The Cleveland Guardians and four other MLB teams with contracts to have their games televised by Bally Sports are due payments by Diamond Sports in the very near future. Whether those payments are made in full and on time could determine whether telecasts of games continue uninterrupted.
Major League Baseball stands ready to pick up television broadcasts if Diamond doesn’t meet its obligations. It has already taken that step with the San Diego Padres.
Diamond Sports Group controls Bally Sports Great Lakes and Bally Sports Ohio regional telecasts of the Guardians, Cavaliers and Blue Jackets games along with 18 more regional sports networks. Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March.
A bankruptcy court recently ruled Diamond could not pay teams less than the contract they have with each respective team calls for. As a result, according to Sports Business Journal, the Guardians, Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks, might have their games dropped by Bally Sports.
Sports Business journal reported the Rangers are due a payment by Diamond Sports on June 15. The Guardians, Diamondbacks and Twins are scheduled to be paid July 1. The Reds are to be paid July 15.
The contract between Diamond Sports and the Guardians calls for Diamond to pay the Guardians a total of about $52 million annually to televise their games. The contract runs through 2027.
Diamond owes the Guardians 25 percent of the $52 million ($13 million) on July 1. A team spokesman on June 14 would only say the Guardians have been paid in full by Diamond up to this point. He would not comment beyond that.
Diamond recoups its money by selling television rights to Spectrum, Direct TV and Fubo. As more and more people ditch cable for streaming services such as Hulu+ Live and YouTubeTV, Diamond is not taking in the money it projected to make from cable companies and advertising because the cable giants are getting less money in subscription fees.
Back in March when they filed for bankruptcy, Diamond Sports announced it might be forced to break contracts with teams that are losing ventures for them and stop televising their games.
Diamond missed a May rights fee payment to the Padres and then failed to make a payment after a two-week grace period. That resulted in Major League Baseball issuing the following statement:
“As a result of the new arrangement, Padres fans can now obtain a new direct-to-consumer streaming subscription for $19.99 per month or $74.99 for the rest of the season by registering at MLB.TV.
“This offer is only for Padres fans in the Club’s Home Television Territory and is a separate service than the MLB.TV out of market package. By offering a direct-to-consumer streaming option on MLB.TV in the Club’s territory for the first time, MLB is able to lift the blackout for Padres games previously distributed on Bally Sports San Diego. Fans can also find more information about the availability of Padres games at Padres.com/tunein.”
Something similar could happen if Diamond misses its scheduled payment to the Guardians.
