Amazon could be set to acquire its largest set of live sports rights yet.

The streamer is in talks to invest in the bankrupt regional sports network operator Diamond Sports Group, according to The Wall Street Journal. DSG, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, currently carries games via its Bally Sports-branded channels for more than 40 teams across MLB, the NBA and NHL, and a deal with Amazon would eventually put those broadcasts on Prime Video. It is unclear how much money Amazon would invest or what size equity stake it would acquire, but DSG has received support from key creditors to proceed with the talks.

How Did We Get Here?

In March, DSG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Since then, missed payments and other financial issues have caused DSG’s rights deals with the Arizona Coyotes, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, San Diego Padres, Utah Jazz, and Atlantic Coast Conference to end. Most recently, DSG has been working with MLB on a deal to retain 2024 game broadcasts for as many as 11 other teams. DSG’s future in sports broadcasting was already growing increasingly uncertain, as its NBA deals are set to expire after this season.

What Does It Mean? 

For Amazon, a deal with DSG would seemingly provide even more live content on Prime Video, which is seeing viewership growth with the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games this season and is exploring bidding on NBA rights. Amazon is paying $1 billion a year for the rights to TNF and also has international deals to broadcast, among other offerings,  the Premier League in the U.K. and the NBA in Brazil. Amazon also recently inked a U.S. deal with the fighting promotion Premier Boxing Champions.

Investment from Amazon would provide crucial funding for DSG, which has been trying to avoid liquidation as it sorts out its financial future. Partnering with Amazon could also leave leagues more willing to work with DSG moving forward.

What’s Next?

A deal is not imminent, and the reported effort could still fall through, per the WSJ. But DSG would no doubt like to sort out its next steps sooner rather than later. Completing an investment before the start of the coming MLB season would be key for Amazon, especially if it plans on incorporating a full season of baseball broadcasts on Prime Video in 2024.

The NFL may use its first-ever game in Brazil to drastically alter its season-opening kickoff weekend in a move away from the league’s typical process for international matchups.

After deciding to play a regular-season game in São Paulo next year, the NFL is now exploring playing that contest in Week 1 of the 2024 season, according to NBC Sports. Reported options are said to include a doubleheader on Thursday, Sept. 5 (when the defending Super Bowl champions have traditionally kicked off the season at home) and a standalone game on Friday, Sept. 6. Each scenario would be a first for the NFL, which has only played one game on the Thursday of Week 1 — called the NFL Kickoff Game — since starting the tradition in 2002.

There has never been a Friday game during Week 1, but the league did play on Black Friday this year and has been continuously moving into other new game windows, such as Christmas Day and the now-standard 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning window for its International Series, recently played in London and Germany. The earliest a regular-season game has been played in Europe is Week 3, in 20TK.

Dolphins A Lock?

The Miami Dolphins are widely believed to be a strong candidate to play in Brazil, given that they are the only NFL team with marketing rights in the country as part of the league’s international marketing program. But next season NFC teams will have a ninth regular-season home game, and they are likely to host international matchups. 

Those teams have some say in who they host internationally, and they could be wary of giving up their home game to host the Dolphins (given their marketing rights), who conversely could volunteer to give up one of their eight home games if they desperately wanted to play in Brazil in 2024.

The next Japanese superstar is now on the MLB player market, and in some respects he’s driving an even bigger frenzy among suitors than Shohei Ohtani did.

With the record-setting $700 million deal between Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers now finalized, many teams are turning their attention to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a 25-year-old pitcher who has starred in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and who was posted last month for entry to MLB. 

More than four years younger than Ohtani – and, crucially, not carrying the same serious injury history as his countryman – Yamamoto is arguably a better value, and that’s reflected in his pursuit by a larger number of clubs. This past summer, Ohtani tore his ulnar collateral ligament for the second time in five years and had corrective surgery.

While Ohtani’s free agency largely centered on four main candidates, Yamamoto has been linked in various reports to the New York Yankees and Mets, the Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays. Yamamoto is expected to receive a contract worth at least $300 million, a deal that even after Ohtani’s blockbuster agreement will still rank no lower than eighth in MLB history. Such a deal would also yield a posting fee of nearly $50 million to Yamamoto’s Japanese club, the Orix Buffaloes.

Pulling Out All of the Stops

Because of that significant projected financial outlay, the Yamamoto chase has drawn the active participation of multiple team owners. Mets owner Steve Cohen hosted a dinner on Saturday at his Connecticut home for Yamamoto and his representatives, according to multiple reports, while Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner has held multiple meetings of his own with the pitcher. The Phillies also brought in star outfielder Bryce Harper as part of their pitch to Yamamoto.

The 45-day window to sign Yamamoto, in keeping with MLB-NPB posting rules, expires Jan. 4., but he is expected to make a selection by the end of the month.