• by Wayne Friedman , 8 hours ago

With its new NBA deal ready to begin next season, NBCUniversal is making a significant push to strike a deal with another major sports league --  Major League Baseball, according to reports.

NBCU would be taking over the package owned by ESPN.

The sports TV network and the league recently agreed to end the MLB baseball deal they struck in 2021 early. The network has aired a Sunday night baseball game since 1990.

Specifically, NBCU would be using the deal to boost more sports content on NBC Television Network, which would air some games, as well as its Peacock streaming service.

An NBCU representative had no comment to a Television News Daily inquiry. 

A report in The Wall Street Journal said NBC would be paying significantly less than ESPN because it is not seeking international and/or radio rights.

The new spinoff NBC cable TV network-focused company Versant, which includes USA Network -- a network that has been increasingly adding sports content -- could also bid on the MLB.

In February -- before the start of the new baseball season -- ESPN and MLB agreed to end their seven year deal early, after the 2025 season was completed.

ESPN has been complaining about profitability issues that arise with the airing of baseball games. For its part, MLB has complained that pay TV cord cutting has hurt its business -- saying ESPN was now only in 53.6 million homes, down from 69 million when it made its deal with ESPN.

In 2021, ESPN signed a seven-year deal with a price tag of around $550 million per season. Other networks that struck deals with MLB at that time include Fox (at around $730 million a year, according to analysts) and TNT (at $470 million) also have MLB deals, which expire in 2028.

Last year, NBCUniversal secured an 11-year deal for $2.5 billion with the NBA, starting next year for the 2025-26 season).

The deal includes 100 regular-season NBA games to be aired on NBC and Peacock, as well as playoff games and the All-Star Game.

Games are to be aired on Sunday night, as well as other dayparts.

This story has been updated.