The Dodgers TV deal offers a significant advantage over other MLB teams

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a significant advantage over other MLB teams due to a tax exemption included in their TV deal.

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The Dodgers can keep an additional $66 million each year because of the way their TV deal with MLB is structured. When the organization filed for bankruptcy in 2011, the league agreed to set a fair market value for Dodgers baseball rights.

Therefore, a significant portion of the $334 million the Dodgers earn annually from the deal is exempt from MLB’s revenue sharing due to the bankruptcy settlement.

“The first major turning point came when the Dodgers partnered with Time Warner Cable to launch SportsNet LA, but because the Dodgers had just gone bankrupt and MLB wanted to help one of their historic franchises improve, there was an exception in the contract,” reported independent sports journalist Joon Lee.

“Under MLB rules, teams are supposed to share a large portion of their local TV dollars with the rest of the league. Think of it as a tax system. Big market teams help smaller teams so everyone has a chance to compete. That taxes about a third of the teams’ local TV dollars, but when the Dodgers signed their TV deal, expectations were completely shattered.”

“The deal was for about $8 billion over the next five years, far more than MLB had expected. If MLB had applied the typical formula, the Dodgers would have owed about $95.2 million per year in revenue share. But here’s the twist: Because the Dodgers had just declared bankruptcy, MLB agreed in federal court to set a fair market value for the rights to televised Dodgers baseball games.”

Because the Dodgers were going bankrupt, MLB agreed to tax their TV money as if they were still broke.

This allows the Dodgers to keep about $66 million more each year than they otherwise would.

This exception runs through 2039, according to a league source.https://t.co/iRSaxeDoyT pic.twitter.com/80nDyCOA0L

— Joon Lee (@joonlee) January 22, 2026

When did the Dodgers’ TV deal with Spectrum begin?

In 2013, the Dodgers partnered with Time Warner Cable (now known as Spectrum) on a 25-year deal worth $8.35 billion. The partnership was the creation of SportsNet LA, the regional sports network owned by the Dodgers.

The Dodgers will be exempt from paying the full 34 percent of MLB’s revenue until 2039, which in turn has helped the organization build its current baseball dynasty.

Now all that’s left is for the back-to-back World Series champions to win three times in 2026. Will the Dodgers win it all again?

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