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Friday, March 10, 2023

D-backs could be 1st team impacted by Bally Sports ownership bankruptcy

The Arizona Diamondbacks could be one of the first teams impacted as Diamond Sports Group prepares to file for bankruptcy.

The operator of the 19 Bally Sports regional television networks has continued to pay its rights fees to every Major League Baseball team with the exception of the Diamondbacks, reports John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.

Diamond released this statement: “We’ve been making our rights payments to teams with the exception of the Diamondbacks, where we have exercised a contractual grace period in order to maximize flexibility, especially given that we do not have DTC rights. We are continuing to broadcast games and are operating our business as usual.”

Ourand reports that the grace period to pay the D-backs ends at midnight on Thursday.

He adds that Diamond has not paid the D-backs because the deal is extremely team-friendly in comparison to other clubs. It also runs through 2035.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 10, 2023 at 02:46 PM | 9 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: bally sports, diamondbacks, sinclair

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1. The Duke Posted: March 10, 2023 at 04:13 PM (#6120096)

The storm clouds are ominous on the baseball revenue front

2. cardsfanboy

Posted: March 10, 2023 at 09:00 PM (#6120112)

The real problem is that they created this problem on their own, they wanted to triple (if I remember correctly) the amount that streaming services were supposed to pay for their channels, and after nearly two years where the streamers like Sling TV refused to capitulate, they never reduced their rates. It was suicidal watching as they both destroyed their leverage and killed the streaming services at the same time.

If I didn't know any better, it was as if they decided to act in accordance with the cable companies by going out of their way to create a situation that cutting the cord was going to be problematic for the users.

3. Walt Davis Posted: March 11, 2023 at 01:48 AM (#6120133)

The real problem is that they created this problem on their own

"They" the DBacks or "they" MLB or "they" Bally/Sinclair?

4. pthomas Posted: March 11, 2023 at 08:26 AM (#6120139)

I can hardly wait to watch more pickleball on my local over the air stations this summer.

5. BDC

Posted: March 11, 2023 at 09:33 AM (#6120146)

That's OK, they can recoup the losses by not typing up rosters to give to their announcers.

6. cardsfanboy

Posted: March 11, 2023 at 05:32 PM (#6120199)

"They" the DBacks or "they" MLB or "they" Bally/Sinclair?

They = Bally Sinclair(or more accurately the fox sports network, bally mostly just acquired the company after Fox made the demands) . Fox Sports Midwest had a perfectly good working model with Sling TV and others and decided to require massive price increases for them to be carried, this wasn't the typical let's up the cost 10% type of stuff, but it was more or less double the cost type of thing (if not more) they got greedy knowing full and well that they were a major part of the subscription service, while ignoring the fact that the company still needs to make a profit and keep the overall cost down to be competitive. (Fox Sports was still selling commercials, and having more homes to present the commercials was going to be nearly as profitable as the subscription costs anyway)

7. John Reynard Posted: March 12, 2023 at 04:46 AM (#6120227)

@6, wow, a corporation being ruthlessly shortsighted, who'd have guessed with how executives are paid?

We need to reform corporate governance if we have any hope of having a better economic system in or out of baseball watching.

8. kirstie819 Posted: March 15, 2023 at 11:48 AM (#6120467)

Nurses are the front-line workers in healthcare and provide essential care to their patients. By providing a critical link between patients and physicians, nurses are essential to the success of the healthcare system. They are also essential in providing a safe and effective care environment for patients and families. Tom

9. Biscuit_pants Posted: March 16, 2023 at 09:43 AM (#6120531)

I'm with post 8. I don't know how the heck we got down the rabbit hole of discussing baseball when no one, I mean no one is discussing how the collapse of Bally affects nurses.

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Friday, March 10, 2023

D-backs could be 1st team impacted by Bally Sports ownership bankruptcy

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