-
By Alden Gonzalez, ESPN staff writer
Diamond Sports Group's 14-month battle in bankruptcy court is about to drag on for a little longer. Diamond, which provides regional broadcasts across the country under the name Bally Sports, postponed its confirmation hearing by about six weeks, from June 18 to July 29 and 30, according to a notice filed Thursday.
A confirmation hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. in Houston will essentially determine whether the Diamonds can emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, at which point MLB, the NBA and the NHL may finally get some long-awaited clarity with many of the regional sports networks.
Diamonds representatives said postponing the confirmation hearing would give them more time to negotiate contracts with the NBA and NHL and to issue financial projections that reflect their inability to reach a new deal with Comcast, their third-largest distributor. But the delay comes closer to the start of the next NBA and NHL seasons, after lawyers for both leagues signaled a strong desire to avoid another year of uncertainty during status briefings last week.
“Our multi-year agreements with 10 of our top 12 distributors, including our recently announced agreement with Fubo, provide certainty for most of our primary revenue streams, which will benefit our team and league partners and their loyal fans,” a Diamond Sports Group spokesperson said in a statement. “We have decided to postpone the hearing for several weeks in order to focus on reaching rights agreements with our league and team partners on mutually beneficial terms and finalizing updated business plans in advance of the start of the NBA and NHL seasons.”
The Diamondbacks have deals with three of the top four distributors — Charter, DirecTV and Cox — but there's no sign a deal with Comcast will ultimately come to fruition, a development MLB lawyers called “devastating” in bankruptcy court on May 15. Without a new deal, Comcast dropped its local MLB broadcasts on Bally Sports in early May, leaving fans across the country unable to watch their teams. Due to exclusivity clauses, those games will not be broadcast locally on MLB.tv, the league's streaming division.
The Diamonds hold the rights to 12 teams, but their contracts with the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers expire in 2024. The Diamonds also hold the rights to 16 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams, but those contracts expire at the end of the 2023-24 season.
In its filing, Diamond extended the deadline for voting and filing objections to the reorganization plan from June 5 to July 18.
