Apple Reportedly Looking to Broadcast Major League Baseball Games Next Season

Apple has entered into discussions with Major League Baseball about a potential deal that would see the company broadcasting MLB games next season, reports The New York Post.

mlb banner
The talks are described as "substantial" and "serious," and a deal would provide Apple with a way to establish Apple TV+ as a destination for sports content. At the current time, ‌Apple TV‌+ offers TV shows and movies, but compared to competitors, it is not able to appeal to sports fans.

A lack of live sports access is a serious negative for ‌Apple TV‌, as competitors like Amazon do have established deals. Amazon has inked a deal to air "Thursday Night Football" games starting this fall, and Amazon paid more than $1 billion for the access.

At the current time, ‌Apple TV‌+ does not offer support for any kind of live television, providing access only to on-demand television and movie content, so Apple would likely need to build in a new sports-oriented section with live TV access.

‌Apple TV‌+ does integrate with the TV app, which in turn integrates with apps that provide access to live sports through the Sports tab. You can, for example, choose a favorite team in the TV app and it will suggest streaming a game in the appropriate app whenever the team is playing.

MLB is shopping its weekday national games that used to be exclusive to ESPN, so it's likely that ‌Apple TV‌+ would offer the Monday and Wednesday games that ESPN no longer has access to if a deal works out. Discussions have also been held with Barstool Sports and Amazon, but no deal was reached.

Tag: MLB

Popular Stories

hikawa phone grip stand apple%402x

Apple Launches Second Limited-Edition iPhone Accessory in a Month

Friday November 21, 2025 3:53 am PST by
Apple has begun selling the Hikawa Phone Grip and Stand, a new limited-edition iPhone accessory designed with accessibility in mind. Designed by LA-based Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple, the grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe. Apple says it can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand with two different viewing...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Two Breakthrough Features

Wednesday November 19, 2025 7:26 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include two standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
ipad black friday 2025

The Best Early Black Friday iPad Deals

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:20 am PST by
Black Friday is just over a week away, and iPad deals have finally started to flood in at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. Below we're tracking discounts on every current generation iPad, including lowest-ever prices on M3 iPad Air and M5 iPad Pro, plus steep markdowns on iPad and iPad mini. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a ...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Wednesday November 19, 2025 4:00 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...

Top Rated Comments

4jasontv Avatar
51 months ago
I've had MLB.tv since 09, and far too many games are blacked out. If Apple can negotiate around this, especially if I can pay per team... well, I would pay for it.

But they really need to ride the Ted Lasso gravy train and get soccer into American households.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
icanhazmac Avatar
51 months ago
My god why? Not saying no one likes baseball but there must be a million better uses for the money they would need to spend to get the broadcast rights.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Somian Avatar
51 months ago
I would feel kind of 'eh' about that. If it's a separate subscription, fine. But knowing that a big part of my subscription fee goes to sportsball, I'd be less likely to get a subscription.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kc9hzn Avatar
51 months ago
Oh man, it’s gotta suck to be ESPN these days. Granted, the whole “look up scores online” thing took the wind out of their sails, but to plummet so low that MLB is shopping games around to Apple instead of renewing with ESPN would have been unthinkable even 7 years ago.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DEMinSoCAL Avatar
51 months ago
Jesus, I wish they would take over showing the NHL games. This season, which ESPN took it over, has been a complete cluster-fluck. Not only are some games scattered on other Disney-owned networks, but regional games are on BALLY SPORTS, which YouTube TV does not broadcast so I can't even see "local" games. The ESPN+ app sucks as all the other sports are combined into one app and one has to filter through every other sport to find hockey games. It's miserable.

If I remember correctly, ESPN bought the rights from NBC for a bajillion years (8 or 10) so probably no hope.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Delorean2006 Avatar
51 months ago
As a huge baseball fan, this gets me really excited (if a deal gets done) for next season...if there's even a next season....
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)