Bally Sports North will continue to televise Minnesota Timberwolves games through the end of the 2023-24 season, as well as the Minnesota Wild, under a preliminary ruling issued Wednesday by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Houston. We will likely receive similar assurances within the next week or 10. So.
However, at the end of the season, NBA and NHL teams will be in the same predicament that the Minnesota Twins are currently in. They will become free agents and will likely be looking for a new broadcast partner.
“I want to be clear about what’s going on here: This is a liquidation of business,” said David Seligman, an attorney for Sinclair, which acquired 19 regional sports networks, including BSN, in 2019. This will run for one more year, and then we will close down.”
The sports network, which operates under an umbrella company called Diamond Sports Group, announced in February that it had suffered millions of dollars in losses as consumers rapidly migrated from cable and satellite TV to streaming services. filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy disrupted the finances of many of the approximately 30 MLB, NBA and NHL teams whose games are broadcast on Barry’s branded networks.
The Twins’ 10-year contract with BSN expires at the end of the 2023 season, but the team has not yet decided who will televise games starting next year. More importantly, it’s unclear how much revenue can be expected from local TV rights fees, which is less than the $54 million BSN reluctantly paid last season and under the order of a federal judge. Although it seems that there are significantly fewer. President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey said last week that the Twins will be forced to cut payroll this offseason because of the expected significant drop in revenue.
This isn’t just a Twins problem, MLB’s lawyers made clear in court Wednesday. The hearing is based on an agreement that DSG signed earlier this month with NBA partners, including the Timberwolves, to guarantee payments for this season and reduce rights fees in exchange for terminating all long-term contracts thereafter. A judge was convened to approve it.
DSG’s attorney said a similar agreement with the NHL is nearly complete. However, the 11 MLB teams still under contract with Diamond Sports have no such contracts in place, and are facing another season in which they don’t know when, or even if, their salaries will be paid. I’m worried about that.
“Certainty for the 2024 season is very important for all teams. A statement has been made that the 2024 season will be televised and the full agreement will be honored. And that’s great.” Jim the lawyer said. Bromley said. “But we need more than that. What’s going to happen here is that we’re going to get through the 2024 season and we’re not going to be in the situation that we faced throughout the 2023 season. They need to feel secure that the debtor will decide whether or not to make the payment on the eve of the due date for payment of the right.”
The Twins will not only recover some of their lost revenue, but expand their audience by possibly broadcasting some games on terrestrial broadcasters and certainly making streaming options more available. I’ve been looking into some possible solutions in hopes of doing so.
MLB will take over the production and distribution of Padres-Diamondbacks games, and Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a May trial that the league will continue to do the same for more teams, ideally all teams in the future. He made it clear that he wanted to do this. To realize “one-stop shopping” for baseball content. That could be the Twins’ best option, at least for now, but it’s unclear how much revenue it will generate.
Hopes that the Twins would return to BSN were likely dashed when Sinclair declared on Wednesday that 2024 would be his last year in BSN.
“The Sinclair people who bought Diamond in the first place are a little disappointed. They’re disappointed in this business that they invested $1.5 billion into.” [dollars] A significant amount of the value of the stock will be closed,” Seligman said. “Some people will lose their jobs. Diamond’s business will disappear.”
But DSG’s lawyers disputed the parent company’s belief that the network was doomed.
“The path we are on is [is] The company will continue to exist for at least another year. … [Efforts] We are considering whether there are other alternatives. “This is not a fait accompli,” Andrew Parlen said, adding, “This is the lifeblood of this company and its employees. … We categorically reject Sinclair’s crocodile tears. They will keep this company afloat. I work every day to make that happen.”