Today, Major League Baseball announced new media rights deals with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Netflix that run for the next three seasons. The Netflix deal brings live MLB games to its platform and continues to grow its library of sports programming in an arrangement that Front Office Sports reports is worth about $50 million per year.
Netflix will stream a single game on Opening Night of each season, the Home Run Derby, and one “special event game” each year. In 2026, that will cover the “Field of Dreams” game broadcast from Dyersville, Iowa, on August 13th, 2026, between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies.
The games signed up by all three networks cover a media deal that MLB previously had with ESPN alone, and on NBC’s end, gives it the Sunday Night Baseball game, as well as draft coverage and other games for its networks. According to the league, “Some Sunday night games will stream on Peacock and simulcast on NBCSN during weeks there is overlap with previously negotiated media rights deals on NBC,” while Peacock will also carry MLB’s Sunday Leadoff games that start around noon and simulcast on the newly relaunched NBC Sports Network.
And for ESPN, it has a 30-game broadcast package each season that will be exclusive to its channels and the ESPN app, 150 out-of-market games streaming (one per day) in the ESPN app, and the ability to sell MLB Network and some in-market games via the ESPN app.
