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Major League Baseball blackout policy
Major League Baseball (MLB) has rules for exclusive broadcasting, called "blackout" rules, which bar certain areas from watching certain live games. Most blackouts exist for two reasons: to set a given team's local broadcaster's exclusive broadcast territory, which induces cable systems in those areas to carry the regional sports networks that carry the games, as well as MLB's desire to drive stadium attendance.
Almost every part of the contiguous United States has at least one team blackout in place, with some having more. Every team has a home market blackout, while some teams have blackout areas that extent into several surrounding states. For example, the Kansas City Royals are blacked out in the states of Missouri (except in the St. Louis metro area), Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Iowa.
The state with the most regional blackouts is Iowa, which is blacked out by six teams — the Brewers, the Cardinals, the Cubs, the Royals, the Twins, and the White Sox — even though all are a multi-hour drive away.
Local broadcasts are not necessarily available in the whole blackout territory. For example, Bally Sports Wisconsin is unavailable in Iowa, so Brewers games are not broadcast anywhere in the state, neither on local channels nor on streaming. Las Vegas is another example of fans having restricted viewership, as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants are all blacked out.
Due to the fact that they play in Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays do not have any blackout territory in the United States. However, some MLB teams have blackouts that extend into Canada.
A new contract between ESPN and Major League Baseball in 2012 virtually eliminated local blackouts involving the network's Monday and Wednesday night games, allowing ESPN coverage to co-exist with that of the local broadcasters in home markets. The agreement took effect at the start of the 2014 season and lasted until 2021.
A contract extension between ESPN and MLB was struck in 2021, and was supposed to last until 2028 but ended in 2025 due to a clause allowing an opt out of the contract.
In March 2022, MLB and Apple signed a streaming deal worth $85 million annually. Through this streaming deal, Apple will broadcast a doubleheader every Friday, during the regular season on their streaming platform Apple TV+.
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Major League Baseball blackout policy
Major League Baseball (MLB) has rules for exclusive broadcasting, called "blackout" rules, which bar certain areas from watching certain live games. Most blackouts exist for two reasons: to set a given team's local broadcaster's exclusive broadcast territory, which induces cable systems in those areas to carry the regional sports networks that carry the games, as well as MLB's desire to drive stadium attendance.
Almost every part of the contiguous United States has at least one team blackout in place, with some having more. Every team has a home market blackout, while some teams have blackout areas that extent into several surrounding states. For example, the Kansas City Royals are blacked out in the states of Missouri (except in the St. Louis metro area), Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Iowa.
The state with the most regional blackouts is Iowa, which is blacked out by six teams — the Brewers, the Cardinals, the Cubs, the Royals, the Twins, and the White Sox — even though all are a multi-hour drive away.
Local broadcasts are not necessarily available in the whole blackout territory. For example, Bally Sports Wisconsin is unavailable in Iowa, so Brewers games are not broadcast anywhere in the state, neither on local channels nor on streaming. Las Vegas is another example of fans having restricted viewership, as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants are all blacked out.
Due to the fact that they play in Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays do not have any blackout territory in the United States. However, some MLB teams have blackouts that extend into Canada.
A new contract between ESPN and Major League Baseball in 2012 virtually eliminated local blackouts involving the network's Monday and Wednesday night games, allowing ESPN coverage to co-exist with that of the local broadcasters in home markets. The agreement took effect at the start of the 2014 season and lasted until 2021.
A contract extension between ESPN and MLB was struck in 2021, and was supposed to last until 2028 but ended in 2025 due to a clause allowing an opt out of the contract.
In March 2022, MLB and Apple signed a streaming deal worth $85 million annually. Through this streaming deal, Apple will broadcast a doubleheader every Friday, during the regular season on their streaming platform Apple TV+.