With ‘MLB Opening Night,’ Netflix Is Messing With the Wrong Fans
The only way — and I do mean the ONLY way — to watch the New York Yankees open their 2026 baseball season against the San Francisco Giants will be via a Netflix subscription.
When Netflix teed off in the golf space in 2023 with the silly Netflix Cup , it put its breakfast ball directly into the water . The streamer’s efforts to enter fight sports have been mixed , and its NFL games have been … fine. But now, with its Major League Baseball opening night rights, the streamer is messing with the wrong fan base.
On Wednesday evening, the New York Yankees will take on the San Francisco Giants exclusively on Netflix. And in this instance, the game truly is an exclusive. The teams’ local markets, including the YES Network cable station in New York City, will be blacked out from their own Opening Day game.
That is somewhat unusual, especially when you consider that the Yankees are the primary owner of YES, currently with a 26 percent stake in the RSN (regional sports network) giant. (The NFL does not allow streamers to circumvent home TV markets for its games, but the NBA allows for local blackouts of its national streaming games. ) More from The Hollywood Reporter 'North of North,' 'Heated Rivalry' Lead Nominations for Canadian Screen Awards Netflix Source Disputes Mark Normand Claim Exec Called Muslims "Dangerous People" Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Developing Polo Scripted Drama at Netflix It doesn’t help any that tristate-area Yankees fans can’t even go see the game in person — not unless they’re willing to fly across the country to the Bay Area.
It’s probably OK: New Yorkers are famously chill people. (Get your Cracker Jack ready: X, FKA Twitter, is going to explode around 8 p. m.
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