MLB is poised to finalize a local broadcasting deal with Diamond Sports Group for the 2024 season during an upcoming and highly anticipated bankruptcy court hearing in Houston. But the future beyond that remains decidedly murky.
The league is nearing an agreement with the Bally Sports parent that could lower some rights fees for the upcoming season but return a broad swath of rights back to MLB after the 2024 World Series, similar to recent deals DSG has struck with the NBA and NHL. That MLB regional sports network agreement has been in development for more than three weeks and would provide some certainty months after the league repeatedly pressed DSG to make known its plans for the upcoming season.
But MLB remains opposed to a separate equity deal DSG is developing with Amazon in which the streaming and online retail giant would invest in the company. That investment—pegged at about $150 million by the New York Post but described by Front Office Sports sources as a smaller figure—is reportedly predicated on DSG acquiring MLB digital rights for multiple years. The league would prefer to keep such broader negotiations out of bankruptcy court, and deal directly and separately with Amazon if a rights deal is to be struck.
“That [larger rights conversation] is making a complicated situation more complicated,” a league source tells FOS.
Tuesday night, a bankruptcy court hearing originally set for Wednesday was rescheduled to Jan. 19 as negotiations continue between MLB and DSG.
Eleven MLB teams are directly affected by the ongoing DSG situation, including the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers, the high-powered Atlanta Braves, and the perennially popular St. Louis Cardinals. Within that group, DSG currently has the digital rights to five MLB teams—the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays—and has unsuccessfully sought a larger set of streaming rights in baseball.
In addition to those teams, the Minnesota Twins are talking to DSG about a potential reunion after a prior rights deal expired with the end of the 2023 season.
