The Cincinnati Reds will be remaining on Bally Sports Ohio for the remainder of the 2023 season, as Diamond Sports Group is reportedly planning be making its next scheduled payment before Saturday’s deadline – according to ESPN baseball reporter Alden González. The Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March in order to restructure itself, which also gives it the ability to selectively reject contracts. Now the Reds, who have sold out Great American Ball Park on numerous occasions thanks to the infusion of young talent such as Elly De La Cruz and Alexis Díaz, have a television home for the foreseeable future.
Diamond Sports Group and the Cincinnati Reds recently extended their television media rights partnership through the 2032 season. The company had missed its rights payment to the team in mid-April, yet the Reds were not part of the lawsuit Major League Baseball filed against the distributor. As one of the few teams with an equity stake in their regional sports network, they were not involved in the bankruptcy court proceedings.
Diamond Sports Group recently paid the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers, retaining those teams. Yet the Diamondbacks, a team that has lost the company money, opened negotiations with Diamond Sports Group to grant it direct-to-consumer rights and a rights fee that decreases by the year. Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. could decide to veto the media rights deal and opt to have the league’s local media department produce games for the team instead – which it is currently doing for the San Diego Padres.
The complication, however, is whether or not major league owners would be willing to pay a share of the money the team would have earned from being on Bally Sports Arizona. For example, the Padres are being paid 80% of what they would have made on Bally Sports San Diego; however, there is reluctance that the funding, meant to maintain competitive balance, would continue.
