MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred again offers solution to Twins’ TV issue

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – As many Twins fans remain blacked out from watching games on cable, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says a league-produced broadcast with available local streaming is a potential alternative for next season.

The Twins agreed to a one-year contract extension in February with Diamond Sports, the parent company of Bally Sports North. Twins games haven’t been available on Comcast since May 1 because of a contract dispute between Diamond, which is attempting to chart a path out of bankruptcy, and the cable distributor.

“We have said to the clubs: We’re available to you as an alternative,” Manfred said Tuesday. “If, in fact, your rights are up, and you find an RSN [regional sports network] deal whether it’s with Bally’s or somebody else — or for that matter, an over-the-air deal that you like, they are your local rights. God bless you, do what you want to do.”

The Twins explored potential partners with their TV rights last offseason, including the MLB-produced version, before reuniting with Bally Sports for another season.

There are three teams — San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks — who have league-produced broadcasts after losing their deals with their regional sports networks. The league made distribution deals with some cable providers, and they can be streamed locally on the MLB website for $99.99 (or $19.99 per month) with no blackouts.

“We have a distribution deal with Comcast unlike Bally’s,” Manfred said. “We’ll go direct to distributor on the cable side, and we will light up MLB.TV in-market to give you a digital alternative. We think that will increase our reach in terms of giving people who have cut the cord the opportunity to watch local games.”

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Among the three MLB-produced broadcasts, Manfred said San Diego has been the most successful market, “approaching 40,000 subscribers,” for the online streaming service.

“We’ve had real success on the digital side,” Manfred said. “Having said that, from a revenue perspective, it is not generating what the RSNs did. The RSNs were a great business, lots of people paid for programming they didn’t necessarily want. It’s hard to replicate that kind of revenue absent that kind of bundling concept.”

Manfred wants to obtain the TV rights from all 30 teams to set up a nationalized streaming package by 2028, a change from the regional sports networks model. He said he met with media companies at a Sun Valley, Idaho, conference last week, discussing how live sports fit into the future of streaming.

He credited NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for agreeing to a reported 11-year, $76 billion contract package with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon Prime Video.

“When you talk to people in the streaming business, they are not really interested in buying the state of Wisconsin and two counties in Michigan,” Manfred said. “They want to be able to stream, quite frankly, all over the U.S. and Canada, but more broadly, internationally.

“Those conversations are a product of owners saying, holy cow, the RSN business is really deteriorating. We know the future is going to be streaming. What we’re hearing from the streamers is they want a more national product. We need to be responsive to what people want to buy.”

There will inevitably be some pushback from big-market teams on a nationalized TV package, and Manfred says they may have to start with only half the league. The New York Yankees collected $143 million from their TV network in 2022, according to Forbes.

The Twins made $54.8 million from Bally Sports North last year, and almost certainly returned for much less money this season. Diamond asked a federal bankruptcy court to keep this year’s contract figure under seal.

“Maybe a different issue when we get more prepared to go back to market in 2028, but certainly in this interim period, it’s up to the clubs to make a judgment as to whether the alternative we’re offering is the best one, or whether there is another better alternative in the market,” Manfred said. “I’m big on the idea we want them to do something, if we think we have a model that really works, we’ve got to be the best just like any other business.”