MLB and ESPN have announced that they will part ways after the 2025 season, leaving MLB to test the open market for a new media rights deal. John Skipper, David Samson and Pablo Torre dove into the reasons behind the split on the latest edition of The Sporting Class on Pablo Torre Finds Out.
Divorces can be messy, but in the case of the MLB’s relationship with ESPN, Torre questioned whether divorce is the right word to describe this situation. Samson immediately added that this MOST DEFINITELY seemed like a divorce between the two parties and that the writing had been on the wall for a long time. He characterized the relationship as mediocre with occasional crappiness going back to his days as president of the Miami Marlins and when Skipper was the former president of ESPN. Sometimes, he felt like baseball had to kiss up to leadership at ESPN to generate more money and attention, and unfortunately, it never came. Ultimately, for Samson, this all boils down to MLB having other, better suitors and he thinks this was the right time for baseball to make a move.
.@DavidPSamson says after building up for a while, it was time for MLB and ESPN to divorce & go their separate ways. ⚾️📺
h/t @pablofindsout https://t.co/AcXENfD5Xl pic.twitter.com/ZiKpRqpMLD
— DraftKings Network (@DKNetwork) February 27, 2025
Skipper takes a different approach in that he does not believe MLB served ESPN with some Dear John letter. In his opinion, ESPN wanted the opt-out and decided not to continue the deal. Skipper acknowledged that the two hit a breaking point in their relationship, but he slyly expressed that the breaking point for MLB came when they were served the notice. Neither Samson nor Skipper can confirm who picked up the phone and initiated the conversation. However, Skipper believes that ESPN is in a place where they are spinning proverbial plates on sticks and having had to balance recent negotiations with the NBA, NFL and College Football Playoffs, so in their last deal they insisted on an opt-out. His instincts tell him that ESPN was not looking for a long-term relationship because they would have to spin money elsewhere and wanted to cut costs. Again, he cannot confirm who initiated the breakup, but from the tone of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s memo to owners after the news broke, it sure seems like MLB was the one who got dumped.
Wow MLB did not hold back in its letter to owners announcing the end of its deal with ESPN (after this season) via @TheAthletic https://t.co/WLp1WZF2Kk pic.twitter.com/bvHxuQmaE2
— ✏️Jacob Feldman (@JacobFeldman4) February 20, 2025
Torre proceeds to read some of Manfred’s memo, and the one line that sticks out to Skipper is when Manfred says that the MLB expressed that they were not willing to take a smaller deal on a shrinking platform. This stance, he suggests, was not about the agreement itself but the lower financial commitment. As the old saying goes, if a story leaks, it is because someone wants it out there. Samson shared that Manfred’s memo was shared with MLB ownership groups, which means it was expected it was going to leak. He doubles down by saying if he is MLB, he is glad that this memo has got out to highlight a relationship where MLB and its assets were not being valued when there are other partners out there who might understand their value. More importantly, the memo, in Samson’s eyes, acts as a declaration that not only will MLB be OK, but they also already have a potential deal in the offing for the media package that ESPN is giving up.
When it comes to Manfred’s allegation that baseball has “not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage,” Skipper shared that when he was at ESPN, he received regular complaints from MLB. He disputes this assertion, however, as he could recall that MLB highlights would be not only a mainstay of something like Top 10 Plays but THE mainstay of Top 10 Plays during baseball season. His thoughts were never that there was not enough baseball being shown. If anything, he was always wondering why there were so many baseball highlights and not enough of other spring/summer sports such as tennis. Skipper contends that baseball was regularly discussed on old ESPN shows like Mike & Mike. Furthermore, Skipper believes ESPN will likely remain interested in MLB’s highlights. However, he does not believe there will be an offer for MLB to accept of more than $550 million .
However, Samson pointed to MLB game assignments on ESPN as an issue. He points to a time when the network relegated an Opening Day game on ESPN2 in lieu of other commitments. Samson explained that MLB team executives were tracking those types of decisions. Given those decisions to put baseball coverage on the back burner, he told Skipper not to be surprised if MLB tried to identify other suitors. Skipper stressed that the decision to move certain games off the main ESPN channel was for viewership purposes as well as contractual obligations. The bottom line for Samson is that MLB is trying to get its product out to as many consumers as possible, and being on a “declining platform” like ESPN or ESPN 2 will not cut it. Samson even points out that the number of people consuming ESPN is down. Skipper contends, however, that ESPN is not a declining platform; it is CABLE that is in decline.
Check out more from the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out below!
SHOW BREAKDOWN
The Sporting Class: MLB and ESPN’s Divorce
- Major League Baseball just opted out of its $550 million contract with the Worldwide Leader. But are we still underestimating the fundamental value of the game? Why would a network sign a broadcast-rights deal in the first place, if you can just put crap on TV? And is Kyle Kuzma actually more popular than Aaron Judge? Plus: Netflix, Victor Wemminyamma, David Samson in union-boss mode, John Skipper’s Chocolate-Chip Cookie Theory — and the fan of this show who is consuming it on mushrooms.
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