Starting next season, Sunday Morning Baseball could have a new but familiar home. According to a report from Sports Business Journal, sources familiar with the deal state that NBC Sports outbid Roku for the MLB Sunday morning package, currently known as MLB Sunday Leadoff.
After ESPN opted out of its current MLB deal, which included Sunday Night Baseball and Wildcard games in the postseason, the door opened for other players to get into the action. Earlier this year, it was reported that NBC Sports was interested in bringing back MLB across its networks, including Peacock. The Sunday morning package would be part of NBC’s reported $600 million MLB rights agreement that is expected to bring Wildcard games, Friday and Sunday night games to the broadcast network/Peacock. The league is also reportedly bringing the Home Run Derby to Netflix and MLB.TV out-of-market games to ESPN, which leaves Roku and Apple TV out as partners.
NBC is no stranger to the MLB’s Sunday morning lineup, as Peacock was the original home of MLB Sunday Leadoff for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Since 2024, Roku has hosted the package for free on The Roku Channel after agreeing to a three-year $30 million deal. Per SBJ, the MLB-Roku deal was supposed to run through the 2026 season.
Adding baseball to a lineup that already includes the NFL and NBA makes Peacock a sports destination every Sunday throughout the year. MLB Sunday Leadoff claims the early TV window, starting around 11:30 a.m. ET, with a solo run of roughly 90–120 minutes, because other Sunday matchups are barred from opening until 1:35 p.m. ET.
During the Roku era, viewers did not need a subscription or a Roku device to watch. Games could easily be found for free on The Roku Channel website or within the app across many different devices. During the first two seasons on NBC Sports, most of the games were Peacock-exclusive and required a subscription. However, notably, NBC did simulcast the first game for free in 2022.