MLB is approaching an endgame on reselling national media rights being abandoned by ESPN after this season, with a decision anticipated before next month’s All-Star Game. 

As team owners meet this week in New York, league commissioner Rob Manfred said discussions are ongoing with three bidders to cover the 2026–28 seasons. Two are known, with NBC potentially returning to baseball to expand its sports hold on Sunday nights, Apple TV+ looking to expand its presence beyond its current Friday night package, and a third suitor that Manfred declined to name. MLB could potentially break the ESPN rights into multiple parts.

“I’m hopeful that in the next few weeks, prior to the All-Star Game, we get something done,” Manfred said. “But when you’re having three different sets of conversations, it’s a lot. Each set of conversations involves a different group of content. We’re talking to three people about different packages.”

The rights deals would be interim ones to bridge to 2028, when MLB’s other national rights deals expire, and when Manfred is looking to repackage the sport’s national and local rights in a more centralized strategy. Because of that shorter time frame, the commissioner said he will look to prioritize reach over gaining maximum dollars. But he also acknowledged that the mutual opt-out with ESPN exercised earlier this year has created something of an awkward situation. 

“We agreed to the opt-out as a set of compromises that got us to the deal we had. We liked the deal we had,” Manfred said of ESPN. “Looking backwards, do I wish I wasn’t in a position to sell three years so we can line our rights up in 2028? The answer to that is yes.”

Next Steps in Tampa?

Manfred said progress is continuing on repairing hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field so the Rays can return there at or near Opening Day in 2026. The team’s long-term future, however, remains decidedly uncertain.

His comments follow the team’s decision in March to walk away from a deal with St. Petersburg, Fla., and Pinellas County to build a $1.3 billion stadium. The Rays are currently playing to sharply decreased and league-low attendance in the Yankees’ spring training facility, George M. Steinbrenner Field.

“The big contingency [for next year] is what happens with the [2025] hurricane season. There’s not much you can do about that besides keep your fingers crossed,” Manfred said. “Long-term, they’re going to honor their lease [at Tropicana Field] through 2028, but I don’t really have anything to add beyond that.”

More Business

In other matters that Manfred addressed:

• Manfred said there is a “really positive” mood among owners as the league enjoys solid increases in both attendance and national TV viewership so far in the 2025 season. Other factors, such as the continued success of the pitch clock and popular stars such as the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge are having significant impacts, too. “The product we’re putting on the field is better than it was five years ago,” Manfred said.
• There is still no deal for MLB to be part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But as negotiating progresses with LA28 organizers, parallel talks are also happening with other league business partners. “We have some other partners that we need to talk to about changes that would need to be made to accommodate the Olympics,” Manfred said.
• The commissioner cited strong buzz among owners about the league’s recent investment in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League. “They think we found a good organization and are excited to get going with that,” he said.
• Manfred said the sentiments of U.S. President Donald Trump were among many inputs in his recent decision to reinstate the late Pete Rose. 

“I have respect for the office and paid attention to the advice that he gave,” he said. “But I had a lot of other people that we were weighing in on the topic as well.”

The 2025 NBA Finals series between the Thunder and Pacers is one of the most lopsided in history—at least based on the odds.

Oklahoma City is favored somewhere from -650 to -750, depending on the sportsbook, making the matchup one of the 10 most-lopsided NBA Finals, according to Sports Odds History.

Despite the gap—or perhaps because of it—bettors are putting their money on Indiana. 

According to data from DraftKings, 79% of the betting handle, which is the total amount of money wagered, is on the Pacers to upset the Thunder. DraftKings has the Pacers at +500 odds to win the series. The remaining 79% of the handle placed on the series winner belongs to the Thunder at -700, meaning that a bettor would have to place $7 to win $1 back.

DraftKings director of sports operations Johnny Avello tells Front Office Sports that betting trends were similar for previous playoff series, including when the Cavaliers were -425 favorites to beat the Pacers in the second round.

“It’s not that unusual because the bettors are reluctant to lay $7 to win $1,” says Avello.

The same trend can be seen on FanDuel, DraftKings’ biggest competitor, where the Thunder are -750 favorites. The Pacers have 95% of total series bets and 77% of the betting handle.

Most bettors, however, are putting money on OKC to cover the spread in Game 1 (-9), with 57% of the betting handle for Game 1 on OKC to cover. However, 66% of the handle is on the Pacers moneyline (+320), according to DraftKings.

Oklahoma City is also getting a lion’s share of the bets when it comes to the exact outcome of the series.

For bets on “Correct Score,” 64% of the betting handle and 41% of bets placed are on the Thunder to win in five games (+250), the most likely outcome based on the odds. An Oklahoma City sweep (+260) has 18% of the handle and 25% of bets placed. Pacers in six (+1400) has the most bets of any that have Indiana winning the series (5% handle, 9% bets placed).

While the odds show that the Pacers are a long shot to win the title, they have been underdogs throughout the playoffs. They have not been favored to win a series since the first round, and DraftKings gave Indiana 85-to-1 odds to win the title before the playoffs, the longest odds in the sportsbook’s history for any team that has made the Finals.

“No quote, unquote expert or analyst is going to pick us, and that’s O.K. We like it better that way,” Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton said Tuesday.

An American has not won a French Open singles title in more than a decade. Coco Gauff is the country’s last hope of ending the drought this year.

Gauff defeated fellow American Madison Keys in the quarterfinals Wednesday to advance to her second consecutive semifinals at Roland-Garros. She is the last remaining American in the tournament, man or woman, after Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe were knocked out in the men’s quarterfinals Tuesday.

The last American to win the French Open was Serena Williams in 2015, the longest gap among the four Grand Slams. The last American man was Andre Agassi in 1999.

Gauff was the last U.S. player to reach the finals of the lone Grand Slam played on clay back in 2022, the first Grand Slam final of her career. She was 18 years old at the time, and she has since won one Grand Slam (2023 US Open), hit her career-high ranking (No. 2), and amassed more than $24.3 million in career earnings. 

Now 21, Gauff will face France’s own Lois Boisson, the biggest Cinderella story of the tournament, who entered the French Open ranked No. 361. Gauff, however, will likely be up against the Paris crowd Thursday—something she said she’s had to deal with before. 

“I think there are two ways I have done it in the past. Either, A: just pretend they’re cheering for you, and B: just using it and not letting that get to you,” Gauff told reporters Wednesday.

While Gauff (-500) is the odds-on favorite to beat Boisson, she may not be favored regardless of whoever comes out of the other side of the bracket. Gauff will either face four-time French Open champion Iga Świątek, who has eliminated her from the Grand Slam in three consecutive years, or world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Trending Up

Even if Gauff is unable to secure a title at Roland-Garros, the tournament was still a massive step in the right direction for U.S. tennis. Eight Americans made the round of 16 this year, the most in the last 40 years.

Five women made it (Amanda Anisimova, Gauff, Keys, Jessica Pegula, Hailey Baptiste), and three men (Paul, Tiafoe, Ben Shelton). Four advanced to the quarterfinals, including Paul and Tiafoe—the first time multiple men have made the final eight at Roland-Garros since 1995.

Clay is historically one of the weaker courts for U.S. players, as hard courts are more common locally while clay courts are common in Europe.