The transformation in the way baseball fans watch Twins games is coming.
Twins games will be televised by Bally Sports North again in 2024
The agreement does not include the ability for fans to stream BSN’s broadcasts without subscribing to a cable or satellite carrier.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 2, 2024 at 7:46PM
Just not this year.
The Twins have reached a one-year agreement with Bally Sports North and its bankrupt parent company, Diamond Sports Group, to televise its games on cable and satellite systems during the 2024 season, a source with knowledge of the deal confirmed Friday. But the team’s oft-stated plan to offer a streaming option to non-BSN subscribers will wait, under the new contract, until at least 2025.
Financial terms were not revealed, but the deal is expected to include a sharp cut in the $54 million that BSN paid the team last season.
The agreement gives the Twins assurances that fans can access their games this year, an urgent need with Opening Day now less than two months away. But it does not include the ability for fans to stream BSN’s broadcasts without subscribing to a cable or satellite carrier. A direct-to-consumer streaming option, which the Twins had said they were determined to create this year, is specifically prohibited in the new contract.
The deal, along with new agreements with the Guardians and Rangers, is not official until federal bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez approves it. A hearing before Lopez has been set for next Friday in Houston, and the Twins said they would have no comment on their plans until then.
The contracts would give Diamond’s regional sports networks the rights to televise 12 MLB teams for the 2024 season and allow DSG to emerge from bankruptcy with plans to remain in business beyond 2024. DSG, citing billions of dollars in losses due to a heavy debt burden and the loss of millions of cable-cutting customers, filed for bankruptcy a year ago this month.
The company missed rights payments owed to the Twins, Guardians and Rangers last April, but the bankruptcy court in June ordered it to pay those teams the full amount owed.
A recent report by The Athletic said the Guardians and Rangers had agreed to cuts of 15% or less in their 2024 rights fees in exchange for terminating their contracts at the end of the upcoming season. Terms with the Twins have not become public, but a similar reduction would still provide the team with roughly $46 million for its 2024 schedule.
An attorney for Diamond said in a hearing last month, when the company announced a new partnership with Amazon in hopes of remaining in business, that the company would like to reach new long-term agreements with its MLB clients.
The new Twins deal does not eliminate that possibility, but makes clear the Twins have not given up hope of finding a better option for the future, especially as the MLB seeks to develop a league-wide broadcasting strategy to replace the regional networks. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, for instance, has said he hopes to create a “one-stop” online option that would all fans to stream games of the entire league’s games.
Robust competition is likely for righthander Roki Sasaki, whose agent suggests a “smaller, midmarket” team might be a good route to take, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are said to be the favorites to land him.
