Diamond Sports Moving to Drop Coyotes, Shutter Bally Sports Arizona
Diamond Sports Moving to Drop Coyotes, Shutter Bally Sports Arizona
Update: The Coyotes have terminated their deal with Bally, and will offer games for free with an antenna.
The past three months have been pretty tumultuous when it comes to how sports fans in Arizona watch their favorite teams. In July, the Phoenix Suns and Mercury announced that they would be moving games off of [Bally Sports Arizona] in favorite of free, over-the-air (OTA) channels across the state and their own individual streaming setups. Then, just days later, the Arizona Diamondbacks were dropped from the channel as well, and Major League Baseball took over the broadcasting of the team's games.
All of this was happening against the backdrop of Bally Sports’ parent company Diamond Sports Group (DSG) going through a painful and arduous bankruptcy process, trying to salvage some sort of path that would allow the collection of regional sports networks (RSNs) to operate as a healthy, functioning business amidst the chaos of increased cord-cutting and escalating economic concerns for consumers across the country.
Now, it appears that DSG is looking to sever its relationship with the last major sports franchise airing games on Bally Sports Arizona, the Arizona Coyotes. According to court documents filed on Wednesday, DSG is looking for the court to reject its current contract with the NHL club on the grounds that, with only a single team, operating the cable sports channel is not financially viable for the company.
“The Debtors have determined, in their business judgment, that the Coyotes Agreement no longer fits within the Debtors’ long-term plans and should be rejected,” the filings said. “The Debtors have discussed the relief requested in this Motion with the Coyotes, and the parties have mutually agreed on this course of action.”
According to DSG, this plan has been discussed with the team, so it would appear to be a matter of when, rather than if, the judge in this case makes the determination that the company does not have to live up to its contractual obligations. However, the team released a statement that slightly contradicts Diamond’s narrative.
“We are fully aware of the developments regarding Bally Sports Arizona,” the Coyotes said. “The Arizona Coyotes remain under contract with Bally Sports Arizona and remain hopeful that the network will continue to broadcast our games this season. Nonetheless, we will continue to evaluate all of our options, as needed, and will ensure that our great fans across the Valley are able to watch our games this fall. We will have no further comment until we have news to announce.”
Like with the MLB taking over the broadcast rights for the Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, the NBA has said that if any — or all — of its teams lose their RSN deaks, the league has plans in place to ensure that fans don’t miss a single broadcast. While the NHL has not made quite as confident of declarations, commissioner Gary Bettman has said in the past that games will continue to be broadcast as planned.
The hockey league has an out-of-market agreement with ESPN+, so theoretically, the Disney-owned service could pick up in-market streaming rights for the Coyotes, should Bally Sports get its wish, but no plans or details have been shared on that front just yet. Padres and Diamondbacks games were made available locally on baseball’s out-of-market streamer MLB.tv when they left their respective Bally Sports channels.
The related question seems to be what will become of Bally Sports Arizona if all of the major teams whose rights the channel was built around are gone. More likely than not, DSG will look to close down the channel, since the investment would no longer be worth the payoff, since most cable, satellite, and live TV streaming providers would likely look to drop the channel as it no longer provides the value that it did when contracts were signed.
Bally Sports+
Bally Sports+ was a direct-to-consumer streaming service that provided live, in-market games without requiring a cable or satellite subscription. It allowed fans to watch their local Bally Sports regional sports network (RSN) without a traditional TV package.