PHOENIX — Although the company that owns the network that shows Angels games is taking steps toward bankruptcy, Commissioner Rob Manfred said on Wednesday that Major League Baseball is working through contingency plans to broadcast the games to as many viewers as possible.
Speaking to reporters at a spring training media day in Arizona, Manfred said that if the regional sports networks like Bally Sports West miss payments to the teams whose games they carry, the teams could terminate the contracts.
In that case, MLB would take over the production of the broadcasts, selling them to various distributors and also offering them directly to fans through MLB.tv.
Currently, fans can’t buy digital subscriptions to watch games in their home markets because those are blacked out as part of MLB’s agreements with the RSN’s that pay for exclusive rights.
“You could go in and you can buy out-of-market games, like you always had, but you could also have the option to buy in-market games, something that a fan has never had before, which I see is a huge improvement for fans,” Manfred said.
All of that is several steps away, though.
Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports West and several other RSNs that broadcast the games for 14 MLB teams, on Wednesday missed about $140 million worth of interest payments. That started a 30-day grace period that could lead to filing for bankruptcy.
It’s still possible that the RSNs could make the payments to teams like the Angels, despite the bankruptcy filing, which would keep the current system in place, at least temporarily.
This is by no means an MLB-only issue, as Bally Sports networks also control the rights of 16 NBA teams (including the Clippers), 12 NHL teams (the Kings and Ducks) and four WNBA teams.
Diamond, which said as of Sept. 30 it had debt of $8.674 billion, has nearly $1 billion in rights payments, mostly to baseball teams, due in the first quarter this year.
MANFRED ON MORENO
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