The owner of Bally Sports could only have rights to the Atlanta Braves in baseball next season

Diamond Sports Group, the largest owner of regional sports networks, could only broadcast one Major League Baseball team's games next season.

During a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston on Wednesday, regional sports network operator Bally Sports announced it will lay off the seven teams it has under contract for the 2025 season.

As part of his restructuring plan, Diamond plans to void the contracts of the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays and attempt to rework the contracts of the five franchises that partially own their regional sports networks – the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels , Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

The contracts of the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers expire at the end of the regular season.

This would make the Atlanta Braves the only franchise whose contract would remain unchanged.

Lawyers for Diamond said during the hearing that the company had made proposals to the 11 teams that were no longer under contract, had rejected deals or were joint ventures.

Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since filing for protection in March 2023. The company said in a financial filing last year that it had $8.67 billion in debt.

“Today marks an important step forward for Diamond with the filing of a basic plan designed to enable us to emerge from bankruptcy as a viable, sustainable company before the end of the year,” Diamond Sports said in a statement. “We firmly believe that with our linear and digital offerings we have created the most economical and fan-friendly engine for all of our team partners.”

Diamond attorney Andrew Goldman said during the 30-minute hearing that discussions with all teams were ongoing.

MLB attorney James Bromley said he was surprised by the reorganization plan and said they were “left in the dust” since they only found out about it less than two hours before the hearing began.

“We have no information about what is being done,” Bromley said. “We have not had the opportunity to review and now we are in court being asked to give our comments.”

In the last two seasons, Major League Baseball was forced to take over the broadcasts of the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies after an agreement could not be reached.

Goldman also said during the hearing that Diamond is “on track to find a new naming rights partner, which is a major development for the company, as well as a commercial agreement with one or more streaming partners with respect to the digital rights that will accompany the company.” Company has.” will own.”

Diamond also owns the rights to 13 NBA and eight NHL teams.

Judge Christopher Lopez has scheduled a follow-up session for Oct. 9, with a final hearing on the reorganization plan scheduled for Nov. 14.

Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group bought The Walt Disney Co.'s regional sports networks for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was approved by the Justice Department to sell the networks in order to acquire 21st Century Fox's film and television assets.

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