Diamond Sports Group is now targeting early- to mid-November to emerge from bankruptcy. Major League Baseball, however, still has its doubts about the Bally Sports parent company’s ability to do that. 

Less than two weeks after DSG completed revised rights deals with the NBA and NHL, the regional sports network operator received formal approval of those agreements, as well as a rejection of pacts with the Mavericks and Pelicans—something to which both of those NBA teams have consented.

The deals provide a key dose of certainty for 22 teams across the two leagues still within the DSG portfolio for at least the 2024–2025 season. The new potential timetable for DSG to receive confirmation of its reorganization plan is also a shift from a prior target of late July that was delayed amid intensifying negotiations with the NBA and NHL, and also with Comcast—with the pause ultimately resulting in a trio of new pacts.

But MLB attorney James Bromley believes the time is now to create similar certainty for next year for the 12 MLB teams carried by DSG.

“We are very happy that the fans of the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League will be able to watch their teams,” Bromley said during a 70-minute status conference for the case held Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. “It is certainly in Major League Baseball’s interest to have its fans watch its games. And so many sports fans are overlapping fans of the different leagues. We are happy that is going to occur. But the process by which we’ve gotten here has raised concerns, and the process going forward, which is opaque at best, raises even greater concerns.”

The league has yet to formally object to a proposed DSG reorganization plan. But it’s clear MLB’s patience is wearing thin after continued turbulence surrounding the company dating to 2021, a period that has since involved the rejection of team media rights in San Diego and Arizona, protracted rights negotiations in several other MLB markets, and continued uncertainty looking ahead to next season. 

Because of that, this past weekend MLB filed a reservation of its rights with the court, essentially putting DSG and the court on notice regarding its misgivings. During the hearing, Bromley called the NBA and NHL deals “a Band-Aid” amid larger challenges for both the company and the RSN industry. 

“This is now the fourth season in a row that Major League Baseball is heading into the offseason with a complete lack of information and clarity with respect to what’s going to happen,” Bromley said. “We are not months and months away from next year. We are there today. If the debtors are unable or unwilling to provide [rights fees for 2025], it will be necessary to find replacement broadcasting for them. To do that on any other timetable than this fall, it’s going to create substantial costs.”

Payments Made

DSG responded that many of MLB’s concerns are misplaced and called the NBA and NHL deals “a significant milestone” in pursuit of its reorganization. The company also pointed to its record of having already paid more than 90% of its total rights fees owed for the 2024 MLB season, all on time, with no issues anticipated for the remaining portion. DSG added that all current contractual protections to MLB remain in place.

“We are not looking to elongate this. We, too, have been at this quite a long time,” said Andrew Goldman, an attorney for DSG. “As quickly as we can emerge [from bankruptcy], we would like to emerge.”

MLB acknowledged DSG’s response—but only to a point. 

“I don’t know that congratulations are necessary to thank folks for complying with their contractual obligations, but we do appreciate it,” Bromley said. 

The hype around Colorado’s football team is still buzzing early into Year 2 under head coach Deion Sanders, following a season-opening 31-26 win over North Dakota State that drew 4.8 million viewers on ESPN, the network’s best college football Thursday opener since 2017.

Off the field, Sanders continues to rake in millions of dollars for his sunglasses sponsor, Blenders Eyewear, which features a special-edition Coach Prime collection. “Just from last year, we’ve sold over 200,000 Deion Sanders pairs,” Chase Fisher, the company’s founder and CEO, tells Front Office Sports. “It’s been a remarkable partnership.”

Last fall, after Sanders’ spat with Colorado State coach Jay Norvell, Blenders received roughly 70,000 pre-orders of the Prime sunglasses before the collection went on sale. At $67 a pop, that was good for more than $4.5 million in revenue. “We saw a very large influx during the season last year,” Fisher says. “Once they started to lose a little bit more, things got a little bit slower.” 

The price of Sanders sunglasses increased to $79 in December, and this year’s new line costs $89. With more than 200,000 pairs sold, Coach Prime is responsible for at least $13.4 million in revenue for Blenders in the past 12 months—and probably more.

Prime Boost

In December 2019, Blenders was valued at $90 million when Safilo Group agreed to acquire a majority stake in the company. The Sanders partnership has helped Blenders dive into the sports space. The company has a separate deal with Colorado Athletics, and rolled out a March Madness collaboration with San Diego State, Fisher’s alma mater, that resulted in $75,000 in name, image, and likeness money for the men’s basketball team.

“He’s a stepping stone, he’s been a juggernaut the last year and a half, and we’re just getting started with him,” Fisher says of Sanders. “So, we’re excited to see where this can go. He’s definitely responsible for a good chunk from last year, but it’s not as much as people think.”

More Madness

Fisher, who’s based in Southern California, was in Boulder last week for Colorado’s home opener, continuing his busy travel schedule around Coach Prime. “I was on a plane every weekend last year,” he says. “I was at every home game. I just wanted to immerse myself in the culture, really focus on the relationship and put myself in that situation, just to take it all in.”

A year ago, Blenders had to put an eventual collaboration with 99-year-old Colorado fan Peggy Coppom on hold to deal with the sudden Prime demand. “When Coach Norvell decided to take a shot at Deion’s mom, we literally said, ‘Get the factories going. We’re going to launch these sunglasses this week,’” Constance Schwartz-Morini, Sanders’ off-field agent, said at the FOS Huddle in the Hamptons event last month.

“We had to renegotiate with our factory to move other brands out of the way, so we can move Prime up,” Fisher says. “It was probably one of the most chaotic logistical complications that we’ve ever had to solve for.”