Judge Approves Diamond Sports’ NBA and NHL Deals, but MLB Demands Speedy Resolution
MLB reportedly asked for the NBA and NHL deals to be unsealed as it expresses concern for several teams under contract with Diamond in 2025.
Diamond Sports Group took another step in the tortured process of trying to emerge from bankruptcy in recent days. The broadcaster agreed to new deals for the 2024-25 season with the NBA and NHL in late August, and this week multiple reports confirm that those deals have been ratified by Judge Christopher Lopez, who has overseen the bankruptcy case since Diamond first entered Chapter 11 protections in March 2023. But Major League Baseball is unsatisfied with those deals, arguing that it is facing yet another offseason of uncertainty thanks to Diamond and threatening to potentially make trouble for the broadcaster as it tries to win approval for its bankruptcy reorganization plan.
Key Details:
- The NBA and NHL deals include a provision that states Diamond must emerge from bankruptcy by April 1, 2025.
- MLB has nine teams under contract with Diamond in 2025, but the April 1 deadline is after the start of the baseball season, sowing the seeds of potential chaos.
- Representatives for MLB say the league could look for “drastic relief” from Judge Lopez if necessary.
Diamond operates 18 Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks as well as the Bally Sports+ streaming service, on which it offers games from nine NHL teams and 13 NBA teams currently. Twelve MLB teams are offered on Bally Sports channels, but only five appear on Bally Sports+. The Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and New Orleans Pelicans have been dropped by Diamond at various points in 2024 as the company continues to focus on a viable bankruptcy reorganization plan that will allow it to emerge from Chapter 11.
The new deals with the NBA and NHL stipulate that Diamond must exit bankruptcy by April 1, 2025, otherwise, the two leagues are free to seek other local broadcasting arrangements for the teams still contracted with DSG, but Major League Baseball officials see a big problem with that date. If Diamond waits that long to make a final decision on its bankruptcy status, the 2025 MLB season will have already started. Nine MLB clubs are still signed on with DSG for the 2025 season, and if Diamond decided to fold on or just before the April 1 deadline, those teams would be left to scramble for new broadcasters for the rest of the season.
“This is now the fourth season in a row that Major League Baseball is heading into the offseason with a complete lack of information and clarity with respect to what’s going to happen,” MLB representative James Bromley said in court Tuesday. “We are not months and months away from next year. We are there today. If the debtors are unable or unwilling to provide [rights fees for 2025], it will be necessary to find replacement broadcasting for them. To do that on any other timetable than this fall, it’s going to create substantial costs.”
According to Sports Business Journal, that’s one of the big reasons MLB asked Judge Lopez to unseal the deals between Diamond and the NBA and NHL. Judge Lopez denied that request, but MLB made it clear that it was highly dubious of the broadcaster’s ability to make it out of bankruptcy on its current trajectory. In a filing, the league said it “reserved all rights to object’’ to the NBA and NHL deals going forward. Baseball officials need answers on what’s going to happen with Diamond now, not in the first quarter of 2025, the league says.
“We need the court’s attention on this issue, and we need [Diamond] to be committed to doing this with speed in the short timeframe that I just described,” Bromley continued. “And frankly, if it doesn’t happen, we obviously reserve our rights to come back for relief, including more drastic relief than we’ve looked at in the past.”
Where Do Things Stand from Diamond’s Perspective?
For its part, Diamond says that it has now targeted a date in November for a confirmation hearing on its bankruptcy reorganization plan. That hearing was originally scheduled for July, but a carriage battle with Comcast caused the confirmation to be pushed indefinitely. Agreeing to a new deal with Comcast was critical for Diamond, and though the two sides eventually struck a new contract, DSG said it was not a guarantee that it would make it out of bankruptcy.
“We are not looking to elongate this,” Diamond attorney Andrew Goldman said in court Tuesday. “We too have been at this quite a long time, and as quickly as we can emerge, we would like to emerge.”
Diamond also reached a new carriage deal with DIRECTV earlier this year that will be a key part of its reorg plan, but it will have to go forward without a previously pledged investment from Amazon. The e-commerce giant promised to invest $115 million in DSG if the company made it out of bankruptcy, but pulled that offer from the table in late August after the departure of the Mavericks and Pelicans from Bally Sports channels.
The broadcaster says it continues to make on-time payments to the MLB clubs it partners with, and does not foresee any issues in paying out the rest of its contracts for the 2024 season.
MLB has not officially objected to Diamond’s reorganization plan yet, but that option is clearly still on the table. According to The Athletic, one reason for MLB’s continued willingness to try to make things work with Diamond is that the teams partnering with the broadcaster make as much as 32% of their total revenue from local TV deals. That revenue is used for player payroll and other crucial operations; if the MLB teams still signed on with Diamond for 2025 don’t have clarity on how much money they’re going to make from the company next season, they may not be able to sign the players they want or need.
Bally Sports+
Bally Sports+ is a direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers live games for those who want access to your local Bally Sports RSN without subscribing to a cable or satellite package.