ESPN, MLB agree to 7-year rights extension through 2028

Advertisement

Advertise with us

ESPN could be rewarded with additional playoff games under its new deal with Major League Baseball.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2021 (1915 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ESPN could be rewarded with additional playoff games under its new deal with Major League Baseball.

Walt Disney Company and MLB announced a seven-year extension of their rights agreement Thursday. ESPN has aired games since 1990 and the new deal means that will continue until at least 2028.

“This agreement solidifies baseball’s ubiquitous presence across ESPN platforms, including ESPN+. The impactful collection of exclusive content, including ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ which has served as the signature MLB series for more than 30 years, will be amplified by the surrounding rights we have to make these live events even bigger,” ESPN Chairman James Pitaro said in a statement.

Chicago White Sox's Billy Hamilton makes a leaping catch of Minnesota Twins' Kyle Garlick's deep fly ball with the bases loaded during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thursday, May 13, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Chicago White Sox's Billy Hamilton makes a leaping catch of Minnesota Twins' Kyle Garlick's deep fly ball with the bases loaded during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thursday, May 13, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

ESPN will exclusively air 30 regular-season games, with 25 taking place on Sunday nights. The other five will include a broadcast on opening day. ESPN also retains the rights to the Home Run Derby, which takes place the night before the All-Star Game.

The deal also includes the rights to air an expanded wild card round if it comes to fruition during talks between MLB and the Players Association on a new collective bargaining agreement. ESPN and ABC aired those games last year when the playoffs were expanded due to the shortened coronavirus season.

If the current wild card format remains, ESPN will continue to have one of the two games as well as receive eight additional regular-season games. There is the possibility the Home Run Derby could be simulcast on ABC, but there are no immediate plans for that to happen.

“Sunday Night Baseball” is up 34% over last season, averaging 1.65 million viewers. The package has had steady audience growth since the start time was moved to 7 p.m.

The agreement also includes the ESPN+ streaming service airing at least one game a day as well as an extension of ESPN Radio’s contract, which includes regular-season games, the All-Star Game and the postseason.

ESPN will no longer consistently air games on Monday or Wednesday, but there still will be plenty of baseball on television. Turner will have a game on Tuesday nights starting next season while Fox and FS1 have a Saturday package. ESPN also has a reduced inventory of open broadcast windows starting next spring when it adds the Stanley Cup playoffs as part of its new agreement with the NHL.

The extension also means all of MLB’s rights deals with Fox, Turner and ESPN will expire after the 2028 season.

“ESPN has been one of MLB’s longest and most important partners. As the way in which fans consume baseball continues to change, this partnership provides expanded opportunities for fans to engage with our content and we are excited to present those new opportunities,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

50 years of rare tall grass prairie celebrated

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

50 years of rare tall grass prairie celebrated

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026

Kristin Bestvater is always glad when she heads to Winnipeg’s St. James neighbourhood and visits the Living Prairie Museum.

“It’s beautiful,” Bestvater said of the 13-hectare site, which is one of the last remaining tall grass prairies in North America. “I don’t know how many other cities would have something like this.”

The Island Lakes resident and her nine-year-old son were among the hundreds of people who gathered at the museum on Saturday to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Designated a park in 1974, it officially became the Living Prairie Museum in 1976 with the opening of an interpretive centre which houses a gallery of exhibits, a gift shop and an observation deck.

Read
Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026

As the world watches, Haiti’s hopes continue to fade

Peter McKenna 5 minute read Preview

As the world watches, Haiti’s hopes continue to fade

Peter McKenna 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

I wish that I had something uplifting and positive to say about the circumstances in Haiti today.

Maybe things will turn out better for the Haitian people in the coming months.

Maybe the United Nations-authorized and 5,000-strong Gang Suppression Force will change the facts on the ground.

Maybe the parliamentary and presidential elections will finally be held in mid-December.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Woman dead in B.C. wildfire as grim video reveals village in ruins

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press 8 minute read Preview

Woman dead in B.C. wildfire as grim video reveals village in ruins

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press 8 minute read Updated: 12:18 AM CDT

PENTICTON - The wildfire raging near Okanagan Lake in British Columbia's southern Interior claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman as she tried to escape the flames, police said on Sunday, as video footage and grim accounts emerged of nearby devastation.

A statement from Penticton RCMP said the resident of Meadow Valley, northwest of Summerland, B.C., had been trying to flee with a family member "when she died suddenly," believed to be a result of the fire.

Police said the death, reported early Saturday by a witness who was also evacuating, was the only known fatality in the blaze that has forced about 20,000 people out of their homes and left the community of Faulder a smouldering ruin.

The BC Coroners Service was investigating the nature of the woman's death, and police were not aware of any other fatalities in the fire, calling it "a deeply traumatic event," the statement said.

Read
Updated: 12:18 AM CDT

City puts Osborne Village lot up for sale third time

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

City puts Osborne Village lot up for sale third time

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

The city is making a third attempt to sell a seemingly prime Osborne Street property, after an offer for the surface parking lot fell through earlier this year.

The 772-square-metre space at 145 Osborne St., which formerly operated as an official paid city parking lot, has been posted for sale once again.

It may puzzle some Winnipeggers to see the site in the heart of Osborne Village remain empty so long after the city declared it surplus in 2020.

However, a few different challenges may limit its appeal to potential buyers, alocal real estate agent said.

Read
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

Kinder, gentler drug crackdown finds support, tempered expectations in Main Street area

Chris Kitching 9 minute read Preview

Kinder, gentler drug crackdown finds support, tempered expectations in Main Street area

Chris Kitching 9 minute read Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

Drawing a lighter from his pocket, a shirtless man perched on a concrete wall outside United Way Winnipeg’s Main Street headquarters heats a substance in a glass pipe and moves the tube toward his mouth.

Read
Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

$60M, six-storey Harbourview Terrace due to open in June 2028

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Preview

$60M, six-storey Harbourview Terrace due to open in June 2028

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

They donned high-vis vests and brandished shovels with gold-coloured blades Friday morning at the ceremonial groundbreaking for a multi-family residential development in northeast Winnipeg.

Concord Projects has started construction of Harbourview Terrace, the inaugural development by two-year-old real estate company Foxhill Properties. Located in North Kildonan at 1820 De Vries Ave., the $60-million, six-storey apartment building will contain 179 units.

Founder and president Frank Koch-Schulte, who runs the company with his wife Alisha, said Foxhill wants to develop and manage properties with integrity.

“This is kind of like my opportunity to try to do things our way, which I feel is a way that keeps tenants in mind,” Koch-Schulte said. “We live in this neighbourhood. We’re very much invested in seeing quality housing go here.”

Read
Friday, Aug. 7, 2026