ESPN Secures Rights to Show Even More Yankees and Red Sox Games

Well, that’s a relief. For a minute there I was worried I’d spend the next decade without being able to see every single Yanks-Sawx game on national TV.

According to a report from Sports Business Daily, ESPN has agreed to an eight-year, $5.6 billion deal with Major League Baseball that will not only continue their coverage right to Sunday Night Baseball, plus games on Monday and Wednesday nights, but add in one Wild Card game per year.

The deal also allows ESPN to show games in-progress, much the way MLB Network does during their MLB Tonight program. The big news is that the new deal, which is worth more than double what ESPN had been paying for similar rights, allows the sports network to carry a greater share of baseball’s most popular teams.

If you thought ESPN only showed Boston and New York before, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

(hat tip, Blog Red Machine)