Bye-Bye Bally? Texas Rangers Could Get Broadcast Rights Back For 2024 Season
The Texas Rangers could get their broadcast rights back from Diamond Sports Group for the 2024 season and not after, per a report in The Athletic.
Last weekend, Cord Cutters News reported that DSG and its regional sports network, Bally, had agreed with the teams it broadcasts that it would resolve remaining financial issues for 2024 and allow those teams to reclaim their TV rights in 2025.
As DSG and Bally were still in bankruptcy court, a judge needed to approve the deal to move forward.
Well, DSG, MLB, and attorneys for some of the teams were in court on Wednesday and DSG is considering dropping two teams’ rights entirely — the Cleveland Guardians and Texas.
DSG may see this as a cost-cutting move, given that it is trying to navigate out of bankruptcy. The Athletic reported the Guardians received $55 million and the Rangers received $111 million in 2023. The Rangers reportedly have a 20-year deal that started in 2011.
By dropping the two teams, the Guardians and Rangers would get their rights back for the 2024 season. But it’s also possible the two teams might not get paid all of what they are owed as part of their contracts.
“There’s no deal with MLB, there’s no deal with the Rangers, we don’t know what (Diamond’s) intention is with respect to the Rangers,” a lawyer for the Rangers said on Wednesday in court.
DSG gave up the rights to two teams last season — the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. Those two teams partnered with MLB to broadcast their games. The Minnesota Twins get their rights back for 2024, but that’s because their contract was up and they did not renew it.
The remaining teams that have contracts with Bally and DSG, besides the Rangers, are the Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angles Angels, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.
MLB is hoping for a resolution by Dec. 8, so it has certainty on team broadcasting rights for 2024.
If approved, it would end a year-long saga that saw the Rangers nearly get their broadcast rights back in June as DSG and Bally appeared unable to make their first rights fee installment to the Rangers after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
By August, DSG had paid the Rangers in full for 2023. The Rangers originally signed a 20-year, $3 billion deal in 2010 with Fox Sports Southwest, which was purchased by DSG and became Bally Sports Southwest in 2019. It is believed the Rangers were owed $111 million in 2023.
DSG filed bankruptcy in March, which put the owners of the regional sports network at odds with the MLB teams it works with.
After DSG skipped its April payment to the Rangers, the team joined a lawsuit led by MLB. The suit was filed to compel payment. A judge in Houston ruled in favor of MLB, did not reduce the money DSG owed those teams, and ordered the parties to find a resolution.
Even with the rights fee payment, it did not improve access for those Dallas-Fort Worth viewers who subscribe to cable and streaming channels that don’t have deals with DSG, including Dish TV, Hulu, and YouTube TV.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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