Newz Forum: BASEBALL: ESPN adds Monday night baseball for $2.3 billion

ESPN will start a series of Monday night baseball broadcasts and gain greater flexibility to move games to Sunday nights under a new eight-year contract worth $2.368 billion.

Originally posted on ESPN

NEW YORK -- The agreement announced Wednesday, which runs through 2013, allows the network to have a team appear on its exclusive Sunday night games up to five times per season, up from 11 over a three-season span under the six-year contract that is expiring.

Baseball is getting $200 million from ESPN in the final season of its current deal, which was worth about $815 million for its television component and was a product of a lawsuit settlement.

The sport will average $296 million under the new agreement, a television and a baseball official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a confidentiality agreement in the deal. ESPN will pay baseball $273.5 million in 2006, $293.5 million in each of the following four years, $308.5 million in 2011 and $306 million in each of the final two seasons.

"You worry about oversaturation, but this is a sport that its fans follow and live on a day-by-day basis," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. "I do not worry that this will produce a glut."

The sport's six-year contract with FOX, which runs through 2006 and covers the regular season, All-Star game and postseason, is worth about $2.5 billion. In addition, Selig and his staff have been planning to launch baseball's own cable network next year.

Link: ESPN buys Monday baseball

The two things hat caught my attention were these:

$2.368 billion dollars for Monday night games through 2013.

Possible launch of all-baseball cable network.

I wish I had 1/100000th of what they're spending, which is 23 grand. And an all baseball cable network? I think that's Selig's single good decision. Having cable, I'm limited to a few games a week... but with a whole network devoted to baseball, I'd be watching a lot of tv.












[Edited on 15/9/05 by TRD]

thats awesome good job by espn and mlb

2.3 billion dollars?? aren't there people in the gulf coast that need that alot more

they dont need alot more than that

Originally posted by EnosSlaughter
they dont need alot more than that

i said they need it more than baseball does for a monday night, i like the all baseball cable though

baseball has already donated over 10 million dollars

Originally posted by Crawford89
2.3 billion dollars?? aren't there people in the gulf coast that need that alot more

That's over 8 seasons... so not even 400 million a year. Baseball has donated it's share, as well as other sports.

the gulf coasts major problem is the people not cooperating

If you visit ATSNN.com, you can get an idea of what's really going on down there. But people have done they're good share of donating money.