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Diamond Sports Dumps D-backs TV Deal With No Eleventh-Hour Reprieve

Anthony Crupi
·3 min read
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Just days after conceding the end of its association with the Phoenix Suns, Diamond Sports Group is officially walking away from its rights deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The development allowed MLB to immediately take control of D-backs broadcasts. “Major League Baseball will take over production and distribution of all Arizona Diamondbacks locally distributed games starting today, July 18, when the Diamondbacks face the Atlanta Braves at 7:20 p.m. EDT /4:20 p.m. MST,” an MLB statement said. “The new arrangement, which gives fans the option to watch on television or stream digitally, expands the availability of Diamondbacks games from approximately 930,000 homes to approximately 5.6 million homes in the Diamondbacks Home Television Territory.”

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A bankruptcy court judge signed off on Diamond’s rejection of its Diamondbacks contract on Tuesday, effectively depleting Bally Sports Arizona’s live-sports slate. With the erasure of Diamond’s NBA and MLB affiliations in Phoenix, the RSN’s portfolio of Big Four league partners has been whittled down to the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

Diamond, which originally petitioned the court to allow it to tear up its rights deal with the NL West club on June 22, had a change of heart a week later, whereupon it asked to push back a scheduled hearing on the matter to Monday, July 17. (That hearing was bumped to Tuesday late last week.) Since DSG called for timeout, the two sides had attempted to hammer out a new deal that would have reduced the company’s annual rights fees by as much as 20%. Ultimately, an agreement could not be reached, prompting DSG to file a revised order asking that its initial request for separation from the D-backs be upheld.

In a separate filing, DSG late Monday confirmed that it and the D-backs have “substantially agreed on the form” of the proposed split. The rights deal was one of the company’s most onerous obligations; per witness testimony from the June 22 hearing, Diamond was contracted to pay the D-backs $61.2 million in 2023 alone. As brokered by DSG precursor Fox Sports, the legacy contract was set to run for another 12 years—all the way through the end of the 2035 MLB season.

Judge Christopher Lopez’ sign-off on DSG’s proposed order allowed the separation to be backdated to this morning, at 2 a.m. EDT. DSG will immediately cease televising the D-backs’ games. As such, the D-backs’ made their final appearance on Bally Sports Arizona Sunday night, bowing out with a 7-5 road loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

During that Jays game, D-backs play-by-play man Steve Berthiaume advised viewers that today’s court hearing “may result in new channels for the games.” As was the case with the San Diego Padres, which in late May weathered the end of its affiliation with DSG, MLB Media is taking over Arizona’s in-market telecasts. Since baseball stepped in to replace Bally Sports San Diego, the Padres’ unique deliveries have improved 14% versus the year-ago period on the RSN.

Throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, MLB has insisted that it will see to the local TV arrangements for any club that finds itself on the outs with its RSN partner.

As MLB goes to bat for the D-backs, DSG will be cleaning out its locker at Chase Field. Per one of Monday’s court filings, DSG agreed to “remove all personal property remaining at the Diamondbacks’ facilities on or before July 31, 2023,” and the “finders, keepers” rule shall apply to anything that gets left behind. On a more proximate note, the D-backs will be free to begin removing all Bally Sports Arizona signage from the ballpark.

(This article has been updated with news of MLB’s takeover of the D-backs broadcasts and distribution.)

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