Why potential NFLN, RedZone acquisition should motivate MLB to remain on ESPN

"The exact amount of money or equity that Disney/ESPN would pay is not yet known, but it will be enormous," Marchand wrote, while adding that an acquisition would need to go through a lengthy regulatory process, which could take roughly nine months.

This fall, ESPN is launching its first-ever direct-to-consumer (DTC) app, allowing cord-cutters to access ESPN's linear networks, including its content on ABC, the ACC Network, ESPN, ESPN2, SEC Network and more.

Starting with the 2025-26 NBA regular season, ESPN will begin airing "Inside the NBA," the critically and commercially acclaimed show that aired before and after NBA on TNT games from 1989 to 2025, before the network lost media rights (thanks, David Zaslav) after the 2024-25 season.

If, by the start of the 2026 NFL regular season, ESPN also owns NFLN and NFL RedZone, its DTC app could be a hot ticket for sports fans.

ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" play-by-play commentator Karl Ravech put it perfectly in a recent conversation with Front Office Sports, saying, "To me, it's like the ark leaving with the animals. Baseball would want to be on the ark with all the sports animals."

In February, ESPN and MLB opted out of the final three years of its media rights package, with ESPN announcing the 2025 season would be its last airing MLB games.

However, the sides have been in talks in recent weeks about a "reworked package," according to FOS, which could include ESPN retaining the "Sunday Night Baseball" inventory and potentially offering regional packages.

Earlier this month, ESPN announced its "SNB" coverage was its most-watched in eight years, with viewership up 11 percent from 2024.

While commissioner Rob Manfred expressed frustration with the network's MLB coverage in a memo sent to owners after the sides agreed to opt out of their current deal, his main point might not ring as true should ESPN forge a stronger link with the NFL.

"We do not think it's beneficial for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform," Manfred wrote, per The Athletic. (Wait until he learns that MLB is getting $10 million per year from Roku for exclusive rights to an early Sunday game.)

MLB might not be as high a priority at ESPN as the NFL and NBA (or the NHL, for that matter), but keeping at least a portion of its product on the network is far better than being completely erased.

It might take another year for ESPN to complete a deal to acquire NFL Network and RedZone, but if MLB is wise, it will work out an agreement with the network much sooner.