Could ESPN Become a Unified Home for Regional Sports Networks?

In February, ESPN walked away from their MLB deal that would have paid the leauge $550 million a year through 2028. Negotiations got nasty with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred calling ESPN a “shrinking” platform. But the two sides seem to be coming closer, and ESPN has its sights on an even bigger prize than national broadcast rights.

Speaking today at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit in New York, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said, “Local is super interesting to us, and we’ve made that clear.”

Later at the same event, Manfred said it was “not ideal” that baseball fans have a hard time finding where MLB games are airing each night.

Regional sports streaming has become a nightmare for fans of MLB, NBA, and NHL teams. Each market has a different provider setup. In some markets like Detroit, all three sports are covered by FanDuel Sports Network. In some markets, there are team-specific streamers like Suns+ or the Gotham Sports App. Some markets air games free for antenna users.

Considering ESPN just gave 10% of itself to the NFL in exchange for the NFL Network and some distribution rights, that opens the door for a similar deal with another sports league. Would ESPN be willing to give up another chunk of itself to become the exclusive distributor for regional sports?

“If there’s an opportunity with another league that we think makes good business sense for us and also is beneficial for the sport fan, we’re of course going to pursue it,” Pitaro said.

According to Sports Business Journal, regional sports fees are all over the map. The Lakers got $185 million from Spectrum SportsNet for their 2024-25 season. But other teams aren’t doing so well. Over the last four years, the Atlanta Hawks fell from $44 million per year to $32 million, the Charlotte Hornets dropped from $26 million to $17 million, and even the Oklahoma City Thunder tumbled from $37 million to $16 million per year.

While ESPN may have a straightforward time negotiating national sports rights where the individual teams don’t have a say, the path may be trickier when wading into the swamps of individual team rights.

Teams in large markets like New York and LA would want more money than the other franchises. Would teams in smaller cities be willing to sign a contract for a smaller piece of a unifying regional sports deal? Winning teams may demand more money than struggling squads. But how can you sign a forward-looking contract when you don’t know whether you’ll be competing for a title or playing to an empty stadium five years from now?

The NFL sidesteps all this because the rights are negotiated at the national level. Every team shares the wealth of a media deal. But for the other three major sports, we’re living in a confusing patchwork disaster.

If ESPN or another provider were able to break the deadlock of RSN confusion, it would seem to be a great thing for sports fans. But we would be wise to remember that any company with a monopoly is likely to abuse it. Because of ESPN is now partially owned by the NFL, do we think there’s any chance the NFL won’t look favorably on ESPN in future negotiations?

Sports streaming is already expensive enough without one giant omni-corp owning all the broadcast rights. Your best bet is to hope you can still get your team’s games with an antenna. Or if all else fails, your local sports bar might be a more effective choice.