Diamond Sports Group’s long-awaited bankruptcy filing finally hit the court docket Tuesday night. 

The Sinclair subsidiary that owns and operates 19 Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks sought bankruptcy protection in a bid to restructure $8 billion in debt. 

The petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas came as a 30-day grace period triggered when Diamond Sports missed a $140 million interest payment on Feb. 15 that was set to expire. 

Diamond Sports is on the hook for about $2 billion in rights fees annually with nearly half of that going to the 14 MLB teams it carries. MLB responded to the turmoil by creating a local media department, helmed by three former RSN execs.  

While MLB geared up for the possibility of producing and broadcasting games via MLB.tv, Diamond Sports said it expects to “continue to operate in the ordinary course during the Chapter 11 process.”

Diamond Sports’ debt load isn’t far off what Sinclair paid to acquire the RSNs along with chunks of Marquee and YES Network from Disney in August 2019. Federal regulators mandated Disney to divest the RSNs as part of its purchase of Twenty-First Century Fox.

The trend of cord-cutting — where cable and satellite customers paid for an RSN as part of a bundle — picked up steam after the Sinclair purchase. The company responded with Bally’s Sports+ last year, which starts at $19.99 a month.

Advertising inventory for both the Division I men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments is sold out. 

On Tuesday, ESPN announced that it had filled all “in-game sponsorship opportunities” for the women’s tournament. Theresa Palmieri, VP of Disney Advertising Sports Brand Solutions, said that advertisers have “flocked to these offerings.”

In total, ESPN has galvanized 15 broadcast sponsors and close to 100 advertisers, from Aflac and Under Armour to the U.S. Army. 

Advertisers aren’t just interested in the 67 games, however. The women’s tournament has also sold opportunities for its pregame shows for the Final Four semifinals and championship game to Capital One. AT&T has bought into the Final Four MegaCast featuring Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi for the second year in a row. 

ESPN is likely looking to prove its ability to elevate the women’s tournament ahead of media rights negotiations for the product — as well as other NCAA championships. The current deal, which ends in 2024, pays out about $34 million a year. But experts have predicted that the women’s basketball tournament alone could be worth $112 million in 2025.

Men’s March Madness

CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery also “virtually” sold out of their advertising inventory for the men’s tournament, the networks told AdWeek earlier this month. 

They earned more than $1 billion, more than they did for the 2022 tournament.

The bids for Manchester United are getting stronger.

Although Elliott Management isn’t looking to take full control of the club, the fund manager has reportedly made it to the second round of bidding to provide funding to the bidders or the Glazers — who purchased the club in 2005 for a reported $942 million — if they decide to keep the team.

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is confident that INEOS’ bid will beat out one from Qatari Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani despite it reportedly being $1.2 billion less than Sheikh Jassim’s — and even lower than the $7.2 billion price tag the Glazers reportedly want. 

Ratcliffe is reportedly in discussions to bring on Dave Brailsford, director of sport at INEOS, to help revamp the team. 

Sheikh Jassim, who is interested in a full takeover and is bidding with no debt, will reportedly not “overpay” for the club.

The offers from Ratcliffe’s INEOS and Sheikh Jassim are the only two public bids, but CBS has reported that a fan-led consortium called “Red Devils United” is preparing a bid for the club, although it has not formally entered the process. 

Ares Management and Oaktree Capital have also reportedly offered funding to bidders.

It was reported earlier this month that the team’s staff is expected to receive “clarity” on its ownership situation before the season ends in May.

A top bidder for the 2030 World Cup has made a switch.

Spain and Portugal have added Morocco to their bid, while Ukraine appears to have been removed. If selected, Morocco — the next-closest country to Spain besides France — would be the first North African nation to host World Cup games.

The bid, which has UEFA’s backing, initially included Ukraine and was presented as an opportunity for the World Cup to heal damage from Russia’s invasion.

However, as the conflict rages on, each day it becomes less likely that Ukraine could host World Cup matches in seven years.

The other contenders to host the 2030 World Cup are a joint bid from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, and another from Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Egypt.

Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women was brought into focus when U.S. Women’s National Team star Alex Morgan said it was “bizarre” for FIFA to entertain having Saudi Arabia’s tourism board as a sponsor for the 2023 Women’s World Cup: “I would not even be supported or accepted in that country.”

“What Saudi Arabia can do is put efforts into their women’s team, that was just formed only a couple of years ago and doesn’t even have a current ranking within the FIFA ranking system because of the such few games that they’ve played,” Morgan added.