- Chunk of change: MLB’s local rights are worth $1.6 billion per season by themselves.
- Slice of the pie: The Dodgers and Yankees account for 23% of that revenue, presenting a challenge to a combined regional streaming platform.
MLB’s local TV rights are still worth a lot—about $1.6 billion in 2026, which is 43% of all the money the league makes from broadcasting. National deals add another $2.1 billion on top of that.
The problem is that the value is really uneven. Just the Dodgers and Yankees account for 23% of all that local money. So if MLB tries to roll out one big streaming service for in-market games, those big clubs don’t have much reason to jump in if it means taking less than they’re getting now.
The problem is that the value is really uneven. Just the Dodgers and Yankees account for 23% of all that local money. So if MLB tries to roll out one big streaming service for in-market games, those big clubs don’t have much reason to jump in if it means taking less than they’re getting now.
A lot of this is tied to the collapse of traditional RSNs. Thirteen teams have lost their regional sports network partners in the last four years, and a bunch of them are now just having MLB handle their local broadcasts instead.
According to The Streamable, there’s a small window of hope, though. The current collective bargaining agreement runs out at the end of this year. If the next one includes more revenue sharing between the big-market and small-market teams, it could shrink that gap and make a league-wide streaming platform more realistic.
Even so, MLB is nowhere near the NFL’s level—those guys are pulling in around $10 billion a year for their TV rights. Local baseball rights are still valuable, but the huge differences between teams make it tough to build something that works for both the clubs and the fans who just want an easy way to watch their team.
Even so, MLB is nowhere near the NFL’s level—those guys are pulling in around $10 billion a year for their TV rights. Local baseball rights are still valuable, but the huge differences between teams make it tough to build something that works for both the clubs and the fans who just want an easy way to watch their team.