Analysis: Bally Sports intrigue increases with court's move; Adam Silver comments
Yes, there is an update on what’s going on with Bally Sports, the Cleveland Guardians and other MLB teams.
It’s not going to settle anything, but after the Diamond Sports Group declined to pay the Guardians their rights fees, requesting that a bankruptcy court instead lower them, the court chose to require a 50 percent payment on what is owed.
The court could then decide the fate of the deal for the Guardians along with the Arizona Diamondback, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers at a hearing May 10. Adding more intrigue to this issue for Ohio baseball fans: the Cincinnati Reds recently joined the list of these teams whose payment deadline was missed.
Yes, it’s all messy and it grows messier.
MLB is just the one raging wildfire on this front. The NBA recognizes there is a problem as well based on the words of commissioner Adam Silver.
On the “Sports Business Journal’s” Marchand & Ourand Sports Media podcast, Silver said bluntly the regional sports network model needs to be rethought.
In the era of cord cutting, there are a legion of sports fans who certainly agree. The reality: the audience for sports is increasingly divided between those who’ve severed their cable connection and those who keep it or some streaming variation of it (Fubo TV, DirecTV Stream) for the ability to watch their favorite teams.
These days it’s a value proposition. Tracking the average cost of cable TV per month is a tricky exercise. Which tier are you on? Does the plan include Internet? Which fees are tacked on? For perspective, when I made the decision to cut the cord and go with Playstation Vue some years ago, my bill was approaching a ridiculous monthly amount with AT&T for television and Internet, and nothing has changed price wise other than people finally saying “no more.”
What’s that mean for sports fans? I wish had had a crystal ball or the powers of Nostradamus, but it’s increasingly obvious that the leagues – MLB and NBA in particular – expect the metaphorical dam to eventually bust.
As for Bally Sports? They assumed the business terms when their then parent, Sinclair, purchased the RSNs from the Walt Disney Co. what seems like an eternity ago in 2019. They knew what they were getting.
Reach George M. Thomas at gthomas@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Analysis: Waiting game continues for Bally Sports; Adam Silver speaks
