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Inside the Manfred-Pitaro Divorce

The play-by-play on the dissolution of Major League Baseball’s broadcasting partnership with ESPN.

mlb atlanta braves
Manfred and MLB owners were unmoved: If ESPN exercised the out clause, it potentially would be ending the whole relationship. Photo: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
John Ourand
February 25, 2025

Weeks ago, long before the news leaked to The Athletic or any defiant press release was issued, Jimmy Pitaro visited Rob Manfred to deliver the news in person that ESPN was likely going to opt out of the last three years of its broadcast deal with Major League Baseball. The ESPN chairman didn’t want to get out of baseball entirely, but he did want to work out a deal that either resulted in a lower rights fee payment, or additional programming—like local rights streams or bringing back midweek games for linear and streaming—for roughly the same amount, about $550 million per year.