ESPN Balks, MLB Walks

Sometimes in sports broadcast rights contracts – just as in sports athlete contracts – you hear about an opt-out clause. Usually, it's a way for one side with more leverage to gain greater optionality in the future while maintaining a safety net. And so you often will see the one side invoke the clause to "test the waters" for a better contract, as it were. Rarely do you see both sides opting-out. But that's apparently what has happened with Major League Baseball and ESPN...