The National Football League still towers over American sports, but a quieter race is unfolding just below it. According to reporting by the New York Times, recent gains by Major League Baseball have changed the terms of its long‑running rivalry with the National Basketball Association over which league holds the country’s No. 2 spot.
The Times’ analysis, published in May, asks directly whether MLB has overtaken the NBA as America’s second‑most prominent sports league. That question, once considered settled in the NBA’s favor by many fans and advertisers, is now being revisited as baseball posts fresh signs of momentum.
While the NFL remains the clear ratings and revenue leader, the shifting balance between MLB and the NBA matters for how leagues strike media deals, experiment with technology, and compete for fans’ time and money.
A Changing Race Behind the NFL
The New York Times frames the current moment as a turning point in a contest that has simmered for years: which league sits directly behind the NFL in the U.S. sports hierarchy.
For much of the past decade, the NBA has been widely perceived as the more dynamic challenger. Its social‑media presence, global stars, and younger fan base helped build a narrative that basketball, not baseball, was best positioned to close the gap with football.
The Times reports, however, that MLB’s recent gains have complicated that story. While the article’s full data and exact metrics are not detailed in the available summary, its central claim is clear: by several important measures, baseball is now making a stronger case for the No. 2 slot than it did just a few years ago.
The Times analysis is described as event‑direct, meaning it is built around current developments rather than a long‑term historical review. Within that frame, the question of whether MLB has already moved ahead of the NBA is presented as open but newly plausible.
Evidence of MLB’s Recent Momentum
The New York Times points to a cluster of recent developments to support the idea that MLB is gaining ground. While the summary of the piece does not list specific numbers, its premise rests on evidence that baseball’s position has improved relative to the NBA’s.
At a broad level, that likely includes:
Television and streaming performance: MLB’s national broadcasts and postseason games have historically delivered strong audiences. The Times’ question implies that, in some key windows, baseball’s reach now compares more favorably with the NBA’s than it did in the recent past.
League health and perception: The framing that MLB has “overtaken” or at least challenged the NBA suggests that baseball’s overall business and cultural footprint are being reassessed. That reassessment, as described by the Times, is grounded in current performance rather than nostalgia.
Stability among the top leagues: The NFL remains the dominant No. 1, and both MLB and the NBA continue to operate as major national properties. The Times’ focus is not on a collapse by one league but on a shift in relative strength.
The New York Times does not present its conclusion as settled fact. Instead, it poses the question of MLB’s No. 2 status as a live debate, indicating that different metrics may point in different directions and that reasonable observers can disagree.
A Second Source Confirms the Same Development
A separate report from Fox Business, published in May and focused on a federal antitrust lawsuit involving Fanatics and several professional sports leagues, offers a different window into the same hierarchy.
In that case, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Fanatics and major leagues, including the NFL and other unnamed pro organizations, were monopolizing sports merchandise. While the Fox Business article centers on legal and business questions, it treats the NFL, MLB, and the NBA as part of a shared top tier of American sports properties.
Within that coverage, Fox Business describes the same broader development identified by the New York Times: that MLB has recently strengthened its position in the marketplace relative to the NBA. The outlet’s account is categorized as contextual rather than event‑direct, meaning it uses league status to explain the stakes of the lawsuit rather than to analyze sports popularity on its own.
Together, the two sources — one focused directly on the league hierarchy, the other on a legal dispute involving those leagues — describe a consistent picture: the NFL is firmly on top, and MLB’s recent gains have changed how its rivalry with the NBA for the No. 2 spot is understood.
Why the No. 2 Spot Matters
On its face, the question of whether MLB or the NBA is America’s second‑most prominent league might sound like a bar‑stool argument. But the ranking carries real consequences.
First, league status influences media negotiations. Networks and streaming platforms weigh audience size, demographic reach, and season length when bidding for rights. A league perceived as stronger or rising can command more favorable terms and more aggressive experimentation with new distribution technologies.
Second, the hierarchy affects sponsorship and licensing. Companies that sign long‑term deals with leagues — from apparel brands to betting operators — are effectively betting on which products will hold fans’ attention. The Fox Business coverage of the Fanatics lawsuit underscores how central the top leagues are to the sports merchandise market, where even small shifts in fan interest can move large sums of money.
Third, league prominence shapes regulatory and legal attention. The Fanatics case, although dismissed, illustrates how the business dealings of the NFL, MLB, the NBA, and their partners can attract scrutiny when they are seen as gatekeepers of a national pastime.
Finally, the race for No. 2 matters for how leagues adopt and test technology — from streaming formats to in‑stadium experiences. While neither source lays out specific tech initiatives, both treat the NFL, MLB, and the NBA as central players in a rapidly changing sports‑media landscape. A league that moves up in the pecking order can gain leverage to push its preferred innovations.
What Remains Unclear
Despite the shared conclusion that MLB has recently improved its position relative to the NBA, there is still uncertainty around how far that shift has gone.
The New York Times explicitly frames the issue as a question — whether MLB has overtaken the NBA — rather than as a settled fact. Without access to the full underlying data, it is not possible to say definitively which league is No. 2 by every measure, whether that is total revenue, average viewership, digital engagement, or cultural influence.
Fox Business, for its part, treats the leagues’ relative standing mainly as context for a legal dispute. Its reporting confirms that MLB is part of a small group of dominant U.S. sports properties and that its recent gains are relevant to business and legal questions. It does not attempt a detailed ranking.
Both outlets agree on two key points:
- The NFL is still king. There is no indication in either report that any league is close to challenging football’s top spot.
- MLB’s recent gains have changed the conversation. Whether or not baseball has fully passed the NBA, its trajectory has made the race for No. 2 more competitive and less predictable than it appeared a few years ago.
What to Watch Next
The available reporting stops short of predicting a winner in the contest between MLB and the NBA. Instead, it documents a shift: baseball has gained enough ground that its rivalry with the NBA for the No. 2 position can no longer be taken for granted.
For readers, the key takeaway is that the hierarchy beneath the NFL is in motion. As media contracts come up for renewal, as leagues test new technology and distribution models, and as legal challenges like the Fanatics case probe the power of top sports organizations, the perceived order among the NFL, MLB, and the NBA will continue to matter.
The New York Times and Fox Business, working from different angles, converge on the same development: baseball’s recent gains have reshaped its chase of the NBA. Whether that adds up to a permanent changing of places is a question that future seasons — and future data — will have to answer.
