Bally Sports, the local sports network attempting to emerge from bankruptcy, may have benefited from Amazon’s last-minute offer last month to take up MLB game streaming rights.
However, it has now been revealed by MLB that a planned $150 million deal that would have seen Amazon replace Bally Sports as the MLB game streaming provider was rejected. This is in advance of Bally Spots’ court appearance with MLB on its TV deal tomorrow.
The Wall Street Journal stated that Amazon was negotiating to acquire Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports, in a transaction that would allow the network’s games to be streamed on the online retail behemoth’s streaming service. Bally Sports is negotiating a contract with the MLB that would keep it in place until the end of the 2024 season. It already has agreements with a number of NBA teams. The two parties apparently had a framework agreement to maintain MLB games on Bally Sports through the 2024 season, but this pact is going to court today. Additionally, talks to broadcast some of the NHL’s teams’ games are still ongoing.
Bally Sports reportedly rejected this arrangement, according to the New York Post, which has many people wondering what kind of agreement MLB and Bally Sports will come to.
After going through many hearings, Diamond Sports Group has requested an extension until May to file its bankruptcy exist plans. A financial infusion would let the business to endure, although the MLB and its erstwhile parent Sinclair Broadcasting had previously stated that they thought the business will close in 2024.
READ MORE: MLB Wants A TV Deal With Bally Sports Now, Or It Wants Out Of Its TV Contract
A bankruptcy judge dismissed Sinclair’s plea on Friday, granting Diamond Sports Group a respite by requiring the immediate repayment of $147 million in management services. Additionally, it delayed the MLB’s desire that Diamond Sports Group decide on their media rights deal.
Bally Sports filed a lawsuit against Sinclair earlier in 2023, claiming that the latter had overpaid the local sports network for those management services and made money off of the venture at the expense of parent company Diamond Sports Group. Sinclair had stated that Bally Sports would receive a service discount from it.
As part of Disney’s purchase of Fox’s film and television properties, Bally Sports was established as a spin-off of the regional Fox Sports networks of the time. However, the 2020 pandemic, which forced games to be televised for extended periods of time, and a spike in cord cutting made it difficult for Sinclair’s regional sports networks to make money.
Diamond Sports Group’s representative was not immediately available for comment.
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