SAN JOSE, Calif.—In another important example of how high-profile sports rights are shifting to streaming, Roku has secured the exclusive multi-year rights for Major League Baseball (MLB) Sunday Leadoff live games.
Starting May 19, Roku will offer Sunday MLB games for free on The Roku Channel. It will also be offering an all-new MLB Zone to help baseball fans discover live and upcoming games, nightly recaps, highlights and a fully programmed MLB FAST channel.
On most Sundays throughout the season, Roku will be the home for the first games of the day, with an exclusivity window during airtime as well.
The MLB also reported that paying subscribers of MLB.TV can watch all 18 matchups blackout free from anywhere in the world.
“As television programming, live sports, and the leagues have fragmented across networks, apps, and multiple packages, Roku—home to all of them—plays an increasingly crucial role for viewers and advertisers,” said Charlie Collier, president, Roku Media. “With this deal, Roku delivers free, live, weekly Sunday baseball and 24/7 baseball curation, destinations, and channels across our platform. The lead-in to all of television is now the lead-off for Sunday baseball as well. It’s a terrific partnership.”
MLB Sunday Leadoff will stream every Sunday on The Roku Channel and TheRokuChannel.com from May 19 to Sept. 15. The matchups start on May 19 with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Boston Red Sox.
Other featured games include the Baltimore Orioles with young stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson going head-to-head against the New York Yankees with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto on July 14; and the defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks with reigning National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll will face the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman on Sept. 1.
The game telecasts will be produced in collaboration with Major League Baseball. Broadcast teams each week will be market-focused, with Chip Caray (play-by-play), Will Middlebrooks (analyst), and Alexa Datt (reporter) calling this Sunday’s game. The full MLB Sunday Leadoff on Roku schedule is listed at the end of this press release.
“With free games available to anyone, MLB games on Roku will be widely accessible to fans,” said Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner, business and media. “Since Roku serves as an entertainment gateway for millions, this partnership offers a valuable new promotional and distribution platform for MLB games and content.”
