Diamond Sports Groupthe largest owner of regional sports networks, can emerge from bankruptcy after its reorganization plan was approved on Thursday.
Judge Christopher Lopez gave the green light during a hearing in the US Bankruptcy Court in Houston, which lasted 90 minutes.
“This case was not a lay-up for anyone. A lot of hard work went into it,” Lopez said during the hearing.
Diamond Sports had been involved in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection in March 2023. The company said in a financial filing last year that it had debts of $8.67 billion.
Diamond will emerge from bankruptcy with significantly less debt, but also with fewer teams and networks.
When Diamond went bankrupt, it owned 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner and had the rights to 42 professional teams (14 baseball, 16 NBA and 12 NHL).
The reorganized company now operates under the FanDuel Sports Network banner after agreeing to a naming rights deal last month. It has 16 networks and offers games for 27 franchises (six baseball, 13 NBA and eight NHL).
The 16 networks include fans in 31 states.
Last month, as part of the reorganization plan, Diamond voided the contracts of the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays while trying to rework the deals of the five franchises that partially owned their regional sports networks.
Diamond has revised deals with the Tigers and Rays and signed deals with the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins, including streaming rights. Talks continue with the Kansas City Royals.
The Cincinnati Reds and Diamond have ended their joint venture, but an attorney for Diamond said during Thursday’s hearing that he was open to resuming talks.
Cincinnati had a 20% stake in their RSN affiliate. Diamond bought back the Reds’ stake for $1.
Atlanta was the only franchise whose contract would have remained unchanged, but the Braves agreed to an amended deal that included streaming rights.
Steaming is an important avenue for Diamond in his search for a new audience. The company announced Wednesday that it has reached a multi-year agreement with Prime Video to make its channels available as an add-on subscription.
Prime Video announced earlier this year that it was purchasing a minority stake in Diamond Sports.
Diamond will also offer single-game prizes on its direct-to-consumer app for NBA and NHL games starting December 5.
Viewers have the option for single games for $6.99, as well as the chance to sign up for a monthly or season pass subscription.
Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased The Walt Disney Co.’s regional sports networks. for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was required by the Justice Department to sell the networks to acquire 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets. approved.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports