Report: MLB, Turner Sports close to renewing TV deal at increased rate

At a time of great economic uncertainty for the sport, Major League Baseball is at least getting some good news about its television deals.

According to John Ourand and Eric Prisbell of Sports Business Daily, MLB is nearing an agreement with Turner Sports to extend the current broadcast rights deal. Turner will pay roughly $470 million annually through 2028, which constitutes an increase of roughly 40 percent compared to the previous deal.

MLB negotiated a new deal with Fox Sports for the same length in 2018, and got the same 40 percent annual increase in cost. The league is also negotiating with ESPN to continue that rights deal, likely at a similar rate increase.

Turner’s MLB playoff schedule is not expected to change under the new agreement. This means Turner will continue to televise one Wild Card game, two Division Series, and one League Championship Series each year. The only difference will see Turner’s weekly Sunday afternoon regular season game shift to a weeknight, likely Tuesday, in a bid to increase ratings.

If nothing else, live sports still counts as a huge attraction, and TV networks know it. That’s why they’re willing to pay prices like this. Expect players to notice this too as they remain locked in a standoff with owners over their 2020 salaries. Seeing the league agree to deals like this may only further their belief that owners aren’t being truthful about how dire things would be for the league economically if games are played without fans.