Detail of stadium signage promoting the 2018 Major League Baseball Postseason on Fox and FS1 at SunTrust Park on Sept. 14, 2018. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
Major League Baseball has expanded its broadcast rights agreement with Fox Sports and added streaming service DAZN as a new media partner in the U.S.
Fox still had three seasons left of an eight-year deal that was worth $525 million annually, but renewed the contract for more than $5 billion over the following seven seasons through 2028, Bloomberg reported. That equates to an average annual increase of 36 percent ($714 million per year). Fox Sports retains exclusive rights to the All-Star Game, World Series, and 52 regular season broadcast windows. More playoff and regular season games will air on network Fox rather than cable Fox Sports 1 beginning in 2022.
MLB announced that the new terms with Fox include expanded streaming, social media and highlight rights, although a league spokesman said no further details are available now.
The addition of DAZN to MLB’s broadcast stable signals an innovative new rights package. DAZN will co-produce a new nightly studio show with MLB that features highlights and cuts in live to ongoing games five evenings per week. Further details will be announced in the coming months. MLB Network has aired its own version, “MLB Tonight,” for years, which resembles what’s shown on the NFL Red Zone channel. Bloomberg noted that this agreement is for three years and $300 million.
“The cornerstone of the agreement is a whip around show that involves highlights, live look ins and updates,” Manfred told reporters, adding: “This is part of our ongoing effort to make baseball available on every platform where our fans want to consume.”
Perform Group-owned DAZN launched in the U.S. back in September and added former ESPN president John Skipper as its executive chairman. Sports Business Journal first reported these rights agreements.
“It’s going to be a complement to the current relationships you have with your existing partners,” Skipper said.
SportTechie Takeaway
That Fox Sports is gaining expanded digital rights was expected, but the addition of DAZN to the mix is most noteworthy. DAZN becomes a major digital partner for MLB in the U.S., where it joins Facebook and Twitter, which have shown weekly games. (DAZN is already a MLB partner in Japan, Italy, and Germany.) The global subscription service now has a major U.S. rights deal beyond fight sports.
The events on DAZN’s fight sports calendar are inherently on weekends, meaning the OTT platform had virtually no live content during the week. Now, sports fans have more reason to subscribe and tune in given the large blocks of time that live, regular season baseball occupies from April through September. While there are often midweek and weekend matinees that would extend the live game hours, each weeknight typically has upwards of seven hours of action.
