Questions About MLB’s Streaming Future Loom As Peacock Deal Ends

An important part of MLB’s experimentation in national-level streaming is now up for renewal.

The league’s two-year rights deal with NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service quietly expired with the end of the 2023 season, and the future state of the rights package is uncertain. MLB initially struck the deal shortly before spring training in 2022, making it one of the league’s first finalized pieces of business after reaching a new labor deal with the MLB Players Association.

The Peacock agreement created a new early-Sunday rights package, with games typically starting at 11:30 a.m. ET, forming something of a bookend with ESPN’s long-running “Sunday Night Baseball.” 

The deal, estimated at $30 million annually, was rather small in the scope of MLB’s overall national media rights agreements, which include a $729 million-per-year deal with Fox, $560 million with ESPN, $535 million with Warner Bros. Discovery, and $85 million with Apple. But as a streaming-only deal it represented a core part of MLB’s push to reach new fans on new platforms and manage ongoing media disruption.

For Peacock, the deal added to an enviable sports rights portfolio that also includes the NFL, Premier League, PGA Tour, Olympics, Big Ten, and Notre Dame football – even if those rights haven’t yet translated to profitability for the platform. 

The expiration of the Peacock deal also arrives during a period of broader change within MLB’s media landscape, as the league continues to grapple with the Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy and the related revenue impacts on the 12 teams with ties to DSG’s Bally Sports.