Major League Baseball and the currently bankrupt Bally Sports Regional Network will conclude their deal in October. According to Awful Announcing, the network and the MLB are nearing an agreement to continue broadcasting league games. The MLB’s outside counsel has also informed the bankruptcy court to address Bally Sports which teams they will televise next year.
MLB’s outside counsel, James Bromley, stated this to the court, “We are in a position to believe that we have a framework to move forward. We have a lot of conditions and issues that we still need to work through.”
“But we think at this point, it’s appropriate to ask the court if we could take the hearing from today’s calendar and move it to a date in January. So January 9, and 10 if possible in order to allow the parties to come to a fully documented settlement.”
MLB and DSG’s parent organisation, Sinclair, were at odds with each other even before DSG filed for bankruptcy in March, as Sinclair wanted the streaming rights from the 14 teams. MLB objected to this, as they wanted those rights for their venture incorporating local media.
During a hearing that took place in early June, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred claimed that the Chairman of Sinclair, Davis Smith, had shared this with him in 2021. Sinclair told him, “You know, we want these rights”. To that, Manfred replied, “Well, you know, unfortunately, sometimes people want things they’re not going to get and you’re not getting these rights.”
Smith, as per Manfred, further said, “So let me tell you what’s going to happen. I put $2 billion into the purchase of these RSNs … so what I’m going to do is I’m going to keep this going long enough until I get my $2 billion out, OK? And then I’m going to start squeezing your clubs to take their rights fees down, OK, in order to make sure that I stay profitable in the RSN business. And if they don’t agree to that, I’m going to put the entity into bankruptcy, and then I’m going to selectively reject contracts.’”
As per Awful Announcing, DSG did not remunerate four clubs, stating that the contacts were “unneconomic”. However, the judge ordered DSG to pay them.
A lawyer from Sinclair’s side shared this with the court, stating, “Debtors took Mr. Smith’s deposition in which he vehemently opposed and objected to and disagreed with Mr. Manfred’s assertion that that was the statement he made… I could sit here and go on about my views of Mr. Manfred’s credibility. But that’s not appropriate.”
However, the deal is ongoing with MLB. Three teams are not with DSG and at the end of the 2024 season, their contracts will conclude as well.
Charles Koster, outside counsel for the Texas Rangers stated, “There are three teams that the debtors will be seeking to change the financial arrangement. We are ready and willing to engage on those sorts of modifications with the debtors. And we look forward to reaching an agreement that would allow the debtors to continue to produce and broadcast the Rangers games for the 2024 season.”
“But if we cannot reach that agreement soon, we need to begin now, finding an alternative and every day matters in that regard. So we recognize a real benefit to continue in arrangement with the debtors. At this time, we have no idea if, when, and whether that agreement will be reached and what the acceptable terms may be.”
