Netflix’s expected rights deal with Major League Baseball for the Home Run Derby is not yet complete, but there is another baseball pact in place for the streaming giant.
World Baseball Classic, the company jointly owned by MLB and the MLB Players Association to operate the global tournament, has reached a deal with Netflix to show the upcoming 2026 tournament in Japan, per a Monday announcement. The agreement, covering all 47 WBC games, marks the first live event Netflix has streamed to Japanese audiences, and arrives after the company has had significant sports success elsewhere, including in the U.S. with the NFL.
Japan has been a critical country for baseball viewership, generating record viewership last fall for the 2024 World Series between the Shohei Ohtani–led Dodgers and Yankees, and continuing that momentum in March with MLB’s season-opening series in Tokyo that also involved the Dodgers.
The WBC, which debuted in 2006, will have its latest iteration next year, with many of the competing teams made up of MLB players. Tokyo is also one of the sites for initial pool play in the tournament next year, with those games expected to produce particularly strong viewership on Netflix. That Tokyo pool will include the Japan team, which is the defending World Baseball Classic champion.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Logic would suggest, however, that the WBC pact would be larger than the Home Run Derby one, pegged at more than $35 million annually, given the many additional broadcast exposures in the international tournament, and the ability to show the Japan team on its home turf. Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is among the top MLB figures who have already committed to play in the WBC. MLB and Netflix, meanwhile, have been having larger talks about how to collaborate on multiple fronts, ultimately spinning off completed deals such as this one for the WBC.
“Netflix has already demonstrated remarkable success in live sports streaming globally,” said MLB deputy commissioner for business and media Noah Garden. “By joining forces with a leader in entertainment, we are not only honoring the tradition of baseball, but also embracing the future—ensuring that fans of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy the tournament in ways that fit their lives today.”
The company’s rights deal for the Home Run Derby, expected in the coming days, will see Netflix take on an event that had been shown for many years by ESPN. Netflix, meanwhile, recently posted record streaming totals for the debut of Happy Gilmore 2 as it continues a more event-based strategy for sports rights.
The U.S. media rights for the 2026 WBC have yet to be announced.
