Rangers Pocket $30 Million after Disney, BAMTEch Deal
The Texas Rangers, along with the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball, just got an extra $30 million to play with this offseason, thanks to Disney.
Disney completed its acquisition of BAMTech from MLB on Tuesday, as reported by SportBusiness Group. The transaction, which was for $900 million, will by split among each of the league’s 30 teams, meaning each will get $30 million.
BAMTech is a software development company with its roots in digital streaming originally with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM).
Disney began acquiring BAMTech in 2016 in chunks. Disney has paid more than $3 billion for the entire company, which included a $350 million payment to the National Hockey League to buy out its minority interest earlier this year.
It’s unclear how each team would, or could, use the money. But, given the Rangers’ free-agency desires, it’s a unexpected new stream of revenue to tap into.
The Rangers have spent the offseason remaking a team that had its sixth straight losing season and fired both manager Chris Woodward and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels.
The Rangers hired manager Bruce Bochy in October, a three-time world champion with the San Francisco Giants. The Rangers also added pitching coach in Mike Maddux, won was with the team when it went to the World Series in 2010 and 2011, and a special advisor in former Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore.
The Rangers haven’t made any seismic moves in free agency, aside from retaining veteran starters Martín Pérez on a $19.65 million qualifying offer that he accepted. The Rangers also traded for Jake Odorizzi to go along with last year’s free-agent acquisition of Jon Gray.
The Rangers are pursuing several of the market’s top pitching names, including Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Carlos Rodón and Kodai Senga.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.
Need to catch up on the Rangers? Check out our Texas Rangers Offseason Central Page!
