Two Major League Baseball teams are now confirmed to be in Diamond Sports Group’s 2025 broadcasting plans, so long as the company successfully emerges from bankruptcy: the Atlanta Braves and, as newly revealed in court Friday morning, the Miami Marlins.
Other clubs could still be added to the list, but for now, six teams that were televised by Diamond last season remain in limbo: the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays.
“There are two teams,” said Joe Graham, a lawyer for Diamond Sports Group, in federal bankruptcy court. “Obviously we’re in negotiations with other teams … around remaining in the fold.”
James Bromley, a lawyer for Major League Baseball, said it would be “a minimum of two,” but added the league is going to try to fight Diamond’s continued relationship with the Braves.
Diamond’s “plan of reorganization currently anticipates the assumption of the Atlanta Braves’ executory contract, which we will be opposing, as well as the continued relationship with the Miami Marlins,” Bromley said.
A question of MLB’s future with Diamond came up Friday morning in a last-minute hearing when Diamond requested approval for its new multi-year naming rights deal with FanDuel, which begins Oct. 21 and replaces the Bally branding that Diamond channels currently have.
Bromley sharply criticized the lack of information Diamond provided about the deal, which was filed under seal. In court, Graham said there are two terms in the deal: one covering this NBA and NHL season, and another automatically beginning May 1, 2025.
“FanDuel will pay Diamond a fixed naming rights fee and commit to a minimum annual spend for media,” Graham said. “There’s obviously a smaller amount paid for this upcoming season, and then there’s a larger agreement for pay over the future multi-year extension.”
Graham said FanDuel has access to equity in the deal as well, with “a purchase option for up to 5 percent of the reorganized company’s equity, and performance warrants for up to an additional 5 percent.”
MLB argued that Diamond had months to provide information to the league about the naming rights plan and never did, and noted its concerns regarding FanDuel, a sports betting company, as naming rights operator in particular.
“This is not something that should be happening, and it’s not consistent with the way the debtors should be running this case. These are motions being filed in an ambush fashion,” Bromley said. “It is critical to Major League Baseball and its clubs that they be in the middle of any conversations with respect to the integration of online sports betting with their sports content.”
Judge Chris Lopez and Bromley had a briefly testy exchange.
“I thought MLB wanted out,” Lopez said. “Why is — ”
“We want out, your honor,” Bromley responded. “But you know what — ”
“Then what’s the issue? If you’re out, then why do you want to know?”
They briefly tried to talk over each other.
“Hold on a second Mr. Bromley, I’m just trying to reconcile the two statements … I don’t want to get in an argument with you,” Lopez said.
In the end, Bromley seemed to persuade Lopez that MLB needed more information.
“The reorganized entities are going to have access to and televise, if the plan is confirmed, Major League Baseball content,” Bromley said. “So that’s not out. … If it was one baseball club, it would be enough, but it’s actually two, and perhaps there are going to be more. But it right now looks like at a minimum of two, and so therefore we are a party in interest.”
Lopez instructed Diamond to show MLB more of the deal, and ultimately approved it.
“Mr. Graham, why can’t the MLB at least see the portion that they would need to see to give them comfort that no one is expanding anything with respect to rights for MLB?” Lopez said. “He’s got to be able to see the language and get comfortable.”
Some closure as to Diamond’s future appears likely to come in mid-November. Nov. 14 marks the start of a potential two-day confirmation hearing, where the judge will consider whether Diamond has a viable plan or reorganization.
Bromley indicated Friday that MLB plans to offer formal objections, plural, to the plan’s confirmation.
“We have objections, and we’ll deal with those in connection with the confirmation hearing,” Bromley said.
Bromley said in a previous hearing that MLB and Diamond are in negotiations to sort out Diamond’s relationships with MLB teams ahead of the big mid-November court date.
Diamond Sports Group broadcast 12 MLB teams last season. Four teams have announced they will not be back: the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers.
With the new naming deal, Diamond’s 16 owned and operated RSNs will include: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, FanDuel Sports Network Florida, FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes, FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City, FanDuel Sports Network Indiana, FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, FanDuel Sports Network North, FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal, FanDuel Sports Network South, FanDuel Sports Network Southeast, FanDuel Sports Network Southwest, FanDuel Sports Network Sun, FanDuel Sports Network West, and FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.
“Partnering with Diamond provides us an opportunity to put the FanDuel brand at the intersection of the nation’s largest group of regional sports networks,” Mike Raffensperger, president of sports at FanDuel, said in a media release. “A large cohort of FanDuel customers are devoted RSN viewers and this agreement allows us to further cement the FanDuel brand with sports fans and provides a unique vehicle to reward our users.”
David Preschlack, Diamond’s CEO, said in the same release, “Collaborating with FanDuel provides a tremendous pathway for Diamond to elevate the fan experience and deepen the incremental value we provide for our team, league and distribution partners.”
(Photo: Matt Thomas / San Diego Padres / Getty Images)
