MLB and Turner Agree to Blockbuster Playoff Rights Extension [UPDATE]

MLB and AT&T's Turner Sports have agreed to a blockbuster extension for their league championship series playoff rights, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports. While exact price tag per year and duration are unknown at this time, he said there had been talks about raising the annual cost from $350 million to in the range of $500 million.

It's particularly and peculiarly on-brand for MLB talks of a blockbuster rights extension to emerge at the same time they're squabbling with the players about money and squandering time they could have been a source of great healing during an international pandemic. And no, they definitely don't care.

This is definitely a blow to Disney's ABC/ESPN, which had hoped to acquire these rights, but as Marchand points out they can still carve their way more into the playoff picture if the postseason expansion MLB does this year becomes permanent. It's also a sign that AT&T remains serious about live sports -- it's still a little while until NBA rights come up in 2025. DirecTV's deal with the NFL for Sunday Ticket is up in 2022.

It's also another reminder that live sports are holding together the cable/satellite bundle. MLB may not have the aggregate audience that it used to, but in a fragmented content universe filled with streaming, mobile internet, and video game alternatives it accumulates a valuable audience. FOX had already agreed with MLB on an extension for their playoffs/World Series rights.

This is yet another major sports right package, by the way, that did not go to a tech company like Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, or Netflix. It remains to be seen if/when they'll legitimately get into this business of premium exclusive rights.

UPDATE: John Ourand and Eric Prisbell of Sports Business Journal report that the deal runs through 2028 and is worth about $470 million per year. Also, the regular season MLB games on TBS are expected to move from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday night.









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Ryan Glasspiegel grew up in Connecticut, graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lives in Chicago. Before OutKick, he wrote for Sports Illustrated and The Big Lead. He enjoys expensive bourbon and cheap beer.