Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 2, 2023 11:48:02 GMT -5
For those who've not been following this, Sinclair Broadcast Group bought regional sports networks (RSNs) on a hedge. They loaded up the company they created to host those - Diamond - with $8B in debt. Diamond is on the rocks (so to speak!) and probably going down in bankruptcy. Fangraphs' Ben Clemens has a very good recap of what's happened and the repercussions for MLB:
Diamond owns rights to the broadcasts for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.
The fallout is already spreading. This is from MLB.com:
That article contains bad news for more teams:
Warner Bros. Discovery's AT&T SportsNet networks told the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates last week that the companies do not have the money to make scheduled rights fee payments. The networks told the teams they have until March 31 to reclaim their broadcast rights and if there are not deals, the networks would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
We should stay tuned... if we can.
