Streaming Giant Secures Japan Broadcast Rights For 2026 World Baseball Classic

The 2026 World Baseball Classic will have a new home for the Japanese audience.

Streaming giant Netflix secured the broadcast rights for the 2026 international baseball tournament for Japan.

All 47 games in the tournament will be streamed by Netflix, according to a report from Front Office Sports.

Financial terms of the deal were not included in initial reports.

The deal will mark the first live event streamed by Netflix in Japan, according to WBC analyst Shawn Spradling.

Netflix has been growing its reach in professional sports/sporting events over the last year.

They secured a streaming deal with WWE to broadcast the company's flagship program, Monday Night Raw, and secured a deal to air the Home Run Derby after ESPN aired the annual event for years.

Several companies and platforms, including Amazon Prime, held the Japanese media rights for the WBC in 2023.

The Japanese viewing audience for the 2026 WBC is expected to be a large one.

Team Japan won the 2023 iteration of the tournament, with the final at-bat coming down to a matchup between then-Los Angeles Angels teammates Shohei Ohtani (Team Japan) and Mike Trout (Team USA).

Japan team will be looking to defend its crown in 2026.

Ohtani, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is the defending National League MVP and won a World Series with the Dodgers against the New York Yankees in 2024.

Nearly 16 million people in Japan watched Game 2 of the 2024 World Series, beating out the U.S.

audience (13.8 million).

Many of the top MLB Players will also compete in the event.

This season's American League MVP front runners, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, will both take part in the 2026 WBC as members of Team USA.

There will be four rounds of pool play in the 2026 WBC, consisting of five teams per pool.

One of them will take place from March 5-10, 2026, in Tokyo.

The U.S.

broadcast rights for the 2026 WBC are yet to be announced.

Fox Sports held the broadcast rights for the 2023 WBC.

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