Bally Sports Insists They're Open For Business

The entire sports-viewing world has been anxiously awaiting the outcome of bankruptcy court proceedings for Diamond Sports Group (DSG). Diamond owns 19 regional sports networks (RSNs) operating under the Bally Sports brand, which cover a total of 14 MLB, 16 NBA and 12 NHL teams. The company also owns Bally Sports+, a streaming service that allows users to bypass pay TV to watch their favorite team.

DSG officially filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, March 14, and is now in the midst of ongoing discussions in court about how it plans to restructure and become a viable money-making enterprise once again. Some of those discussions were held on Thursday and they revealed part of DSG’s strategy, as well as responses by some of the major sports leagues it does business with, reports The Streamable.

To start, Diamond representatives reaffirmed their commitment to broadcasting the rest of this season’s NBA and NHL games as planned. Brian Hermann, a lawyer representing DSG in its bankruptcy proceedings, noted that negotiations had been ongoing with those two leagues, and the discussions have been positive thus far.

“We had very constructive discussions with the NBA and the NHL,” Hermann said. “And I’m pleased to say I’ve made good progress in negotiations with each and we are going to continue to work with each of those leagues and their representatives to try to get to an agreement that will allow us to position the company for long-term success …There’s no doubt that we intend to pay NBA and NHL teams, they’re what we owe them for broadcast rights, at least through the end of the season.”

Hermann also pushed back against the notion that DSG was circling the drain as a company, and reaffirmed that it was still hoping to attract more teams and leagues to doing business with it.

“I want to make it crystal clear that Diamond is open for business, and we’re not going anywhere,” he said. “There’s all kinds of press about Diamond going under, Diamond isn’t going to be able to broadcast games. Completely wrong. We’re not going anywhere.”

NBA representatives at the hearing were glad to hear DSG’s commitment to the rest of the current campaign, but noted that next season’s broadcast agreements with the company are still up in the air. NHL’s legal team was present for the hearing but did not offer any statements for the record.

“Given the value of our rights and their importance to Diamond, we believe we are entitled to receive the same treatment for next season, but have yet to reach an agreement with [DSG],” said an attorney from Prosaker Rose, which is representing the NBA in discussions with Diamond.

At the same time,  DSG’s relationship with MLB has consistently deteriorated since October, as Diamond has sought to obtain more streaming rights from the league. Currently, DSG has the streaming rights to just five of the 14 MLB teams it has broadcast rights for.