While MLB’s relationship with one national rights holder is fracturing, perhaps beyond repair, another is showing arguably more strength than ever. 

Fox unveiled Tuesday the key elements of its 2025 MLB broadcast plans, its 30th season covering the league and showcasing a stacked schedule that looks to build on a banner 2024 season. Among the key highlights:

• U.S. national rights to the season-opening series in Tokyo between the defending-champion Dodgers and Cubs. The series is expected to be one of the league’s biggest international trips ever, thanks in part to the homecoming of Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki. 
• A doubleheader for traditional Opening Day that will include regionalized primetime coverage of the high-spending Mets against the Astros.
• A Baseball Night in America schedule in the regular season focused on top rivalries and revivals of 2024 playoff matchups such as the Dodgers and Mets on May 24, a Dodgers-Yankees rematch of last year’s World Series on May 31, and three iterations of Red Sox–Yankees between early June and late August.
• The July 15 All-Star Game from the Braves’ Truist Park.
• The MLB Speedway Classic on Aug. 2, a special-event game between the Braves and Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
• Postseason coverage that will include the American League Division Series and Championship Series, and then the World Series. 

The efforts follow a resurgent season for Fox last year that included the best World Series viewership since 2017, as well as audience gains for the entire postseason, the World Series pregame show, a slight boost in the regular season, and even a rare head-to-head win over Monday Night Football. To that end, Fox executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch recently cited strong MLB viewership as among the key financial drivers of the company’s robust fourth quarter. 

Notably, Fox’s activity also contrasts heavily with that of ESPN, which last week said it is opting out of its rights deal with MLB after the 2025 season, failing to find sufficient value with its current, $550 million annual rights fee. Fox’s deal is even more expensive, coming in at about $729 million per year, but does include exclusive rights to key MLB events such as the All-Star Game and World Series. 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said last offseason that the team was ready to go “all-in” following their third disappointing playoff exit in a row. But Dallas failed to sign any marquee free agents, had a contract standoff with CeeDee Lamb that nearly spilled into the season, and finished with a 7–10 record, its second worst since 2015.

To add insult to injury, it had to watch the division-rival Eagles hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.

The Dallas front office appears to be taking a different approach this offseason. Speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine on Monday, Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said the team would take a “selectively aggressive” strategy—one more aligned to how it operated before last year.

“Obviously, our goals historically have been to try to fill as many of our musts and needs before the draft so you can pick the best player on your board,” Jones said. “Didn’t get that totally accomplished last year, but certainly that’s always the goal. And every year is different in terms of what those musts and needs are, and then you also have to marry what’s in free agency versus where the draft is heavy and where we can help ourselves in the draft.”

Jones’s answer is noteworthy given the team’s All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons said earlier this month that he hopes the Cowboys will be “aggressive” in building next year’s roster.

“I don’t wanna sit back and just watch other people build and build and build and [we] stay the same, so we definitely need some call to action,” Parsons said at a charity event.

Parsons’s future with the Cowboys is one of the team’s most important decisions this year. The Cowboys can offer the 25-year-old a contract extension that could make him the highest-paid defensive player in the league, one year after the team inked Dak Prescott to a $60 million per year deal (the highest AAV in the NFL) and Lamb to a four-year, $136 million contract (second highest for a receiver).

Jones seemed confident the Cowboys would secure a deal with Parsons but also spoke with caution in the wake of last year’s Lamb negotiations.

“I don’t necessarily know that there’s a lot of extenuating situations out there that would [prevent] us from being able to get our hands around something with Micah, but we’ll see,” Jones said.

The Cowboys, who have $2.5 million in cap space this offseason, according to Over The Cap, have also discussed a long-term deal with defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. Other 2025 free-agency decisions involve veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and receiver Brandin Cooks.

2025 Draft Plans

Jones said one of the team’s “goals” is to draft a quarterback—but it’s not because the team is ready to replace Prescott. The team’s two backups last year, Cooper Rush and Trey Lance, are both free agents.

It’s unlikely the Cowboys use the No. 12 overall pick on a quarterback. But they have plenty of options with their first-round selection and have been linked to Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty, who could help shore up the backfield. Rico Dowdle, the team’s primary back last year, is a free agent.

INDIANAPOLIS — Travis Kelce has yet to formally declare his intentions to play the 2025 NFL season or retire, but Chiefs GM Brett Veach has indicated he expects the star tight end back for at least one more year.

“How we left it at the end of the season is that he was fired up,” Veach said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “He has one more year under contract. I still think he has that fire and desire to play.”

Kelce, 35, signed a two-year contract last offseason that made him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL with an average annual salary of $17 million. Kansas City will owe Kelce an $11.5 million roster bonus on March 14, which sparked reports about a fast-approaching deadline for him to make a decision on his future.

However, Veach pushed back against that idea. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no deadline,” he said. “I think we left it as he’d be back, and we’re excited to get him back and get him going.”

Kelce is set to have a $19.8 million salary-cap hit next season, but the Chiefs could save $17 million if they cut the star. Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Kelce said he felt like he had “a lot of good football left,” but NFL Network subsequently reported that a victory over the Eagles could sway Kelce to retire.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who spoke to reporters just before Veach did Tuesday, was more noncommittal on Kelce’s future, which he said is “up to Travis.”

“At this point, get out of town and relax—that’s my motto for these guys,” Reid said. “They’ve played a lot of games for a consistent amount of seasons. So, you get to the end of the thing, you’ve exhausted yourself mentally and physically. Step back, and take care of that, then we’ll talk. For right [now], I think that’s what he’s doing. And he and I will get together.”

Reid indicated he hadn’t spoken to Kelce since he had individual exit meetings with his players following the Super Bowl.

INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Darnold’s future was unsurprisingly the hot topic for Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as they fielded questions from the media at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday afternoon.

The looming decision between paying Darnold likely more than $40 million annually under a new deal or leaning on second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy is currently a primary focus for the NFL franchise’s owner, the Wilf family, too. “They are involved, but they are very good at letting people do their job,” Adofo-Mensah said. “They ask a lot of good questions.”

Darnold led Minnesota to a 14–3 record last season while playing on a one-year, $10 million contract. McCarthy was selected with the 10th pick in last year’s NFL Draft, but he tore his meniscus in the preseason and missed the entire 2024 season.  

Adofo-Mensah said the Wilfs are “great resources” for his staff, which is weighing the pros and cons of trying to capitalize on McCarthy’s team-friendly rookie contract or investing more in Darnold. “It’s our job to present to them our logic, always, every decision we make, with the why,” he said. “They’re very big process people. They’re running a business, so it’s my job to show them our logic, and we do that.”

While Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell both agreed that Darnold has a bright future in the NFL, they stopped short of saying it would be in Minnesota. 

“We’re evaluating the short-term and long-term aspects of it,” O’Connell said. “It’s still early in the offseason process. But ultimately, [we’re] excited about what lies ahead in 2025.” 

O’Connell previously indicated the Vikings wouldn’t place the franchise tag on Darnold, which would have slotted the quarterback in for a one-year deal worth roughly $41 million, saying he had “earned the right to be a free agent.”

McCarthy will have a salary-cap hit of just under $5 million next season, just below $6 million in 2026, and less than $7 million in 2027. He would be eligible for an extension following the 2026 season, when the Vikings could also pick up a fifth-year team option.