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Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred might be the worst leader of any professional sports league in the world. The evidence of this was once again revealed when it was announced in February that ESPN’s airing of Major League Baseball games will come to an end after the 2025 season.
ESPN announced they had opted out of the final three years of their contract with Major League Baseball in February, ending a partnership that began in 1990. Over those years, ESPN went from showing up to 90 MLB games per season and airing a nightly Baseball Tonight show to broadcasting just 30 regular season games per year and canceling Baseball Tonight as a daily show in 2017.
“We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and proud of how ESPN’s coverage super-serves fans,” ESPN said in a statement. “In making this decision, we applied the same discipline and fiscal responsibility that has built ESPN’s industry-leading live events portfolio as we continue to grow our audience across linear, digital and social platforms.”
Major League Baseball, in its own statement, dubiously claimed they had “mutually agreed to terminate our agreement” with ESPN. (They hadn’t.) They also claimed the league has “significant interest from both traditional media companies and streaming services who would like to obtain rights to MLB games.”
On Wednesday, Rob Manfred appeared on Mad Dog Unleashed and again tried to spin the split between MLB and ESPN.
“Were you surprised?” Chis Russo asked Manfred. “Were you keeled over when ESPN said they were going to opt out of the contract? Or did you see it coming?”
“I didn’t have to see it, I could read it,” Manfred replied. “I mean, you know, there were leaks going back a year. You know, it’s unfortunate that was the mode of communication… Eventually it got to the point where they told us what they were thinking, but we had been reading leaks for over a year before that phone call took place. That’s unfortunate, it did not help the conversations.
“Look, there was a level of dissatisfaction on our part. It started with the end of Baseball Tonight. I think if you watch ESPN, and I do, you know, where we appear on SportsCenter in the morning, there were issues there too… You know, there was a level of dissatisfaction.
“Having said that, did we want to be partners with them? Yes, but you know, taking less money,” Rob Manfred continued. “Look, and I’ll say this publicly because I said it to them. They stepped up for the NBA. They stepped up for football, you know? This stepped up for this one, and to come back to us and say, ‘we want to cut you.’
“We felt like we were being treated in a way… particularly if you listen to their own rhetoric when they are marketing baseball, you know? We are up for them. We were up on [age] 18 to 34s. We deliver a nice Hispanic audience. We do a great job in terms of gender breakdown. So, you know, like I said, it was an unfortunate thing. They were a great, great partner.”
"Were you surprised when ESPN said they wanted to opt out of the contract… or did you see it coming?" –@MadDogUnleashed
"Well I didn't have to see it. I could read it. There were leaks going back a year. [It's] unfortunate that was the mode of communication." -Rob Manfred 👀 pic.twitter.com/usgq9rxp2Y
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) March 26, 2025
If you are a baseball fan, what this probably means is that there will be even more broadcasts of Major League Baseball games annoyingly spread out over even more channels and streaming services than it already is. And don’t even get us started on Manfred’s complete lack of action when it comes to dealing with blackouts.