As the Twins offseason dragged on, with December turning to January and then January to February without any concrete update on the team’s TV plans for 2024, emails and social media correspondence from readers and Daily Delivery podcast listeners increased in frequency and concern level.
Details will tell us if Twins’ deal to stay on Bally Sports is a disappointment
We learned late last week that the Twins will stay on Bally Sports North for the 2024 season. We need to know two things for sure before we know exactly what to think about that.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 5, 2024 at 5:33PM
What’s going on? Any updates?
On Friday, we learned the answer: The update is that there isn’t really one -- or at least that there isn’t anything new. The Twins will be back on Bally Sports North in 2024, a preservation of the status quo after nearly a year of uncertainty and talk of change.
The deal can’t be approved until the end of this week, at which point we should learn more of the final details and gain clarity on the big picture. As Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s podcast, some of the initial word sounds disappointing.
Two things have been at the forefront of all discussions since the season ended: The Twins were determined to have a direct-to-consumer streaming option included as part of the deal; and whatever contract they ended up with figured to be for significantly less than the $54.8 million they received in 2023 -- enough of a difference that it would impact their offseason spending on players.
Initial reporting from Phil Miller says there will not be a standalone streaming option as part of this deal -- a significant frustration for Twins fans who aren’t subscribers to traditional cable or satellite packages.
It also stands in contrast to what we heard from Twins TV play-by-play voice Cory Provus in his news conference after making the switch from radio. He said a couple months ago: “Blackouts are going away. Twins games are going to be more accessible.” Maybe they still are? I’ll reserve judgment until we know all the details.
It will also be interesting to learn exactly how much the Twins are getting from Diamond Sports for the rights to show games on BSN in 2024.
The Twins are certainly operating this offseason as though the cut is significant. How much of that is attributable to a loss of TV money and how much of that is a natural payroll reduction with a younger roster remains to be seen.
For those who just want to watch the Twins and don’t care about the other stuff, here is the upshot: If you were able to watch them in 2023, you will be able to do it the same way in 2024.
Whether that’s good news or bad news is in the eye of the beholder.
Here are four more things to know today:
- Wolves coach Chris Finch will coach the Western Conference team at the All-Star Game. That’s quite a climb for the Wolves and their coach.
- A new ESPN mock draft has the Vikings getting Michael Penix Jr. at No. 42 in the second round. That would be quite a good get.
- Kirk Cousins talked to Sky Sports about his future. Nothing earth-shaking here, but anytime he talks this offseason it is worth noting.
- La Velle E. Neal III took on the thorny subject of Minnesota United’s strange coaching situation.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
