ESPN and Major League Baseball (MLB) are mutually parting ways at the conclusion of the 2025 regular season, ending their media rights partnership. 

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred explained the reasoning behind the end of the partnership in a letter to league owners, per The Athletic. 

In the letter, Manfred noted that the league had “not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage.”

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Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks during the 2024 MLB Draft presented by Nike at Cowtown Coliseum on Sunday, July 14, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

To that end, ESPN was set to pay the league an estimated $550 million in each of the next three years, which it felt was above current market value, per The Athletic.

With a March 1 deadline for both ESPN and MLB to opt out of the final three years on the deal, they both agreed to do so. 

“We do not think it’s beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform,” Manfred wrote in the letter to owners. “In order to best position MLB to optimize our rights going in to our next deal cycle, we believe it is not prudent to devalue our rights with an existing partner but rather to have our marquee regular season games, Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff round on a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.

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“To that end, we have been in conversations with several interested parties around these rights over the past several months and expect to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks.”

ESPN will continue to have its “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast, wild-card postseason games, and the rest of its partnership details with MLB run through the 2025 season. 

MLB has had a partnership with ESPN since 1990, and due to the longstanding relationship, they are both willing to work on a new deal. 

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred before game four of the 2024 MLB World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York City on Oct. 29, 2024. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)

“In making this decision, we applied the same discipline and fiscal responsibility that has built ESPN’s industry-leading live events portfolio as we continue to grow our audience across linear, digital and social platforms,” Manfred wrote. “As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.”

ESPN has reportedly come forward with national and regional programming ideas for MLB to review. 

Manfred noted ESPN approached MLB to reduce the $550 million annual total, citing Apple paying $85 million per year for rights to games, while Roku only pays $10 million. 

Manfred’s argument for MLB was the “inventory involved” for ESPN being much larger compared to Apple and Roku. 

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Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. speaks to the media during the Spring Training Cactus League Media Day at Arizona Biltmore on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023 in Phoenix. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

“The ESPN deal contains the only truly exclusive regular season windows on Sunday nights, the exclusive right to an entire round of playoffs, and the Home Run Derby, one of the most exciting events of the summer,” Manfred wrote. “In contrast, Apple and Roku have games that compete against a complete slate of other games broadcast in local markets.”

Who MLB would partner with, if a revised deal with ESPN does not get figured out, remains to be seen. 

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