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Bally Sports and its bankrupt parent Diamond Sports Group say they “anticipate” making the rest of their 2023 MLB rights payments following the rejection of their Arizona Diamondbacks deal.
Now, the focus turns to the NBA and NHL — and whether those leagues will need to aid teams with local media rights issues, as MLB has done for the Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres.
Following court approval of the Diamondbacks rejection, DSG said it is “continuing to broadcast games for all other teams under contract without disruption, and we anticipate making rights payments to the remainder of the MLB teams in our portfolio through the end of this season.” The comment mirrors MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s recent assertion the league has collected 94% of 2023 rights fees due from DSG.
No such certainty exists with either the NBA and NHL. DSG currently has 15 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams under contract. The dynamics are different than baseball, as prior to DSG’s bankruptcy filing in March, both of those leagues signed rights deals that included digital rights — content DSG sought and wasn’t able to obtain at scale from MLB.
The NBA, NHL, and individual teams are closely monitoring the situation. The Phoenix Suns already parted ways with DSG and may ultimately convince others.
“We will continue to evaluate all our options, as needed, and will ensure that our great fans across the Valley are able to watch our games this fall,” said the Arizona Coyotes, now the only big-league team on Bally Sports Arizona.
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