MLB and Diamond Sports at odds over slashing media rights fees

MLB and Diamond Sports are "on a collision course” over media rights payments that “could determine the course of future income streams for teams across the league,” according to Josh Kosman of the N.Y POST. Diamond Sports -- which operates about half of the RSNs, across the U.S. under the Bally’s name and which declared bankruptcy in March -- wants to "cut the fees to some of the 13 MLB teams whose local broadcasting rights it owns as cable’s decline accelerates.” Sources said that Diamond is “close to negotiating a 20% discount for a five-year deal” with the D-backs that would “also give the broadcaster valuable streaming rights it doesn’t presently own.” However, sources said that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is “threatening to block Diamond’s plans” if the D-backs deal is "presented in its current form at a bankruptcy court hearing slated for July 17.” The plan “doesn’t sit well with owners of big-market teams” like the Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers and Red Sox -- which all “have their own regional broadcast deals.” While the team owners are “back paying other clubs 80% of their lost Diamond media rights fees," they "only support it for this season.” Sources said that Diamond, which had signed a 20-year, $1.5B deal in 2015 with the D-backs, is “now offering 80%” of what the club is making in their contract for next year and “then the percentage drops by more in the next several years.” That puts Manfred “in a bind” over blocking the D-backs deal since the team “may be in worse financial peril next year without Diamond’s reduced offer” (N.Y. POST, 7/10).