Major League Baseball unveiled a transformative set of national media rights agreements Wednesday that will reshape how fans watch the sport beginning with the 2026 season. Coming off a 2025 campaign that delivered the most-watched postseason in eight years and a World Series Game 7 that averaged more than 51 million global viewers—the highest for any MLB game in 34 years—the league has secured three-year partnerships with Netflix, NBCUniversal, and ESPN that will run through the 2028 season.
The new structure marks the end of an era for Sunday Night Baseball, which has aired exclusively on ESPN since 1990. Starting in 2026, the premier Sunday evening window shifts to NBCUniversal, with games appearing on the NBC broadcast network—the first regular return of Major League Baseball to broadcast television’s flagship Sunday night slot in a quarter century. NBCUniversal also acquires the early-season Sunday Leadoff package and exclusive rights to one Wild Card Series each postseason, with games streaming on Peacock and airing across NBC platforms.
Netflix, already a collaborator on acclaimed baseball documentaries, will make its debut in live MLB event coverage. The streaming leader will open each of the next three seasons with an exclusive Opening Night game the evening before traditional Opening Day. The inaugural contest under the new deal is scheduled for March 25, 2026, featuring the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge visiting the San Francisco Giants and Rafael Devers. Netflix also takes over the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, moving the sport’s signature skills competition from ESPN beginning with the 2026 edition at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. An additional special event game will air each year, starting with the return of the MLB at Field of Dreams game on August 13, 2026, between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies in Dyersville, Iowa. All Netflix productions will be handled by MLB Network’s award-winning team in collaboration with Netflix staff.
ESPN’s partnership with Major League Baseball, now approaching four decades, evolves rather than ends. The network retains a significant presence through a new national midweek game package and gains the exclusive right to market and sell MLB.TV, the league’s out-of-market streaming service that recorded a record 19.4 billion minutes consumed during the 2025 season.
Several cornerstone elements of the national television schedule remain intact. FOX and FS1 will continue carrying the All-Star Game, regular-season Saturday games, and exclusive rights to the World Series, League Championship Series, and Division Series. TBS keeps its Tuesday night regular-season window plus additional postseason series. Apple TV+ retains its Friday Night Baseball doubleheaders.
The agreements arrive at a moment of sustained growth across nearly every measurable fan-engagement category for Major League Baseball. Attendance, social media interaction, youth participation, and television viewership all rose in 2025, fueled in part by rule changes that shortened game times and increased action, as well as the emergence of a new generation of superstar players. By distributing marquee events across traditional broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms, the league positions itself to reach both longtime supporters and younger audiences who consume sports primarily through digital services.
The trio of new partners brings distinct strengths: ESPN’s deep baseball heritage and studio infrastructure, NBCUniversal’s broadcast reach and promotional power, and Netflix’s global scale and experience turning sports into cultural moments. Together, the deals ensure that baseball’s biggest regular-season nights and signature events will appear on some of the most prominent media platforms available over the next three years, extending the momentum generated by the record-shattering 2025 postseason into the remainder of the decade.
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