Major League Baseball has new three-year agreements with a trio of entertainment giants for the 2026-28 seasons, the league announced Wednesday.

ESPN, NBC Universal, and Netflix are divvying up significant pieces of the pie, but the renewed covenant with ESPN is the notable headliner. For much of the last year it seemed ESPN and MLB were on the precipice of uncoupling after over three decades, after the two “mutually agreed” to end their agreement last February, three years before the seven-year extension they signed in ’21 was due to expire.

Now, they will be more intertwined than ever in what ESPN’s press release called “a new fan-focused, multi-faceted agreement.”

Starting in ’26, ESPN will be the exclusive rights-holder to MLB.TV, with all out-of-market games available to stream live and on-demand on the ESPN app and MLB platforms. ESPN Unlimited subscribers will also be able to watch over 150 out-of-market MLB games each season as part of the ‘game of the day’ feature, and MLB.TV subscribers will gain access to MLB Network’s 24/7 programming and “over 50,000 other sports events and content from ESPN’s family of networks.”

ESPN is also the new local in-market streaming home for six MLB clubs: the San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies. The Disney-majority-owned sports media conglomerate also retains MLB studio rights for ‘Baseball Tonight’ and the MLB Little League Classic, and adds Memorial Day and the second-half opener game to its slate.

(Courtesy of ESPN Images)

While ESPN’s MLB foothold increases immensely with their new agreement, several notable facets of their longtime partnership are ending. Sunday Night Baseball, an ESPN exclusive since their partnership first began in 1990, will now be on NBCUniversal, as will the entire Wild Card round of the postseason. NBC’s streaming service Peacock will offer all 25 Sunday night games, which will also air on either NBC or their new NBC Sports Network; the first game will be April 12.

These agreements mark a true homecoming for NBC, which in 1939 broadcast the first-ever televised baseball game – between Princeton University and Columbia University on May 17 – and the first televised MLB game, between the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in New York on Aug. 26. NBC aired MLB games regularly from 1947-89 and from 1994-95 on the short-lived The Baseball Network in partnership with ABC. Select postseason rounds were also broadcast on NBC until 2000.

After a hiatus of more than two decades, regular-season baseball briefly returned to NBC and Peacock as Sunday Leadoff from 2022-23. NBC, which celebrates its centennial in 2026, will bring back Sunday Leadoff in a package of 18 games.

Netflix is the new kid on the block. Its baseball footprint will be smaller, but noteworthy nonetheless as it gets MLB’s opening night with New York Yankees at San Francisco Giants on March 25, the ’26 Field of Dreams game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 13, and all 47 2026 World Baseball Classic games for its Japanese audience.

All three platforms will enjoy a share of MLB’s All-Star Week festivities. NBC and Peacock will present the first hour of the MLB Draft, the Futures Game, and a new player-centric event. Netflix is taking over ESPN’s Home Run Derby duties.

According to ESPN, MLB will average “nearly $800 million per year” from this trio of partnerships, with ESPN paying $550 million, NBC $200 million, and Netflix $50 million.

MLB also has lucrative partnerships with FOX and Turner Sports, which expire after the ’28 season and average $729 million and $470 million per year, respectively. The league also introduced a “Friday Night Baseball” partnership with Apple TV for the ’22 season.