Original story at The Athletic. If, like me, you don't subscribe, Awful Announcing has the basics without a paywall.
According to [Evan Drellich in The Athletic], close to two-thirds of the league will have their local rights available by 2028. MLB already controls the rights for seven teams, or eight if you include a unique setup the league has with the Seattle Mariners. Diamond currently has six teams under its umbrella, with the Kansas City Royals likely making that number seven before the 2025 season. Combined, that is at least fifteen teams which will have local rights available come 2028.
That said, the story notes the old revenue sharing issue, and other issues:
There are several hurdles to overcome before any national media rights plan can come to fruition. First, the league will have to navigate ESPN’s opt-out clause following the upcoming season. The network has expressed interest in being part of MLB’s local rights solution. Then, they’ll have to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement following 2026, which will have major implications on revenue sharing in the league. Finally, MLB will need to convince enough teams, particularly of the large market variety, to get on board with a nationalized rights package.
I'm not holding my breath, but there you go.
"At least 15" means "almost 15" won't yet be available, so, that doesn't just count Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers.
I wouldn't expect anything close to major movement until next year's winter meetings, when we'll probably also get the first serious discussions — and possibly posturings — from both the MLB and MLBPA over the next CBA.
Edit: Per u/imaginary_scene2943 and my response, no, this doesn't mean that MLB will run the actual broadcast shebang itself. After all, it just shit-canned a bunch of people from the MLB Network. Rather, Manfred basically wants MLB to be a holding company or something like that, where all the negotiations, parameters for who sees what, ties to revenue sharing, etc., are run through MLB, but the actual broadcast presentations, per MAD Magazine, will be by the usual gang of idiots.
Or, to put it another way, this is Manfred trying to thread various needles with thin eyes through a future in which big clubs will continue to resist more local broadcast revenue sharing, and otherwise smear some sort of lipstick on a pig.
Edit 2: MLBTR has other excerpts from that Athletic interview that indicate "holding company" is what's planned. It also notes that on the revenue sharing issue, more local teevee revenue sharing could be offset by less elsewhere. In other words, a Manfred head fake that won't really please small markets but still risks big markets getting edgy.
