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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff WriterJan 18, 2024, 08:13 AM ET
CloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
Diamond Sports Group, the regional sports operator for 37 teams across MLB, the NHL and the NBA, dropped a bombshell early Wednesday, announcing a partnership with Amazon that, if approved in court, would place local games on Prime Video and allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy in a reimagined state.
Diamond revealed that it had secured $450 million from creditors to fund a reorganization plan, $115 million of which would be provided by Amazon. In exchange, Amazon would have access to all MLB, NHL and NBA teams for which Diamond possesses streaming rights, giving fans in nearly two dozen markets direct-to-consumer access.
It’s a stunning turn of events for a company that initially took on more than $8 billion of debt and seemed headed for liquidation — but there is still a lot to work through. Below we address some of the most pressing questions.
How surprising was this announcement?
There were reports in mid-December about the possibility of Amazon investing in Diamond to essentially secure its streaming rights. But based on comments from attorneys representing MLB and the NBA in bankruptcy court Wednesday, league officials were not involved in those talks and learned the details of this agreement along with everybody else.
In fact, the deal has the potential to undo previous agreements the leagues had negotiated with Diamond. Last fall, Diamond secured wind-down plans with the NBA and the NHL in which it would broadcast the teams in its portfolio for the 2023-24 seasons, then revert the rights back to those leagues. MLB had the framework in place for a similar deal. This Amazon arrangement could change everything. Attorneys for the NBA and MLB said in court Wednesday that they still had a lot to digest.
Which teams are part of the new agreement?
Diamond owns the linear TV…
[ad_2]Source link : https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39333324/diamond-amazon-streaming-mlb-nba-nhl
Author : Alden Gonzalez
Publish date : 2024-01-18 13:15:56
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