Twins Video
It was the bankruptcy court proceeding heard round the world. The worries of Diamond Sports Group, once subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcasting and owner of the many Regional Sports Networks better known as Bally Sports Network, may have finally come to a close. A giant cash influx from Sinclair ($495 million to settle litigation) plus an additional investment from Amazon ($115 million to take a 15% stake) will tie a bow and—once approved by a federal judge—end its proceedings in Texas. The move came as a surprise to MLB, stymieing their now indefinitely postponed negotiations for a single-year deal, while keeping the door open for the Twins to return with an added streaming venue.
As John Bonnes suggested, such a result could give the Twins what they want with a non-cable option, as well as an influx of cash to add to payroll. But should the Twins want the deal? There’s a few reasons to consider how this new dynamic throws a wrench into both the Twins' and MLB's plans to adjust to a streaming future.
First, a return to Bally would now most likely require a multi-year deal, rather than a solo year as originally expected. Though legal experts are still mulling over the details, precedents, and implications, it seems that the deals worked out by the NHL and NBA for a single season are voided in favor of their previous arrangements. While both leagues will likely re-enter talks with Diamond, it certainly limits their plans for the 2024-25 season.
The same goes for Rob Manfred, who had been making moves to consolidate MLB’s cable rights back to the league and increase leverage for a future negotiation with a streamer or possibly their own service. Before this week’s announcement, MLB had already rejected an Amazon plan due to its multi-year structure, in favor of a single-year deal with Diamond. That would have given Manfred over half the league's contracts to work with and around which to build out their own network starting in 2025. Instead, existing long-term contracts that Bally holds are not going away, with the only way forward being to either secure each franchise's rights one by one or pay a large fee.
Where are the Twins, then? Back to the negotiating room they go, alongside the Cleveland Guardians and Texas Rangers. According to the attorney for Diamond, the company will let all three teams walk or engage them on a long-term discussion. It seems any single year deals might be out to pasture.
But Amazon fixes everything, right? The biggest immediate impact in all this is that, by circumventing a deal with MLB, Amazon has acquired the digital rights for five teams who had already sold those rights to Bally, with plans to add them (as well as the NBA and NHL) to Prime in the future. Amazon believes it can take Bally from a $49-million-a-year streaming business to a $700-million one.
The Twins—working on a Feb. 1 deadline—could follow in that road. After all, every cable cutter in Minnesota could access the team for the cost of a Prime subscription.
But does Amazon really fix the problems that cable presented? Prime Video costs $8.99 a month right now (though Amazon often hides this pricing, in the hope that you’ll pay for its full Prime services at $14.99 a month). Consumers just had to add $3 each month to avoid advertising. Diamond and Amazon said any sports package pricing will be announced at a later date. And there’s no stopping those prices from going up. The reason Amazon has been a target of so much scrutiny is that its monopolistic practices have eliminated competition by shorting prices, before raising them, and there’s every reason to think its investments in Bally will follow the same script. Amazon might continue to offer more stuff, but as many have suggested, that might just end up in the same spot as the cable bundle, with the same costs associated with it. Cable initially brought freedom of choice, but ended up as a prison. If viewership of the Twins becomes locked in with Amazon, think about the leverage the company will have, and how many viewers that could push away in the process.
The other question is quality. Bally proved to make a reasonably solid broadcast through its short tenure in Minnesota (in part thanks to the incredible crew at IATSE Local 745, who remained largely the same in the transition from Fox Sports). But what about Amazon? Vikings fans might remember some issues from this season.
This brings us to other developments. After months of teetering, radio and digital audio giant Audacy announced a restructured bankruptcy with its creditors. Audacy not only owns both Twins radio partners WCCO, but held the digital audio rights for all 30 teams through the MLB At Bat app. That app, in particular, was one of the most poorly run digital nightmares imaginable for fans across the league.
Formerly known as Entercom and rebranded as Audacy in 2021, the Philadelphia-based giant became the second-largest ownership group for radio stations in 2017. In the years since, it has focused on growing its podcast and gambling networks. Most of these decisions have come at the cost of worsening content, despite the strong revenue at WCCO and the surprising resilience of radio while the podcast market has essentially become a bubble (Gleeman & The Geek excepted).
At least for the moment, Twins fans should not expect any changes in WCCO radio broadcasts for the games. An Audacy spokesperson noted that their various businesses should not have any operational impact from the restructuring. For their part, MLB could not be reached for comment.
But Audacy is a cautionary tale: When a digital corporation puts baseball down as a priority, it doesn't automatically lead to the enjoyable customer experience we might be tempted to expect. Perhaps it's also a sign of what Amazon will do. Amazon has not proved itself a welcome partner in the digital streaming space. And while maybe it’s not always best to consolidate, perhaps MLB itself best knows how to give fans what they want. The league, after all, built MLB.TV, one of the best streaming services out there--one that has demonstrated very few issues to fans (and a technology so good that Disney eventually bought it from the league).
The Twins are running out of options and running out of time. Diamond and Amazon have maximum leverage against a team desperate for cash. But signing a deal with Diamond today might end up as a deal with the devil tomorrow. The Twins have waited since the transition from Fox Sports to Bally to escape their clutches. Now they seem poised to end up back with their ex. Let’s hope not to regret it.
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