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Attorneys for MLB, the NBA and the NHL expressed strong concerns with Diamond Sports Group’s ability to emerge from bankruptcy during a status conference on Wednesday, less than five weeks after a scheduled confirmation hearing. Their uneasiness stemmed largely from Diamond’s inability to secure a new contract with its third-largest distributor, Comcast, which prompted the carrier to pull Bally Sports channels off the air at the start of May, leaving baseball fans throughout the country — most notably within the Southeast region of the United States — without the ability to watch their favorite teams.

“I think it’s important, from the perspective of Major League Baseball, to understand exactly how devastating it is to lose carriage on Comcast,” MLB lawyer James Bromley said in bankruptcy court.

Diamond has secured multiyear agreements with three of its four other major distributors in Charter, DirecTV and Cox. An attorney representing the company announced in court on Wednesday that it is also “getting very close” to securing a new naming rights deal that would begin in 2025, at which point Diamond’s broadcasts would no longer carry the “Bally Sports” branding. But Diamond has yet to secure new linear cable and digital rights deals with the NBA or the NHL, two leagues that saw their contracts expire at the end of their respective regular seasons, and the Comcast uncertainty continues to hang over all of it.

Diamond attorney Brian Hermann acknowledged that the company is “disappointed” by the impasse with Comcast but said it is “optimistic” a new contract will come to fruition before the June 18 confirmation, which would essentially mark the end of Diamond’s 15-month-long reorganization phase. But Bromley said “everything is up in the air” at the moment and brought up a lack of transparency, highlighting a continued tension between MLB and Diamond.

“As we stand here today, we are just over a month from the scheduled confirmation hearing,” he added. “We have no information with respect to revenue, and we have no information with respect to major expenses. How in the world are we going to be able to have a hearing, which I think is going to be contested, and discovery with respect to the viability of a plan of reorganization when we’re just over 30 days and we have simply no information?”

Diamond entered bankruptcy with 14 MLB teams in its portfolio but shed the San Diego Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks around the midway point of the 2023 season, prompting MLB to take over broadcasts. Uncertainty over regional sports contracts, a major revenue source for teams, hung over the offseason, particularly with regard to the Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians, all of whom navigated it unsure of where they stood in their relationship with Diamond. Those three teams have since agreed to new deals that only cover the 2024 season.

A major step in Diamond’s desire to emerge from bankruptcy was revealed around the middle of January, when it announced it was bringing in Amazon as a minority investor that would enter into a commercial agreement to provide access to Diamond’s services via its streaming arm, Prime Video. But Diamond doesn’t currently possess the streaming rights to any NBA or NHL teams and has it only for five smaller market baseball teams, prompting further questions about the company’s viability.

Bankruptcy judge Chris Lopez approved Diamond’s disclosure statement on April 17, but the company’s hopes of emerging from bankruptcy were dealt a major blow on May 1, when Comcast, which operates under the Xfinity brand, pulled Bally Sports channels off its air at the expiration of their contract. The breakdown stemmed largely from Comcast’s desire to place Bally Sports channels on a higher, more-expensive tier, sources said. On May 7, Diamond sent what it described as an open letter to sports fans urging them to “raise your voices, let Xfinity know you want your teams back on the air.”

Lawyers representing the NBA and the NHL echoed concerns Wednesday about Diamond’s ability to produce a viable business plan ahead of the June 18 confirmation.

“We simply cannot afford to have our next season disrupted by the uncertainty as to whether Diamond will or will not have a viable business,” NBA attorney Vincent Indelicato said.

Added NHL attorney Shana Elberg: “The day-to-day approach of whether or not a professional sports team’s games will be broadcast doesn’t work for us and can’t continue.”

MLB on Tuesday issued a statement in advance of the status conference in which it wrote that Diamond’s restructuring plan would “likely” be “unconfirmable” if it can’t reach a carriage renewal with Comcast and raised a litany of concerns about its restructuring plans. MLB’s attorney emphasized those concerns in court the following day.

“We are sitting here with the nation’s pastime in the middle of its season, and we have … millions of viewers who are simply unable to watch their baseball,” Bromley said. “That doesn’t seem to be an appropriate thing to be doing to give these debtors optionality for any more time. It’s our view that this needs to be solved immediately, and if it can’t be solved immediately we are going to have to take steps to put in alternate broadcasting opportunities. That’s exactly what we had to do last year, and right now we have to completely ramp up because we don’t know what’s going to happen with Comcast and we frankly, once again and yet again, don’t know what’s gonna happen with Diamond.”

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Oilers’ 5th comeback win in row sets NHL record

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Oilers' 5th comeback win in row sets NHL record

LAS VEGAS — Zach Hyman scored from just above the right circle with 3:02 left to put his team ahead for good, and the Edmonton Oilers rallied yet again this postseason to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.

The Oilers, the defending Western Conference champions who came back from 2-0 down, set an NHL record with their fifth consecutive playoff comeback victory.

“We’re a patient group, we’re a veteran team. The guys here have been playing a lot of playoffs throughout the years,” Edmonton defenseman John Klingberg said. “They know what it takes. Just stick to our game, and take it game by game.”

Vegas, which had just seven shots on goal over the final two periods, lost a playoff game in regulation after leading by at least two goals for the first time. The Golden Knights are 47-4 overall in the postseason with that kind of lead.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, and Corey Perry and Connor Brown scored the other goals. Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid each had two assists. McDavid now has four consecutive postseasons with at least 10 assists for fourth best in league history. Calvin Pickard was barely tested after the first period and finished with 15 shots.

“It gives you a great opportunity,” Hyman said of winning the opener on the road. “You steal one in their rink, and now, you have a chance to take both. We haven’t been in that spot a lot. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way early.”

Mark Stone scored both goals for the Golden Knights to tie Jonathan Marchessault‘s franchise record with 36 for his Vegas career. It also extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. Adin Hill made 24 saves.

Both star-studded top lines delivered in the first period, with Stone scoring twice, the first on a double-minor power play. Edmonton’s top unit cut the deficit in half with 3:34 left when Perry deked Hill for an open net with McDavid and Draisaitl getting assists on the play.

Neither team scored in the second period even though the Oilers outshot Vegas 12-1. The Golden Knights had never been held to fewer than two shots on goal in a regulation playoff period.

Edmonton didn’t waste a chance early in the third, tying the score 57 seconds in when Draisaitl backhanded a shot off the boards and off Hill.

Hyman, who earlier in the shift took a stick to the face from Kaedan Korczak, broke the tie in the closing minutes, and Brown sealed the win 1:16 later.

“We were kind of all over the place in the first 10 minutes,” Perry said in speaking with Sportsnet after the win. “But we found our footing, found our game. We started moving the puck, and making plays. And then, we played well defensively, and kept the puck out of our net.”

Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo did not play because of an illness, allowing Korczak to make his first career postseason start. Vegas also was without Pavel Dorofeyev, who led the team with 35 goals this season, for the second game in a row because of an undisclosed injury. Coach Bruce Cassidy has described him as day to day.

Game 2 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Canes’ dominant 33-shot effort ‘paid off’ in OT

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Canes' dominant 33-shot effort 'paid off' in OT

WASHINGTON — Jaccob Slavin scored in overtime, Frederik Andersen made 13 saves in his return from injury and the Carolina Hurricanes outlasted the Washington Capitals 2-1 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Tuesday night.

Logan Stankoven started the comeback with his goal midway through the third period off a turnover, beating Logan Thompson after Aliaksei Protas‘ errant pass off Washington teammate Alex Alexeyev‘s right skate put the puck on Jesperi Kotkaniemi‘s stick. After failing to score on a power play late in regulation, Slavin scored 3:06 into OT from just inside the blue line to give Carolina the series lead.

The result capped a dominant effort by the road team, despite the fact that it trailed for most of the game. Carolina finished with 33 shots on net, compared with just 14 for Washington. All told, six Hurricanes had at least three shots on net, including Slavin, who finished with five.

“We were all over it, and we knew we had to just throw everything at the net,” Slavin said. “That mentality paid off there at the end.”

Andersen, who wasn’t tested much, allowed only an early second-period goal to Protas in improving to 4-1 this postseason. Andersen was back after getting knocked out of Game 4 and missing Game 5 of the first round against the New Jersey Devils with an apparent head injury.

“Just trying to take what comes my way and be in that moment all the time and just stay with it,” Andersen said. “You don’t know when that next big save’s going to happen.”

Just a week ago, Andersen had to sit and watch as his teammates defeated the Devils in double overtime of Game 5 to secure the series. A week later, he was back, delivering the kind of quality goaltending Carolina has gotten from him whenever he has been healthy.

“Just really been looking forward to this for a while,” Andersen said. “Happy we could start off on the right foot.”

Carolina remained the only team perfect on the penalty kill this postseason, keeping Washington’s power play off the board twice to improve to 17-of-17. That, along with Kotkaniemi and Stankoven taking advantage of Protas’ mistake and Slavin scoring with Seth Jarvis screening Thompson, was the difference.

“I thought our guys played hard every shift. Right from the start of the game, I liked how we were playing,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, we were down, but yeah, there’s a certain game plan. And I thought we were on it tonight.”

Game 2 is Thursday night in Washington.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Giants’ 9-run 11th sets Wrigley record, KO’s Cubs

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Giants' 9-run 11th sets Wrigley record, KO's Cubs

CHICAGO — Patrick Bailey hit a tiebreaking single in San Francisco‘s nine-run 11th inning, and the Giants beat the Chicago Cubs 14-5 on Tuesday night.

Bailey drove in Christian Koss with a liner to center against Ryan Pressly (2-2). Jung Hoo Lee had a run-scoring single, and Matt Chapman singled home two more runs in San Francisco’s highest-scoring inning of the season.

The nine runs are the most in an extra inning since the Angels scored nine in the 13th inning on Aug. 16, 2009. It is also the highest-scoring extra inning at Wrigley Field, surpassing the seven-run 10th by the New York Giants on June 18, 1921.

Lee also hit a two-run homer as San Francisco bounced back from an ugly 9-2 loss to Chicago on Monday night. Chapman, who committed two of the Giants’ four errors in the series opener, had three hits and scored twice.

The Cubs trailed 5-3 before rallying in the ninth, handing Justin Verlander another no-decision after he was in position for his first win with the Giants.

Justin Turner bounced a pinch-hit RBI single into right field against Ryan Walker. After Ian Happ struck out swinging for the second out, Kyle Tucker greeted Erik Miller (2-0) with a hard grounder back up the middle, bringing home the tying run.

Verlander pitched five innings of three-run ball. The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner signed a $15 million, one-year contract with the Giants in January.

Verlander, 42, is winless in eight consecutive starts for the first time in his 20 major league seasons.

Miguel Amaya hit a two-run homer for NL Central-leading Chicago, which had won four of five. Dansby Swanson had two hits and scored twice while extending his hitting streak to eight games.

Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong robbed Mike Yastrzemski of extra bases with a leaping grab at the wall in the third. Crow-Armstrong also took a hit away from Lee with a sliding catch in the fifth.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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