PHILADELPHIA — Already the biggest entity in the streaming wars, Netflix is now looking to put its stamp on MLB’s Home Run Derby.
Netflix will exclusively show Monday night’s home run contest from Citizens Bank Park, forming a key part of a three-year rights deal signed last fall with the league while debuting a new look to this year’s midseason showcase. Following the opening night broadcast in late March between the Yankees and Giants, the Home Run Derby represents arguably the biggest baseball presence yet for Netflix.
“We’ve always loved the Home Run Derby, and when we had the conversations with MLB and this opportunity came up, we pounced,” Netflix VP of sports Gabe Spitzer tells Front Office Sports. “The derby really fits in our overall programming strategy. It’s a big event with big personalities and something that resonates across a wide audience.”
The Home Run Derby broadcast, which will be available globally, will feature Lauren Shehadi, Matt Vasgersian, and Elle Duncan leading the coverage, along with appearances by MLB legends Barry Bonds, Hunter Pence, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rizzo, and CC Sabathia.
The event represents yet another significant move for Netflix to get deeper into live sports. That effort includes an expanded, five-game rights package in 2026 with the NFL unveiled in May, but also is a strategy that remains focused on high-profile events as opposed to full-season rights deals.
After a bullish first quarter to start the year, Netflix will report its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, three days after the Home Run Derby. Netflix now has more than 325 million global subscribers.
The Netflix presentation of the Home Run Derby, meanwhile, ends a long run for that event on ESPN.
Spitzer also cheered the final mix of eight Home Run Derby competitors, a blend that includes hometown Phillies veterans Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, international figures such as Japanese-born White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami, and younger stars such as the Yankees’ Ben Rice.
Higher Standard
Netflix is looking to avoid some of the technical glitches and production misfires that occurred during its Yankees-Giants broadcast in March. Part of its presentation will include two separate broadcast desks set up on the Citizens Bank Park field, one a more traditional set-up and the other a “lounge-style” presence.
“Having the two greatest living home run hitters as part of our presentation is going to be a big plus,” Spitzer said, referring to Bonds and Pujols, who rank first and fourth, respectively, in career MLB homers.
Despite the issues in March, that initial broadcast averaged three million viewers and attracted the youngest audience for an MLB opener in a decade—excluding the league’s pandemic-delayed start in 2020. While Netflix has not specified an audience target for the derby, similar viewership trends are anticipated on a broad level.
Even before the Home Run Derby is done, Netflix is also looking ahead to the Aug. 13 Field of Dreams game from Iowa between the Phillies and Twins, the third and final MLB event the streamer will have this year.
“We’re already hard at work on that one, too, and have been out in Iowa scouting the location,” Spitzer says. “That one is different, though. It obviously leans into nostalgia, but it’s also a game that counts in the standings.”
