-owned NBCUniversal will bring Sunday night baseball back to NBC for the first time in more than 25 years, taking over the Sunday Night Baseball package, the Sunday Leadoff early game window and the entire Wild Card round across NBC, the relaunched NBCSN cable channel and streamer Peacock.
The new arrangements sit alongside existing national deals, with Fox Sports retaining the World Series and other marquee windows and Apple TV+ continuing to stream the Friday Night Baseball double-header. Combined, the fresh Netflix, ESPN and NBCU agreements are estimated to be worth close to $800 million (€694 million) per year.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the line-up of partners would “expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment and marquee events”, and follows a World Series that MLB says averaged more than 51 million viewers globally.
