Diamond Sports Group emerges from bankruptcy

A bankruptcy judge has approved the plan by Diamond Sports Group for the company to return from bankruptcy. The Athletic’s Evan Drellich was among those first to report the news.

Thursday’s confirmation hearing was the last step in a long-drawn-out process for DSG to return to business as usual, or at least some semblance of such. The company remains the broadcast home of the Braves, Cardinals, Marlins, Angels, Tigers and Rays for 2025 and beyond. However, it will no longer host the Twins, Guardians, Brewers, Rangers and Reds. The Royals could also look elsewhere for a broadcast deal; their relationship with DSG is still in the air. Further changes include a new name for DSG’s regional sports networks (RSNs), FanDuel Sports Networks, and a deal to make DSG’s RSNs available on the Amazon Prime streaming service (for an additional fee).

The Braves and Major League Baseball filed an objection to DSG’s proposal last Friday, but Drellich noted that they later withdrew the objection. The United States Trustee Program objected, but Judge Christopher Lopez approved the plan.

Reports emerged about two years ago, in early 2023, that the company was in financial trouble. Cord cutting had delivered a big blow to the RSN model, impacting DSG and several other companies. DSG officially filed for bankruptcy in March of 2023, and it seemed at times as though they might not survive as their deals with teams fell apart one by one.

They have continued to hang on, though with a diminished portfolio. DSG used to have deals with the Padres and Diamondbacks, though both were dropped by DSG last year as part of the bankruptcy process. MLB took over the broadcasting, leaving things relatively unchanged for TV viewers and opening up a direct-to-consumer streaming option. The Twins, Guardians and Brewers will follow that path in 2025. The Rangers and Reds are cutting ties with DSG, though the future broadcast situation with those two clubs is unclear.

DSG will see if a pivot to streaming can help. Many of their previous deals were only for in-market television broadcasting, but Drellich relays Thursday that the Braves have granted DSG streaming rights, meaning that the company now has those rights for each of the clubs it has deals with.

Whether that business model is sustainable in the long run for DSG remains to be seen. MLB expressed concern that the club would fall back into bankruptcy soon, so time will tell if that line of thinking is correct.

Whether through DSG or MLB, these teams are generally expected to receive less revenue in the short term. It’s possible that streaming will eventually grow and make up some of the difference, but it’s impossible to know what those revenue streams will look like down the line. Some clubs, such as the Padres and Twins, have already lowered their payrolls due to this paradigm shift. The Cardinals and Rangers plan to follow suit in 2025. That seemingly contributed to the weak offseason a year ago, so it’s an essential facet of the baseball landscape and something to monitor going forward for teams and players alike.

Fans of the clubs with DSG can maintain the status quo if they like, as watching the games through a cable package will be an option. But fans of many of these cord-cutting teams can now stream the games without blackout restrictions, such as through the FanDuel app or an add-on to Amazon Prime.

Commissioner Rob Manfred desires to market a multi-team streaming bundle one day, akin to MLB.TV but without local blackouts. If DSG had not been able to emerge from bankruptcy, then MLB would have had a base of almost half the league to include in that bundle. That didn’t end up coming to pass, but perhaps the league could work out a deal with the company and involve the few remaining clubs connected to DSG.