Major League Baseball is reportedly set to enter a new streaming rights agreement with ESPN, and the deal may end up costing Arizona Diamondbacks fans more money to watch their favorite team.

The Diamondbacks, produced and broadcast by Major League Baseball, have one of the friendlier deals in the country since Arizona’s departure from Bally Sports.

D-backs.TV packages cost as low as $99.99 per year or $19.99 per month to stream every non-national D-backs game.

The new deal would give ESPN the rights to in- and out-of-market games for five MLB teams, including the Diamondbacks, which seems likely to drive up costs or add additional fees necessary to watch Arizona’s home baseball team.

A recent article by The Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand outlined the ESPN deal.

“Major League Baseball and ESPN have a framework agreement that would give the network the exclusive rights to sell all out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs over the next,” Marchand wrote.

“If the deal is signed, ESPN will have the full rights to in- and out-of-market games for five teams. The Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies are the clubs under MLB control.”

That means D-backs.TV subscribers would most likely need to pay an additional price on top of the ESPN subscription fee to watch the D-backs.

“Fans would likely need to subscribe to ESPN either directly or through an operator, and then, for an added price, they would be able to receive their local teams’ games,” Marchand continued.

Those who subscribe to MLB.TV’s general package digitally are also likely to have to subscribe to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product (costing $29.99 per month) in addition to paying for their MLB.TV package.

The deal has not been signed and finalized. That is expected to occur some time in September, with the deal taking effect next season.

The D-backs have had success working alongside MLB to produce their broadcasts — certainly, the fans have benefited from the affordability of the product. Arizona has even worked out a deal to broadcast some of their games over-the-air on local stations.

Related Content: Diamondbacks to Broadcast Select Over-the-Air Games in 2025

Perhaps this new deal prompts Arizona to explore other streaming rights options. Or perhaps the deal is truly a step in the right direction away from restrictive regional sports networks.

But it would appear, for now, that D-backs fans may have to spend a little more to see their favorite team.

What 2 Watch 4 
It’s time to kick off the 2025 season as all 10 Big West sides take to the pitch on Thursday, Aug. 21 for their openers.

Nine of the 10 games are on the road, highlighted by Sacramento State at No. 13 Stanford. The other eight away games are UC San Diego at Furman, UC Riverside at Michigan State, CSUN at Tulsa, Cal State Fullerton at Oral Roberts, Cal State Bakersfield at Utah Valley, UC Davis at San Francisco, Cal Poly at San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara at Oregon State. UC Irvine, the lone home team from The Big West on opening day, welcomes UCLA to Anteater Stadium.

Five of the nine teams will stay on the road Sunday with UC Riverside at Michigan, UC San Diego at Duke, CSUN at Oral Roberts, Cal State Fullerton at Tulsa and UC Davis at Santa Clara. Sacramento State will return hom to host Utah Tech.

Cal State Bakersfield and UC Santa Barbara will host California Baptist and Central Arkansas, respectively, on Monday.

A total of 10 matches are set to air live on ESPN+ this week. Please check the listings online below watch your favorite Big West squad in action!   

2025 Big West Men’s Soccer Schedule

Preseason Prognostications
UC Santa Barbara is favored to win The Big West according to the 2025 Big West Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Preseason Poll.

The Gauchos (12-5-5, 4-2-3 BW) earned three first-place votes for a total of 73 points. Last season, UC Santa Barbara finished second in the regular season standings, got to The Big West Championship final, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The coaches also voted on an 11-person Preseason All-Big West Team, and one Gaucho was featured on it in sophomore defender Calle Mollerberg. Last season, Mollerberg played in 20 games, making 18 starts, and played a full match on 14 occasions, earning All-Big West Second Team and Freshman Team honors. UCSB sported a 1.08 goals-against average with Mollerberg in the backline.

Defending regular season champion Cal Poly (7-4-8, 4-1-4 BW) was picked to finish second, claiming three first-place votes for 71 points. The Mustangs earned four spots on the preseason squad in junior midfielder Diego Guerra, sophomore forward Quinn Mahoney, junior goalkeeper Nicky McCune and junior defender Parker Owens. Mahoney, the reigning Big West Freshman of the Year and Second Team honoree, was the offensive catalyst for last season’s Mustangs with four goals and six assists for 14 points. Guerra earned All-Big West First Team distinction last season with three goals and one assist for seven points. The 2024 Cal Poly defense, led by McCune and Owens, sported a goals-against average of 0.68, with nine shutouts on the year. The goaltending was even better in league play, with a 0.44 opponents’ scoring average with five clean sheets. McCune tallied 60 saves and Owens provided one goal and three assists from the back line during the regular season. Last season, Owens and McCune were both All-Big West First Team selections and collected Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year awards, respectively.

UC Davis (10-6-6, 4-3-2 BW) received the remaining four first-place votes for 69 points to come in third in the poll. The Aggies, the winners of last year’s Big West Championship, took two slots on the preseason team with senior forward Cason Goodman and senior midfielder Zack Lillington. Goodman is a two-time All-Big West awardee, including First Team status last season with 11 goals and three assists for 25 points. Lillington recorded one goal and four assists to earn a spot on the All-Big West Second Team in 2024.

UC Irvine (8-8-3, 4-3-2 BW) came in fourth in the poll with 57 points and had two preseason squad selections in senior midfielder Agaton Pourshahidi and junior defender Brady Treinen. Pourshahidi recorded seven goals and two assists for 16 points last year and earned a spot on the All-Big West First Team. Treinen was an All-Big West Second Team honoree with five assist and led a backline that held opponents to 1.26 goals per game.

Cal State Fullerton (45), Cal State Bakersfield (37), CSUN (31), UC Riverside (24), UC San Diego (22) and Sacramento State (21) round out the rest of the poll. Cal State Bakersfield junior defender Luka Geishauser and Sacramento State junior forward Donovan Sessoms fill out the preseason team. Geishauser played all but nine minutes last season, logging 1,521 minutes and anchoring the Roadrunner backline to a 1.24 goals-against average, en route to All-Big West First Team honors. In 2024, Sessoms scored 10 goals, seven in conference play, to earn All-Big West First Team membership. At the end of the year, Sessoms was selected in the third round, 61st overall, in the 2024 MLS Draft but decided to forgo the opportunity and return to Sacramento State.

Top Drawer Soccer Player Rankings 
Five Big West players are featured in the TopDrawerSoccer’s National Top 100 Players rankings. Cal Poly’s Nicky McCune is rated 10th and is the highest ranked goalkeeper in the nation. Cal Poly defender Parker Owens comes in at No. 37, followed by Sacramento State forward Donovan Sessoms at No. 63, UC Davis forward Cason Goodman at No. 69 and UC Santa Barbara defender Calle Mollerberg at No. 96.

McCune was placed on TopDrawerSoccer’s Preseason Best XI Teams, garnering First Team honors.

Big West Men’s Soccer on ESPNU 
The Big West will be part of the ESPN’s robust linear men’s soccer coverage this fall. On Wednesday, Oct. 1, the UC Davis at Cal Poly men’s soccer contest will be broadcasted on ESPNU with kickoff set for 7 p.m. PT.

The Big West conference opener for both sides will be a rematch of the thrilling 2024 Big West Championship semifinal that was decided on penalty kicks last fall. The No. 4 seed Aggies upended the top-seeded regular-season champion Mustangs 5-4 in penalty kicks in front of a  crowd of 1,582 at Mustang Memorial Field. 

2024 Postseason Rewind  
The 2024 Big West men’s soccer season saw Cal Poly (7-4-8) win the regular season title with a 4-1-4 league record and earn the top seed in the conference championship.

No. 4 seed UC Davis (10-6-6, 4-3-2 BW) won The Big West Championship for the second time in program history with a 2-1 victory in the first round over No. 5 seed Cal State Bakersfield, a 5-4 penalty kick advantage against No. 1 seed Cal Poly in the semifinals and a 2-0 victory in the championship game over No. 2 UC Santa Barbara. With two goals scored in the match, Cason Goodman was named the Championship MVP.

The Big West had two teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament in UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos advanced to the second round, defeating UCLA in the opening game of the national tournament. UC Davis fell in the first round against San Diego.

From The Big West to the Big Leagues 
In December 2024, The Big West had two standouts selected in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft. UC Santa Barbara freshman midfielder Manu Duah was selected with the first overall pick to San Diego FC. Sacramento State sophomore forward Donovan Sessoms was drafted with the first pick of the third round, 61st overall, also by San Diego FC. The draftees were the 56th and 57th Big West men’s soccer players, respectively, to be picked in the history of the MLS SuperDraft. Sessoms decided to decline the opportunity to play in the MLS and return to Sacramento State.

In July, UC Davis alum Maximilian Arfsten and UC Santa Barbara alum Michael Boxall were named to the 2025 MLS All-Star Team.

Las Vegas — Middleweight Cam Rowston has already booked his UFC debut, doing so the same night he won his fight on Dana White’s Contender Series.

Rowston (12-3), who finished Brandon Holmes inside of a round on Tuesday, immediately called for a spot on the upcoming UFC Perth, and just as quickly got the go-ahead from UFC CEO and President Dana White himself.

“I really wanted to make my UFC debut on home soil in Australia. I’ve got friends in Sydney, family all over Australia, and I know they’re going to turn up for this one,” Rowston told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight.

Most fighters would hope for an explosive finish, perhaps with a Performance of the Night bonus, in their UFC debut. Rowston, however, when asked how he sees his fight in Perth going, said he’s actually looking for a split decision, and a bloody one at that.

“In my perfect world, I have a three-round war, blood everywhere, cuts, and I’m standing there with the referee, and he calls it and it’s a split decision, I get my hand raised,” stated Rowston. “It’s the best feeling ever. The anticipation of winning, it’s like, that’s what I live for.”

Rowston was wasting away life partying in his early 20s when MMA gave him something greater to aspire to. That happened around the time he started training with some other Australian talents who had flirted with the UFC.

“When I was about, I think it was 20, 21 years old, I started training with a guy who was in the UFC, Richie Walsh, and his mate Brendan O’Reilly,” Rowston recalled. The pair had appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia.

“A rising tide floats all boats, and I was just getting better and better. They were taking me down all the time, and then eventually they stopped taking me down so much. I started hitting them a little bit more, they were hitting me a little bit less.”

Eventually, Rowston got to thinking “‘f*ck, maybe I can do this.’” His training partners had similar thoughts. “Then they were saying stuff to be like ‘yeah you should give it a shot’ and I was like ‘f*ck, why not?’”

He did, and now Cam Rowston has arrived in the UFC.

Watch the full Dana White’s Contender Series 2025 Week 2 post-fight appearance by Cam Rowston above.

Event Info

Here’s how to watch the 2025 Fresno Pacific vs Pomona-Pitzer – Men’s Water Polo broadcast on FloSwimming. The 2025 Fresno Pacific vs Pomona-Pitzer – Men’s Water Polo broadcast starts on Sep 6, 2025. Stream or cast from your desktop, mobile or TV. Now available on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast and Apple TV. Don’t forget to download the FloSports app on iOS or Android! If you can’t watch live, catch up with the replays! Video footage from the event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloSwimming subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription.

John Wall’s career in the NBA may be over, but he isn’t walking away from the game he loves just yet. 

Wall, who officially retired on Tuesday, is joining the Prime Video studio crew as the streaming service enters its first season carrying NBA broadcasts as part of an 11-year rights deal. 

The former Wizards star will join Blake Griffin and Dirk Nowitzki, who previously had been announced as the primary analysts, as well as Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash, and Candace Parker, who will be splitting time between calling games and working in the studio. 

Wall, 34, is hoping that he can connect with fans and share his deep knowledge of the game with them through broadcasting, he told the Washington Post. 

“If you never really had the opportunity to sit down and talk to me, you won’t really understand how much I love basketball, where my basketball mind is at, where my IQ is,” Wall said. “I can basically tell you the best player in the country — from girls to boys, high school, to the players that’s in college, to the people that’s at the NBA and WNBA.” 

Wall has limited broadcast experience, having worked a pair of G League Winter Showcase games on ESPN and NBA TV last winter. 

Following the experience, he told the Associated Press that it was an outlet for him to talk about basketball, something “I love to do” and that it was what he did “when I’m home, watching with my friends and kids.”

He joked that they all would eventually end up telling him to “‘shut up and let us watch.’”

Wall retired after 11 seasons in the NBA and finished with five All-Star nods and averaging 18.7 points per game and 8.9 assists per game during his career.

He played nine seasons with the Wizards before spending a season with the Rockets and Clippers.