MLB could see media bidding war

Things remain somewhat murky for Diamond Sports Group in its quest to emerge from bankruptcy. If that does happen, many of the streaming services desperate for as many sports broadcasting rights as possible could find themselves in a bidding war for Major League Baseball local rights.

The Puck’s John Ourand reported Thursday that Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and NBCUniversal are all keeping in touch with MLB as the Diamond bankruptcy proceedings play out. All of them have an eye on the potential local rights that would become available if the Bally Sports regional sports networks were no longer viable.

Ourand also noted that ESPN was invariably in MLB’s ear as well, which was echoed by chairman Jimmy Pitaro’s comments during Wednesday’s media day.

“If Major League Baseball is able to put together a group of teams, we would love to be able to do a larger deal,” he said as part of a larger discussion around ESPN’s impending streaming service.

Earlier this week it was reported that Amazon had withdrawn its $115 million offer to Diamond Sports Group, though the RSN carrier still apparently has the funding needed to emerge from bankruptcy. The company agreed to a new carriage deal with Comcast last month, giving them a much-needed boost.

A recent court filing revealed Bally Sports would retain broadcast rights to 13 NBA teams and nine NHL teams through at least the 2024-25 season. However, five NBA teams could have their rights deals with Diamond severed heading into the season.

Ourand notes there’s plenty of red tape and semantics to sort through even if Diamond defaults. So long as DSG continues to make payments to MLB teams, the league does not have the right to sell streaming packages. And even if the rights do revert, MLB won’t be able to sell them for every franchise as many of the biggest franchises, such as the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Cubs, and Red Sox, all have lucrative deals or own a regional network of their own.

[ Puck, John Ourand ]

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