Amazon to air Yankees games as ESPN and MLB end partnership over 'unacceptable' terms

Almost two dozen New York Yankees games for the 2025 season will air exclusively on Amazon Prime.

It did not take long for Amazon to pounce on the opportunity to announce the partnership, which came just days after MLB and ESPN announced a mutual split between the two brands at the end of the season.

While the majority of Amazon Prime viewers will also need a subscription to MLB TV to see the 21 games, all games will be available to those in what is considered the Yankees' home market. This includes New York State, Connecticut, North and Central New Jersey, and Northeast Pennsylvania, according to Amazon.

Amazon Prime has continued to collect more and more broadcasting rights to live sports, including pulling in Bally Sports NBA broadcasts and streams of NHL games. The deal from 2024 signals a continuing trend toward live sports on streaming apps, as audiences have seen with Netflix successfully airing the NFL on Christmas during the past few seasons.

MLB and ESPN had announced their intention to part ways just days earlier, as the two companies opted out of their contract that was slated to run through the 2028 season.

As reported by Investopedia, ESPN wanted to lower the fees for broadcasting rights from the $550 million it had been paying on average.

League officials were allegedly displeased with the amount of coverage, or lack thereof, given to MLB across ESPN's talk shows. The league subsequently called ESPN's request for lower fees "simply unacceptable."

ESPN claimed it was simply following through on its fiduciary duties by exercising "discipline and fiscal responsibility" through the decision.

ESPN also reportedly is set to end its broadcast deal with Formula 1 racing, which has cost the network approximately $90 million per year.

The Disney-owned sports network has been in the news for its poor numbers in NBA viewership this season, dropping an apparent 18% year over year toward the end of 2024. However, ratings bumped back up by another 5% after a successful Christmas season, according to Front Office Sports.

The NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off in February also brought in record viewership, outpacing any non-Stanley Cup finals hockey game in the last five years. The game saw a whopping 4.4 million viewers on average, with a peak of 5.2 million viewers.

A 2019 playoff game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Boston Bruins on NBC averaged 4.5 million viewers.

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