Much as it cut ties with two MLB teams last summer, the Diamond Sports Group could axe several NBA teams from its portfolio of live rights as its bankruptcy reorganization process drags along.
Per the Sports Business Journal , five NBA teams could have their rights deals with Diamond severed heading into the 2024-25 season. Those five teams are the Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Diamond’s other ten teams, along with possibly two of the teams mentioned above, would be safe if the company’s reorganization is successful and it emerges from bankruptcy. However, they would take a haircut of up to 40 percent on rights fees.
Assuming Diamond remains solvent — and its recent distribution agreement with Comcast seems in line with managing its business outside of bankruptcy — the company is expected to honor the contracts for its other 10 teams: the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pacers, Clippers, Heat, Bucks, T’Wolves, Magic and Spurs, and possibly two more. But if the bankruptcy court rejects Diamond’s plan for reemergence (and Diamond’s most recent court date of July 29th was pushed back at its request), those 10 teams would then join the Pelicans, Grizzlies, Thunder, Mavericks and Pistons in looking for alternative local broadcasts.
For that reason alone, sources said all 15 Diamond teams are angling for clarity, particularly so close to the coming season. One particular source said that the longer Diamond twists in the wind, teams will have less time to seal pending over-the-air deals, also diminishing their ability to generate a larger volume of ad sales and revenue.
As it stands, even if Diamond reemerges as expected, the 10 remaining teams (whose games are televised by Diamond’s Bally’s Sports networks) expect to have their local rights fees slashed by 30 to 40 percent this season. Considering most NBA teams have annual local rights fees of about $40M — though teams such as the Knicks and Lakers secure a higher yearly fee of roughly $100M — the 10 remaining Diamond teams could lose as much as $16M each in 2024-25.
The Mavericks, Pistons, Pelicans, and Thunder all had secondary deals with local over-the-air networks last season, airing between five and ten games outside of the Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs). This was part of an agreement struck between the NBA and Diamond last November .
The Mavericks possibly being cut by Diamond is not a good omen for the future of Bally Sports Southwest. The RSN has already lost the Stars to a new free, ad-supported streaming service called Victory+, while the Rangers were on the brink for most of 2023 and their rights will hit the open market after this season. When asked about it last year , former Mavericks governor and majority owner Mark Cuban seemed open to a new broadcasting model . The RSN also airs the San Antonio Spurs in part of the market.
Both the Pelicans and Thunder are the one pro team to air exclusively on their respective RSNs, Bally Sports New Orleans and Oklahoma, respectively. The networks also air games from teams airing on Bally Sports RSNs in neighboring markets, including the embattled Bally Sports Southwest. Grizzlies games air on a sub feed of Bally Sports Southeast, only covering a smaller chunk of the network’s coverage window.
Of the five teams, the Pistons are arguably the biggest surprise, airing on Bally Sports Detroit in a one-RSN market along with the city’s other pro teams. But the team has been awful for five straight seasons, and it might make sense for Diamond to walk away, especially if the Ilitch family (owner of the Tigers and Red Wings) moves forward with its long-planned idea to launch a new RSN in the Detroit market.
[ Sports Business Journal ]
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