So much for the soft US economy.
Major League Baseball yesterday signed an eight-year extension of its deal with ESPN that will double the rights fee paid by the cable giant to roughly $700 million a year.
The deal, for a total of $5.6 billion — the richest deal ever signed by MLB — runs from 2014 through the 2021 season.
That new deal will mean almost $12 million more per team — which can come in handy for cash-strapped teams like the Mets.
Under the deal, ESPN will gain the rights to air one playoff game, 10 extra regular-season games, plus some digital rights.
While MLB.tv sells access to its own streaming package, ESPN will be getting more content for its authenticated services, which include WatchESPN.
In addition, there will no longer be local blackouts of ESPN Monday- and Wednesday-night games.
While lucrative to MLB teams and a coup for Commissioner Bud Selig, the new deal will surely result in more accusations of a “sports tax,” as Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei called it, since costs must be passed along and all consumers pay whether they watch or not.
“It’s another example of sports rights getting too high to support,” said one former negotiator.
Disney’s sports-crazed ESPN network costs distributors around $6.50 per month per subscriber for its handful of channels, according to SNL Kagan.
To be fair, ESPN isn’t immediately raising rates, and it will get to add a host of new content that makes it easier to increase revenue to offset the added expense.
Another sports negotiator said: “Clearly they will achieve some value from the new assets, but my guess is they don’t make $300 million off of it. But ESPN isn’t going to do a deal it can’t monetize.”
MLB still must seal other parts of its broadcast rights — those now held by Fox and TBS through 2013.
Fox is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Post.
Comcast’s NBC, according to industry chatter, may dive into those talks in hopes of beefing up the lineup of its anemic NBC Sports Network.
Eight months ago, ESPN agreed to add another $800 million to its deal with the NFL, paying $1.9 billion a year. Network broadcasters agreed to pay the NFL a 60 percent increase on their prior deals, paying a collective $3.2 billion per year.
Sports leagues are seeing huge escalations as TV networks look to drive both live and digital viewership of their properties.
Strong audience turnout in turn helps networks argue for bigger affiliate fees and ad revenue.
Sports Business Daily first reported the news of MLB’s agreement with ESPN.