Diamond Sports Group, the largest owner of regional sports networks, could be down to broadcasting only one Major League Baseball team's games next season.
During a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston on Wednesday, the operator of the Bally Sports regional sports networks indicated it will cut loose the seven teams it has under contract for the 2025 season.
As part of its reorganization plan, Diamond plans to void the contracts of the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays and to attempt to rework the deals of the five franchises that are partial owners of their regional sports networks — the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers have contracts that expired at the end of the regular season.
That would leave the Atlanta Braves as the only franchise whose contract would be unchanged.
Attorneys for Diamond said during the hearing that the company has delivered proposals to the 11 teams that are out of contract, rejected deals or are joint ventures.
Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection in March 2023. The company said in a financial filing last year that it had debt of $8.67 billion.
"Today marks an important step forward for Diamond with the filing of a baseline plan to enable us to emerge from bankruptcy as a viable, go-forward business before year-end," Diamond Sports said in a statement. "We firmly believe that through our linear and digital offerings we have created the best economic and fan-friendly engine for all of our team partners."
Diamond attorney Andrew Goldman said during the 30-minute hearing that talks remain ongoing with all teams.
MLB attorney James Bromley said he was surprised about the reorganization plan and said they were "sandbagged" since they only learned about it less than two hours before the start of the hearing.
"We have no information about what is being done," Bromley said. "We've had no opportunity to review and now we're in front of the court and being asked to make our comments."
Over the past two seasons, Major League Baseball has had to take over the broadcasts of the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies after agreements could not be reached.
Goldman also said during the hearing that Diamond is "on a path to getting a new naming rights partner, which is a big development for the company as well as a commercial agreement with one or more streaming partners with respect to the digital rights that the company will possess."
Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co. for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was required by the Department of Justice to sell the networks for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox's film and television assets to be approved.
Cleveland baseball games have been televised on what is now Bally Sports Great Lakes since 2006, when the network launched as SportsTime Ohio. The Dolan family sold the network to Fox in 2012, and following Diamond and Sinclair's purchase seven years later, the channel was rebranded in 2021.
After initial uncertainty, the Guardians and Diamond reached an agreement on 2024 broadcast rights less than two months before the regular season began. The ballclub has not indicated its plans for next year and beyond.
Diamond also has the rights to 13 NBA and eight NHL teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Columbus Blue Jackets. In August, the company struck a deal to keep broadcasting games for those 21 basketball and hockey franchises through at least the 2024-25 season.
Judge Christopher Lopez has scheduled a follow-up session for Oct. 9 with a final hearing on the reorganization plan scheduled for Nov. 14.
