Six weeks after the NBA worked out a provisional deal to keep its games airing locally on the bankrupt Bally Sports-branded RSNs, the NHL has reached a similar arrangement with the owner of the networks.
As laid out in a document filed Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Diamond Sports Group is seeking official approval to continue airing in-market NHL games through the end of the 2023-24 season. Should Judge Christopher Lopez sign off on the motion, Diamond’s NHL rights would revert to the league upon the conclusion of the season now in progress.
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While an attached term sheet was filed under seal, the main text of the motion indicates that Diamond agrees to pay its NHL partners “the amounts due thereunder in accordance with the modifications” spelled out in the redacted agreement. Should Diamond breach the terms of the provisional deal or “fail to satisfy certain performance conditions,” the NHL and its clubs shall have the right to terminate the agreement “without seeking further relief from the court.”
In the wake of Diamond and the Arizona Coyotes’ Oct. 4 decision to void their local TV deal, there are 11 NHL clubs that remain under the Bally Sports umbrella. Of these, the Diamond-owned RSNs hold the linear-TV and direct-to-consumer rights to the following eight franchises: Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings.
Three additional clubs—Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues—are part-owners of their respective local stations, which puts them in a separate camp of “non-debtor RSNs.” The Kings re-upped with Diamond in September.
According to the court filing, the modifications presented under the term sheet were negotiated outside the mediation sessions, with Diamond and the NHL working out the conditions of the provisional agreement among themselves. As is the case with the NBA’s earlier pact with Diamond, the NHL deal is in some ways contingent upon a resolution between the owner of the RSNs and Major League Baseball.
As part of today’s filing, Diamond’s attorneys have requested that Judge Lopez approve the NHL deal by Wednesday, Jan. 3. That date falls exactly one week prior to the next scheduled court hearing, one in which a ruling on a tentative MLB-DSG agreement may be handed down. MLB’s recent breakthrough with the RSNs came about as a result of an off-site mediation session that took place on Dec. 14.
Diamond Sports has been mired in bankruptcy proceedings since it filed for Chapter 11 protection in March. As reported earlier this week by The Wall Street Journal, the company is in preliminary talks with Amazon to form a partnership that might help Diamond avoid liquidation.
While it’s far too early to ascertain what an Amazon-DSG partnership might entail, it may not have a big impact on some of Diamond’s MLB affiliates. Of the 11 MLB clubs for which Diamond controls the local TV rights, the company only holds the streaming rights to five. These local media switch-hitters include the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.
The TV roster may be whittled down to just nine MLB clubs before the 2024 season tips off, as Diamond looks to drop its deals with the Cleveland Guardians and Texas Rangers if they can’t come to an agreement on lower rights fees. An attorney representing the Rangers last week said the World Series champs would be willing to discount their fees if such a compromise would ensure that their Bally Sports Southwest telecasts would continue to air without interruption throughout the coming MLB campaign.
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