October 2, 2024

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Diamond Sports Group threw a curveball during a bankruptcy hearing today, saying it intends to drop as many as seven of the eight MLB teams in its portfolio. The decision will reverberate around baseball, depriving teams of revenue. But it also presents commissioner Rob Manfred with a real opportunity to launch an initiative he’s spent years planning.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

DSG Could Drop Seven MLB Teams, Paving Way for Manfred’s Media Plan [[link removed]]

Detroit Free Press

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has openly eyed collecting a critical mass of teams’ local media rights [[link removed]] to reshape the sport’s regional strategy. It now looks like he could get his wish sooner than expected—and sooner than he wished.

Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of the Bally Sports regional sports networks, told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday that it intends to drop as many as seven of the eight MLB clubs it has under contract for the 2025 season, leaving just the Braves solidly in its portfolio. Three other teams—the Guardians, Rangers, and Twins—were under one-year contracts with DSG for the 2024 season [[link removed]] and also will not be renewed unless it’s under dramatically different contract terms. The Brewers, a 12th team carried by DSG this year, had a multiyear agreement that also expires with the end of the 2024 season, and that, too, will not be renewed without a radical reconsideration.

The Twins had already been evaluating multiple options outside of DSG [[link removed]]. The Rangers are actively pursuing the creation of their own RSN.

“The debtors are assuming a single telecast agreement, that of the Atlanta Braves,” DSG lawyer Andrew Goldman said in a status conference with the court. “All of Major League Baseball’s other agreements will be rejected under the plan.”

The seven MLB clubs being cut loose are the Angels, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals, and Tigers—with the latter two reaching the postseason. The Guardians and Brewers also earned playoff spots this year. DSG can assume or reject its contracts as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 reorganization.

League sources, however, were also puzzled by DSG’s position given that five of the involved clubs (the Angels, Cardinals, Marlins, Reds, and Royals) are not technically connected to the bankruptcy because of joint ventures surrounding some of the individual Bally Sports RSNs. As a result, those rights deals shouldn’t be subject to unilateral rejection in the same way. But in early 2023, DSG did exactly that with the Padres, abruptly dropping that team [[link removed]].

Notably, DSG’s stance toward MLB materially differs from the company’s position with the NBA and NHL. DSG recently reached revised agreements with both of those leagues [[link removed]] at reduced rights fees for the leagues’ 2024–2025 seasons, with a potential pathway for extensions.

The move frees up hundreds of millions of dollars in contract obligations for DSG, as many of the involved MLB clubs had each been receiving annual fees in the low- to mid-eight figures.

New Vision

The DSG move brings perhaps closer to reality a fundamentally different look for how MLB packages and distributes its local rights. Back in May, Manfred discussed a developing contemplation with team owners about “a national media strategy, a national control of rights,” in which MLB would control most, if not all, local team broadcasting in a similar way as it does for national-level contracts with networks such as ESPN, Fox, and TNT Sports.

That’s a deeply complex issue, something Manfred quickly acknowledges, in part involving a fundamental revision of how revenue flows among teams—something all but certain to create friction between large-market clubs and small-market ones, and in the market for player talent. But the league nonetheless sees an opportunity to ultimately use the current DSG turbulence to its advantage.

“Right now, we’re really focused on the strategic part, how we respond to the changes in the local media environment in a way that increases our reach and fan access to games. We’d like to get into a model … where there is a frictionless opportunity to watch the game you want to watch,” Manfred said in May.

League-Level Confusion

In court Wednesday, though, MLB said it was not at all prepared for DSG’s move—particularly one this drastic and this soon—and said it was being “sandbagged.” The 11 affected clubs will each need to strike their own local broadcast deals for at least the 2025 season, though running that through the league—as the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies currently do—is an option.

“We have no information about what is being done,” said James Bromley, an attorney for MLB. “We’ve had no opportunity to review and now we’re in front of the court and being asked to make our comments. The idea that we’re supposed to be able to turn on a dime … is simply inconsistent with reality.”

DSG is now targeting Nov. 14 to begin a confirmation hearing on its reorganization.

NFL Ratings Surge in September With Chiefs in Four of Top Five Games [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The NFL retained its nine-year viewership high through Week 4 of the regular season, and the Chiefs took another notch away from the Cowboys as the league’s most-watched team [[link removed]].

In September, NFL games averaged 17.9 million viewers (not including the Week 1 Peacock exclusive [[link removed]]), which is up 4% compared to the first four weeks of the 2023 season. The NFL was up 10% year over year after three weeks. That was its best average audience since 2015 [[link removed]], which is still the case through four weeks.

The most-watched game of Week 4 was Kansas City’s 17–10 win over the Chargers, which drew 24.2 million viewers on CBS and booted Cowboys-Browns out of the five highest NFL audiences this season. All four Chiefs broadcasts are now in the top five.

Cowboys-Ravens still holds the No. 3 spot with 27.3 million viewers. And it should be noted that Dallas was responsible for Amazon Prime Video’s record Thursday Night Football stream [[link removed]] in Week 4, as 17.61 million people tuned in to the 20–15 win over the NFC East rival Giants.

Monday Night Special

The results are in from back-to-back weeks of Monday Night Football doubleheaders [[link removed]].

When those two-for-one prime-time spotlights take place on ABC and ESPN, neither game draws as large an audience as it would on its own, but a good metric to look at is the roughly two-hour window when the matchups with staggered starts overlap.

During Weeks 3 and 4, the average viewership during the overlapping portions of MNF games was 19.65 million. That’s down nearly 10% from two early-season MNF doubleheaders in 2023, which averaged 21.83 million viewers during their combined periods.

This year’s doubleheaders featured Titans-Dolphins and Seahawks-Lions on Monday and Bills-Jaguars and Commanders-Bengals last week. Last year had Saints-Panthers and Steelers-Browns in Week 2, and Eagles-Buccaneers and Bengals-Rams in Week 3.

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LOUD AND CLEAR Thrown Under the Bus

“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed.”

—Ken Kendrick, owner of the Diamondbacks, said on Arizona Sports’ The Burns & Gambo Show [[link removed]] on Monday, soon after his team learned it would miss the MLB postseason one year after a run to the World Series. Kendrick said he “pushed” for the acquisition of the pitcher, who signed a one-year deal worth $25 million [[link removed]] with Arizona after helping the Rangers beat the Diamondbacks to win last year’s World Series. The deal includes a player option for next year worth $22.5 million.

“Looking back at in hindsight, [it was] a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did,” Kendrick added. Montgomery, 31, finished with an 8–7 record and 6.23 ERA. In 2023, he split time between the Cardinals and Rangers and had a 10–11 record and 3.20 ERA.

The pitcher was one of the final major free agents to agree to a deal in the offseason, and he fired his agent, Scott Boras, weeks after signing with Arizona for a deal much smaller than analysts expected.

TUNED IN YouTube Sports Exec on NFL Sunday Ticket and Ronaldo

FOS illustration

Jon Cruz, who is YouTube’s global head of sports partnerships, sat down with editor-in-chief Dan Roberts at the Front Office Sports Tuned In [[link removed]?] summit to discuss NFL Sunday Ticket as well as offering a dedicated space for athlete creators, and what he believes is the backbone of the streaming company that’s diving further and further into sports.

Watch the full interview here [[link removed]].

STATUS REPORT Two Up, One Down, One Push

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Nike ⬇ Following Tuesday’s earnings report that detailed a 10% revenue decline in fiscal Q1 [[link removed]], the Swoosh’s stock price fell 6.8% to $83.10 per share Wednesday. The company’s stock, which is down 22% for the year, saw a 7% increase [[link removed]] following the appointment of new CEO Elliott Hill [[link removed]] last month, but Wednesday’s drop has nearly wiped out all of those gains.

Utah ⬆ The Salt Lake City Council approved a proposal from Smith Entertainment Group [[link removed]] to remodel the Delta Center, the home of the Utah Hockey Club and NBA’s Jazz. The city will also provide $900 million for the mixed-use project that will feature residential and commercial spaces. It is scheduled to be ready in time for the Winter Olympics the city is hosting in 2034.

North Carolina high school athletes ⬆ A Wake County judge ruled Tuesday that public high school athletes in the state may profit from their NIL (name, image, and likeness). A judge granted a preliminary injunction in a case involving Faizon Brandon, a top recruit in the class of 2026 and Tennessee commit. The rule will take effect in the state by the 2025–2026 season. Nearly 40 states allow high school athletes to profit from NIL [[link removed]] in some capacity.

College football ⬆⬇ A proposal for a unified college football “Super League” was announced Tuesday by a group of executives and school administrators. The “College Student Football League” proposal would reorganize 136 Football Bowl Subdivision schools into two conferences—with the top 72 in the top conference, and the other 64 in another. The league would adopt a promotion-relegation system akin to European soccer leagues.

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Are You One of the Best Employers in Sports?

Whether it’s great leadership; focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; or commitment to employee well-being, the Front Office Sports Best Employers in Sports Award [[link removed]] recognizes organizations that do right by their employees.

How do we determine who wins the award? We don’t—employees do! The award is based entirely on anonymous survey results from sports industry professionals.

Responses will be evaluated in collaboration with our primary research partner, Canvs [[link removed]], using patented AI technology free from all subjectivity and human bias. There is no word count limit and you can even use slang, text abbreviations, sarcasm, and emoji to complete the survey.

The 2024 employee survey is now open through Nov. 6. Take the survey [[link removed]] and tell us why your organization should make the cut.

Conversation Starters New York City FC released renderings for the NYCFC City Square, a food hall at its future $780 million stadium that will be open on non-match days. Check it out [[link removed]]. Miami football’s equipment truck left the school Tuesday to travel 3,104 miles for the Hurricanes’ game against Cal [[link removed]] on Saturday. Front Office Sports multimedia reporter Derryl Barnes got an exclusive look at the hospitality experiences at the Laver Cup in Berlin. Take a look [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks NHL Labor Talks Set to Open During Unprecedented Growth and Stability [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The league is targeting a new labor agreement by the Stanley Cup Final in June. Michael Jordan Sues NASCAR: ‘Monopolistic Bullies’ [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,” the teams say. Judge Dismisses Peloton Investor Lawsuit in District Court [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The lawsuit claiming the company misled investors was dismissed. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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