NBC Sports Linked to MLB Broadcasting Rights After ESPN Divorce

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Treppedi | Last updated Mar 21, 2025 5:39 PM ET

The broadcasting rights for the for the 2026-2028 MLB seasons are up for auction after last month's breakup with ESPN.

NBC Sports is exploring a bid, Jon Miller, President of Acquisitions & Partnerships, revealed at the SportsPro conference in New York City on Thursday morning.

NBC has a rocky history with MLB; according to Awful Announcing, NBC hasn’t broadcasted Major League Baseball nationally on linear television since 2000, though Peacock carried a series of early Sunday games from 2022 through 2023.

“We lost Major League Baseball in 1990, we got it back five years later, we lost it again in 2001, Fox came in and made a preemptive bid, so we’ve had our nose pressed against the glass for a long time,” Miller said. “They’re currently going through an interesting process where a lot of people are kicking the tires on Major League Baseball opportunities. We are as well… baseball is a property that knows how to adapt, who knows how to take advantage of where they are.

"There’s so much great product out there with so many terrific athletes, so many compelling stories, great ownership, great markets, and so I’m excited for the future of baseball. I think it’s a very positive outlook for them.”

The ESPN package up for sale features "Sunday Night Baseball," the wild-card round and the Home Run Derby.

Miller noted that many of NBC's cornerstone sports are ones that were also previously reacquired.

“A lot of the properties that we have now on our air we had and lost and are now back again,” he said. “Perfect example of that is the USGA. We had a great relationship with the USGA for 20 years. It went to Fox. COVID happened, and some things worked in our favor.

"We got the USGA back. The NBA we had we were away for 22 years, and now it’s back. We lost the NFL in 1998 for eight years, when they went with a Fox, CBS and ABC package, and we were on the outside looking in.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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