Major League Baseball became the first professional sports league to live-stream a regular season game while broadcasting the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees game on Monday, August 26th, 2002. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of MLB.TV, Major League Baseball has made every game played today free to watch.
Major League Baseball Chief Revenue Officer Noah Garden told Sports Business Journal the service has helped the game grow, and is seeing expansive growth during the 2022 season.
“The four most-watched games ever have occurred in 2022, as have the three most-watched days. People are understanding the numbers on streaming services much more than they have in the past, and when you see that, you’re like “Oh, shit, maybe baseball wasn’t dying this whole time.”
“To see where we’re going to be in 20 years, we’re going to look back on this time and we’re going to look back on it the same way we looked back on it when we started,” Garden said. “That’s the beauty of technology. It moves forward fast with or without you.”
