Diamond Sports Makes Late Rights Payment to Cincinnati Reds, Keeping Games on Bally Sports Ohio… for Now
In the bottom of the 9th, Diamond Sports pulled out a clutch hit to keep the Cincinnati Reds’ broadcast rights away from the MLB — for now.
According to Sports Business Journal's John Ourand, Diamond Sports Group (DSG) was able to make its rights payments to the Reds within the extended grace period to retain the ability to broadcast games on Bally Sports Ohio, the team’s longtime TV home. Had Diamond missed the payment, the team and MLB would’ve stepped in and broadcast the games themselves. The Reds and MLB were more than prepared to take over the games had Diamond not paid up, but at least for now, that won’t be the case.
The latest twist in the DSG saga has been eventful, to say the least. In recent weeks, the subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group that operates Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) failed to make timely payments to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Texas Rangers, and Minnesota Twins for their broadcast rights. The teams and DSG headed to bankruptcy court in what turned out to be a feisty case, and a judge ruled in favor of DSG saying the company could pay 50% of what it owes to the teams in order to retain the rights. While these teams (and many like them) thought they’d finally be rid of DSG, it looks like they’ll all be stuck together for at least a little while longer.
Next for DSG are the rights to the San Diego Padres. According to Ourand, DSG is slated to make their payment to the Padres on May 15, avoiding any sort of trouble. Diamond was late on a March payment to the team, but managed to make it during the 15-day grace period. While many believe DSG is simply fighting for its life at this point, it makes sense that the company would prioritize a young, exciting Padres team over clubs like the Reds and Guardians. Fans have certainly enjoyed the “Slam Diego” era of Padres baseball, led by a returning Fernando Tatis, Jr., who was suspended 80 games for a positive PED test back in August 2022.
The situation with the Reds is slightly different than many of the other teams in the league. Because the club owns part of Bally Sports Ohio, it was not included in the judge’s order keeping the rights with DSG for half of the cost. If the Sinclair company wants to retain the rights to Reds’ games, it will need to keep making its payments on time… or at least in the contractually agreed upon grace period.