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Bally Sports AZ Dropping Diamondbacks on June 30

P

powergate92

Diamond Sports owner of Bally Sports filed with the bankruptcy court to reject the Diamondbacks contract effective June 30 with a hearing set for June 29 at 3:30 PM CT as it is "significantly unprofitable and is projected to be increasingly unprofitable in subsequent years." Diamond Sports filed its' monthly operating reports last night which showed Bally Sports Arizona lost about $3 million in May. In comparison Bally Sports Southwest (aka Texas) and Ohio each made a profit of about $4 million and North made a profit of only $15,000 in May.
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The hearing has been rescheduled to July 17 at 2 PM CT. Not sure if and how this affects the June 30 effective date of the motion.
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powergate92 said:
Apparently Diamondbacks games will continue to air on Bally Sports Arizona for now as the the two sides have "ongoing and positive discussions toward finding a solution."

arizonasports.com

D-backs, Diamond Sports push back hearing on TV contract

Bally Sports Arizona will continue to carry Arizona Diamondbacks games for an undisclosed period of time, the team announced Wednesday.
arizonasports.com arizonasports.com
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I have no idea why the D-Backs want to stay on a sinking ship. This would be a "we don't care about you" to the fans if they decided to renegotiate their contract.
 
EricStein said:
I have no idea why the D-Backs want to stay on a sinking ship. This would be a "we don't care about you" to the fans if they decided to renegotiate their contract.
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I’m not very smart but I do know the Dbacks under this current regime like to pinch pennies as well as spend a few dollars the wrong way (Bumgarner).

Maybe the team thinks they can get more from Bally Sports under a renegotiated deal than any local option? Could any of the major network affiliated channels broadcast 5-6 baseball games a week for 7 months?
 
The MLB has filed a response in the bankruptcy court tonight to Diamond Sports (Bally Sports) proposed rejection of the Diamondbacks contract.
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DirecTV has now also filed a response. It seems MLB is negotiating with Pay TV companies to carry Diamondbacks games as they get ready to take over broadcast of the games. One or more Pay TV company has brought up a concern that they will be paying double for D-Backs Broadcast because they will be paying Diamond (Bally) Sports and the MLB even though Bally Sports will no longer broadcast the game. So MLB is asking the court to reduce fees that Pay TV companies are paying Diamond to carry Bally Sports.
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charles420 said:
I’m not very smart but I do know the Dbacks under this current regime like to pinch pennies as well as spend a few dollars the wrong way (Bumgarner).

Maybe the team thinks they can get more from Bally Sports under a renegotiated deal than any local option? Could any of the major network affiliated channels broadcast 5-6 baseball games a week for 7 months?
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The thing is if these teams stay with Bally Sports, they give up an opportunity of growing an audience. Less than 50 percent of TV households in the market can receive the network, and that number is dropping daily.

What is even more shocking is that the Suns may be sucked in by them again: The Regional Sports Network Crisis: Diamond Sports Reveals New Details On Suns, Diamondbacks & More - The TV Answer Man! This is just like when the team stayed with Cox Cable through most of the 2000s decade despite other pay options taking away subscribers (but, at least at that time, they did have local broadcast air games).
 
Derek said:
That tends to happen with teams that start actually winning games. 😉
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Compared to what? They don't draw flies at Chase Field, averaging 22,336 per game, about half-full and 19th in MLB. A contending team should draw at least 30,000 on a bad day (playing the A's, Rays, Royals, or Marlins). If management actually cared.

2023 MLB Attendance - Major League Baseball - ESPN

Check out this 2023 report of MLB attendance sortable by both baseball stadium and team.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Their TV coverage (Cox + DirecTV) is far less than it was a decade ago, what with cable and satellite dropping like flies. IIRC, both total only about 40% of the Phoenix market. That means 60% of the Valley cannot watch D'backs (or Suns & Mercury until today, plus Coyotes) games.
 
The Diamondbacks and Diamond Sports have agreed to revise the proposed order changing the effective date to July 17 at 12:01 AM, allowing Bally Sports to broadcast games after rejection paying on a per-game basis, and giving Diamond Sports until July 31 to get their property from Chase Field. It just needs to be signed by the judge to become effective. Also, Diamond file a reply to MLB and DirecTV's response.

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So, if I read that pile of lawyerese word salad correctly, Diamond/Bally can continue broadcasting the games for the next two weeks, as long as they pay the team for each of those games (6 on the road, then 6 at home). After that, they are evicted from Chase Field for good. But if Diamond doesn't want to pay, there's no TV until somebody steps up (likely MLB itself, like in SD) to take over. That could take some time.

Makes no sense to me.
 
KeithE4 said:
So, if I read that pile of lawyerese word salad correctly, Diamond/Bally can continue broadcasting the games for the next two weeks, as long as they pay the team for each of those games (6 on the road, then 6 at home). After that, they are evicted from Chase Field for good. But if Diamond doesn't want to pay, there's no TV until somebody steps up (likely MLB itself, like in SD) to take over. That could take some time.

Makes no sense to me.
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You also should read this one from the other day. MLB is ready to take over production and broadcasting of games right away if they need to just like they did in San Diego. Although, they may have problems with some Pay TV providers (DirecTV) who do not want to pay for the games twice.
powergate92 said:
The MLB has filed a response in the bankruptcy court tonight to Diamond Sports (Bally Sports) proposed rejection of the Diamondbacks contract.
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