After missing an interest payment last month, Bally Sports owner, Diamond Sports Group (DSG) entered into a 30-day grace period. Where it needed to pay its bills, or file for bankruptcy. Well, after using up almost the entire 30-day grace period, DSG has decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
DSG has agreed to terms with the majority of creditors, which has allowed them to eliminate over $8 billion in debt. This clears the way for DSG to restructure and attempt to continue to broadcast games as a standalone company.
“Diamond intends to use the proceedings to restructure and strengthen its balance sheet, while continuing to broadcast quality live sports productions to fans across the nation. DSG expects that its Bally Sports regional networks will continue to operate in the ordinary course during the Chapter 11 process,” said the company in a statement.
What does this mean for the upcoming MLB season?
For Baseball fans, this really couldn’t have come at a worse time. With Opening Day about two weeks away. But DSG says that it will continue to broadcast the games of the 42 teams that it has broadcast rights to.
That does not include the handful of teams that Bally Sports dropped the rights to earlier this week. Those included the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, and San Diego Padres. The MLB would broadcast them instead, on MLB.TV in-market.
After the bankruptcy announcement, the MLB did reaffirm that it is able to step in and continue to provide fans access to their teams should Diamond fall short of their agreements. “Despite Diamond’s economic situation, there is every expectation that they will continue televising all games they are committed to during the bankruptcy process,” the MLB said in a prepared statement. Also stating that “Major League Baseball is ready to produce and distribute games to fans in their local markets in the event that Diamond or any other regional sports network is unable to do so as required by their agreement with our clubs.”
| RSN | MLB | NBA | NHL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bally Sports Arizona | Phoenix Suns | Arizona Coyotes | |
| Bally Sports Detroit | Detroit Tigers | Detroit Pistons | Detroit Red Wings |
| Bally Sports Florida | Miami Marlins | Orlando Magic | Florida Panthers |
| Bally Sports Indiana | Indiana Pacers | ||
| Bally Sports Kansas City | Kansas City Royals | ||
| Bally Sports Midwest | St. Louis Cardinals | St. Louis Blues | |
| Bally Sports New Orleans | New Orleans Pelicans | ||
| Bally Sports North | Minnesota Twins | Minnesota Timberwolves | Minnesota Wild |
| Bally Sports Ohio | Cleveland Cavaliers | Columbus Blue Jackets | |
| Bally Sports Oklahoma | Oklahoma City Thunder | ||
| Bally Sports SoCal | Anaheim Ducks | ||
| Bally Sports San Diego | |||
| Bally Sports South | Atlanta Braves | Atlanta Hawks | Nashville Predators |
| Bally Sports Southeast | Charlotte Hornets | Carolina Hurricanes | |
| Bally Sports Southwest | Texas Rangers | Dallas Mavericks | Dallas Stars |
| Bally Sports Sun | Tampa Bay Rays | Miami Heat | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Bally Sports Tennessee | Memphis Grizzlies | Nashville Predators | |
| Bally Sports West | Los Angeles Angels | LA Clippers | Los Angeles Kings |
| Bally Sports Wisconsin | Milwaukee Brewers | Milwaukee Bucks | |
| Bally Sports Great Lakes |
For now, nothing is really changing for sports fans, except for those four teams we reported on Monday. That’s the Diamondbacks, Reds, Guardians and Padres. Those fans will need to watch games on MLB.TV this season.