Amazon to be future home for Twins games? Back on Bally Sports North in 2024?
Minnesota Twins games on Amazon Prime in the future?
It's a possibility, according to a report from the New York Times that says Amazon is in talks with Diamond Sports Group, the bankrupt operator of the Bally Sports regional sports network that has baseball fans in Minnesota and elsewhere wondering how they'll be able to watch games next season.
"It will be on. Twins will be televised in 2024. Mark it down," new Twins television announcer Cory Provus said on the Gleeman & The Geek podcast this week.
It's just a matter of where fans will be able to find the games and whether they'll have to subscribe to a new vendor or watch the games for free.
The New York Times report says Amazon could invest in Diamond Sports Group to stop the company's financial bleeding and revive operations, though a deal is said to be in the early stages and could still fall apart.
Amazon already streams the National Football League's Thursday Night Football in addition to other select games. Prime Video currently costs $14.99 a month.
Provus told Aaron Gleeman and John Bonnes that updates out of federal bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas could come in early January, and at that point he expects to "get some more clarity" about where the Twins will be on TV in 2024.
"If the Twins are back on Bally, it'll be for one more season," Provus said. "And that would be because some new term sheet was agreed upon by the Twins, by MLB and by Bally, that some semblance of a rights fee – it's not going to be the $60 million – but some semblance of a rights fee is going to be handed the Twins' way. And that's better than nothing."
The Twins' deal with Bally Sports expired after the 2023 season.
Provus said blackouts "will be dissolved in any new deal," meaning Twins fans will be able to access games regardless of where they are. Will that require a subscription to Prime Video or another medium like MLB.tv? That's unknown.
"I'm confident that if indeed the Twins are back on Bally for the 2024 season, the most significant change will be blackouts, because blackouts are going away," Provus said.
If they're not back on Bally or the talks with Amazon don't progress, Provus suggested that Major League Baseball could take over the broadcast operation and simply find a channel to put the games on while making it available to fans.
"I think that's certainly in play," Provus said.
Regardless of where Twins telecasts will be found, Provus will be joined alongside many of the familiar names in the broadcast booth, including Justin Morneau, Trevor Plouffe, LaTroy Hawkins and Glen Perkins.
