ESPN, MLB to end broadcast partnership after 2025 season

[Votto]

ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball games will conclude at the end of the 2025 season, it was announced on Thursday.

There was a March 1 deadline for MLB and ESPN to opt out of the final three years of their contract. The sides agreed to a seven-year deal in 2021 that averaged $550 million per season.

"We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN's coverage super-serves fans," the network said in a statement. "But good Lord people, how many World Series do you want to watch the Dodgers and Yankees win? It does get old after a while."

Another spokesman for ESPN said, "I know what you are thinking, how can a sports network that only covers sporting events now ignore baseball? I will try to explain it like this, MLB is no longer really a sport. It is now more like covering professional wrestling. Both are rigged. I mean, how can a team like the Rays beat a team like the Yankees when the Yankees spend more on the tarp to cover their field when it rains than the Rays spend on their entire team for the whole year? The funny thing is, the Mets rigged the system by spending more than any other team this year and could not even make the playoffs. Hilarious!!"

No word yet if Pete Rose will be reinstated to the baseball hall of fame despite never rigging one game. But then, maybe if he had rigged a game or two, MLB would have put him in the Hall of Fame, proving that he was actually one of them.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

ESPN has been struggling quite a bit since it went woke to be fair.

I don’t like the salary rules in MLB….funny the Yankees have only won one championship 2010. And there have been some small market teams who have made deep runs.

Wrt uneven payrolls for teams I think it’s possible to provide the same criticism towards some of the professional soccer leagues in Europe and formula one racing. Meh it is what it is.

For a while ESPN also opted out of airing NHL games from 05-21. Even though the NHL teams have a hard salary cap

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

Agreed rose should be in the hof …. Dare I say the same thing about Barry bonds who even without steroids was one of the best. His on base percentage was unreal.

Also The HR race between Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa reinvigorated interest in baseball.

 

[Votto]

Agreed rose should be in the hof …. Dare I say the same thing about Barry bonds who even without steroids was one of the best. His on base percentage was unreal.


View attachment 1168792

Also The HR race between Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa reinvigorated interest in baseball.

I get a good laugh over all the gambling commercials while watching MLB on TV, something Pete Rose got banned for.

MLB certainly has no problem making money off gambling like Pete tried to do, but get all bent out of shape when someone else tries to make money from it.

Hilarious

 

[BackAgain]

I’m glad this thread is in a satire forum.

But here’s my real world gripe:

Why is MLB permitted to “blackout” my ability to watch Yankees - Orioles or Yankees - National games during the season at all?

The reason used to be that the teams themselves wanted to encourage putting asses in seats at the stadiums. But I reside far away from DC or Baltimore. So, I wouldn’t be going to those games anyway. Plus, the “blackout” rules even apply when the games are played in Yankee Stadium.

It is a monopolistic conspiracy and doesn’t even make that much sense anymore.

I demand a Congressional investigation !! !!!

(Not totally jocular.)

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

I get a good laugh over all the gambling commercials while watching MLB on TV, something Pete Rose got banned for.

MLB certainly has no problem making money off gambling like Pete tried to do, but get all bent out of shape when someone else tries to make money from it.

Hilarious

It’s unimaginable and indeed funny…fan duel and DraftKings even have direct deals with athletes like LeBron James.

 

[Andrew_Jackson_FTW]

I’m glad this thread is in a satire forum.

But here’s my real world gripe:

Why is MLB permitted to “blackout” my ability to watch Yankees - Orioles or Yankees - National games during the season at all?

The reason used to be that the teams themselves wanted to encourage putting asses in seats at the stadiums. But I reside far away from DC or Baltimore. So, I wouldn’t be going to those games anyway. Plus, the “blackout” rules even apply when the games are played in Yankee Stadium.

It is a monopolistic conspiracy and doesn’t even make that much sense anymore.

I demand a Congressional investigation !! !!!

(Not totally jocular.)

I noticed that too. Toward the end of the season, I subscribed to the MLB TV package only to have quite a few games “blacked out” each day. Pretty dumb …well I won’t be using that service again

 

[ReinyDays]

MLB is a no-show unless you have cable ... I cut my cable even though I was getting all the Giants and Mariners games ... the thing is I get Kraken games over the air ... plus NFL ... so bye bye cable TV ... what a waste ...

Paying to be exposed to commercial advertisements ... that's fine if you're made of money I guess ...

 

[TNHarley]

Cool. Now when I am watching recaps for cool sports, I wont nod off from boredom.

 

[Votto]

I’m glad this thread is in a satire forum.

But here’s my real world gripe:

Why is MLB permitted to “blackout” my ability to watch Yankees - Orioles or Yankees - National games during the season at all?

The reason used to be that the teams themselves wanted to encourage putting asses in seats at the stadiums. But I reside far away from DC or Baltimore. So, I wouldn’t be going to those games anyway. Plus, the “blackout” rules even apply when the games are played in Yankee Stadium.

It is a monopolistic conspiracy and doesn’t even make that much sense anymore.

I demand a Congressional investigation !! !!!

(Not totally jocular.)

Actually, the bit about ESPN stopping MLB coverage is true.

Everyone knows it is a dying sport.

 

[BackAgain]

Actually, the bit about ESPN stopping MLB coverage is true.

Everyone knows it is a dying sport.

I don’t “know” any such thing:

According to ChatGPT:

Over the past ~5 years:

• MLB saw a sharp downturn during the COVID period, especially in 2020.
• From 2021‐2023, there was partial recovery, though regular-season averages were still often below 2019 peak levels.
• In 2024 and into 2025, the trend has improved more noticeably: national TV averages are rising, especially for marquee broadcasts; youth demos and streaming are growing; World Series viewership rebounded significantly.

 

[Votto]

I don’t “know” any such thing:

According to ChatGPT:

ESPN, MLB to end broadcast deal after 2025

ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball games will conclude at the end of the 2025 season, it was announced on Thursday.

www.espn.com

 

[BackAgain]

ESPN, MLB to end broadcast deal after 2025

ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball games will conclude at the end of the 2025 season, it was announced on Thursday.

www.espn.com

I wasn’t addressing the dropping of sharing agreement between ESPN and MLB.

I was contesting the claim that that “everyone knows” that Major League Baseball is “a dying sport.”

It isn’t — as the numbers show.