MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro have two of the most high-profile and demanding jobs in all of sports. That pressure has only escalated in the wake of the momentous decision to end their rights deal three years early, and will go a long way to defining the future course of both executives and their organizations.

The league has already been in the midst of a large-scale reformation of its media rights amid the industry migration toward streaming. By walking away from the $550 million per year deal that ESPN was due to pay MLB for the 2026–2028 seasons, Manfred is now on the hook to show team owners that he can find a deal that gives the league more money, much more exposure, or ideally, both. 

In a memo sent Thursday to team owners, the commissioner suggested that could very well be arriving, and potential candidates for a rights deal could include Amazon, NBCUniversal, Netflix, and CBS parent company Paramount. Manfred said he is particularly looking to partner with “a new broadcast and/or streaming platform.” 

“We have been in conversations with several interested parties around these rights over the past several months, and expect to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks,” Manfred wrote. 

There is certainly some wind now at the back of Manfred and MLB, coming off a transformative 2024 that has given way to expectations for more growth in 2025. That momentum, in Manfred’s mind, helped make “ESPN’s demand to reduce rights fees simply unacceptable,” according to a league statement. 

Several prior MLB rights deals, however, with entities such as Facebook, YouTube, and Peacock—generally deemed as experiments—were not renewed and, ultimately, helped contribute to the current impasse with ESPN.

Bristol Considerations 

Pitaro, meanwhile, has his own issues. The Disney-owned network is preparing to debut this summer its direct-to-consumer streaming service, currently called “Flagship,” which is a major corporate priority. Many observers and analysts have long felt that having all four major U.S. men’s pro sports leagues is a vital component of attracting subscribers and reducing churn.

To that end, LightShed Partners said last week that “once [ESPN] made the strategic decision to build a full-year sports streaming service, they not only need the NBA, they need MLB.” Similarly, Pitaro has made it core to ESPN to “serve sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere,” as the network’s mission statement reads—reflected in part by having some type of tie with nearly every major league.

ESPN, however, believes it can bridge the spring and summer months without MLB, if needed. Programming to do that would include NBA and NHL playoffs, the WNBA, NBA Summer League, Little League World Series, and the US Open of tennis, among other events. 

Separately, industry sources familiar with Pitaro’s thinking said there are at least three issues with MLB’s internal and external statements. ESPN does not deem this separation “mutual” and believes the network alone initiated the process. Manfred’s assertion to owners that ESPN’s linear reach has fallen to 53.6 million homes does not match with ESPN’s own count of about 67 million. 

Network insiders, meanwhile, also questioned the characterization of ESPN as a “shrinking platform,” particularly in the wake of major rights deals struck recently with the likes of the NBA and College Football Playoff. 

Pitaro and Manfred spoke Thursday afternoon, not long before the separate announcements of the split, and the door technically remains open for a reunion. Such a development, however, would require a sizable pivot by one or both parties from their current positions. 

The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off was a runaway success, perhaps beyond even the league’s wildest dreams. Now comes the likely harder task of sustaining that momentum. 

The tournament, won by Canada with a dramatic overtime victory over the U.S. in the title game, tapped deeply into national pride and elicited all sorts of strong emotions on both sides of the border. The event even drew admiration from other league commissioners, including Major League Soccer’s Don Garber, who told Front Office Sports that the tournament was “brilliant.”

As regular-season play resumes Saturday, though, some of those feelings won’t be there, and the NHL will again pick up the work of attempting to reduce a roughly 11% ratings decline so far this season.

The NHL, however, does have several upcoming events that will likely help drive fan interest, particularly among more casual ones. Among them:

• The GR8 Chase: Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin is now just 16 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time league record of 894 goals scored—a mark once thought to be untouchable. The 39-year-old Ovechkin, in the midst of another strong season after missing five weeks with a broken fibula, is expected to hit the mark late in the regular season. That milestone will undoubtedly drive widespread coverage among NHL rights holders in both the U.S. and Canada. 
• Rise of the Oilers: Already seen for nearly a decade as one of the NHL’s top players, Oilers superstar Connor McDavid further etched his place in Canadian hockey history by scoring the winning goal in the 4 Nations Face-Off final. His Edmonton team, meanwhile, has been on a tear, is now tied for second in the Western Conference, and is seeking to avenge the Game 7 loss in last year’s Stanley Cup Final. 
• Return of the Red Wings? An Original Six NHL franchise, Detroit has historically been a sizable business driver in the league, and it particularly dominated the NHL in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A painful rebuilding process, however, has left the team out of the postseason since 2016—a streak currently in line to end. 
• Big developments in Utah: The Utah Hockey Club is in the midst of a permanent naming process, with the current finalists including just keeping the current identity, the Mammoth, and the Outlaws. Before that choice is finalized, though, the team is six points out of a playoff spot, and reaching the postseason in the first season after relocating from Arizona would be a further boost toward reestablishing itself in the new home. 
• Going back outdoors: The season’s final outdoor game will happen March 1 between the Red Wings and Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium, the first such event in Columbus. 
• Panthers Repeat? The Panthers will attempt to become the first back-to-back Stanley Cup winners since the Lightning of 2020 and 2021. 

“It’s very gratifying to see how the tournament has played out and how people have reacted to it, because there was a fair amount of cynicism going into it,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on ESPN Radio. “What I’ve been gratified by is how well this has been received by not just hockey fans, but sports fans in general. And if you’re a sports fan, and you’ve taken a peek at what’s been going on, maybe we’ve got you now as a hockey fan.”

The MLS season starts this weekend, as the league grows to 30 teams, who will compete for the next nine months before a champion is crowned in December.

That could change as early as 2026, with MLS deliberating the pros and cons of a permanent schedule shift to run on the traditional fall-to-spring calendar that global soccer uses. If that happens, MLS would likely restart its 2026 season in August after the FIFA World Cup that will be played in North America.

“All of us are looking for different moments to be able to keep fans’ attention,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in an interview with Front Office Sports this week.

Right now, MLS starts its season shortly after the Super Bowl, but its playoffs take place in the fall during the NFL’s regular season. “We’re actually in competition with the other major leagues even more now,” Garber said.

While the clock is ticking, MLS is open to all options. “The most important part of any league’s competition is your playoffs and your final, and we’re right smack in the busiest time in the major leagues and that’s part of our decision-making,” Garber said. “Do we move it to May? Do we move it to June? So, we have to figure all that out.”

Expansion Not Done

With the launch of the expansion franchise San Diego FC, MLS joins the NBA and MLB at 30 clubs each. The NFL has 32, as does the NHL, which is exploring options to grow even larger.

What number will MLS land on? “At 20 I thought we’d never get to 22—22 I never thought we’d get to 24, and on and on,” Garber said. “I don’t know the answer to that.” Still, there appears to be a fast-approaching ceiling. “I’ve given up predicting when MLS will stop expanding,” he said. “But it’s hard to imagine you would get past 32.”

San Diego’s ownership group paid a $500 million expansion fee, which is evidence of the value MLS provides. “The original investment was a couple million dollars in 1996 and averaging now almost $700 million,” Garber said of franchise valuations.

“The good news is there’s a return on their investment,” he added. “Whether there’s a team sale or a limited sale, over the last number of years, people who put money into MLS teams get a good return.”