I found myself reading again on some of the stuff with Diamond Sports Group/Bally and MLB. It really seems like Manfred is sick and tired of how Diamond is dragging all this out. We just finished a regular season and no closer to a solution. It was real interesting to me that the Braves joined MLB and those five other teams with MLB also asking the judge to not grant the extension to Diamond. I thought that things were at least okay with the Braves and Bally, but apparently not the case. And that’s not good for Diamond. I’m pretty sure the South/Southeast channels cover the largest area for any of Bally’s regions and the Braves are profitable for them.
I’m hoping the judge does not grant the extension for Diamond. Of course, I don’t know this for certain, but it just kind of seems like Diamond is “kicking the can” on this as much as they can. MLB is very apparently tired of it. I haven’t agreed with Manfred on much, but this I do. Diamond and their owner, Sinclair, has put themselves in this. You’d think they’d be doing all they can to fix this as well as they can, but they have been extremely slow in this. It does seem like they’ve been more urgently securing deals with teams in the NHL and NBA, but not really with MLB.
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Bally Sports is in trouble and it’s not getting any better. They lost two teams during the regular season that ended, the Padres and Diamondbacks. And now Bally Sports Arizona is history. For this offseason, while we’re watching out for free agents signing and trading, this will be a big thing to watch. I don’t have the knowledge much of what happens in the sports media world, but just based on what I’m seeing and reading, it’s not looking good at all for them. At this point, I’m not going to be surprised at all if the Braves are not on Bally next season. It’s just a gut feeling of mine and that’s it. I could be wrong of course, but when the season opens in the Spring, the way we watch our Atlanta Braves could be very different.
