Just a couple of years after NBC chose to exit its deal with Major League Baseball to air semi-exclusive early-Sunday games on its Peacock streaming service, the network is poised to take the package back.<\/p>\n
According to a report by Rob Tornoe in\u00a0The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>, NBC is expected to reclaim the Sunday morning MLB package that debuted in 2022, but was subsequently sold to Roku after the network opted against re-upping the deal in 2023. NBC paid $30 million per year for the package during the 2022 and 2023 seasons before exiting the agreement. Roku began airing the package of games in 2024, paying $10 million annually in a deal that goes through the 2026 season.<\/p>\n The news comes amid a wider shakeup in MLB\u2019s national media rights. Per prior reports, NBC is expected to take over the vast majority of ESPN\u2019s current MLB package<\/a>, including\u00a0Sunday Night Baseball and a slate of Wild Card round games. It is unclear whether the addition of Sunday morning games would begin next season, when the rest of NBC\u2019s deals are set to begin, or if they will begin following the 2026 season, the last in which Roku holds contractual rights to the games. It is also unclear whether this package of games would be included in or additional to the nearly $200 million per year rights fee NBC will reportedly pay MLB.<\/p>\n This update would also seemingly put to bed any suggestion<\/a> that NBC is acquiring Apple TV+\u2019s current package of Friday night games. An initial report from Kendall Baker of Yahoo Sports indicated that Apple would potentially drop its\u00a0Friday Night Baseball package with NBC in line to pick it up. A report from Austin Karp in Sports Business Journal<\/a> over the weekend states \u201cthe streamer would not be losing its existing package of Friday night games.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, NBC\u2019s supplemental package will seemingly come from Roku, either in 2026 or 2027.<\/p>\n