The Athletic Reports Twins Streaming in 2024 as "Highly Unlikely"

[jharaldson]

In a recent report from The Athletic, Evan Drellich reports that under the new Amazon/Bally deal that the Bally name and app would largely go away.

Quote

But the equivalent of the Bally Sports Plus offering would exist, and be marketed by one of the most powerful streaming services out there: Prime.

But it wouldn’t be included with the base price of a Prime subscription — it would require an additional fee, similar to signing up for Max or Showtime through Prime.

With Bally streaming through Prime the question is, what happens with the Twins?  Evan addresses that later and states (bold emphasis is mine):

Quote

All three teams are expected to remain with Diamond for 2024 on one-year deals, according to the person briefed on the league’s thinking. The deals are highly unlikely to include any streaming rights for those teams, which Diamond didn’t carry before either.

I would be extremely frustrated as a fan if this entire offseason the Twins have told me that streaming would happen and it didn't happen.  Cory Provus was interviewed on Gleeman and the Geek and effectively talked about it for 10-15 minutes about how it was going to happen.  What are folks thoughts if this turns out to be the case?

[chpettit19]

Not overly surprised, but not happy. There's a lot of moving pieces here so it's hard to know who to really blame (besides Diamond/Bally), but Provus probably should've been less aggressive with his comments. I'm sure he was promised things so it's wasn't him making things up, but it appears he over-promised on this one. At least at this point. This isn't a new problem so it's not surprising, but I sure hope they can get it figured out for 2025 at a minimum.

[DJL44]

39 minutes ago, jharaldson said:

I would be extremely frustrated as a fan if this entire offseason the Twins have told me that streaming would happen and it didn't happen.  Cory Provus was interviewed on Gleeman and the Geek and effectively talked about it for 10-15 minutes about how it was going to happen.  What are folks thoughts if this turns out to be the case?

I read that as the Twins would retain streaming rights. Bally's on cable and MLB.tv (with no blackouts) for anyone who wants streaming would be my preferred option. They would get a much lower payout from Bally's but it is one year so who cares.

[danielp19653]

I'd be very disappointed and it would probably be the first year I don't watch any Twins games if they don't get some sort of streaming package figured out. Tired of spending $100+ for cable each month when the Twins are the only thing I turn it on for was really looking forward to any other option.

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Not overly surprised, but not happy. There's a lot of moving pieces here so it's hard to know who to really blame (besides Diamond/Bally), but Provus probably should've been less aggressive with his comments. I'm sure he was promised things so it's wasn't him making things up, but it appears he over-promised on this one. At least at this point. This isn't a new problem so it's not surprising, but I sure hope they can get it figured out for 2025 at a minimum.

Well if they're not streaming games, it was probably the last chance for most Twins fans to hear him talk this year. He might as well promised us we were all going to win the lottery then.

Why would the Pohald's agree to this though? They aren't forced to do any of this. This isn't going to go over well, but I think Dave St. Peter is really bad at his job and has been for quite some time.

[NotAboutWinning]

The Twins will be streaming on MLB.tv for sure. The blackouts are a Diamond thing to be negotiated with the new 1-year contract. If the games are blacked-out this year, it is no one's fault but the Twins!

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Why would the Pohald's agree to this though? They aren't forced to do any of this. This isn't going to go over well, but I think Dave St. Peter is really bad at his job and has been for quite some time.

I doubt the Pohalds are "agreeing" to anything.

They haven't been able to sell the streaming rights to a third party. 

I assume games will be streamed on mlb.tv. 

[Parfigliano]

Whats this mean for DirecTV and Twins games?  Only thing I really watch is Twins, Mets, and NYR hockey.  Only reason I have Direct.

[nicksaviking]

33 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I doubt the Pohalds are "agreeing" to anything.

They haven't been able to sell the streaming rights to a third party. 

I assume games will be streamed on mlb.tv. 

That's a different take than the one about having no streaming whatsoever because Bally/Diamond/Amazon stuck their tongues out at the Twins.

And I don't disagree with you. If the Twins ditch streaming all together because the Wall Street suits are giving them the business, than the Minnesota brain trust is every bit the backward, fly-over country, push-overs the rest of the country thinks we are. 

[USAFChief]

19 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

That's a different take than the one about having no streaming whatsoever because Bally/Diamond/Amazon stuck their tongues out at the Twins.

And I don't disagree with you. If the Twins ditch streaming all together because the Wall Street suits are giving them the business, than the Minnesota brain trust is every bit the backward, fly-over country, push-overs the rest of the country thinks we are. 

Bally/Diamond/Amazon don't own Twins streaming rights. Nobody is "giving the Twins the business."

If there was someone who wanted to purchase those rights at a reasonable price, gotta believe they'd have been sold.

The problem is, apparently those rights aren't as valuable as people think.

 

[nicksaviking]

13 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Bally/Diamond/Amazon don't own Twins streaming rights. Nobody is "giving the Twins the business."

If there was someone who wanted to purchase those rights at a reasonable price, gotta believe they'd have been sold.

The problem is, apparently those rights aren't as valuable as people think.

 

I'm not disagreeing. The original take was that there would be no streaming. If Bally/Diamond/Amazon won't stream Twins games but will stream other teams' games, I'd say the Twins are being taken advantage of. No clue if that's the case, I'm guessing it's all just negotiation ploys since the Twins aren't currently under contract.

And if it is and that avenue doesn't work, there's no reason MLB shouldn't be streaming them.

But a "reasonable price" probably shouldn't matter. The Twins are operating as if they're getting no revenue, so they should be streaming the games even if they aren't getting a nickel. I'm not saying they need to take one on the chin now, I'm not impatient, but if no one is offering to pay them a fair price come the season opener, an unfair price should still be accepted.

[Linus]

The thing I don’t understand is how the Twins could be so unprepared for this. They’ve been unhappy with Bally for years and obviously knew their contract was expiring yet seem totally perplexed by this situation. They should have been lining up options two years ago. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'll save myself the words and just put this instead:

Get your **** together, Twins.

[weneedneshek]

14 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Whats this mean for DirecTV and Twins games?  Only thing I really watch is Twins, Mets, and NYR hockey.  Only reason I have Direct.

Looks like Diamond is retaining the broadcast rights for another year so you should still be able to get it through a cable package like DirecTV. It might not be called Bally anymore though

[DJL44]

31 minutes ago, Linus said:

The thing I don’t understand is how the Twins could be so unprepared for this. They’ve been unhappy with Bally for years and obviously knew their contract was expiring yet seem totally perplexed by this situation. They should have been lining up options two years ago. 

Meka Morris - Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer | Minnesota Twins (mlb.com)

That's who owns this situation right now.

[jharaldson]

22 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I read that as the Twins would retain streaming rights. Bally's on cable and MLB.tv (with no blackouts) for anyone who wants streaming would be my preferred option. They would get a much lower payout from Bally's but it is one year so who cares.

I think the issue here is that until Bally's is completely out of the picture for everyone that the old blackout rules are in place.  That means if you sell traditional broadcast rights to them then they become the only folks you can sell streaming rights to.  The Marlins, Rays, Tigers, Brewers, and Royals have included these rights at either low or no cost.  The other partners have held out trying to get more money from Bally's.

I would point out that the streaming rights are not an evergreen resource.  The Twins holding firm in 2023 and not letting Bally's stream them for no additional cost didn't make the Twins any more money.  It didn't make Bally's any more money.  It only hurt fans who couldn't see games because they didn't have traditional cable or DirectTV.  Some less successful teams have made the decision that more people seeing their games is better, maybe the Twins can arrive at that same conclusion.

[DJL44]

2 minutes ago, jharaldson said:

I think the issue here is that until Bally's is completely out of the picture for everyone that the old blackout rules are in place.  That means if you sell traditional broadcast rights to them then they become the only folks you can sell streaming rights to.  The Marlins, Rays, Tigers, Brewers, and Royals have included these rights at either low or no cost.  The other partners have held out trying to get more money from Bally's.

I would point out that the streaming rights are not an evergreen resource.  The Twins holding firm in 2023 and not letting Bally's stream them for no additional cost didn't make the Twins any more money.  It didn't make Bally's any more money.  It only hurt fans who couldn't see games because they didn't have traditional cable or DirectTV.  Some less successful teams have made the decision that more people seeing their games is better, maybe the Twins can arrive at that same conclusion.

Streaming rights are negotiable. The Twins made more money in 2023 from Diamond Sports by guaranteeing there would be no local streaming competitor. They would make less money from Diamond Sports if they sold them cable/satellite rights but did allow fans to stream games locally elsewhere (MLB.tv).

I think part of the problem with returning to Diamond Sports is they did such a terrible job actually getting the games delivered to fans. Half the cable/satellite packages didn't have BSN as an option. I think their survey said only 15% of homes in MN had Twins games available.

[howeda7]

On 1/31/2024 at 12:52 PM, DJL44 said:

I read that as the Twins would retain streaming rights. Bally's on cable and MLB.tv (with no blackouts) for anyone who wants streaming would be my preferred option. They would get a much lower payout from Bally's but it is one year so who cares.

It doesn't say that, but I tend to agree. There's no reason the blackout has to continue. It was an issue before because Bally had exclusive rights within Twins territory from the deal signed 10 years ago. But that deal is dead. There's no obligation for blackouts to continue.

[howeda7]

1 hour ago, jharaldson said:

I think the issue here is that until Bally's is completely out of the picture for everyone that the old blackout rules are in place.  That means if you sell traditional broadcast rights to them then they become the only folks you can sell streaming rights to.  The Marlins, Rays, Tigers, Brewers, and Royals have included these rights at either low or no cost.  The other partners have held out trying to get more money from Bally's.

I would point out that the streaming rights are not an evergreen resource.  The Twins holding firm in 2023 and not letting Bally's stream them for no additional cost didn't make the Twins any more money.  It didn't make Bally's any more money.  It only hurt fans who couldn't see games because they didn't have traditional cable or DirectTV.  Some less successful teams have made the decision that more people seeing their games is better, maybe the Twins can arrive at that same conclusion.

They're not though. There is no contract, so nothing is in place. Bally's may WANT them to remain but the Twins are under no obligation to agree.

[howeda7]

18 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Whats this mean for DirecTV and Twins games?  Only thing I really watch is Twins, Mets, and NYR hockey.  Only reason I have Direct.

I assume they will be on, though I'm not sure when DirecTV's current agreement with BSN ends.

[howeda7]

18 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Bally/Diamond/Amazon don't own Twins streaming rights. Nobody is "giving the Twins the business."

If there was someone who wanted to purchase those rights at a reasonable price, gotta believe they'd have been sold.

The problem is, apparently those rights aren't as valuable as people think.

 

I'm not sure it's that so much as who wants to invest in the infrastructure for a one year deal? That's why the court cases and Amazon swooping in at the last minute makes it hard. Chances are this will all end with Amazon negotiating a package with 10-15 clubs all at once as a package deal, not teams negotiating a bunch of one-offs with random streaming services.

[howeda7]

4 hours ago, Linus said:

The thing I don’t understand is how the Twins could be so unprepared for this. They’ve been unhappy with Bally for years and obviously knew their contract was expiring yet seem totally perplexed by this situation. They should have been lining up options two years ago. 

It sure seems like they should have just streamed the games with MLB and then gone to Fox9/KSTP etc. and put about half the games on over the air. But I suppose Bally's can offer more $$ even bankrupt than they would make that way.