ESPN, Major League Baseball to Break Up After Current Season

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Disney‘s ESPN and Major League Baseball are breaking up after nearly 40 years together, a sign of how even the most durable content relationships have come under scrutiny in the streaming era, with sports rights increasing and entertainment conglomerates left to figure out how to pay the bill. “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 Thursday evening. “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.

As we have been throughout the process, we remain open to exploring new ways to serve MLB fans across our platforms beyond 2025.” More to come…..