Last month, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said that he had hopes to resolve the league’s media rights package being abandoned by ESPN by the MLB All-Star Break. With his deadline arriving this week, Manfred still has not officially announced any new finalized details. However, there are reportedly multiple conversations with bidders ongoing.
Manfred acknowledged that although a resolution on the national media rights deal remains incomplete, meaningful steps forward have been made in recent days. Speaking with Sports Business Journal on Monday, Manfred revealed that he had hoped to finalize an agreement ahead of this year’s All-Star Game but said progress has still been encouraging.
“I had a really busy week last week in Sun Valley. Everybody really that’s in the mix was there. Made real progress,” Manfred told Sports Business Journal, referencing the annual Allen & Company conference in Idaho, where media industry leaders and potential partners gathered. “I was hoping it was going to be done by now, but it’ll be shortly. We made real progress.”
In June, Manfred said during MLB owners meetings that he anticipated a deal would be completed before the Midsummer Classic. However, with the game set to be played tonight night in Atlanta, that timeline has been pushed back.
The short-term media rights in question surrounds ESPN’s soon-to-expire package, which covers “Sunday Night Baseball,” the Home Run Derby, and MLB’s Wild Card round through the end of this current season. ESPN and MLB mutually opted out of the final three years of its current $550 million-per-year deal in February.
Several reports have MLB in talks with several potential suitors, including Apple TV and NBC. Despite ESPN’s earlier decision to exit, the league has reportedly reopened discussions with the network as well. However, Manfred indicated the structure of the new arrangement remains fluid.
“I think the last piece that needs to fall into place is whether it’s all going one place or it’s going to be split,” he said. “That’s the next big decision.”
Manfred was a guest of The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN Monday and clarified what the goal of the league is when approaching its media rights deals.
“We want to sell more games nationally. We think it’s good for our exposure, more broadcast exposure, big game exposure. We also believe that the buyers that are out there are going to be national buyers, particularly the streaming companies,” said Manfred. “Secondly, we need to streamline our offering. We need to get out of the blackout business.”
Furthermore, Manfred continued to explain why his goal is to streamline the ease in offering MLB baseball to fans.
“We are too many places right now,” said Manfred. “We’ve experimented. Apple’s been a great experiment, but we do have a lot of fragmentation. We need to get into a more streamlined model, where a fan knows, ‘Friday, I want to see my game tonight.’ They go to a digital service; they know the game’s there. If it’s not there, it’s going to be one of a couple of national games, and it’s easy for the fans. That’s what it needs to look like.”
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