MLB Commissioner Confirms Bidders for Sunday Night Baseball Rights; Eyes Broader Media Overhaul

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed in an interview that NBC, Apple, and ESPN are the current bidders for the league’s high-profile “Sunday Night Baseball” media rights. The package became available earlier this year when ESPN opted out of the final three years of its previous $550 million per season agreement. Manfred said a final decision is expected within the month, with the possibility that rights could be split between two networks.

The confirmation comes amid broader media strategy talks within the league, including the potential inclusion of five teams’ local broadcast rights in any new national package deal. MLB currently controls the local media rights for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres.

“There’s a bigger set of changes involving a larger set of tradeoffs between large and small markets that I’m very confident will put us in a position to accomplish what we need to do,” Manfred said in the interview, which took place in Atlanta ahead of the MLB All-Star Game.

Baseball stadium | Source: Pexels

Though ESPN had previously exited its deal, its re-entry into the bidding process marks a notable shift. Earlier this year, Manfred had criticized the sports network in a memo to team owners, stating: “We do not think it’s beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform.” Despite that, sources indicate renewed optimism about ESPN’s involvement, particularly if local rights can be bundled into the deal and aligned with its upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service.

ESPN’s interest is fueled by strong MLB ratings: regular season game viewership on the network is up 6% year-over-year, averaging 1.71 million viewers per game—its highest All-Star break average in eight years. Home Run Derby ratings, also on ESPN, rose 5% from last year.

Manfred emphasized that any new agreement is likely to be a short-term three-year deal, which would allow the league to restructure media rights comprehensively after the 2028 season. “Our goal would be to accumulate all of our rights (national and local), go to the table, and develop in concert with the potential buyers packages that are most valuable to them,” he said. “We think we should strive to create a more fan-friendly environment.”

A baseball game | Source: Pexels

He also suggested that centralizing media rights and distributing revenue evenly among MLB’s 30 teams could potentially replace the current revenue-sharing model. “If, in fact, you centralize your media, and the revenue from those media streams are shared 1/30th, there’s much less need for the kind of local revenue sharing system that we have today,” Manfred explained.

The Commissioner addressed the league’s future collective bargaining agreement, which will be negotiated following the 2026 season. When asked whether owners would consider a lockout or push for a salary cap, Manfred said neither topic has been “discussed” or “decided.” However, he acknowledged growing concern about competitive balance.

“Sports sell competition,” he said. “We do have fans in a significant number of our markets who are really concerned about the issue of competitive balance and the competitiveness of the teams in their markets.”

Baseball stadium | Source: Pexels

Manfred noted openness to a salary floor but indicated that any such provision would likely accompany a salary cap. “I do agree with the idea that a salary floor is an important part of the system… Rarely, however, in collective bargaining, do you get a change that goes only one direction,” he said.

Other topics addressed in the interview included the ongoing rollout of automated strike-calling systems and potential league expansion. On expansion fees, Manfred said they would “probably [be] in the billions,” though he declined to provide a specific estimate.

As for the Oakland Athletics, Manfred declared their relocation to Las Vegas a done deal. “I was out there a couple weeks ago, shovels in the ground. We’re going to Vegas,” he stated.