Is Major League Baseball on the path to broadcasting many of its games without the help of any regional sports networks?
Speculation in the industry lately is that that could be the upshot of Diamond Sports Group's distressed financial position, with Bloomberg reporting that the company is on the verge of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Because MLB teams are among the company's primary creditors, they could be positioned to take over broadcasting many of their games direct-to-consumer via streaming on MLB.com and local media rights.
According to Bloomberg, Diamond Sports Group has just $585 million in cash on hand with over $2 billion in media rights fees to pay out in coming months. Diamond operates 19 regional sports networks nationwide under the Bally Sports name. It is a division of the Sinclair Broadcasting conglomerate that has deals with various MLB, NHL, and NBA teams.
All told, Sinclair has exclusive local rights to 42 professional teams, including 14 MLB clubs, among them the St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, and Cleveland Guardians.