US pay-television broadcaster ESPN has acquired US and international rights for Major League Baseball for eight years, from 2014 to 2021, in a deal worth $5.6 billion (€4.55 billion), or $700 million per season.
The value of the new deal is double the $350 million per year that is paid by ESPN under its current contract, which was signed in 2006 and expires at the end of the 2012-13 season.
ESPN will show up to 90 regular-season games per year, 10 more than the current agreement. The deal also includes rights for a wild-card game and additional highlights and digital content. ESPN will continue to broadcast games in three windows each week, including Monday nights, Wednesday nights and the exclusive Sunday Night Baseball slot.
The deal, which includes mobile and internet rights, also allows ESPN to increase the number of so-called ‘coexist’ games it can show simultaneously with a regional broadcaster. Currently, ESPN is prevented from showing games in the local markets of the teams involved in a game.
ESPN president John Skipper told the Associated Press news agency: “We’re ESPN. We promote the game all day, we take ‘Baseball Tonight’ to the area and then when the game starts, there’s a message that says ‘not carried in your area.’ We are now out of that business. The coexist is very important to us.”
League commissioner Bud Selig added: “Given the number of games that we have, we certainly don’t want to hurt any local rights-holders. I don’t think we have here at all. The clubs, on balance, are all going to be remarkably better off.”
The league said it is also seeking new domestic broadcast deals with the Fox network and the Turner Broadcasting System cable-television broadcaster.
“Those contracts expire at the end of the 2013 season, and the exclusive negotiating window for those networks has passed,” the league said.