Successful eBay Bid Lands Bally Sports North for Local Collector

[RandBalls Stu]

“I don’t really need it, but at $37.50 I figured why the heck not,” said Carlsson.

Image courtesy of Unsplash/Leon Seibert

Torvald Carlsson spends his days curating a formidable collection of Minnesota sports memorabilia. The retired Scandia educator counts a row of seats from the old Met Stadium, a signed Bernie Bierman football, and an original George Mikan Minneapolis Lakers jersey as his most prized possessions. His newest acquisition might be his most unique one yet.

“I was browsing eBay the other day and saw that they put the entire Bally Sports North network up for auction,” said Carlsson. “I don’t really need it, but at $37.50 I figured why the heck not. And now I guess I own the gosh darned thing.”

Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports North and 18 other regional sports networks, recently skipped a $140 million interest payment, signaling that bankruptcy could soon be imminent. A spokesperson confirmed that Carlsson was on the path to being BSN's new owner, but refused to say if the online auction was part of the company’s plan to recoup needed funds. 

Meanwhile, the new owner of the network that brings Twins, Wild, and Timberwolves games to Minnesota cable subscribers says he has no big plans to change anything for now.

“It’s a whole deal,” said the 71-year-old. “Keeping track of the day-to-day is a real humdinger, I don’t suppose I’ll be a part of that. They just sent me a whole bunch of papers in the mail and (former Twin and current BSN analyst) Tim Laudner is sleeping in my driveway. Ma (Carlsson’s wife Gail) brings him some supper and that seems to settle him down some.”

While a lot of logistical questions remain unanswered (“I guess Glen Perkins needs a food taster on all road trips due to his long list of enemies and rivals,” said Carlsson), Bally employees are hopeful this leads to better days at the company.

“I’m optimistic,” said Dick Bremer, longtime play-by-play voice of Twins. “Ever since Bert (Blyleven, Bremer’s former broadcast partner) retired, I’ve lost weight, I sleep through the night without crying, and no one has taped a ‘FART MASTER’ sign to my back. Not once. They can pay me with pizza crusts and expired Marlboro Miles. I truly don’t care. I am the happiest man in the world.”

Image license here. 

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[Juza]

I think he overpaid ...

[LewFordLives]

I remember when they were auctioning off pieces of the Metrodome. One of the blue hefty bags from right field was listed. I thought about bidding, but then it occurred to me.....what if I won?  I guess I could have turned it into a privacy fence, but the HOA might have something to say about it.

[gil4]

4 minutes ago, Juza said:

I think he overpaid ...

I agree - the first thing he's going to have to do as the new owner is write a check for $140M.  I hope he has a lot of change in his sofa cushions.

[wsnydes]

I think the real question to come out of this is whether or not Mr. Carlsson has one of those 'FART MASTER' signs in his collection.

[wsnydes]

14 minutes ago, LewFordLives said:

I remember when they were auctioning off pieces of the Metrodome. One of the blue hefty bags from right field was listed. I thought about bidding, but then it occurred to me.....what if I won?  I guess I could have turned it into a privacy fence, but the HOA might have something to say about it.

I have a piece of the turf somewhere.  No idea where it is, so that was money well spent...

[Twins GFP]

Stu,

Sorry you had to qualify this article with the satire header...

[Trov]

3 hours ago, gil4 said:

I agree - the first thing he's going to have to do as the new owner is write a check for $140M.  I hope he has a lot of change in his sofa cushions.

The 140M is across all Diamond Sports Group, Bally North payment would be much less.  The new owner could do what Diamond did, just borrow it, and then when cannot pay bills later go bankrupt. 

[Dave The Dastardly]

The boys down at Kelsey's passed the hat and raised $75 to buy out Carlsson. Guy doubled his money overnight. Shrewd. Wall Street's been calling, wants to hire him as a consultant.

[TaterTot]

On 2/17/2023 at 8:40 AM, Juza said:

I think he overpaid ...

Sure did… wasn’t worth anything since it switched to Bally sports…  

[goulik]

On 2/17/2023 at 8:46 AM, gil4 said:

I agree - the first thing he's going to have to do as the new owner is write a check for $140M.  I hope he has a lot of change in his sofa cushions.

Well, he is a Carlson….