Bally Sports owners announced Wednesday that they are ending their deal to carry games for 11 Major League Baseball starting next year just honoring their deal with the Braves. That was a blow to the Tampa Bay Rays and the Miami Marlins but not all is lost as MLB and Amazon have been in talks about regional baseball.
Diamond Sports Group made the surprising move during a court hearing for its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to reports from ESPN and the Athletic.
Bally Sports carried games for 12 teams this past season. ESPN reports that the contracts with the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers expired this year.
The following seven teams will have to negotiate a new contract or find a new provider: Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays.
At this time, the deal with the Atlanta Braves has not been impacted. A spokesperson for the Braves said the organization does not have a comment at this time.
The Athletic reports that MLB was blindsided in court by the decision. But the league has been very vocal about finding willing partners and helping teams to craft new deals like they did in both San Diego and Arizona.
