MLB Signs New Deals with NBC, Netflix & ESPN

Major League Baseball (MLB) has signed new three-year rights agreements with NBCUniversal, Netflix and ESPN, covering the 2026 through 2028 baseball seasons.

As part of the agreement, NBC will return to airing games on its broadcast network. Sunday Night Baseball will move from ESPN to NBCUniversal, which also acquired the rights to Sunday Leadoff and the Wild Card Series in the postseason for NBC and Peacock.

Netflix will be expanding its partnership with MLB from documentaries to live baseball coverage for the first time. The streamer will open the 2026, 2027 and 2028 MLB seasons with a single exclusive game on Opening Night. It will also be the home of the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and special event games such as the MLB at Field of Dreams Game and the World Baseball Classic in Japan.

MLB’s partnership with ESPN will continue for the 39th consecutive season, as ESPN acquired a national midweek game package and the rights to sell MLB.TV.

“Our new media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix provide us with a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment and marquee events,” said commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. “Following our last World Series game that averaged more than 51 million viewers globally, these partnerships build on MLB’s growing momentum that includes generational stars setting new standards for excellence, new rules which have improved the game on the field and increases in important fan engagement metrics like viewership, attendance, participation and social media consumption. We’re looking forward to tapping into the unique areas of expertise that ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix each bring to the sport for the benefit of our fans.”