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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff WriterNov 14, 2024, 05:25 PM ET
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
The bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, the country’s largest operator of regional sports networks, has seemingly come to an end. A federal judge formally approved Diamond’s reorganization plan on Thursday, 20 months after the company filed for Chapter 11. Diamond subsequently announced that it “expects to complete the restructuring process in the coming weeks” and thus reemerge as a new business.
Despite some cuts over the past couple years, Diamond retains a combined 27 MLB, NBA and NHL teams in its portfolio. Its saga — full of twists and turns that at various points made it seem as if the company was headed for liquidation — is indicative of a volatile media landscape shaped by massive cord-cutting and an influx of streaming options.
Below is a look at what Diamond’s emergence from bankruptcy could mean for sports fans and their favorite teams.
Which MLB teams will remain with Diamond for the 2025 season? What changes, if any, can viewers expect?
Diamond will move forward with six MLB teams: the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays. All of these contracts are under revised terms that have been finalized over the last 1½ months and — importantly — include direct-to-consumer rights.
The broadcasts have switched from Bally Sports to FanDuel Sports Network, the product of a new naming rights deal. Fans who reside within each team’s designated geographic area will also be allowed to stream games through the FanDuel Sports Network website or app with the purchase of monthly or season passes, the price of which varies by market. At some point — on a yet-to-be announced date, for a still-to-be determined additional cost — Amazon subscribers will also be able to watch local games through Prime Video.
Diamond revealed a reorganization plan in bankruptcy court at the start of October that included shedding every MLB contract except the Braves’, though the company was continuing to negotiate with other teams. New linear-cable and digital-streaming deals with the Angels, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays and Tigers followed. In the days before its confirmation hearing, Diamond also reached a new agreement with the Braves that included streaming rights, something the prior deal did not possess.
Which MLB teams are breaking out and going elsewhere for 2025? Why?
In 20 months, Diamond cut the number of MLB teams in its portfolio by more than half, from 14 to six.
The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks fell off from Diamond after missed payments in 2023; Major League Baseball has been running their broadcasts ever since, cutting deals with distributors and providing their games blackout-free through MLB.TV. At the end of the 2024 season, the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers, whose contracts expired, joined MLB as well. The Texas Rangers, also at the end of their deal, broke away to search for an alternate local-media option.
In the lead-up to confirmation, Diamond and the Cincinnati Reds failed to agree to renegotiated terms and parted ways, with Diamond buying out the Reds’ stake in its regional sports network. The Reds subsequently joined MLB. The only unsettled Diamond team at the moment is the Kansas City Royals. The two sides are still in talks.
Which teams in the NBA and NHL are affected — and how?
Diamond has deals with 13 NBA teams and eight NHL teams at least through the 2024-25 seasons. These include linear and digital rights.
The NBA teams: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs.
The NHL teams: Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Diamond agreed to new NBA and NHL deals for lower rights fees in August. In that deal, the company shed the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans. The NHL’s Anaheim Ducks subsequently left Diamond, as well. Beginning Dec. 5, Diamond will offer single-game pricing for its NBA and NHL teams starting at $6.99. It remains to be seen whether the company will provide a similar pay-per-game option for its MLB teams next season.
What does this ruling mean for MLB’s “umbrella” plan to package teams under MLB.TV without blackouts?
At the moment, MLB possesses the rights for seven teams — the Brewers, D-backs, Guardians, Padres, Reds, Twins and Colorado Rockies, the latter of which joined after Warner Bros. Discovery shut down its AT&T SportsNet-branded RSNs. The Royals and Rangers have yet to make commitments for 2025 and could technically join them, too.
A package of seven to nine teams could already be enough for MLB to negotiate a nonexclusive deal with a major streaming company, though ideally the league would possess rights to roughly half its teams. MLB’s ultimate goal is to maintain linear and digital rights for all 30 teams, a scale the league hopes will maximize revenue and, with the elimination of blackouts, reach.
Some in the league office believe cord-cutting trends make those aspirations an inevitability, even for big-market teams who still take in major revenue from their RSNs. Others push back on that theory. Regardless, that is still years away. And the fact that six MLB teams stayed with Diamond — with some of them deciding that making less money in rights fees was preferable to the uncertainty of not having an RSN deal in the first place — has only delayed that process.
One source familiar with the process noted, though, that none of the new deals with Diamond extend beyond 2028. It’s an important year. MLB’s big national deals with ESPN, Fox and TNT/TBS all run through 2028, after which the league could have the flexibility to include streaming giants such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. The inclusion of local rights would only make MLB’s package more appealing.
How will this affect MLB offseason spending for Diamond’s remaining teams — and across the league?
At least some of the teams that stayed with Diamond accepted less in rights fees than they collected in prior deals. That is also the case for the seven teams who are under MLB and thus are without an RSN deal. And though they’d receive strong pushback from union executives and player agents, owners will naturally cling to those local-media losses — a space that accounts for roughly 20% of team revenues in the aggregate — as a reason to scale back payroll.
It hasn’t always proven to be the case: Though teams such as the Rangers, Padres and Seattle Mariners cut back amid RSN uncertainty last offseason (with the Mariners affected by decreased viewership through ROOT Sports), the D-backs did not. The Angels, meanwhile, have already shown signs they’ll increase payroll next season, recently taking on the $26 million remaining on Jorge Soler’s contract.
Teams will make individual calculations, and there are early signs of more activity around free agents this offseason. But the big-market teams with stable RSNs — teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays — arguably have a bigger advantage than ever before.
