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The Diamond Sports Group saga took another turn yesterday when the broadcasting company announced a thatd see debt holders invest $450MM to keep the company afloat. As part of the deal, Amazon would receive streaming rights for the NBA, NHL and MLB teams for which Diamond currently holds those rights. While theres an agreement in place between Diamond and Amazon, its worth emphasizing that the plan cant become official without approval from the bankruptcy court. Thatll take time as the court and Diamonds creditors sort through the details. report that Amazon would pay $115MM, with an additional $50MM investment po sible. While thatd entitle them to streaming rights for every NBA and NHL team that contracts with Diamond, its only applicable to five MLB teams. Diamond has streaming rights for the Royals, Tigers, Marlins, Brewers and Rays. Those clubs would still be broadcast on cable on Diamonds Bally Sports networks, but in-market streaming acce s would move to Prime Video. MLB has opposed selling additional streaming rights to Diamond, but reports that Amazons involvement is not conditional on further streaming acquisitions. Until this week, it had seemed likely Diamond would abandon the regional sports network entirely after the 2024 MLB season. The agreement with Amazon represents a significant shift and leaves a few MLB teams in a state of continued uncertainty. Diamond holds broadcasting deals with 11 MLB teams. The corporations attorney said yesterday that nine of those clubs the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals and Tigers will be paid in full for the 24 campaign (relayed by Gonzlez). The company is seeking to renegotiate its deals with two others, the Guardians and Rangers, at le ser fees. It is also in discu sions with the Twins, whose previous contract with Diamond expired at the end of last season leaving them as something of a broadcasting free agent. The Diamond attorney informed the court yesterday that the company has offered terms to each of the Cleveland, Texas and Minnesota organizations to continue broadcasting their games in 2024 (via The Athletic). He said the company expects answers from all three franchises by the start of February. A hearing scheduled for tomorrow morning has been postponed indefinitely so the sides can review the framework of the streaming deal, per Drellich and Vorkunov. None of the Rangers, Guardians or Twins are obligated to accept reduced rights fees. If they decline, however, it seems likely Diamond will drop Paul Millsap Jersey the Texas and Cleveland contracts and leave Minnesota without a deal. Diamond already showed a willingne s to abandon unprofitable terms during the 2023 season, when it dropped agreements with the Padres and Diamondbacks. That leaves Texas, Cleveland and Minnesota without a ton of leverage. Diamonds attorney said one of the organizations (without specifying which) plans to negotiate a deal that would even extend beyond next season, as relayed by The Athletic. The uncertainty has been reflected in those franchises activity, or lack thereof, in free agency. Minnesota declared they were cutting payroll at the start of the offseason. They allowed and to depart and have thus far signed one free agent to a major league contract. That was a $950K guarantee for reliever , who is rehabbing from thoracic outlet surgery. Texas is coming off a World Series thatd normally spur a team to act aggre sively in the offseason. Instead, GM Chris Young indicated they wouldnt be as active as theyd been in previous winters. The Rangers have signed a few free agents most notably a two-year, $22MM pact for but they havent splurged at the top of the cla s. The broadcasting situation is commonly cited as a reason they havent brought back , who remains on the open market. Cleveland is never a big spender, so the lack of activity on their end is characteristic. Still, the club is seemingly operating with . Theyve taken on some salary in the trade and signed to a $4MM free agent deal. Whether all those teams can reach a new contract with Diamond should become clear in the next few weeks. Even if they stay on the networks for next season (and potentially beyond), itd come with some kind of hit to their revenues. reported the Guardians made $55MM in local rights fees last season. It was a similar amount for Minnesota, whom reports received $54MM in 2023. wrote yesterday the Rangers deal has paid around $111MM annually. If any of those teams dont reach an agreement, theyd join a trio of clubs likely to operate without an RSN deal this year. MLB stepped in to handle in-market broadcasting for Arizona and San Diego last season. While MLB subsidized a portion of the D-Backs and Padres deals last season, commi sioner Rob Manfred has made clear they wont do so next season. Allowing MLB to handle the broadcasts would likely be le s profitable for the teams than if they land a new deal with Diamond. It seems MLB is also going to handle broadcasts for the Rockies, whose contract was dropped by AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain at the end of 2023. reported this month that MLB is expected to stream Colorado games in-market on its MLB.tv platform, as it is doing with the D-Backs and Padres. The Rockies made roughly $57MM off their broadcasting deal a year ago, Saunders adds. Isaiah Hartenstein Jersey