MLB Nixes Amazon’s Proposal to Invest in Diamond Sports Group
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred reportedly told Amazon executives that the company would have to do a deal with the league directly if it’s interested.
If Amazon wants to get into regional sports broadcasting, it will have to do it the hard way. The company had been looking for a potential shortcut in the form of a major investment in regional sports broadcaster Diamond Sports Group (DSG), but a new report from the New York Post indicates that Major League Baseball has not agreed to the proposal, and Amazon may have to find another use for that money.
- Amazon and Diamond discussed a plan for the former to invest $150 million in the company before Christmas.
- Streaming rights were at the heart of MLB’s refusal to agree to the deal between Amazon and Diamond.
- The league wants to create streaming deals of its own after 2025, not be bound to a new longer-term deal with Diamond and Amazon.
Why Did MLB Reject Amazon’s Advances to Diamond?
Last month, DSG and Amazon had discussed a $150 million investment for the tech giant to essentially bail out the beleaguered broadcaster. However, The Post reports that MLB’s objections to Amazon’s investment in Diamond Sports Group — which holds the local broadcast rights to 11 MLB teams on Bally Sports-branded channels — had to do primarily with streaming rights. As one of DSG’s creditors, MLB gets a say in such deals in Diamond’s bankruptcy court proceedings, which have been going on since March 2023.
As part of the deal, Amazon wanted to get the streaming rights to all 11 MLB teams that Diamond has broadcast rights for. Only five of the 11 teams on that list currently have streaming deals with Diamond, and the league has been adamant over the past 10 months that it has no interest whatsoever in allowing the company to acquire the streaming rights of additional teams.
That apparently remains true whether Amazon is involved in the equation or not. The report indicates that Amazon wanted to get the streaming rights for those teams for more than a year, while the league is more interested in making deals for itself. It doesn’t want to have to go through any intermediaries like DSG to craft streaming pacts with providers, though Amazon is apparently a candidate to get those rights once MLB’s relationship with Diamond ends.
What’s Next for MLB and Diamond?
The next major bankruptcy court hearing for Diamond Sports Group is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 10. At that hearing, MLB and DSG could potentially present a deal that would see all of the league’s Diamond-owned rights revert back to it following the upcoming 2024 season. In exchange, the league would accept smaller rights payments from Diamond for this upcoming season.
DSG has already agreed to similar deals with the NBA and NHL, so it’s likely that the bankruptcy judge would approve such an agreement with MLB. What’s less clear is whether or not Diamond will bring a former team back into the fold; the Minnesota Twins saw their contract with DSG expire following the 2023 season, but the team has not found a new local broadcast partner yet, and may decide that going back to Bally Sports North is the best way to go.
Observers might accuse MLB of being stubborn, but the league has had a consistent message throughout its dealings with Diamond dating back to before the broadcaster entered bankruptcy proceedings. It’s ready to move on from regional sports networks, and it wants to craft modern streaming deals, which it feels cannot be done with DSG, even if the company has the financial backing of Amazon.
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