Thursday’s Opening Day may be the calm before the storm for Major League Baseball.

The league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players expires at the end of this season. Owners, with the commissioner’s backing, are almost sure to push for a salary cap (which would likely come with a salary floor to get players to the negotiating table).

MLB owners have never been able to get a cap passed by the players union. It’s unclear if the end of the 2026 season will lead to a different result, but MLB Players Association Interim Executive Director Bruce Meyer told ESPN last month he expects a lockout is “all but guaranteed.”

In addition to the CBA’s expiration, there are major shifts underway for baseball media rights. One-third of the league’s teams didn’t have local TV deals in place for this season until this week. 

Nine MLB teams – the Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers – announced Wednesday their brand new MLB-operated team channels will be carried by DirecTV.

Most of those teams had previously been part of Main Street Sports (previously Diamond Sports Group), which operates FanDuel Sports Networks (previously Bally Sports). That entity has been teetering with liquidation, and the teams terminated their contracts with the company due to missed payments earlier this year.

A 10th team, the Atlanta Braves, is launching a new network called BravesVision. The Braves and Charter’s Spectrum announced a multiyear distribution agreement earlier this week. 

MLB ideally wants the rights to all 30 teams in its control by the end of the 2028 season so that it can sell the in-market local games as a national package to a streamer. That would become the modern replacement to regional sports networks, and it would likely be a new, coveted package for streaming services such as ESPN and Amazon Prime Video.

Also at the end of the 2028 season, MLB’s national media rights for all of its packages will expire, allowing the league to redistribute games to its partners and potentially select new ones. 

NBC, ESPN, Fox and a combined CBS/Turner have dominated national rights for the past few decades.

“The key in media negotiations now is having all of your rights available,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told me last year. “If you have all of your content – all of your playoffs, all of your regular season – available, there will be buyers, and I’m confident there will be buyers at a higher price for us.”

Manfred has even floated the idea of expanding to 32 teams and realigning the league geographically, upending or even eliminating the American and National leagues that have existed for more than 100 years. 

And yet, baseball isn’t struggling — on the contrary. The implementation of the pitch clock in 2023 has led to shorter games, rising attendance and higher TV ratings. 

More than 50 million people in the U.S., Canada and Japan watched Game Seven of the World Series last year – the most-watched baseball game in 34 years. MLB recently wrapped up the World Baseball Classic – a global preseason tournament – which captured nearly 11 million viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes for its final game.

MLB team valuations rose 13% from last year. The average MLB team is now worth $2.95 billion, according to CNBC Sport data.

Still, the profitability of the league is in far worse shape than it is for the NFL, NBA and NHL, according to CNBC’s calculations. In 2025, MLB’s 30 teams had an EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — margin of under 2%. Team average revenue was $426 million with average EBITDA of $7 million, including non-MLB ballpark events. In contrast, the comparable margin for the NFL was 20%; the NBA, 21% and the NHL, 22%, according to CNBC’s most recent valuations.

The new CBA at the end of this season could be the first significant step toward a very different MLB. But, similar to the WNBA, which announced its new CBA earlier this week, MLB must ensure negotiations to get a new labor agreement don’t jeopardize a wave of positive momentum.

The NFL and Paramount Skydance‘s renewal talks on a deal to keep the league’s Sunday games on CBS are beginning to take shape, CNBC has learned.

NFL and CBS executives are negotiating a price increase, with a bid-ask spread midpoint around 50% or 60%, according to two people familiar with the negotiations, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. CBS currently pays around $2.1 billion a year, on average, for its Sunday afternoon games, CNBC has previously reported. A 50% increase would mean CBS would pay more than $3 billion in its next deal.

In return for the increased revenue, the NFL would eliminate the opt-out clause after the 2029-30 season that it put in its original deal with Paramount, part of an 11-year agreement that runs through the end of the 2033-34 season. That clause would have given the league the chance to walk away early.

CBS would begin paying the new fee as soon as next season for the next eight years for the same package of games.

Paramount’s adjusted projection for its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for 2026 is $3.6 billion. If Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery is approved by regulators, the combined company would have an adjusted EBITDA projection of $18 billion, Paramount Chief Financial Officer Dennis Cinelli told investors this month.

“We have a phenomenal relationship with the NFL, and we anticipate that continuing for the foreseeable future,” Paramount CEO David Ellison told CNBC earlier this month. “They are one of our most important partners, and we plan for them to stay one of our most important partners, having just delivered a historic season in partnership with them. And, you know, ongoing negotiations, we’re not really in a position where we can comment. I promise we’ll share something as soon as we have something to say.”

Comcast‘s NBCUniversal, Amazon Prime Video and Fox are also subject to the 2029-30 opt-out clause in their deals. Disney‘s ESPN and ABC have until 2031.

The league has chosen to begin negotiating with Paramount’s CBS before any of its other media partners because a change-of-control provision — stemming from Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount Global — allows the NFL to break its deal by 2027.

The NFL might negotiate with Fox next after CBS because the terms of the deal should be similar — both companies own Sunday afternoon packages, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Fox currently pays slightly more than CBS for its package of games — about $2.2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Fox will “certainly look to [be] continuing that mutually beneficial relationship going forward” with the NFL, but it hasn’t had any “material conversations” on a renewal yet, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said earlier this month at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.

The NFL also hasn’t begun material discussions with Amazon, NBC or Disney, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s unclear if the league would look to push forward with a similar 50% increase for all three of those packages.

Some executives at NBC and at Disney believe the relative strengths of their packages — Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football — have diminished as the NFL has given Amazon better games for its Thursday Night Football in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter.

ESPN already pays $2.7 billion for Monday Night Football. A 50% increase would mean ESPN would pay more than $4 billion for that package — a number Disney would likely balk at, according to people familiar with the matter.

The timing and scope of the NFL’s new deals could have a significant effect on the value of other sports’ rights in the coming years.

The NHL currently has TV deals with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, which expire after the 2028 season. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has had a number of conversations about renewing a deal before the NFL, according to two people familiar with the matter. Still, he will likely have to wait until Paramount’s deal to acquire WBD closes before inking a new agreement.

Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said earlier this month he’s “prepared for the sports landscape to be shifting,” given the outsize cost of the NFL. That could allow Versant, which owns the USA Network and other cable channels, to buy rights to sports such as the NHL or MLB “that we might not have otherwise gotten involved with,” he said.

Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos visited the White House Thursday afternoon for a meeting on his company’s effort to buy part of Warner Bros. Discovery — shortly before Netflix announced it would terminate the deal.

Sarandos had not been expected to meet with President Donald Trump, who days ago demanded that Netflix boot former Obama administration official Susan Rice from its board of directors “or pay the consequences.”

Trump’s threat had cited a call by right-wing influencer Laura Loomer to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.”

Loomer had pointed to Rice’s comments predicting that institutions that appease Trump will be held “accountable” when Democrats regain power.

“This meeting is not with POTUS,” a White House official told CNBC. “Netflix is meeting with staff members at the White House,” the official said.

After Sarandos arrived at the White House, WBD issued a statement saying that Paramount Skydance‘s new bid to buy all of the company appeared to be a “superior proposal,” to that of Netflix’s offer.

Under the terms of an agreement with WBD, Netflix had four business days to improve its bid.

But after Sarandos left the White House, Netflix issued a statement pulling the cord on the deal altogether.

“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix said.

“However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos will head to the White House on Thursday for meetings on his company’s efforts to acquire part of Warner Bros. Discovery as Paramount ratchets up its rival bid, Politico reported Wednesday.

The reported visit is set to occur five days after President Donald Trump demanded that Netflix immediately fire former Obama administration official Susan Rice from its board, or else “pay the consequences.”

It was not immediately clear if Sarandos would be meeting with Trump during the visit, a person familiar with the discussions told Politico.

Netflix declined CNBC’s request for comment on the report. The White House, asked by CNBC to confirm the visit, said, “We do not discuss private meetings that may or may not be happening.”

The acquisition fight over WBD, like numerous other business deals in over the past year, has been entangled with presidential politics.

Trump had weeks earlier said he would stay out of the multibillion-dollar bidding war between Netflix, which wants to buy WBD’s studio and streaming brands, and Paramount, which seeks to acquire WBD’s whole business.

But Trump appeared to change course when, in a Truth Social post on Saturday afternoon, he demanded that Netflix fire Rice from its board, calling her “racist” and a “political hack.”

Trump on Truth Social linked to an X post from Laura Loomer, a far-right media figure in Trump’s orbit, slamming Rice and urging the president to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.”

Loomer’s post highlighted a recent podcast appearance in which Rice, who has served in the Obama, Clinton and Biden administrations, predicted that corporations and other institutions that appeased Trump will be held “accountable” when his political opposition regains power.

The WBD deal proposals have raised antitrust concerns. The Department of Justice is investigating whether Netflix’s proposed deal could hurt competition.

Other dynamics have fueled speculation that politics are part of the acquisition fight.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest men and a Republican megadonor.

David Ellison was a guest of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump loyalist, at the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Paramount most recently raised its bid for Warner Bros. to an all-cash $31 per share, which could “reasonably be expected” to top Netflix’s offer, WBD said Tuesday.

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.

President Donald Trump late Saturday called on Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice or “pay the consequences,” after she said Democrats would push for corporate accountability if they regain power in the November midterm elections.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump described Rice, who served as President Joe Biden’s domestic policy chief and held top foreign policy posts under President Barack Obama, as “purely a political hack” with “no talent or skills.”

“HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK,” Trump wrote.

Rice argued during a podcast last week that “it is not going to end well” for corporations, news organizations, and law firms that “bent the knee” to Trump, and that their deference is unpopular.

“There is likely to be a swing in the other direction, and they are going to be caught with more than their pants down,” Rice told Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. “They’re going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box.”

She added, “If these corporations think that Democrats, when they come back in power, are going to play by the old rules, and say, ‘Never mind, we will forgive you for all the people you fired and all the policies and principles you violated, all the laws you skirted,’ I think they got another thing coming.”

Rice served on Netflix’s board from 2018 to 2021, and rejoined in 2023 after leaving the Biden administration.

Netflix representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump included a screenshot of an earlier post from far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who said Rice’s remarks were “anti-American” and urged the president to “kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now.” Loomer also tagged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in her post.

The comments come after Trump told NBC News earlier this month that the Department of Justice will “handle” the deal and that he’ll stay out of their review, after previously saying he’d be involved in the process. The DOJ is currently reviewing Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Netflix has proposed acquiring WBD in a $72 billion deal that would not include the company’s cable networks, including CNN.

Paramount Skydance, in response, launched a hostile takeover bid for all of WBD, promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.

The DOJ is investigating whether Netflix’s proposed deal could hurt competition, and it’s also asked how the company’s previous acquisitions have affected competition for creative talent, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

As part of its review, the agency is also examining whether the streaming giant uses anticompetitive tactics in negotiations with independent content creators for acquiring programming, Bloomberg reported, citing documents.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said last month that he’s confident the company will be able to secure regulatory approval “because this deal is pro-consumer … pro-innovation, pro-worker.”

Stephen Colbert ripped CBS for barring him from airing on his late-night TV show an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate.

“You know who’s not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas Representative James Talarico,” Colbert told his show’s studio audience for Monday night’s broadcast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

“He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” said Colbert, drawing boos from the crowd.

“Then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on,” Colbert said.

“And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this,” Colbert said to laughs and applause.

Colbert suggested that CBS’s move was the result of concern that the network would draw the ire of the Federal Communications Commission.

Colbert’s comments are the latest escalation in tension between talk show hosts and the FCC, following the brief suspension by ABC of fellow late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show last summer.

The FCC last month issued guidance to the three broadcast networks, reminding them of the 1934 law that requires networks to provide equal opportunity for coverage for political candidates if their opponents appear on air.

The guidance pointedly said there is no evidence that late-night and daytime talk show interviews would qualify for an exemption allowed under the law for “bona fide” news coverage.

Colbert, during Monday’s show, pointed to reports earlier this month that the FCC was investigating the ABC daytime talk show “The View” because of an appearance by Talarico on that program.

CBS, in a statement to CNBC, said, “The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico.”

“The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,” CBS said.

“The Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”

Talarico on Tuesday posted a link to his interview with Colbert, which was available online.

In a statement provided to CNBC by his Senate campaign, Talarico said, “I think [President] Donald Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas. This is the party that ran against cancel culture.”

“Now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, and what we read,” Talarico said.

“This is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top. A threat to one of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights.”

Talarico is in a close Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D- Texas, in which early voting began Tuesday. The winner will face off against the winner of the Republican primary between Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Democrats last won a statewide race in Texas in 1994.

The FCC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about whether CBS would have run afoul of agency guidance by airing Talarico’s interview.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, in a statement, called CBS’s decision “yet another troubling example of corporate capitulation in the face of this Administration’s broader campaign to censor and control speech.”

“The FCC has no lawful authority to pressure broadcasters for political purposes or to create a climate that chills free expression,” Gomez said.

“CBS is fully protected under the First Amendment to determine what interviews it airs, which makes its decision to yield to political pressure all the more disappointing,” Gomez said.

“It is no secret that Paramount, CBS’s parent company, has regulatory matters before the government, but corporate interests cannot justify retreating from airing newsworthy content. The FCC is powerless to impose restrictions on protected speech, and any attempt to intimidate broadcasters into self-censorship undermines both press freedom and public trust.”

“I once again urge broadcasters and their parent companies to stand firm against these unlawful pressures and continue exercising their constitutional right to speak freely and without government interference,” Gomez said.

Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile tender bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that would require regulatory approval from the federal government if WBD shareholders accept the offer.

CBS in July said Colbert’s show would be cancelled in May.

That announcement came shortly after Colbert blasted the network for giving what he called a “big fat bribe” to Trump. Paramount Skydance, earlier agreed to pay $16 million for Trump’s future presidential library to settle a lawsuit over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

A week after CBS said it was cancelling Colbert’s show, the FCC approved the $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance Media.

Colbert, in September, spoke up for Kimmel when ABC pulled Kimmel off the air following remarks by FCC Chair Brendan Carr that the network’s broadcast license was at risk because of comments Kimmel made about the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel’s show returned to the air about a week later.

Warner Bros. Discovery‘s board is considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance after recently receiving an amended offer with sweetened deal terms, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

Warner Bros. in December agreed to sell both its film studio and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount, which owns CBS and MTV, in December launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros., promising its shareholders $30 per share in an all-cash deal.

Last week, Paramount upped the ante, saying it would add a ticking fee of 25 cents a share to its offer for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal.

The ticking fee would be approximately $650 million in cash value per quarter for every quarter the deal has not closed by Dec. 31, 2026, CNBC.com previously reported.

Paramount also said it will cover a $2.8 billion termination fee paid to Netflix if the Warner Bros. deal is terminated. Paramount also said it will eliminate $1.5 billion in possible debt refinancing costs.

Both Paramount and Netflix have said they would be willing to raise their bids to secure the Warner Bros. deal, Bloomberg reported. However, this is the first time Warner Bros. has considered whether Paramount’s offer could either result in a better deal or prompt Netflix to offer better deal terms, according to the report.

Read the complete Bloomberg report here.

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