MLB indicated Wednesday that it “would be discussing proposals that would solidify Diamond Sports’s plans for its remaining MLB markets next year,” but as with the NBA, and an expected deal with the NHL, any agreement reached would “likely be geared toward ending Diamond Sports’s broadcasting obligations after 2024,” according to Chelsea Janes of the WASHINGTON POST. MLB “seemingly handled the production” of both the Padres and D-backs games without an issue last season. But MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said that he is “unwilling to go through another season of reacting rather than preparing.” Janes noted even as Manfred's office was “prepared to take over production and marketing of their broadcasts,” he was "clear that the end of the Padres and Diamondbacks agreements with Diamond Sports would cost both franchises money, and that the league could not backstop the full difference between what they would have made under the original deal and what they would make from new agreements beyond 2023." The remaining 12 teams to which Diamond Sports has rights enter this winter in “similar situations, unable to predict how long their broadcast partner will be able to make its payments to them.” Both the Rangers and Guardians have been "open about the glaring financial uncertainty created by the fragile state of their rights agreements” with Diamond. Even if Diamond and MLB “work out a deal to broadcast their games through the 2024 season,” it is “unclear what kind of value the league will get for their broadcast rights on a fresh open market that reflects a dip in cable subscriptions because of streaming” (WASHINGTON POST, 11/18).
RELATED: Diamond Sports likely to shut down after 2024
PAY UP: In Dallas, Evan Grant noted the Rangers are due more than $100M in 2024 from Diamond. While it is a "lot of money and, yes, it does impact planning,” it is “not going to have a major impact on payroll, at least not in the short term.” The Rangers went into 2023 "knowing they were going to have to fight tooth-and-court filing to get their money” and it “didn’t stop them from adding more than $200 million in free agent contracts.” The reason the Rangers “probably won’t go as big on free agents this winter isn’t so much TV related” as it is just “not a great business model to load up on big contracts year after year after year.” The “splurge was to jump-start the rebuild, not to become an annual occurrence.” And despite the team winning the World Series, a “not insignificant number” of their fans “weren’t able to follow along on the journey, at least not until national broadcasters took over for the playoffs.” Diamond is “further hampered by bad carriage deals that keep their teams off a number of cable providers” and Diamond “didn’t get streaming rights in the contracts they bought from FOX.” All of this was a "headache the Rangers were willing to endure to squeeze out their full rights for a year.” Grant: "But to go through it again and for less money, to boot, while coming off a world championship with a team ownership knows fans actually want to see? Maybe not so much" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/17).
