• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Major League Baseball confirms it has three bidders -- NBC, Apple, and ESPN -- for a new, revamped “Sunday Night Baseball” TV package. 

Rob Manfred, commissioner of the MLB, confirmed with CNBC earlier reports of the three bidders for MLB’s “Sunday Night Baseball” and “Baseball Tonight” -- series that have aired on ESPN for years. 

Manfred told CNBC he plans to make a decision within a month -- possibly splitting the package between two TV networks and/or streamers. The MLB news came a day after the MLB's All-Star Game.

ESPN has been paying $550 million a year on average for the last three years. The network has been in the midst of a seven-year deal with the MLB, which it signed in 2021.

One media buyer said NBC would be a strong contender for “Sunday Night Baseball” looking to add to its Sunday night sports franchises, which includes its top-rated “Sunday Night Football” and its forthcoming NBA deal, also slotted for Sunday night.

The inclusion of ESPN as a returning TV network is somewhat surprising, since it told MLB in February it was opting to let go of the package at the end of this season. ESPN cited weak profitability issues and “fiscal responsibility” for the network.

Major League Baseball just presented its All Star Game, which happens halfway through the season. The game, which averaged a Nielsen-measured 7.2 million viewers, aired on Fox and Fox Sports streaming platforms -- down 3% from a year ago (7.4 million).

So far this season, Fox’s “Saturday Baseball Night in America” has been up 4% to 2.1 million for its regular-season games. ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” has been up 11% to 1.8 million through June results.

Total national TV advertising revenues for MLB in 2025 is at $211.5 million for four major TV networks (Fox, ESPN, TBS, Fox Sports 1) is down 5% from $221.8 a year ago, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

Fox, which commands the biggest share of TV advertising, pulled in $131.7 million so far.