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Diamond Sports Group has been renegotiating its market agreements with the Guardians, Rangers and Twins as part of its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Atlético’s Evan Drellich reported this morning that MLB expects the three organizations to sign one-year deals to remain on Diamond’s Bally Sports networks through the 2024 season. None of those deals have been finalized yet.
The Twins’ television contract expired at the end of the 2023 season. The Rangers and Guardians still had contracts with Diamond, but the broadcasting conglomerate had called those deals unprofitable and threatened to abandon them if they were not renegotiated to a lower rate. Diamond already canceled contracts with the Padres and Diamondbacks during the 2023 season.
That left Cleveland, Texas and Minnesota to discuss reduced terms or risk losing their local broadcast rates entirely. According to various reports, Cleveland made $55 million from its television deal a year ago. Texas received about $111 million from Diamond, while Minnesota’s contract paid $54 million in his final season.
The specific terms being discussed are unknown. However, Drellich reports that the Guardians and Rangers are expected to lose 15% or less of what they would otherwise have received in 2024. It’s unclear how much reduction Minnesota might need on its next contract. On the one hand, that remains an unenviable position for those organizations. A 15% reduction could shave roughly $8.25 million off the Guardians’ expected revenue, while the Rangers’ deal could be reduced by something in the $17 million range by that yardstick. (The precise figures are unclear, as the teams’ anticipated rights fees in 2024 were No necessarily the same thing they had done in ’23).
At the same time, recouping more than 85% of their expected fees is still a better outcome for those teams than leaving Diamond entirely, which likely would have required teams to turn to MLB to handle in-market streaming. That’s particularly true for Texas, which had one of the most profitable RSN deals in the game. A one-year deal will still leave teams with long-term uncertainty, but they appear to be on track to remain in the Bally Sports networks for at least one more year.
If the new deals are finalized, Diamond will once again be responsible for in-market television for 12 teams. The company has already stated that it will fulfill next season’s commitments at full price for the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals and Tigers. It remains to be seen if Diamond will be able to operate beyond the 24th MLB season. Its recent restructuring deal to sell its streaming rights in the marketplace to Amazon for a $450 million down payment is designed to keep the company afloat beyond this year. This is still pending bankruptcy court approval. Drellich notes that some within the baseball industry remain skeptical about Diamond’s long-term viability, even if the court approves his streaming deal with Amazon.