The media plan for next year’s World Baseball Classic continues to come into focus as Fox has picked up the U.S. broadcast rights to the tournament.
The deal will see the network reprise the role it had in 2023 for the international tournament run by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association. For the title game in 2023 between the U.S. and Japan, the game averaged 5.2 million viewers and peaked at 6.5 million, and the league, union, and network will be aiming for similar results amid broader audience momentum for the sport during this year’s regular season and wild-card playoffs.
The U.S. team will be captained by Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, who has committed to play in his first World Baseball Classic.
Fox will air seven games of the tournament, including all pool-play games for the U.S. team and later-round action, on its broadcast network. Remaining matchups will air across other network platforms, including FS1, FS2, Fox One, and Tubi. The tournament is set for March 2026 and will conclude at loanDepot park in Miami.
The Fox agreement follows a similar one struck in August with Netflix for World Baseball Classic rights in Japan.
Fox, meanwhile, has continued to amplify its baseball presence, including with the MLB Speedway Classic in August.
