Diamond Sports Bankruptcy Puts MLB In Tough Revenue Spot
Last week's bankruptcy filing by Diamond Sports (Sinclair's subsidiary and owner of the Bally Sports regional sports networks) could create real coverage for as many as 42 U.S. professional teams. And while that's unpleasant news for all parties involved, it's especially concerning for Major League Baseball teams. As Sportico's Lev Akabas points out (while linking to a piece by colleague Kurt Badenahusen), 23% of MLB club revenues are derived from RSNs.
Diamond Sports’ Bally Sports-branded networks carry the games of 16 NBA, 14 MLB & 12 NHL teams. But when Diamond filed for bankruptcy last week, the impact on MLB got all the attention
— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) March 20, 2023
Why? Because local media is a much bigger slice of the MLB revenue pie pic.twitter.com/IofkDRyXdA
Now, there are plenty of clubs that don't appear on Bally Sports RSNs – among them, the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and more big-market franchises. But the bulk of the teams that could be affected are in MLB's smaller markets. And those teams don't have the same revenue firehoses that the aforementioned big-market franchises do.
MLB could opt to stream games for free if the bottom falls out for RSNs, according to the New York Post. And while that's still exposure, it also means less revenue for those clubs since they'd no longer be getting paid by MVPDs. A FanGraphs piece from 2020 estimated a team like the Atlanta Braves – which would be affected by a complete Bally Sports failure – could lose up to $86 million here if there are no RSNs for a full season.