Connect with us

Published

on

Diamond Sports Group, which owns 19 regional sports networks (RSNs), has ventured into bankruptcy, a predictable development that will nonetheless have a major impact on the way fans watch games and the way teams profit off them.

Diamond, a Sinclair subsidiary that is known to viewers as Bally Sports, stands as the largest distributor of live sports within the United States — and it is in serious financial turmoil. The company took on $8 billion of debt to acquire the RSNs in 2019, watched as the rate of cord-cutting accelerated throughout the country and was forced to file for a Chapter 11 restructuring last week.

It’s a situation that promises to have wide-ranging effects, particularly, given the timing, within Major League Baseball. What does it mean for fans? For the future of live programming? For sports? Answers to some of the most pertinent questions — including, yes, blackouts — are below.

Which teams does this affect? Will fans be able to watch their games?

Diamond Sports Group runs the RSNs for 42 teams across MLB (14 teams), the NHL (12 teams) and the NBA (16 teams). The latter two leagues are navigating the tail end of their respective seasons, leaving time for this process to play out. MLB, however, is less than two weeks away from Opening Day, creating a heightened sense of urgency. But both MLB and Diamond Sports Group have been adamant that fans won’t miss any of their games.

Bally Sports broadcasts the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.

Diamond Sports Group’s CEO, David Preschlack, who was hired in December, wrote in a statement last Tuesday that the company “will continue broadcasting games and connecting fans across the country with the sports and teams they love.” MLB, in its own statement, wrote: “Despite Diamond’s economic situation, there is every expectation that they will continue televising all games they are committed to during the bankruptcy process. Major League Baseball is ready to produce and distribute games to fans in their local markets in the event that Diamond or any other regional sports network is unable to do so as required by their agreement with our Clubs.”

If MLB needs to take over the broadcasts, how would it work?

Some of the details are still uncertain. Some have questioned whether MLB has the capability to take over broadcasting duties if it comes to that, but MLB appears confident it can pull it off. The details are still a bit hazy, but the league recently started a local media division, fronted by Billy Chambers, Sinclair’s former chief financial officer. The short-term plan would be to offer streaming through its MLB.TV app at a yet-to-be-determined price (it’ll be cheaper than the current price to stream out-of-market games, according to a league source) and also air games on a yet-to-be-determined cable channel.

MLB would have to negotiate deals with cable companies to make the latter happen. That would take time, but a league source downplayed that factor, pointing to how long Diamond’s financial unraveling has been anticipated. Putting together games also requires a lot of employees (producers, camera operators, broadcasters, etc.). MLB, a league source said, might turn to a lot of the people who worked those jobs for Bally Sports in their respective markets, many of whom do so on a freelance basis.

So … what happens next? How long until we know where the 14 teams will end up?

A lot could happen really fast. Between now and April 30, 13 of the 14 teams under the Bally Sports umbrella are owed their rights fees, an industry source said, potentially forcing a lot of quick decisions from Diamond Sports Group and its creditors.

In order to remain in business, Diamond needs to maintain agreements with at least some of its teams. And in order to maintain those agreements, they need to, well, pay them. Skipping payments would allow said teams to break free from their contracts, as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned last month.

A breach of contract triggers a court hearing, and that process can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. While that is playing out, Diamond would be incentivized to continue airing games because it would be generating subscription revenue without having to pay rights fees.

But there’s a good chance that Diamond’s creditors eventually decide to drop some of the least profitable teams from the portfolio. In that case, MLB would need to step in. A league source anticipates that MLB will handle broadcasting for at least five teams in the very near future. So far, Diamond Sports Group has missed payments to the D-backs and, more recently, the Padres, triggering the contractual grace period that will probably lead to MLB taking over.

Can MLB really get the rights to the Bally Sports teams so quickly?

The answer to that question will be dictated entirely by what Diamond Sports Group decides to do with its portfolio. Long term, the company hopes to build a more stable business by propping up its direct-to-consumer platform, Bally Sports+. But streaming rights are needed. Diamond Sports Group has the right to stream for all 16 of its NBA teams and for all 12 of its NHL teams. But it can only do so with five of the 14 MLB teams — the Royals, Brewers, Rays, Marlins and Tigers, all of which are smaller-market clubs. It wants to acquire streaming rights for the nine other teams and eventually turn its platform into a one-stop shop for fans, where they can also purchase tickets, buy merchandise and place bets.

But MLB, sources said, has been unwilling to provide more streaming rights to a company that has not proved to be financially stable. MLB has no intention of also offering the rights to sell tickets or merchandise to Diamond Sports Group, essentially turning the company into a direct competitor.

The bankruptcy proceedings will turn Diamond’s debt into equity for its largest secured creditors. Those creditors will essentially run the company, and not securing streaming rights is expected to significantly influence which teams those creditors decide to hold onto and which teams they decide to shed. We’ve already seen the beginning of this play out with the D-backs and Padres. Other teams will follow.

Could this ultimately mean the end of blackouts?

Potentially. Here’s how it would work, in an ideal sense: As teams free themselves from their RSN contracts, either intentionally when their deals expire or unintentionally when they’re not paid what’s owed to them, MLB would absorb them one by one. At that point, it can air games, say, on its Extra Innings channel (the long-term plan would be to regionalize MLB Network) and also through MLB.TV for local fans, since there would no longer be a competitor in the local market blocking them from doing so.

It isn’t quite so simple, and it would require making deals with cable companies that also provide internet service. But MLB seems confident it can pull it off. In order to wipe blackouts out entirely, MLB needs to secure the television rights to all 30 teams. At the moment, it has the rights to zero — and that will be the case as long as Diamond continues to meet its contractual obligations. However, several sources within MLB and those knowledgeable on the RSN industry predict that soon teams will start to be shed, with Diamond’s creditors eliminating the less profitable ones.

How will all of this affect the product on the field — revenue, payrolls, etc.?

In the short term, it won’t have any impact; payrolls are set, contracts are fully guaranteed.

Long term … well, that’s what’s causing concern.

In the aggregate, major league teams draw somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of their revenue through their RSN deals, many of which are robust (for example, near the end of 2011, the Angels signed a 20-year deal worth a reported $3 billion with what was then Fox). Diamond’s financial turmoil — and more broadly the continual erosion of the traditional cable model — promises to alter the financial landscape of the sport. Teams are all but guaranteed to generate less revenue because of it in the short term — but MLB is hopeful that the trade-off will be long-term gains.

The league’s ultimate goal is to place broadcasting rights — both through the linear cable model and on over-the-top platforms — under one umbrella. This has long been MLB’s plan; Diamond’s Chapter 11 filing simply put the wheels in motion a little earlier than the league would have wanted.

When all games are broadcast on streaming platforms, which many consider an inevitability, the league would aim to create a direct line to revenue from subscriptions and advertising, while also hoping to strike deals with other streaming companies. Under a model like this, all the revenue would essentially fall in one bucket, and it would be up to the 30 owners — and the MLB Players’ Association is also going to want to be involved — to determine how it gets split up.

A league source, pointing to the rapid rate at which the traditional cable model is deteriorating, predicted that all 30 teams would fall under its umbrella within two to three years. But some league executives believe that highly profitable big-market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, both of whom own their networks, would never agree to that type of structure.

Speaking of the Yankees and Red Sox, what’s the status of the 16 teams NOT involved with Diamond Sports Group?

Four teams — the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates and, to a lesser extent, Seattle Mariners — are under Warner Bros. Discovery, which previously revealed plans to shed its RSN commitments by the end of the month, creating a completely different scenario. (The other 12 major league teams are with broadcasting companies that, at least for now, are stable.)

Warner Bros. Discovery announced in late February that it was planning to exit the regional sports business, saying teams had until the end of March to reclaim their media rights or the company would move into a Chapter 7 liquidation. The company, a league source said, has been a cooperative partner through the process. The expectation is that broadcasts for the Pirates, Rockies and Astros will be unchanged in 2023. In 2024, they’ll fold into MLB’s broader strategy. The Mariners, meanwhile, run their own RSN and pay Warner Bros. Discovery a service fee to operate it for them. They are expected to be unaffected.

For now.

Continue Reading

Sports

Buffs coach: Stars ‘should be going 1-2’ in draft

Published

on

By

Buffs coach: Stars 'should be going 1-2' in draft

BOULDER, Colo. — For the horde of NFL talent evaluators and some bleachers full of fans, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said Friday that they all got to see the top two players available in this year’s NFL draft.

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter were among the 16 Colorado players who took part in the school’s showcase event for scouts, coaches and personnel executives from every NFL team. And Deion Sanders said the two marquee players confirmed what he has known for a long time.

“It’s tremendous,” Sanders said. “… They should be going 1-2 [in the draft], that’s the way I feel about it. They are the two best players in this draft. … The surest bets in this draft are those two young men, and I didn’t stutter or stammer when I said that.”

Neither Shedeur Sanders nor Hunter took part in most of the position drills or physical testing, but Sanders had a throwing session for just under an hour and Hunter was one of the wide receivers who participated. Neither player worked out at the scouting combine earlier this year, so it was the first time Sanders had thrown in such a setting since the end of the season. He showed some full seven-step drops and play-action from the shotgun and under center.

“I think I did pretty good, to my expectations,” said Sanders, who set the career FBS accuracy mark in his two years at Colorado (71.8%) to go with his 4,134 passing yards and 37 touchdowns last season. “I know I did the best in college football right now, for sure.”

Asked after the throwing session whether he believed he was the best quarterback in the draft, Sanders said: “I feel like I’m the No. 1 quarterback, and that’s what I know. But at the end of the day, I’m not stuck on that because it’s about the situation, so whatever situation, whatever franchise believes in me, I’m excited to go. … I’m comfortable in any situation.”

Players Hunter, who did not speak to the media after the workout, and Sanders met with the Cleveland Browns contingent, including team co-owner Jimmy Haslam, on Thursday night in Boulder.

“They got me really full,” Sanders said. “I definitely needed to go to the sauna after that. … It was a good vibe.”

Said Deion Sanders said: “[I] spoke to the owner, truly delightful. He was engaging. … I think one of those guys is going to be there [at No. 2].”

Hunter, the No. 1 player on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board, did not do any defensive drills Friday, but he ran a full assortment of routes.

Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, Shedeur’s brother, offered plenty of encouragement, shouting commentary and clapping after each throw, including “not a lot of quarterbacks can make that throw” after one deep completion.

The highly attended event — by NFL representatives as well as fans packing small bleachers — had a festive atmosphere. Deion Sanders named it the “We Ain’t Hard 2 Find Showcase,” complete with a large lighted “The Showcase” sign next to the drills.

Hunter, who has said he wants to play offense and defense in the NFL, won the Chuck Bednarik (top defensive player) and Fred Biletnikoff (top receiver) awards in addition to the Heisman. He said whether he will primarily be a wide receiver or a cornerback in the NFL depends “on the team that picks me.”

On Friday, Deion Sanders said “ain’t nobody like Travis.”

Hunter had 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver last season to go with 35 tackles, 11 pass breakups and 4 interceptions at cornerback. In the Buffaloes’ regular-season finale against Oklahoma State, he became the only FBS player in the past 25 years with three scrimmage touchdowns on offense and an interception in the same game, according to ESPN Research.

He played 1,380 total snaps in Colorado’s 12 regular-season games: 670 on offense, 686 on defense and 24 on special teams. He played 1,007 total snaps in 2023.

Shilo Sanders, who hoped to show teams more speed than expected, ran a 4.52 40-yard dash after he measured in at 5-foot-11⅞, 196 pounds. He did not participate in the jumps or bench press that opened the workout, citing a right shoulder injury.

With all NFL eyes on the Colorado campus to see Shedeur Sanders throw, one player who made the most of it was wide receiver Will Sheppard. Sheppard, who measured 6-2¼, 196 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.56 and 4.54 to go with a 40½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11 broad jump.

Continue Reading

Sports

O’s Henderson off IL; will make ’25 debut vs. KC

Published

on

By

O's Henderson off IL; will make '25 debut vs. KC

Baltimore Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson was activated from the 10-day injured list and will make his season debut Friday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Henderson has been sidelined with a right intercostal strain and missed the first seven games of the big league campaign.

The 23-year-old Henderson will lead off and play shortstop against the host Royals.

Henderson was injured during a spring training game Feb. 27. He was fourth in American League MVP voting last season when he batted .281 and racked up career bests of 37 homers and 92 RBIs.

Henderson completed a five-game rehab stint at Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. He batted .263 (5-for-19) with two homers and four RBIs and played four games at shortstop and one as the designated hitter. He did commit three errors.

“I think everybody’s looking forward to having Gunnar back on the team,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said Thursday. “The rehab went really, really well. I talked to him a couple days ago, he feels great swinging the bat. The timing came, especially the last few days. He just had to get out there and get some reps defensively and get some games in, and it all went well.”

Baltimore optioned outfielder Dylan Carlson to Triple-A Norfolk to open up a roster spot. The 26-year-old was 0-for-4 with a run and RBI in two games this season.

Continue Reading

Sports

Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

Published

on

By

Life after OMG: Can 2025 Mets replicate their 2024 vibes?

When New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns attempted to assemble the best possible roster for the 2025 season this winter, the top priority was signing outfielder Juan Soto. Next was the need to replenish the starting rotation and bolster the bullpen. Then, days before pitchers and catchers reported for spring training, the lineup received one final significant reinforcement when first baseman Pete Alonso re-signed.

Acquiring a player with a singing career on the side didn’t make the cut.

“No, that is not on the list,” Stearns said with a smile.

Stearns’ decision not to re-sign Jose Iglesias, the infielder behind the mic for the viral 2024 Mets anthem “OMG,” was attributed to creating more roster flexibility. But it also hammered home a reality: The scrappy 2024 Mets, authors of a magical summer in Queens, are a thing of the past. The 2025 Mets, who will report to Citi Field for their home opener Friday, have much of the same core but also some prominent new faces — and the new, outsized expectations that come with falling two wins short of the World Series, then signing Soto to the richest contract in professional sports history.

But there’s a question surrounding this year’s team that you can’t put a price tag on: Can these Mets rekindle the magic — the vibes, the memes, the feel-good underdog story — that seemed to come out of nowhere to help carry them to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series last season?

“Last year the culture was created,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It’s a matter of continuing it.”

For all the success Stearns has engineered — his small-market Milwaukee Brewers teams reached the postseason five times in eight seasons after he became the youngest general manager in history in 2015 — the 40-year-old Harvard grad, like the rest of his front office peers knows there’s no precise recipe for clubhouse chemistry. There is no culture projection system. No Vibes Above Replacement.

“Culture is very important,” Stearns said last weekend in the visiting dugout at Daikin Park before his club completed an opening-weekend series against the Houston Astros. “Culture is also very difficult to predict.”

Still, it seems the Mets’ 2024 season will be all but impossible to recreate.

There was Grimace, the purple McDonald’s blob who spontaneously became the franchise’s unofficial mascot after throwing out a first pitch in June. “OMG,” performed under Iglesias’ stage name, Candelita, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Digital Songs chart, before a remix featuring Pitbull was released in October. Citi Field became a karaoke bar whenever Lindor stepped into the batter’s box with The Temptations’ “My Girl” as his walk-up song. Alonso unveiled a lucky pumpkin in October. They were gimmicks that might have felt forced if they hadn’t felt so right.

“I don’t know if what we did last year could be replicated because it was such a chaos-filled group,” Mets reliever Ryne Stanek said. “I don’t know if that’s replicable because there’s just too many things going on. I don’t know if that’s a sustainable model. But I think the expectation of winning is really important. I think establishing what we did last year and coming into this year where people are like, ‘Oh, no, that’s what we’re expecting to do,’ makes it different. It’s always a different vibe whenever you feel like you’re the hunter versus being the hunted.”

For the first two months last season, the Mets were terrible hunters. Lindor was relentlessly booed at Citi Field during another slow start. The bullpen got crushed. The losses piled up. The Mets began the season 0-5 and sunk to rock bottom on May 29 when reliever Jorge Lopez threw his glove into the stands during a 10-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that dropped the team to 22-33.

That night, the Mets held a players-only meeting. From there, perhaps coincidentally, everything changed. The Mets won the next day, and 67 of their final 107 games.

This year, to avoid an early malaise and to better incorporate new faces like Soto and Opening Day starter Clay Holmes, players made it a point to hold meetings during spring training to lay a strong foundation.

“At the end of the day, we know who we are and that’s the beauty of our club,” Alonso said. “Not just who we are talent-wise, but who each individual is as a man and a personality. For us, our major, major strength is our collective identity as a unit.”

Organizationally, the Mets are attempting a dual-track makeover: Becoming perennial World Series contenders while not taking themselves too seriously.

The commemorative purple Grimace seat installed at Citi Field in September — Section 302, Row 6, Seat 12 in right field — remains there as part of a two-year contract. Last week, the franchise announced it will feature a New York-city themed “Five Borough” race at every home game — with a different mascot competing to represent each borough. For a third straight season, USA Today readers voted Citi Field — home of the rainbow cookie egg roll, among many other innovative treats — as having the best ballpark food in baseball.

In the clubhouse, their identity is evolving.

“I’m very much in the camp that you can’t force things,” Mets starter Sean Manaea said. “I mean, you can, but you don’t really end up with good results. And if you wait for things to happen organically, then sometimes it can take too long. So, there’s like a nudging of sorts. It’s like, ‘Let’s kind of come up with something, but not force it.’ So there’s a fine balance there and you just got to wait and see what happens.”

Stearns believes it starts with what the Mets can control: bringing positive energy every day and fostering a family atmosphere. It’s hard to quantify, but vibes undoubtedly helped fuel the Mets’ 2024 success. It’ll be a tough act to follow.

“It’s fluid,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I like where guys are at as far as the team chemistry goes and things like that and the connections and the relationships. But it’ll continue to take some time. And winning helps, clearly.”

Continue Reading

Trending