Make no mistake about it: The new MLB media deals with NBC, Netflix and ESPN will help Padres fans. The deal will give ESPN in-market rights to six clubs, including the San Diego Padres, the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rocked and Seattle Mariners.
This solves a problem Padres fans have had for a while now. The company that used to broadcast the team’s games, Bally Sports, went bankrupt back in 2024, and a settlement was negotiated with the Padres. It was often a scramble to figure out which games would be broadcast and how to get them, which obviously wasn’t fun.
Now ESPN has the rights to Padres games, which should streamline this broadcast scavenger hunt. It will also allow out-of-market San Diego fans to see more games, and possibly even do it for slightly less money.
“We think the combination of ESPN, NBC Universal and Netflix is a great one for us,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred in a piece written by Rob Marchand of The Athletic. “Expand our reach, we’re going to increase our partnership revenue. Given the opt out and everything, I think it’s really important that we managed to continue a relationship with ESPN. They’ve been kind of the bedrock of our broadcast program for a long time. Two great new partners in terms of NBC and Netflix, especially excited about Sunday nights on NBC.”
That’s one piece of good news. Another is that the new deal will restore a new revenue stream for ownership, which had its early TV-rights revenue stream disappear when Bally Sports went under.
Will this actually help the team on the field? That’s a different question entirely. Former owner John Seidler was willing to spend freely to put a playoff-caliber club on the field, but Seidler passed in November of 2023, and the Seidler family recently announced that the team is being put up for sale.
The unfortunate question that needs to be asked here is about that ownership. Will the buyers be willing to spend some of this TV money, or will they pocket some of it to get back their investment after laying out whatever the final purchase price turns out to be.
This isn’t a comfortable question to consider, but that’s the business side of baseball these days. If you’re rooting for a big-market team, the owners will spend more on players, but for teams like the Padres, the ability to do this is usually more complicated.