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Morning Edition

August 22, 2025

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MLB is close to new rights deals with two additional partners (NBC and Netflix), as well as a reshaped agreement with ESPN and a potential package with Apple. The league is confident it will ultimately earn more than the $550 million ESPN opted out of by splitting up that package.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Michael McCarthy [[link removed]], Ryan Glasspiegel [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

MLB Confident New Rights Will Exceed $550M ESPN Deal [[link removed]]

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

With almost as much speed as MLB’s fastest pitchers, the league’s national media-rights deals for the next three years are beginning to come into sharper focus.

MLB is now closing in on a series of agreements that will redistribute rights that were forfeited by ESPN back in February. Among the developing pacts, according to multiple sources:

A new national deal with NBC Sports that will move Sunday night coverage [[link removed]] to that network and sister streaming property Peacock, along with postseason inventory. The Wall Street Journal reported [[link removed]] that the pact could be worth about $600 million in total over three years, but sources cautioned that the final agreement could involve both additional rights and additional money. NBC is also in talks to scoop up rights to MLB’s wild-card playoff round, sources tell Front Office Sports. A dramatically reworked agreement with ESPN that keeps MLB involved with the league, extending an existing 35-year relationship, and fulfilling a key desire of ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. In the new-look agreement, ESPN’s rights would be based on the licensing of MLB.TV, the league’s out-of-market package, as well as distribution of local rights for five teams currently operating in the MLB-based production model, and a new, midweek national package. The five teams involved are the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies, and Twins. The Athletic previously reported ESPN could also have a package of national games, no longer on Sunday night, in the reimagined deal. An agreement for streaming giant Netflix to take over the rights to the Home Run Derby. The WSJ reported that the pact could be worth more than $35 million annually. The home-run-hitting contest fits squarely into Netflix’s insistence on a more event-based strategy [[link removed]] for acquiring sports rights. The pact would also tap into deep ties that MLB and Netflix each already have with T-Mobile, the title sponsor of the Home Run Derby. Apple remains engaged in talks with MLB. Despite some reports that its relationship with the league could end early and NBC could take over Friday nights, it’s more likely that the flurry of rights deals will see the company standing pat with its existing Friday night rights. MLB’s Fluid Media Game

Sources cautioned that the situation remains fluid, and more changes are possible as negotiations continue. Both the league and the involved networks, however, intend to complete the deals in the coming days. The pacts would run for the 2026–28 seasons, at which point MLB commissioner Rob Manfred intends to pursue a more nationalized media strategy [[link removed]].

“We’re having very detailed conversations with a number of parties, including ESPN,” Manfred said on Sunday Night Baseball. “We hope to have it resolved in the next couple of weeks. It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle.”

MLB remains confident that, ultimately, the reworked contracts will combine to bring more revenue than the $550 million per year ESPN pays in the existing deal. In an ideal world, the games will also have greater reach, as ESPN’s platforms could sell more MLB.TV [[link removed]] subscriptions and NBC would air games on its broadcast network.

For NBC, a successful deal with MLB would mark a nostalgic reunion with another powerful sports league. NBC was the first network to ever televise a baseball game in 1939. Then it served as a key media-rights partner with the Grand Old Game from 1947 to 1989, showing the popular NBC Game of the Week. It then offered more limited coverage, splitting rights with various networks.

Some of the most famous voices in sportscasting called baseball games for NBC, including Bob Costas, Tony Kubek, Joe Garagiola, and Bob Uecker. This fall, NBC will be back in the NBA business for the first time in 23 years. NBC’s coverage of The Association from 1990 to 2002 is fondly remembered by many fans. Michael Jordan’s dynastic Bulls won all six of their titles on NBC’s airwaves.

Before its next set of TV deals, MLB will have to grapple with potential labor issues, as the current collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association expires after the 2026 season. Tensions are already building on that front [[link removed]].

Spokespeople for NBC and MLB declined to comment.

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As Markets Move, So Do We

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Premier League Sets New Highs: $3.2B Spent, Record U.S. Viewership [[link removed]]

Phil Noble/Reuters via Imagn Images

With 10 days still to go in the Premier League’s summer transfer window and several major deals still expected, England’s top flight of men’s pro soccer has set a spending record.

As of Wednesday, the Premier League has allocated more than $3.2 billion in transfer fees, edging just past the record set two years ago. Within the overall total, six clubs have also set individual records for their respective spending, including defending champion Liverpool, which committed as much as $157.2 million in June for German midfielder Florian Wirtz [[link removed]].

The Premier League transfer figure is set to spike much further with additional expected deals, such as the sale of Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace to Arsenal [[link removed]]. Notably, the Premier League summer transfer total is higher than the combined total for the other four major European leagues—France’s Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, and Spain’s LaLiga.

Helping fuel the unprecedented spending in the U.K. is a new domestic media-rights deal starting this season, worth $9 billion over four years and representing the largest sports-rights deal in the country’s history. Within that, legislators recently rejected a move [[link removed]] to place more Premier League matches on free-to-air television.

The accelerating spending in the transfer window is also one of many considerations for the U.S.-based Major League Soccer, should it decide to shift to a fall-to-spring schedule [[link removed]]. That format, under serious consideration by the league, is the current standard across much of the sport, and making the switch would expose MLS more to the summer transfer window.

More U.S. Eyeballs

The start of the 2025–26 Premier League season, meanwhile, generated historic audiences in the U.S. Comcast-owned NBC Sports said that featured coverage of a Manchester United–Arsenal match averaged 2 million viewers, a record-setting figure for a season-opening match. The figure also just trailed its most-watched match in the U.S., a March 2024 clash between Manchester City and Arsenal that averaged 2.1 million viewers.

For the entire Premier League opening weekend, the network averaged 850,000 viewers for coverage of six matches across broadcast and cable television and digital platforms, including the Peacock streaming service. That overall figure is also a network record and beats the prior high-water mark, set last year, by 4%.

The network will attempt to maintain that momentum with coverage of the league’s second weekend, highlighted by a match between Arsenal and Leeds United, the 49ers-controlled club newly promoted back to the Premier League.

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Adapt to Market Shifts. Seek to Outperform

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Paige Bueckers Wowing Crowds, Selling Jerseys Despite Wings Losses [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Following the Dallas Wings game in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Paige Bueckers got a surprise in the locker room: Former Criminal Minds star Shemar Moore greeted the Wings star [[link removed]] following her 44-point performance, which tied the most points scored by a WNBA rookie.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who scored 44 points for the now-defunct Houston Comets against the Sacramento Monarchs in 1997, held the record for 28 years.

Bueckers admitted at the WNBA All-Star Game [[link removed]] in July that Moore was one of the celebrities she dreamed of seeing courtside at her games, but he was far from the only name to come out in Los Angeles. NBA players Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith Jr., and Jalen Green were also in attendance, as well as writer and former ESPN analyst Jemele Hill.

The star attendees are a sign of the popularity of Bueckers, despite an abysmal season from the Wings, who are a game out of last place. On SI writer Ben Geffner even shared a photo of dozens of fans [[link removed]] waiting outside Crypto.com Arena an hour after the game, hoping to catch Bueckers and the Wings team bus.

The 23-year-old rookie is undoubtedly one of the league’s biggest names. According to global sports and entertainment marketing company Two Circles, she is second in total social following in the WNBA behind only Angel Reese.

The Wings, despite a rough season, are third in road attendance, behind the Indiana Fever, who’ve had several road games moved to larger arenas, and the Las Vegas Aces, according to data from Across the Timeline [[link removed]].

The league has yet to release the list of highest-selling jerseys, but it’s likely Bueckers is on top. Bueckers is second in youth jersey sales this season, according to data from Outerstuff provided by OneTeam Partners. Caitlin Clark leads the group, with Reese, Sabrina Ionescu, and A’ja Wilson following Bueckers.

The Wings star has provided a boost as the WNBA continues to see incremental growth in its viewership [[link removed]] and attendance [[link removed]] this year, despite the absence of Clark, who has missed most of the season due to several injuries.

Bueckers is not going to provide the same transformational lift that Clark brought to the WNBA. The NCAA national championship was proof of that, as UConn’s national championship win in April drew less than half [[link removed]] of the viewership that Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes drew against the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2024.

But it was also a foreshadowing of Bueckers being a complementary asset. The game still drew 8.5 million viewers, the third-most-watched national championship game of all time—behind Iowa’s 2023 and 2024 runs.

With the two stars attached to the hip for the rest of their careers, it should only mean continued attention for the WNBA.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS NETWORK

P.J. Fleck on His Biggest Lesson As a Coach

This week on Next Up with Adam Breneman, Minnesota football head coach P.J. Fleck sits down for a wide-ranging conversation on the moments that defined his tenure at Minnesota—from snapping a 15-year losing streak to Wisconsin, to the program-changing upset over Penn State in 2019. He explains how his background as a 6th-grade teacher influenced his coaching style and why he believes “control is for amateurs.” He shares why Minnesota has one of the nation’s highest retention rates, how his staff manages NIL (name, image, and likeness) and revenue-sharing, and the importance of transparency with players when money is involved.

Fleck opens up about the origin of “Row the Boat,” born after the loss of his infant son, and how it became a symbol of resilience for Minnesota football and the community. He also discusses the legacy he hopes his players remember: not wins, but the life lessons of being better husbands, fathers, and leaders.

Watch the full Next Up episode here [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters Michigan QB Bryce Underwood celebrated his 18th birthday by gifting his teammates custom Beats by Dre headphones. Check it out [[link removed]]. Cubs broadcasters said they’d buy mozzarella sticks for an entire bar in Iowa if the Cubs turned a 6-4-3 double play. It happened two pitches later. Watch it here [[link removed]]. Notre Dame unveiled a new design of its famous leprechaun logo. Take a look [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Man Arrested for Throwing Dildo at Liberty Game [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]After police released his photo, the man turned himself in. NBC’s MLB Chase Built on Vision for Yearlong Sunday Night Sports [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]NBC Sports is gunning for a Sunday night slate rivaling “The Sopranos.” Andy Reid Office Shooting Went Unreported for a Year [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Reid was inside at the time but wasn’t injured. Question of the Day

Have you watched Paige Bueckers this WNBA season?

Yes [[link removed]] No [[link removed]]

Thursday’s result: Only 10% of respondents would watch an alt-cast led by a YouTube influencer.

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While active ETFs offer the potential to outperform an index, these products may more significantly trail an index as compared with passive ETFs.

ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses.

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