MLB's Rob Manfred Plans to 'Make Our Sport More National' amid Blackout Issues

As Major League Baseball continues to deal with issues related to regional sports networks, commissioner Rob Manfred is looking at an opportunity to make the sport more readily available nationally.

Appearing at the CNBC x Boardroom's Game Plan Summit, Manfred addressed the possibility of making MLB "more national" in the future:

"You know, we made a set of changes in our rules last year that I think dramatically improved the product on the field. Pitch clock, moved the game along, took out a lot of our dead time, put an emphasis on athleticism that was really important…I think as we move forward and as the landscape continues to change, we have an opportunity to make our sport more national, increase our reach, deal with the blackout issue that has plagued us for years and I think as with every crisis, there's an opportunity to make your business better."

Blackout restrictions prevent games from being available in local markets both to encourage fans in those areas to attend games in person and to encourage cable or satellite providers to carry regional sports networks.

Diamond Sports Group, which operates Bally Sports and has regional deals with MLB, NBA and NHL teams, originally filed for bankruptcy in March 2023. On Sept. 3, a federal judge approved DSG's revised deals with the NHL and NBA to air games for the 22 teams still under its umbrella for the 2024-25 season.

Amazon recently pulled a $115 million offer originally agreed upon in January to form a partnership with Diamond Sports Group that would have given Prime Video access to all of the MLB, NHL and NBA teams that Diamond had streaming rights.

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez noted on Wednesday that Diamond's revised deals with the NHL and NBA includes a requirement that Diamond emerge from bankruptcy by April 1, 2025, and that date "might be a tipping point" in its battle with MLB.

The Athletic's Evan Drellich wrote on Sept. 3 that MLB has threatened to pursue "more drastic" legal remedies in an effort to resolve this situation, in part because team owners say they are unable to plan a 2025 budget without knowing how much television revenue they can expect.

"Major League Baseball and those clubs are unable to plan to obtain revenue and to have certainty with respect to the 2025 season," James Bromley, a lawyer for MLB, said in court (via Drellich).

There are currently nine MLB teams still under the Diamond Sports Group umbrella for the 2025 season: Those teams include the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays.

The Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers are on one-year deals with Diamond that expires after this season.

Since teams will receive their in-market digital rights back when the DSG deal expires, they could potentially make their games available everywhere without local blackout restrictions in place.

Drellich wrote in May that some team owners and executives of smaller-market clubs were pushing to end local television deals altogether and sell the broadcast rights to all 30 teams as one giant streaming package.

The pushback, according to Drellich, comes from teams in bigger markets who make the most money don't want to give up that financial advantage by putting everyone into a single umbrella.

MLB currently has national TV deals with ESPN, Fox, TBS, Apple TV and Roku that are worth more than $12.6 billion.

The sport's current television model emphasizes the regional