KC Royals games could be returning to Comcast/Xfinity in the near future

The Royals open a three-game series Friday against the Chicago Cubs at Kauffman Stadium as KC seeks to maintain its hold on a wild-card spot in the American League playoff race.

It’s been an exciting season for the Royals, who have already matched last year’s win total.

Unfortunately for many Royals fans, they haven’t been able to watch games on television because of an impasse between the Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports Kansas City, and Comcast.

On May 1, Comcast dropped a dozen Bally regional sports networks (RSNs), including Bally Sports KC, in a carriage dispute with Diamond Sports. That left subscribers to Comcast-owned Xfinity looking for alternate viewing options.

The dispute has lasted three months but there is hope for resolution.

Diamond Sports, which filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2023 , has been in control of the RSNs as it seeks to reorganize its business.

According to ESPN, Diamond Sports said in a “status conference” Wednesday that it was closing in on potential deal with Comcast.

“We believe that we have made substantial progress on resolving our issues with Comcast, and we have the intention of fully documenting and executing an agreement with Comcast to broadcast our RSNs in the very near term,” Diamond lawyer Brian Hermann said in a bankruptcy court hearing, per the Athletic.

Amazon update

Diamond Sports said in January it had a plan to emerge from bankruptcy with the help of a Restructuring Support Agreement that included a deal with Amazon. That would have had Royals games streaming on Amazon Prime.

However, while talking about a potential deal with Comcast, Diamond Sports acknowledged this week that it may not stave off liquidation, The Athletic reported. That throws any deal with Amazon in question.

“If we conclude that we cannot reorganize the business, which is a possibility, we will similarly pivot quickly,” Hermann said, per The Athletic. “That is not our focus today, but that is a possibility and that’s not lost on us.”

Should that be the case, the Royals and Major League Baseball would jump to regain the television rights.

Royals CEO and chairman John Sherman knows fans are unhappy with the current state of broadcast and streaming options.

“I think long term, the league ultimately would like to get those rights back,” Sherman said in February. “I mean, that’s really what they’ve been arguing in the bankruptcy court. ... So there’s a lot to do there.

“But ... ultimately we’d like to get the rights back and then put together our own partnership with maybe it’s Amazon, maybe it’s Apple. We think baseball has left some money on the table in terms of our media rights values.”

A Minneapolis Star Tribune story noted the Padres, Rockies and Diamondbacks have local broadcasts produced by Major League Baseball. That took place when the teams lost their RSN deals.

One key element of those MLB-backed broadcasts: they can be streamed locally on the MLB website for $99.99 a year (or $19.99 per month), that story said

“We have a distribution deal with Comcast unlike Bally’s,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said, per the Star Tribune. “We’ll go direct to distributor on the cable side, and we will light up MLB.TV in-market to give you a digital alternative. We think that will increase our reach in terms of giving people who have cut the cord the opportunity to watch local games.”