US media giant Fox will once again provide coverage for the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) national teams competition after securing both English and Spanish-language rights in the US.
Fox’s deal covers all 47 games, with Fox itself airing seven fixtures, including three Pool B games featuring a US team, two quarterfinal games, and the final.
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The remaining games will air on sports channels FS1 and FS2, as well as being streamed on the Fox Sports app, Fox One, and Tubi services.
The Fox Deportes service, meanwhile, will broadcast 28 games in Spanish, including the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final.
Fox Sports executive vice president Bill Wanger has said: “The WBC embodies everything we love about the game – passion, pride, and world-class talent.
“Following the tournament's widespread excitement and unforgettable finish from 2023, we're honored to once again deliver this premier global event to fans across the country.”
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By GlobalDataOwned by North America’s Major League Baseball (MLB), via World Baseball Classic Inc., and operated alongside the MLB Players Association union, the tournament sees national teams compete against each other in a similar format to soccer’s FIFA World Cup.
It will be the second time Fox has provided coverage of the WBC, having also aired the last edition in 2023, won by Team Japan, led by LA Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who struck out his then-teammate Mike Trout to clinch the team’s third title.
The final of that event, aired on the FS1 channel, drew a record audience in the US, with an average of 4.5 million viewers (4.97 million with Fox Deportes included). Viewership on FS1 and Fox Deportes, all told, peaked at 6.5 million.
In the UK, rights to the 2023 edition were held by TNT Sport (then-named BT Sport), which aired three matches featuring the Great Britain Team and the US, as well as all fixtures from the quarterfinals onwards.
The 2026 edition, meanwhile, will feature 20 teams competing in four first-round pools in Tokyo (Japan), San Juan (Puerto Rico), and US cities Houston and Miami.
The tournament will start in Tokyo on March 4 and end with the final at Miami’s LoanDepot Park on March 17.
Fox’s rights deal comes after global streaming giant Netflix acquired the rights in Japan to air all fixtures.
It will be Netflix’s first live sports event in Japan, with the streamer promising comprehensive coverage of the tournament after the previous edition saw six of the seven Team Japan games deliver over 30 million viewers in Japan for broadcaster TV Asahi.
