The ongoing battle for Major League Baseball team's television rights could hit another snag. Diamond Sports Group, which owns the Bally Sports brand that regionally televises games, filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan which is scheduled to go to a vote next month. But MLB and 12 affected teams say in a court filing that it is unfeasible given their May loss of coverage on Comcast.
Those teams include the Minnesota Twins, the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.
According to a report on the website Awful Announcing, MLB and the clubs say that that chapter 11 filing is "hanging by a thread", and it is untenable for the league. The federal bankruptcy court is scheduled to host a hearing Thursday afternoon to hear concerns raised in March by the NBA, NHL, and MLB about the soundness of the plan.
“Unless Comcast and the Debtors can come to a new agreement, it is highly likely that the loss of carriage of the Debtors’ broadcasts by Comcast, and the resulting loss of licensing fees from Comcast, will render the Plan unconfirmable, thereby wasting time and estate resources to the detriment of MLB, the Signatory Clubs, and other interested parties,” said a statement from the league.
Reports are that a full 81% of Diamond Sports' revenues come from the three biggest cable distributors, DirecTV, Charter, and Comcast.
Diamond renewed with the first two companies, but the economics of those renewals have not been shared with MLB, who says it is not possible to gauge whether they help or hurt the restructuring.
Diamond and parent company Sinclair have battled cord cutting and debt issues for over a year, and had plans to shut down the operations after the 2024 season. But in early 2024, an apparent deal was struck with Amazon who would invest $115 million and offer streaming coverage to consumers. Details on that deal are scarce, and MLB has pointed out there's no guarantee it even comes to fruition.
MLB has had to again begin offering alternate telecasts last year for the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks issues with Diamond dropped coverage of those teams. Now it has been planning for alternatives to the other affected teams.
Meanwhile, Comcast has blacked out 15 regional sports networks offered by Bally Sports, escalating a contract dispute with their distributor. The cutoff affects games played by a dozen Major League Baseball teams based in nine states. Diamond Sports Group, which distributes the networks under the Bally name, called the blackout “disappointing” and blamed Comcast for refusing to “engage in substantive discussions.”
All of this is leaving fans in the lurch. The motion filed on Wednesday appears to lay the groundwork for MLB to cast doubt on Diamond Sports' ability to emerge from chapter 11 and continue to operate the Bally's brands. And that puts a lot of baseball coverage on television in jeopardy going forward.