Amazon/Diamond Sports Deal Could be Game-Changer for Twins' TV and Payroll

[John Bonnes]

The potential deal between Amazon and Diamond Sports (which owns Bally Sports North) could mean more options for Twins fans this season and more money for the front office to spend this offseason. 

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

What implications might the potential partnership between Amazon and Diamond (also known as Bally Sports Networks) hold for the Twins? While the full extent of the impact remains somewhat uncertain, it has the potential to be a game-changing development, benefiting both fans and the team's offseason plans. Let's delve into the backstory and engage in some informed speculation.

First, a bit of background: The Twins had a $55-million-per-year TV/streaming agreement with Diamond that recently expired. However, the real issue was Diamond's financial instability, due to mishandling their plan to stream MLB teams' games within their markets. They initially restricted others from broadcasting the games, but then encountered problems while attempting to do so themselves, effectively preventing anyone from streaming the Twins' games. Consequently, many teams, including the Twins, sought to terminate Diamond's streaming rights.

On the other hand, Bally Sports Networks, while willing to pay for TV rights, recognized the growing significance of streaming. This left the Twins without a suitable TV partner, with limited alternatives. The Twin Cities lacked another sports network, and over-the-air channels were bound by contractual obligations to network programming. While the Twins, MLB, or other local teams could potentially establish their own channel, Comcast was reluctant to charge subscribers for it, making it a very limited revenue source, relying only on advertising, a lot of which the Twins already enjoy with their broadcasts.

Enter the informed speculation. The Amazon deal, in theory, serves two critical purposes. Firstly, it could alleviate Diamond's financial woes, taking them out of bankruptcy. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, it brings in a minority owner with the expertise and resources needed to handle streaming successfully. This opens up the possibility of in-market games being available on Amazon Prime, making Diamond a viable partner once more for both TV and streaming rights.

However, there's still one hurdle to overcome. Unlike most MLB teams, the Twins no longer have an existing agreement with Diamond, given that it expired this year. But it's reasonable to assume that negotiations for a new deal may have already been part of the discussions during this process. How soon that is all resolved is the biggest remaining question.

In summary, it appears likely that the Twins will find a home on Bally Sports Networks next year, and their games in-market could become accessible via Amazon Prime - with a subscription, of course. This arrangement might also pave the way for the team to recoup a significant portion of the $55 million in revenue that seemed lost. This, in turn, could translate into a potential increase in payroll. Time is not on the Twins' side, but there's a window here.

In fact, it raises the intriguing possibility that several notable free agents, including starting pitchers like Jordan Montgomery (who played for the Rangers, who were also affected) and Blake Snell (who played for the Padres, ditto), may have been patiently waiting for this development to bolster some teams' offseason payroll plans.

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[old nurse]

All is still pending a bankruptcy judge’s decision.  115 million does not go far in an 8+ billion bankruptcy 

[JoeCool]

Would love to see Jordan Montgomery in a Twins uniform.  Pablo Lopez and him at the top of the rotation would give us a lethal 1-2 punch.  Rather than trading away the future it would be a nice add.  
 

[August J Gloop]

I don't think this will be that great for the Twins. All AMZN did was buy the streaming rights to the 5 teams that Bally's held them on. I doubt AMZN has any intention of carrying Bally's or even helping them out of bankruptcy. They're just raiding the streaming rights, to have a stronger postion on their negotiation with MLB. They now have a settled price of $20M per small market team for the stream rights (likely multiple years, too). Bally's has exhaustively established that the broadcast rights aren't worth 50M so the Twins are gonna take a hit there. 

[TopGunn#22]

Just wrote about Montgomery and Snell on another post this morning bemoaning the fact that it's just bad for baseball in general that those two pitchers (and Bellinger) were still out there in mid-January.  Then this hits!  I would love them to sign either of those pitchers but I'm realistic enough not to expect it.  

[Paul D]

I think that the Twins have absolutely no leverage in this deal, even in bankruptcy proceedings since their contract with Bally/Diamond has terminated.  I believe we would be better served if we were able to join the teams that MLB took over mid-season and worked out a deal with different cable companies and MLB.TV (I believe SD was one of the two).  What you need to know about MLB taking over Padres TV - ESPN

[farmerguychris]

Would love to see them on streaming somehow.  Only reason I have DirecTv at the moment is so I can watch them.  Don't need yet another streaming service, so Amazon would be fine since already have that one.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, August J Gloop said:

I don't think this will be that great for the Twins. All AMZN did was buy the streaming rights to the 5 teams that Bally's held them on. I doubt AMZN has any intention of carrying Bally's or even helping them out of bankruptcy. They're just raiding the streaming rights, to have a stronger postion on their negotiation with MLB. They now have a settled price of $20M per small market team for the stream rights (likely multiple years, too). Bally's has exhaustively established that the broadcast rights aren't worth 50M so the Twins are gonna take a hit there. 

It still could make a real difference for the Twins in not having their rights completely cratered though, because if the streaming rights are worth $20M per season even if the broadcast rights are only worth $25M we're no longer looking at a need to drop payroll by $20M+ and wouldn't feel pushed to move Polanco, Kepler, or Vazquez.

[Parfigliano]

20 minutes ago, farmerguychris said:

Would love to see them on streaming somehow.  Only reason I have DirecTv at the moment is so I can watch them.  Don't need yet another streaming service, so Amazon would be fine since already have that one.

I have Direct only due to Twins- Mets baseball and  NYR hockey.

[sun]

While this development may not produce as much of a windfall as needed this year, I'm optimistic that it can provide the Twins with enough leverage for revenue growth in future years to enable them to begin adding payroll money sooner rather than later. The home market may be more lucrative than anyone realizes at this time due to the high degree of loyalty by Twins fans. I doubt that Amazon would risk making such a large investment if they didn't see the handwriting on the wall. If the Twins perform well they can dig their way out of this mess. Just in time for the introduction of their new City Connect uniforms. There should be some light at the end of the tunnel. The fans & team are counting on Buxton to pull them through this trial & times. Everyone's future is now inter-connected more than ever & dependent on a reasonable amount of success & payout. If it's not Buck then some new stars need to be born quickly to compete with the big market talent..

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, August J Gloop said:

I don't think this will be that great for the Twins. All AMZN did was buy the streaming rights to the 5 teams that Bally's held them on. I doubt AMZN has any intention of carrying Bally's or even helping them out of bankruptcy. They're just raiding the streaming rights, to have a stronger postion on their negotiation with MLB. They now have a settled price of $20M per small market team for the stream rights (likely multiple years, too). Bally's has exhaustively established that the broadcast rights aren't worth 50M so the Twins are gonna take a hit there. 

There's talks of much bigger things than just those 5 teams. NBA and NHL contracts involved in all of this, too. Don't think we really know enough to say either way on how this will effect any team in any of these 3 leagues that deal with Diamond.

[August J Gloop]

39 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

There's talks of much bigger things than just those 5 teams. NBA and NHL contracts involved in all of this, too. Don't think we really know enough to say either way on how this will effect any team in any of these 3 leagues that deal with Diamond.

We know that AMZN is not going to stop at 5 teams, for sure. Literally the only reason to buy the streaming rights at this flea market price is to have an established position for negotiations. They can hold the streaming  of 1/6th of the teams hostage to force those negotiations. They can demand a slice of mlb.tv saying that their rights supersede mlb's. They could have a sympathetic judge issue an injunction preventing any operation of mlb.tv until the rights mess was sorted out, but then issue continuances until June. They do these dirty deals all the dang time.  

Amazon can also pressure (or even dictate, we don't know the terms of the purchase) Diamond to not broadcast any MLB games on cable.  Effectively take MLB off the air in 11 markets unless MLB agrees to their streaming terms which will now be less than the 150 (for 11 teams over 3 years) MLB turned down this winter. 

(https://cordcuttersnews.com/mlb-reportedly-rejects-amazons-offer-to-take-over-live-streaming-of-mlb-games-from-bally-sports/)

So no, this is NOT a likely good result for the Twins or the fans. It might give us a halfway decent stream partner, and probably will result in Twolves and Wild games on Prime by the end of the month. It's highly unlikely to be worth everything that is lost. 

Trust that AMZN doesn't really care about the short term implications or inconveniences for the Twins and Cardinals. They want to put the screws to everything until they hold the rights to Yankees games. Consider that they spent over a billion dollars on the Lord of the Rings show that 37% of people who started it even finished. They are still making season 2. They can absorb huge losses if they think it helps them keep people subscribed to prime. Being the exclusive provider of MLB would be such a perk for prime. Let's just hope they don't accidentally kill MLB along the way. 

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, August J Gloop said:

We know that AMZN is not going to stop at 5 teams, for sure. Literally the only reason to buy the streaming rights at this flea market price is to have an established position for negotiations. They can hold the streaming  of 1/6th of the teams hostage to force those negotiations. They can demand a slice of mlb.tv saying that their rights supersede mlb's. They could have a sympathetic judge issue an injunction preventing any operation of mlb.tv until the rights mess was sorted out, but then issue continuances until June. They do these dirty deals all the dang time.  

Amazon can also pressure (or even dictate, we don't know the terms of the purchase) Diamond to not broadcast any MLB games on cable.  Effectively take MLB off the air in 11 markets unless MLB agrees to their streaming terms which will now be less than the 150 (for 11 teams over 3 years) MLB turned down this winter. 

(https://cordcuttersnews.com/mlb-reportedly-rejects-amazons-offer-to-take-over-live-streaming-of-mlb-games-from-bally-sports/)

So no, this is NOT a likely good result for the Twins or the fans. It might give us a halfway decent stream partner, and probably will result in Twolves and Wild games on Prime by the end of the month. It's highly unlikely to be worth everything that is lost. 

Trust that AMZN doesn't really care about the short term implications or inconveniences for the Twins and Cardinals. They want to put the screws to everything until they hold the rights to Yankees games. Consider that they spent over a billion dollars on the Lord of the Rings show that 37% of people who started it even finished. They are still making season 2. They can absorb huge losses if they think it helps them keep people subscribed to prime. Being the exclusive provider of MLB would be such a perk for prime. Let's just hope they don't accidentally kill it along the way. 

Feels like a mountain of speculation without any real info. Which was kind of my point. Awful big leap from "Amazon may buy into Diamond Sports" to "Amazon has held entire professional sports league hostage to get the rights to a team that broadcasts it's own games on it's own network."

[August J Gloop]

Just now, chpettit19 said:

Feels like a mountain of speculation without any real info. Which was kind of my point. Awful big leap from "Amazon may buy into Diamond Sports" to "Amazon has held entire professional sports league hostage to get the rights to a team that broadcasts it's own games on it's own network."

What other reason would AMZN have to bail Diamond out? It's literally not worth anything and all they need to do is wait and they can get this stuff for free next year after Diamond liquidates. But by investing now, they have agreements in place they can use to their advantage. Do we think they just feel sorry for Diamond employees and don't want them to have a crappy Christmas '24? There's a tactical advantage to investing vs acquiring.  Less oversight. 

They made this agreement in secret and blindsided MLB lawyers today. This is an aggressive move, not something one does when they want to build a harmonious agreement. MLB and linear sports in general are weak right now and AMZN sees a chance to force some outcomes. 

[chpettit19]

20 minutes ago, August J Gloop said:

What other reason would AMZN have to bail Diamond out? It's literally not worth anything and all they need to do is wait and they can get this stuff for free next year after Diamond liquidates. But by investing now, they have agreements in place they can use to their advantage. Do we think they just feel sorry for Diamond employees and don't want them to have a crappy Christmas '24? There's a tactical advantage to investing vs acquiring.  Less oversight. 

They made this agreement in secret and blindsided MLB lawyers today. This is an aggressive move, not something one does when they want to build a harmonious agreement. MLB and linear sports in general are weak right now and AMZN sees a chance to force some outcomes. 

Maybe Amazon wants a broadcast partner who knows the industry already, has contracts with 3 sports leagues, and needs a streaming partner? Does Amazon have some new broadcast division I'm not aware of that is working on a deal with DirecTV, etc. on showing season 2 of The Rings of Power? Or are they just a streaming service? Diamond doesn't have the ability to stream all the games for all the teams. Amazon does have that technology. That would be a reason for a partnership instead of just letting Diamond die and then having to negotiate with a different company to come to the same point of owning streaming rights while that other company does broadcast rights for 3 separate leagues.

There is no "agreement" yet. There's a proposed business plan. And not the first one they've presented. They don't have the power to just overtake the negotiations that have already taken place between the NHL, MLB, NBA and Diamond and just void them. As shown by the fact that this isn't the first proposal they've presented because MLB shot down the first one. And evidenced by the MLB lawyer ending the hearing by saying “You know, I was happy to hear all of the thank you’s, I suspect that’s something that might be better served at a confirmation hearing rather than at a status conference. So we will refrain from adding congratulations until such time as something has actually been delivered.”

[Major League Ready]

35 minutes ago, August J Gloop said:

We know that AMZN is not going to stop at 5 teams, for sure. Literally the only reason to buy the streaming rights at this flea market price is to have an established position for negotiations. They can hold the streaming  of 1/6th of the teams hostage to force those negotiations. They can demand a slice of mlb.tv saying that their rights supersede mlb's. They could have a sympathetic judge issue an injunction preventing any operation of mlb.tv until the rights mess was sorted out, but then issue continuances until June. They do these dirty deals all the dang time.  

Amazon can also pressure (or even dictate, we don't know the terms of the purchase) Diamond to not broadcast any MLB games on cable.  Effectively take MLB off the air in 11 markets unless MLB agrees to their streaming terms which will now be less than the 150 (for 11 teams over 3 years) MLB turned down this winter. 

(https://cordcuttersnews.com/mlb-reportedly-rejects-amazons-offer-to-take-over-live-streaming-of-mlb-games-from-bally-sports/)

So no, this is NOT a likely good result for the Twins or the fans. It might give us a halfway decent stream partner, and probably will result in Twolves and Wild games on Prime by the end of the month. It's highly unlikely to be worth everything that is lost. 

Trust that AMZN doesn't really care about the short term implications or inconveniences for the Twins and Cardinals. They want to put the screws to everything until they hold the rights to Yankees games. Consider that they spent over a billion dollars on the Lord of the Rings show that 37% of people who started it even finished. They are still making season 2. They can absorb huge losses if they think it helps them keep people subscribed to prime. Being the exclusive provider of MLB would be such a perk for prime. Let's just hope they don't accidentally kill MLB along the way. 

So your conclusion is they want to do their best to piss off a bunch of their customers and prospective customers?   I think it's far more likely they want to engage their customers on a very frequent basis via professional sports.

[CRF]

I'm not smart enough to know what this means for us Twins fans...or for that matter, any other fan base that was on BSN. I just want some entity, or the Twins management, to figure out exactly what the plan is going forward, and let us know. Then we can make our individual decision(s) as to what to do, to watch Twins games. 

[August J Gloop]

21 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

So your conclusion is they want to do their best to piss off a bunch of their customers and prospective customers?   I think it's far more likely they want to engage their customers on a very frequent basis via professional sports.

Do you think the company that uses AI to handle most customer complaints is too worried about baseball fans continuing to complain about something they've been constantly crying about for 20 years?

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, sun said:

While this development may not produce as much of a windfall as needed this year, I'm optimistic that it can provide the Twins with enough leverage for revenue growth in future years to enable them to begin adding payroll money sooner rather than later. The home market may be more lucrative than anyone realizes at this time due to the high degree of loyalty by Twins fans. I doubt that Amazon would risk making such a large investment if they didn't see the handwriting on the wall. If the Twins perform well they can dig their way out of this mess. Just in time for the introduction of their new City Connect uniforms. There should be some light at the end of the tunnel. The fans & team are counting on Buxton to pull them through this trial & times. Everyone's future is now inter-connected more than ever & dependent on a reasonable amount of success & payout. If it's not Buck then some new stars need to be born quickly to compete with the big market talent..

I really really hope they aren't counting on Buxton pulling them through this or anything else.

[August J Gloop]

4 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

I really really hope they aren't counting on Buxton pulling them through this or anything else.

Buck is on the board at AMZN, though. 

[Steve Lein]

I don't see how this improves the Twins situation from what they had with the $55MIL TV deal? Sure, it probably leads to more than the $0 they currently have to be added to their books (and maybe that's the point here), but is it even in the realm of possibility that the amount is going to come close to that number? I thought the Twins already had one of the worst TV deals out there (while still being overpaid by Diamond, as it obviously was not profitable for them), what am I missing to see how this improves on that? Relatively speaking, nobody subscribes to $20/25 per month sports streaming services.

MLB.tv relies on die-hard fans that are out-of-market of their favorite teams, and they have less than 4 million total subscribers. What would you expect that number to be for Twins fans? 500K as a very optimistic estimate? That doesn't equal anything close to $55 Million, and I'd be surprised if any ad or other associated revenue would make up for it. I'd love to know how I'm wrong if I am, or what I'm missing 🤣 Is the expectation here to get like $30 MIL and think everything is still okay? That still leads to a lower payroll, right?

Edited January 18, 2024 by Steve Lein

[old nurse]

4 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Just wrote about Montgomery and Snell on another post this morning bemoaning the fact that it's just bad for baseball in general that those two pitchers (and Bellinger) were still out there in mid-January.  Then this hits!  I would love them to sign either of those pitchers but I'm realistic enough not to expect it.  

They are Boras salients. The only way they would be signed at this point is if there was a gross overpayy. They may be the top free agents of this class but not as sure of thing as other years. It is going to be into spring training for them. It does not hurt baseball, it may not help the players 

[adorduan]

What's Amazon Prime going to cost by the time they are done?

[IndyTwinsFan]

3 hours ago, August J Gloop said:

We know that AMZN is not going to stop at 5 teams, for sure. Literally the only reason to buy the streaming rights at this flea market price is to have an established position for negotiations. They can hold the streaming  of 1/6th of the teams hostage to force those negotiations. They can demand a slice of mlb.tv saying that their rights supersede mlb's. They could have a sympathetic judge issue an injunction preventing any operation of mlb.tv until the rights mess was sorted out, but then issue continuances until June. They do these dirty deals all the dang time.  

Amazon can also pressure (or even dictate, we don't know the terms of the purchase) Diamond to not broadcast any MLB games on cable.  Effectively take MLB off the air in 11 markets unless MLB agrees to their streaming terms which will now be less than the 150 (for 11 teams over 3 years) MLB turned down this winter. 

(https://cordcuttersnews.com/mlb-reportedly-rejects-amazons-offer-to-take-over-live-streaming-of-mlb-games-from-bally-sports/)

So no, this is NOT a likely good result for the Twins or the fans. It might give us a halfway decent stream partner, and probably will result in Twolves and Wild games on Prime by the end of the month. It's highly unlikely to be worth everything that is lost. 

Trust that AMZN doesn't really care about the short term implications or inconveniences for the Twins and Cardinals. They want to put the screws to everything until they hold the rights to Yankees games. Consider that they spent over a billion dollars on the Lord of the Rings show that 37% of people who started it even finished. They are still making season 2. They can absorb huge losses if they think it helps them keep people subscribed to prime. Being the exclusive provider of MLB would be such a perk for prime. Let's just hope they don't accidentally kill MLB along the way. 

Good point.  To those out-of-market fans like myself who stream off of MLB.TV, it begs the question on how that potentially affects our ability to view games, both in the short-term and the long-term. 

Obviously, a lot more will need to be worked out here, pending on the approval of the bankruptcy court, that will be hearing facts and thoughts that average fans, like most of us, are not privy to.

Time will tell, I suppose. 

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, Steve Lein said:

I don't see how this improves the Twins situation from what they had with the $55MIL TV deal? Sure, it probably leads to more than the $0 they currently have to be added to their books (and maybe the point here), but is it even in the realm of possibility that the amount is going to come close to that number? I thought the Twins already had one of the worst TV deals out there (while still being overpaid by Diamond, as it obviously was not profitable for them), what am I missing to see how this improve on that? Relatively speaking, nobody subscribes to $20/25 per month sports streaming services.

MLB.tv relies on die-hard fans that are out-of-market of their favorite teams, and they have less than 4 million total subscribers. What would you expect that number to be for Twins fans? 500K as a very optimistic estimate? That doesn't equal anything close to $55 Million, and I'd be surprised if any ad or other associated revenue would make up for it. I'd love to know how I'm wrong if I am, or what I'm missing 🤣 Is the expectation here to get like $30 MIL and think everything is still okay? That still leads to a lower payroll, right?

$20 a month for a 7 month season is $140 500k subscribers would be a gross of 70 million.  How much ones it cost to produce a game? 55 people at 100K is 5.5 million   

[DocBauer]

I work for a telecommunications company here in Nebraska. So I see first hand how viewership for EVERTHING is changing. Cable TV, as it's been known for a good half century plus, is dying. And it's happening quickly. "Satellite" providers...even though they've had HUGE advantages over the years due to different regulations and tax structures...are also feeling the pinch and have been altering their formats to be a streaming service. Cable companies, small ones, are already closing down across the country and advising their customers to seek out other means of watching TV. Meanwhile, the cord cutting alternative companies...with fewer total channels and a higher per channel cost, FWIW...are also increasing subscription rates every 6 months right now. To be honest, it's a HUGE CLUSTER F that will probably take another 5yrs to sort out.

Cable companies are now internet and mobile phone companies, and mobile phone companies are trying to be internet companies. 

EVERYONE is going to eventually be a mobile phone and internet company with a streaming service provided. That's just the reality of how things are going. Witness the NFL leaving Direct TV and going to You Tube. 

What I find abhorrent is that Diomand was run so badly they couldn't make Bally viable. I get to watch the Twins on the MLB app for all games unless they play the Royals. Then I'm blacked out since KC has a Bally signal here in Omaha. KC is 4hrs away, I'm NOT a KC fan, and I have NO interest in advertisements from that area! I'm not running down to KC to buy a car from someone there. But it's even worse when I found out that Iowa...in the middle of NOWHERE in regards to pro sports...has ;even blacked out from Twins games. WTH?

Man, I kinda miss the simplicity of radio games as I could catch them, and watching Twins games when I visited family in South Dakota on cable TV. But I wouldn't give up the new age where I can now subscribe to MLB on my phone/tablet/TV.

I hated Thursday night NFL games going to Amazon, even though I don't often watch. And I despise the NFL moving playoff games to Peacock. But this is where TV is headed.

As I understand things, what might be best for the Twins and MLB in general, is some sort of 1yr deal for 2024 that provides no blackouts, and going in to 2025, there could be as many as 18 teams looking for some sort of deal. SUDDENLY, MLB needs to step forward and figure all this stuff out.

The Twins aren't alone in this situation.  It's a league wise mess going forward. And we might see a very different situation in 2025. 

I just don't see Amazon as a villain at this point. They've dipped in to the NFL pool. They seem to like it. They understand streaming. And eventually, streaming "cable" TV is what is going to happen. No more box per TV, just choosing what service you want and need. But you will still have to pay.

I'm thinking, right now, Amazon is looking at MLB as a potential windfall. Why not watch all the games you want to for a fee your cable TV provider used to offer? And BTW, we're going to advertise between innings. Is that so different than what's already on hand? 

This is where we are headed. Question is, how soon? And how might the immediate might affect our beloved Twins going in to 2024?

[Fatbat]

@DocBauer Its fascinating to read all the comments and different perspectives. Amazon is obviously trying to buy into owning professional sports communications. Like any large corp, they want a few things. 

More new customers that mean more new revenue. 

They want as small of an acquisition cost as possible. 
 

They want to grow the business after acquisition to increase revenue and profits.

They want to control all of this on their terms which is why they made the move(s) they did today….
 

obviously there are tons of questions yet but there will be access to the twins games. Its going to have a cost and not everyone will be happy about the changes. The long play for Amazon is to control the societal changes. The Yankees and MLB as a whole will all have a seat at the table but its going to be at a table in a room owned by Amazon. Hopefully everyone gets along in that room. 😂 
 

[DocBauer]

16 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

@DocBauer Its fascinating to read all the comments and different perspectives. Amazon is obviously trying to buy into owning professional sports communications. Like any large corp, they want a few things. 

More new customers that mean more new revenue. 

They want as small of an acquisition cost as possible. 
 

They want to grow the business after acquisition to increase revenue and profits.

They want to control all of this on their terms which is why they made the move(s) they did today….
 

obviously there are tons of questions yet but there will be access to the twins games. Its going to have a cost and not everyone will be happy about the changes. The long play for Amazon is to control the societal changes. The Yankees and MLB as a whole will all have a seat at the table but its going to be at a table in a room owned by Amazon. Hopefully everyone gets along in that room. 😂 
 

The question remains, can MLB be smart enough, FO and owners, to see the future and bring about partnerships for all involved for the best interest and growth of the sport.

Or will they acquiesce to personal greed as they have so often done in the past.

[Cris E]

MLB did an excellent job creating BAM back when they needed to produce and stream their games. It's still out there, very capable and owned by Disney/ESPN, which provides an excellent foil to Amazon's interest in putting MLB games on Prime at some sort of discount. Bezos will get a chunk of games for this season to show what he can do and what he'll charge, but it'll just be a one year opportunity.

In 2025, when most teams' rights are available again, I expect MLB to assemble most of those into a uniform package that can be sold in such a way as to remove most blackouts and attack the revenue collapse caused by the RSN demise. Whether it be Amazon, MLB.TV or parted out to someone else, that offering will be a big part of the new longer term revenue model for selling games to viewers.  That's when we see the new world.

[Fatbat]

12 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

The question remains, can MLB be smart enough, FO and owners, to see the future and bring about partnerships for all involved for the best interest and growth of the sport.

Or will they acquiesce to personal greed as they have so often done in the past.

Its sad really, Ownership has record amounts of value. Players are getting record amounts of salary. Several FO’s have already sold the lie that budgets are tight with no foresight in fixing it, other than to not improve their team (product). While others are spending like drunken sailors with their parents credit card.  
we the customers pay inflated ticket prices, $18 for a 20oz beer. $8 for a 6” hot dog….but is it really that big? and how far and which direction do fans have to drive to escape a blackout because we are too cheap to show up at the ballpark.  Just sad.