So far, only a website and a Facebook post reporting this, but would be a huge story if true.
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UNVERIFIED: ESPN to eliminate MLB after 2024
- Thread starter CTListener
- Start date
Typo! Can someone change the word in the subject line to UNVERIFIED? I so wish there was a way for us lowly users to do that.
...and here I thought it could get no worse than having Bud Selig as Commissioner, but Manfred sure has been challenging for that dubious distinction at every nearly every turn.
That seems to be incorrect in that it says 3 teams moved to free streaming. Those teams are charging $20 a month or $100 a year to stream their games.
Note that the deal MLB has with ESPN also includes ESPN Radio. It also includes streaming on ESPN+. So it's more than just TV. This also comes days after it appears that there are questions about the future of Sunday morning games on Peacock.
My take is that it likely signals that MLB itself wants to take more control over its media coverage. The three examples given in the OP where MLB took over the local rights might signal more of the future.
BTW the Fox TV deal runs until 2028.
sports.yahoo.com
My take is that it likely signals that MLB itself wants to take more control over its media coverage. The three examples given in the OP where MLB took over the local rights might signal more of the future.
BTW the Fox TV deal runs until 2028.
MLB, Fox strike new $5.1B TV deal that proves baseball isn't close to dying
Don't let narratives fool you: Baseball isn't dying and the league has plenty of money
sports.yahoo.com
Lost all respect for Rob Manfred when he didn’t put an asterisk on the World Series the Astros won.
I agree with that, but I also believe the railroading Jim Crane was forced into by having the Astros moved from the National to the American just so he was allowed to purchase the team from Drayton McLane contributed to that particular decision. They cheated the system by thumping the cans, there is no argument, but the system cheated them first by pulling the team from, at the time, a packed NL Central, and dumping them in the also-ran of the AL West. That ultimately backfired because Houston went from the middle of the pack in the NL to perennial contenders for not just the AL West pennant, but for a world championship every year. There's no reason both Texas teams should be in the same league, let alone the same division. That was my biggest qualm with Selig. His Brewers should've went BACK to the AL, instead of forcing the Astros to switch leagues.
You'd think I was an Astros fan with the way I'm defending them, but as you said, there should be an asterisk on the '17 title. I'm just offering a plausible reason as to maybe why it's not.
i don't see MLB leaving ESPN unless CBS Sports, TNT Sports, Fox Sports or one of the big streaming service (Amazon, Apple or Netflix) outbid them for TV rights. and i could see ESPN getting replaced by Prime Video or Netflix with Prime Video having Thursday Night Football and NASCAR Cup Series for 5 races starting in 2025, and Netflix i could see them get it thanks to getting a big money deal for WWE for it's flagship show Monday Night Raw.
Apple already has deals with the MLB to show games on Fridays and they’re doing a whip around show, pregame shows, etc:
“Friday Night Baseball” returns to Apple TV+ on March 29
“Friday Night Baseball,” a weekly doubleheader, will be available to Apple TV+ subscribers on Fridays throughout the 2024 regular season.
www.apple.com
Is Amazon going to keep jacking up the price of its Prime membership to pay for all the sports? Because I think a lot of people just want the Prime shopping benefits, don't watch much Prime video, don't care about sports and never signed up for that.
The cost of Prime has increased less rapidly than the cost of shipping (transport, packaging, warehousing, labor). The other benefits are a bonus.
In our household, Prime Video competes with Netflix for most viewed. Considering what Netflix alone costs, we consider Amazon Prime membership to be a good value.
I never watched any sports on Prime, never will. But the live broadcast of Stagecoach in two weeks is worth $150 by itself to us. So each person finds something of value... shipping, video, sports or whatever... and it makes it a better value than any other service.
They apparently want to be all things to all people, because they also have the NHL.
Again, I've seen no actual reporting on this, nor any word from ESPN. It's just out there on the internet and Facebook, so don't assume it's happening.
What I'm wondering is how ESPN plans to attract viewers between the end of the NBA and NHL playoffs and the beginning of football season -- the last part of June, all of July and most of August. Other than golf and tennis tournaments, there's not much going on in the American sports world during that period. OK, there's MLS, but ESPN decided it didn't need that league last year. And the Olympics ... oops, that's NBC's property. I realize that ratings for regular season baseball's national broadcasts have been in the toilet for years, but what can ESPN offer live on a July night without MLB?
And what fills up the highlights on SportsCenter every day for two months? We've seen that ESPN tends to treat sports that it doesn't have the rights to as second-class citizens. It happened when the network lost NASCAR and when it got rid of the NHL. Does the Kemper Open or Waste Management Open or Greater Milwaukee Open or some similar faceless, irrelevant golf event become the top story?
What I'm wondering is how ESPN plans to attract viewers between the end of the NBA and NHL playoffs and the beginning of football season -- the last part of June, all of July and most of August. Other than golf and tennis tournaments, there's not much going on in the American sports world during that period. OK, there's MLS, but ESPN decided it didn't need that league last year. And the Olympics ... oops, that's NBC's property. I realize that ratings for regular season baseball's national broadcasts have been in the toilet for years, but what can ESPN offer live on a July night without MLB?
And what fills up the highlights on SportsCenter every day for two months? We've seen that ESPN tends to treat sports that it doesn't have the rights to as second-class citizens. It happened when the network lost NASCAR and when it got rid of the NHL. Does the Kemper Open or Waste Management Open or Greater Milwaukee Open or some similar faceless, irrelevant golf event become the top story?
It would be more accurate to say ESPN wants to restart talks with MLB (which they have the option to do in their current contract) to either renegotiate what they are paying or get more for what they are currently paying.
Walking away is certainly possible, but it’s not a guarantee.
Now, I certainly agree with any reporting that says Manfred sucks. 😄
Walking away is certainly possible, but it’s not a guarantee.
Now, I certainly agree with any reporting that says Manfred sucks. 😄
I do like the faster play and the end of the extreme shifts, but the pickoff and extra-innings rules were unnecessary. I suspect the pitch clock is contributing to the plague of injuries to pitchers, but the babying of pitchers in terms of pitches they're allowed to throw combined with the pitchers throwing so many pitches with maximum velocity or spin is a significant factor as well, and that's all on the pitchers and their coaches, not Manfred.
CBS Sports if they use TBS guys Sunday Afternoon. ESPN can keep Sunday Nights and add back Wednesday.
If CBS Sports does indeed get it back, that'll be the first time in over 3 decades that CBS has had MLB.