ESPN may already have a plan for how the network will adjust following its mutual opt-out of the current agreement with Major League Baseball after the 2025 season. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Main Street Sports Group, which owns and operates the FanDuel Sports Network regional sports networks, has had discussions about potentially bundling its streaming offerings with ESPN’s upcoming flagship direct-to-consumer service.
The four-letter network is scheduled to release its DTC product later this year. With the recent announcement of its opt-out with MLB, there were questions about how ESPN would provide baseball coverage on its new platform. However, according to the WSJ report, plans may already be in motion from FanDuel’s perspective.
Currently, FanDuel Sports Network has agreements with nine of the 30 Major League Baseball teams and 30 teams total across MLB, the NBA, and the NHL.
Last month, ESPN and MLB announced their mutual opt-out of the current broadcasting rights agreement, which paid MLB $550 million annually. The agreement included the weekly Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, MLB Wild Card rounds, and the Home Run Derby.
Meanwhile, reports surfaced last week that MLB has already begun early discussions with streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon, as well as traditional cable provider Comcast, regarding its media rights. Additionally, it has been reported that FOX Sports has shown interest in acquiring a portion of ESPN’s current deal, specifically the Home Run Derby. Since FOX already owns the broadcast rights to the annual MLB All-Star Game, adding the Home Run Derby could create a two-day marquee event for the network starting in 2026.
Currently, FanDuel Sports Networks are available as an add-on to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. However, it remains unclear how a potential partnership with ESPN would be structured for users of the network’s upcoming flagship product.
Looking ahead to the 2025 MLB season, ESPN has confirmed plans to continue weekly Sunday Night Baseball telecasts on both ESPN TV and radio. For the fourth consecutive year, Karl Ravech will handle play-by-play for all 25 games. He will be joined once again by analysts David Cone and Eduardo Perez, along with reporter Buster Olney. The crew debuted in 2022, with Olney, an ESPN veteran since 2011, as the longest-tenured member. He will also continue hosting Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney.
MLB Opening Day is set for March 27, with ESPN broadcasting a season-opening doubleheader. The highlight of the coverage will be the return of Joe Buck to the baseball broadcast booth, as he calls the game between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers.
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