While Major League Baseball reported solid attendance numbers this year, the story on television was even better. 

The league finished the 2025 regular season with strong viewership increases on each of its national TV partners, amplifying momentum building around the sport. The individual figures include:

• ESPN: The network, in its final season with Sunday Night Baseball after 35 years, averaged 1.8 million for all of its MLB regular-season coverage this year, up 21% from 2024. 
• Fox: Games on broadcast averaged 2.04 million viewers, up 9%, while cable games on FS1 averaged 324,000 viewers, up 10%. 
• TNT Sports: The Warner Bros. Discovery outlet, about to head to Discovery Global in a forthcoming corporate split, averaged 462,000 viewers for its non-exclusive MLB games this year, up 29%.
• MLB Network: The league-run outlet averaged 261,000 viewers for its out-of-market “Showcase” live games, up 13%.

Those broadcasting figures follow a small gain in attendance this season, but one that solidified MLB’s first three-year run of growth at the gates since 2005–07. They also arrive as MLB is completing a set of reworked rights deals for the 2026–28 seasons to reallocate rights being forfeited by ESPN.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league has agreements in principle on a restructured pact with ESPN that has a greater focus on local broadcasting rights and the MLB.TV out-of-market game package, a new deal with NBC that includes a Sunday night presence and the wild-card playoffs, and another new one with Netflix based in part on the Home Run Derby.

Other key metrics include a 34% increase in consumption for MLB.TV to 19.39 billion minutes, another league record. Average game times edged up by two minutes this year to 2 hours and 38 minutes, but remain well below pre-2023 measures as on-field rules introduced that year, notably the pitch clock, remain deeply impactful. Japanese viewership, which posted big totals during last year’s World Series and this year’s season-opening series, averaged 2.65 million per game this season, up 20% and another record.

Big Local Increases, Too

Game viewership across the league on regional sports networks, meanwhile, grew 2%. Main Street Sports, the largest single operator in that level of baseball broadcasting through its FanDuel Sports Network, said its MLB coverage across 15 owned-and-operated outlets averaged 1.5 million daily viewers across all platforms, an 18% increase from 2024. 

The total also continues a turnaround for the company, formerly Diamond Sports Group, as it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year with a new name, a new vision for the business, and a sharply heightened focus on digital access to live games, either on a direct-to-consumer basis or through Amazon Channels. MLB games on FanDuel Sports Network generated more than 2.8 billion minutes of consumption this year, more than twice the comparable number from last year.

“On one part, we were the beneficiary of a really strong baseball season, all the national carriers have done well, and many of our teams have had strong seasons,” FanDuel Sports Network head of research David Coletti tells Front Office Sports. “The other component, perhaps less evident in the numbers themselves, is that our audience has benefited from our ubiquitous access model. … It was really a payoff in this company’s hypothesis, which goes back a year, that if you enable that access for fans on the local level, they will follow.”

The PGA of America is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons after a disappointing performance for the U.S. Ryder Cup team on the course, and an equally subpar showing from fans at Bethpage Black Golf Course.

As the operator of the U.S. team, and the tournament when it’s played Stateside, the PGA of America bears responsibility for the competitive workings and logistical issues of this Ryder Cup. 

At least one spectator was arrested, and many were ejected throughout the weekend, as the crowds of 50,000-plus per day turned ugly against the dominating European team. While some fans being kicked out of tournaments isn’t unusual, arrests are not common at golf events, and none were.

On Saturday, security had to be beefed up around Rory McIlroy, who was the main target of heckling from U.S. fans, and one fan threw a drink at McIlroy’s wife, Erica. “The police out there and the amount of security presence was insane,” McIlroy said Sunday night.

Unruly crowd behavior from New York fans had been a concern ever since the PGA of America announced in 2013 it would take this Ryder Cup to Bethpage, and even more so after rowdy scenes at the 2019 PGA Championship at the venue. But despite the lengthy lead-up, it’s clear not enough precautions were taken.

On Saturday night, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said, “You’re always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that’s unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quiet down some people that were like that. Part of it our fault. We are not playing up to the standards that they want to see, and they are angry, and they should be.” That led to a testy exchange with a British reporter, who asked about players’ performance being to blame for fans crossing the lines. Bradley said, “That’s not what I said. I said the fans are probably upset that their home team is losing.”

Around the World

The next five Ryder Cup locations that have been announced will be in tamer markets than New York, particularly those held in the U.S.:

• 2027: Adare Manor in Ireland
• 2029: Hazeltine National in Minnesota
• 2031: Camiral in Spain
• 2033: The Olympic Club in San Francisco
• 2035: TBD in Europe
• 2037: Congressional Country Club just outside Washington, D.C.

Ryder Cup Europe (a joint venture among the European Tour, the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, and the PGAs of Europe) operates the tournament when it is played across the pond.

From the Top

For the PGA of America, beyond the off-course issues at Bethpage, the organization must now decide on a captain for the 2027 event; the U.S. has not won on European soil since 1993.

Bradley was appointed captain in July 2024, just after former PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh stepped down when his contract expired the month before. The PGA of America is now led by CEO Derek Sprague and president Don Rea Jr., both of whom officially began their new roles in January.

Tiger Woods was the PGA of America’s first choice to captain the 2025 team, but he turned it down due to time commitment issues as he worked (and is still working) to help broker a deal between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which is the financial backer of LIV Golf. 

One name that can be taken off the future captain’s list is Phil Mickelson. “No rumors. My Ryder Cup involvement is over,” he wrote on X on Sunday. “I’m happy being a spectator and rooting for Team USA.”

Luke Donald has captained the last two European Ryder Cup teams, and he could be in the running for a third captaincy in 2027.

Another regional sports network is ceasing to exist, reflecting the still-turbulent market for this part of the media business. 

Root Sports Northwest, the local television home of MLB’s Mariners, will wind down operations this fall, ending a 37-year run on the air under several different names and ownership structures. Beginning next year, the Mariners will fold fully into MLB’s in-house media model, one that also involves the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies, and Twins—and potentially more to come.

The Mariners have majority-owned the network since 2013, and fully owned it since 2023—part of a broader exit by Warner Bros. Discovery from the RSN business that also included network sales or closures in Denver, Pittsburgh, and Houston.

The move in Seattle has long been expected, particularly as Root Sports Northwest saw its options for additional programming continue to winnow. The NBA’s Trail Blazers left last year for a mix of local, over-the-air television broadcasting and streaming. A prior contract with the NHL’s Kraken also wasn’t renewed as that team, too, embraced a new model for regional media distribution. 

Meanwhile, many major cable and satellite TV distributors have increasingly sought to put RSNs on more expensive tiers, a situation at the heart of an ongoing dispute between Comcast and the Yankees-led YES Network. Between that emerging trend and another accelerating one around cord-cutting by consumers, Root Sports Northwest’s subscriber base plummeted from 3.3 million in 2014 to 1.2 million last year.

As all that has happened, MLB had already been involved in a partial production role this past season with Root Sports Northwest. In the short term, the Mariners will almost certainly see a revenue hit from their local broadcasting.

“We continue to focus on finding new ways to bring our games in 2026 and beyond to our fans and we’ve determined joining with Major League Baseball is the best path,” the Mariners said in a statement.

Seattle, which won its first division title since 2001 and is part of a new-look playoff field, will have its playoff games aired on national networks, starting with the American League Division Series that will be on Fox outlets. 

The team’s final live broadcast, a 6–1 loss to the Dodgers to close the regular season, was an emotional one with several on-air broadcasters for Root publicly bidding farewell to one another and Mariners fans. Talent and production roles in the new structure have not yet been finalized, but it’s likely several of the key on-air voices for the Mariners will be retained. Play-by-play announcer Aaron Goldsmith, in particular, is employed by the Mariners. Meanwhile, Root Sports Northwest reporter Jen Mueller said she will depart Mariners broadcasts. She had been there for 19 years.

“It’s hard to boil four decades into just one day today. I’m lucky to work with so many good people,” said Root Sports Northwest anchor Angie Mentink during the final broadcast.