But on Wednesday, attorneys of BSN’s parent company Diamond Sports Group made it clear to a bankruptcy judge that the company would prefer not to broadcast Twins games in 2025. In fact, they feel the same way about 10 of the other 11 teams they held TV rights for in 2024.

Diamond Sports Group (Bally) doesn’t want the Minnesota Twins anymore

According to Evan Drellich (The Athletic), the only team DSG wants to retain going forward is the Atlanta Braves. Diamond Sports’ lawyers seemed to offer some sort of safety net for the Minnesota Twins, along with any other previous partner desperate enough to take them up on what must be a pretty underwhelming package.

Evan notes that if the Twins or any of these other 10 teams want to re-up with DSG, they’ll have to renegotiate new deals. But The Athletic’s lead insider on this story makes it clear at the bottom of his two-tweet thread: “Diamond only wants Atlanta”.

Diamond carried 12 MLB teams in 2024. Three — Cleveland, Texas and Minnesota — were on 1-year deals.

But 9 other teams were under contract for 2025: Anaheim, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Tampa Bay.

Diamond only wants Atlanta.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) October 2, 2024

It’s yet to be seen what this means for the Twins, and their plans for 2024. The last we heard, it felt like a reunion with Bally Sports North was the most likely outcome. After this report, that no longer appears to be the case. Without knowing how much this new offer is for, it’s impossible to project where this leads.

Other options for Twins on TV next season

We know the Twins have had conversations with local TV stations, about a possible agreement. We haven’t seen the Twins play on a legacy TV network — like ABC (KSTP Ch. 5), CBS (WCCO Ch. 4) or FOX (KMSP Ch. 9) — or any of their sister channels since 2010, when they last had a split season contract with what is now My29 (WFTC).

Local TV hasn’t had exclusive rights to an entire Twins season since 1982, when they played an entire season on FOX9. The other very likely option is the Minnesota Twins and MLB launching their own channel, powered by MLB.TV.

You’d be able to stream directly through that service, but the channel would more than likely be a part of a separate package or channel with most TV providers. That option would be great for fans, but the Twins do not feel it would be good for their pocketbooks.

Related: Minnesota Twins Retaining Rocco Baldelli’s Right-Hand Man

No matter where Minnesota Twins games end up, it’s expected that Corey Provus, Audra Martin, Justin Morneau and the other from Bally Sports North will be re-hired by whoever picks up their games, should the organization decide to give up on Diamond Sports Group.

As of now, it doesn’t appear this latest day in court will affect what Diamond Sports Group has going with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Wild, who recently re-upped with Bally Sports North recently.

Bally Sports North re-ups as TV home to the Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves

Instead of closing up shop, DSG has reportedly inked a new deal with the NBA and NHL. According to reports, it will make Bally Sports North the television home of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild, for at least one more season. Technically, the new contract still has to be approved by a judge.

Diamond Sports has reached deals with the NBA and NHL, deals it has said for a while it was closing in on. There's a hearing scheduled for Sept. 3 where, presumably, we'll get some sort of overall update on the bankruptcy process.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) August 23, 2024

Not every team under the Bally Sports umbrella will continue forward. The Wolves and Wild remain on BSN, but the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans will not. This new deal doesn’t guarantee Diamond Sports Group’s emergence from bankruptcy, but it certainly doesn’t hurt their chances.

Per this new agreement, even if DSG were to shut down operations in the middle of the winter sports season, Bally Sports network would be contractually obligated to finish out these newly inked contracts with the NBA and NHL. The deal does not have any effect on MLB or the Minnesota Twins.

In a way, Diamond’s new agreements with hockey and basketball throw the spotlight back on MLB, which does not have certainty as to whether Diamond will operate for its 2025 season. MLB declined comment Friday.

Evan Drellich – The Athletic

What does this mean for Minnesota sports fans?

Many local Minnesota sports fans were hoping this wouldn’t happen, especially after reports dropped a couple weeks ago that local television stations were waiting to make bids on TV rights, which may have allowed free over-the-air games for anyone with an antenna.

Related: MN Local TV Stations in Contact with Twins, Wild and Timberwolves

But, at least for now, that will not happen. The Twins will finish out their 2024 regular season on Bally Sports North. Then, in a couple of months, that’s where the Wolves and Wild games will be, as well. Remember, cord cutters can still subscribe to BSN on Fubo TV (7-day free trial).

Unlike with Twins games, fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild will also be able to purchase a stream-only package that will cover both teams this winter, through the Bally Sports app. No additional cable or streaming package will be necessary for those two teams.

On the call that year was legendary local hockey play-by-play artist, Bob Kurtz. His color commentator was Larry Osterman, a former longtime Detroit Tigers announcer. In 1983, Spectrum Sports came to the Twin Cities, on what is now the CW Channel (Ch. 23).

For the next 40+ years, local pro sports (other than the Minnesota Vikings) would be broadcast, at least part time, on a cable or satellite (and eventually streaming) channel, and no longer available over-the-air. The Minnesota Timberwolves had a part-time over-the-air TV schedule from inception (1989), through 2003-04.

WTF is “over-the-air” television?

For the kids, you can google “antenna TV” OR “analog TV” OR “rabbit ears TV”. No subscription needed. Get an antenna, and tune it properly. Boom, free television. And yes, it still exists and works today. Look them up on Amazon.

Anyway, back to present day, and the point of this article. The Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Wild, Minnesota Timberwolves, and other non-major local professional sports teams (Lynx, Loons, etc) are broadcast on Bally Sports North, which is part of a string of local “Bally Sports” regional networks across the country.

Related: Twins Back on Bally Sports; Blackout & Streaming Issues Remain Unfixed… for Now

Their parent company, Diamond Sports Group, is currently going through a very public bankruptcy. In the very near future, it is very possible a judge will decide that DSG’s regional sports TV model is not salvageable. If that happens, Bally Sports North will cease to exist. At that point, broadcast rights for the Twins, Wild and Timberwolves would be up for sale.

Local MN TV Stations are “ready to strike” if Minnesota Twins, Wild and Timberwolves broadcast rights come available

So, what are the other options? You guessed it, a move back to local, over-the-air TV. It’s transition that makes a lot of sense, for all three teams. Local insider Darren “Doogie” Wolfson (who works for KSTP – ABC-CH5) on the Mackey & Judd Show (SKOR North) this week. He reports that multiple local television stations are “ready to strike” if Diamond Sports goes out of business.

“Let’s just say, multiple TV outlets in town have had conversations with all three organizations (Timberwolves, Wild, Twins). If that judge, at some point, declares that Diamond Sports is no longer an entity, that Diamond Sports is no longer a thing, it is going to be a crazy two to three week stretch.

There are going to be a lot of meetings, a lot of phone calls, a lot of people here in town interested in carrying Wild and Wolves games, put it that way. Because, Twins, their season is almost over. We have clarity on what the Twins’ TV situation will look like for the rest of this season.

But, there’s still some open-endedness on, ‘what does the Wild TV situation look like?’; ‘what does the Wolves TV situation look like?’. So, I’m telling you, like we need to wait on on the judge, but let’s just say… there’s been a good amount of conversations. And multiple TV outlets in town are ready to strike, if that judge says, ‘hey Diamond Sports, you’re done, you’re no longer a thing’.”

Darren Wolfson – Mackey & Judd (SKOR North)

Other options for Bally Sports teams

There are many theories as to what each team would do, if TV broadcasting rights were put in their hands. For example, Major League Baseball is already distributing and selling TV rights in certain markets (San Diego, Arizona).

In those markets, fans also have a stream-only option for cord-cutters through MLB.TV. Problem solved, at least for the Twins, right? Not exactly. A lack of revenue and slow build of subscriptions in the San Diego and Arizona markets make a switch to that strategy extremely risky.

Related: MLB Pipeline Ranks the Minnesota Twins How High After Recent Update?!

That’s especially true for a revenue-conscious MLB teams, like the Twins. And we haven’t even touched on the Timberwolves and Wild’s situation, should Diamond Sports Group be forced to cease operation in the regional sports TV space.

As Doogie noted, those latter two teams would probably be the first affected (and fought over), if Diamond Sports shuts down. I’m not going to lie… it would be a lot of fun to have these local teams back on over-the-air TV.

DSG (Diamond Sports Group) does not know if it is going to emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy successfully. There are too many variables in play still, they claim. Thus, in the hearing Wednesday, they asked for and received another indefinite extension on their requirement to submit a plausible plan to emerge from bankruptcy.

Diamond has now indefinitely pushed that date back, with [their attorney] saying multiple times the company is aware of a need to be hasty.

“If we conclude that we cannot reorganize the business, which is a possibility, we will similarly pivot quickly,” Hermann said. “That is not our focus today, but that is a possibility and that’s not lost on us.”

The Athletic

Comcast + DSG talks good news for Minnesota Twins fans…?

In other words, we still do not know if Bally Sports North will be a thing in this market, after the baseball season. Seems like a pretty unproductive legal session, right? Well maybe not. Today’s outcome (or lack-there-of) means the Twins will likely remain on BSN for the duration of the 2024 season.

But one of the attorneys of Diamond Sports Group did bring some good news with him into the courtroom today, claiming during the proceedings that DSG is nearing a new deal with Comcast, after their previous deal expired at the end of May and has yet to be renewed.

“We believe that we have made substantial progress on resolving our issues with Comcast, and we have the intention of fully documenting and executing an agreement with Comcast to broadcast our RSNs in the very near term.”

Diamond Sports Group attorney, Brian Hermann (via The Athletic)

What does this mean for Timberwolves, Wild?

Diamond Sports Group told the judge today that they are also in active discussions to re-up on deals with their NHL and NBA teams, which include the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild.

It’s important to remember, however, that DSG owns the streaming rights included in their contracts with DSG. With many of the MLB teams under their umbrella, including the Twins, that is not the case.

Related: Falvey Confirms Minnesota Twins’ Plans at Trade Deadline

So while a new contract between Comcast and Diamond Sports would fix streaming and viewing problems for residential Xfinity customers, it will not solve the larger issue for cord cutters who do not want to subscribe to cable, DirecTV or Fubo.

Sure, there were a lot of fans at our beautiful home ballpark soaking in a classic July summer day in the Twin Cities. But there are plenty of local baseball fans who wanted nothing to do with public interaction today.

Think about all the fans falling in and out of consciousness on their couch today, with the game on TV, as they try to recharge their weekly batteries after a long 4th of July weekend. They wanted to see Christian Vazquez’ 9th inning walk-off bomb too.

TWINS WIN! pic.twitter.com/7frJjo0n9w

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 7, 2024

But unless you subscribe to Charter, DirecTV or Fubo (or maybe a small town cable provide nobody has ever heard of), that isn’t legally possible. The millions of Xfinity (Comcast) subscribers across the state, along with cord cutters who have yet to subscribe to Fubo, are still unable to watch their favorite baseball team. Here is a catch-up on how we got here, just in case you need it.

Hope on the horizon for Minnesota Twins fans who can’t currently watch games on TV…

There may be hope on the horizon, though, according to what Dave St. Peter told Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins for Sunday’s paper. The Twins president seems fairly confident that an upcoming Diamond Sports (Bally) bankruptcy hearing scheduled for July 29-30 could end the regional streaming war that is currently keeping fans from watching games.

If so, in-market games may become available via standalone blackout-free streaming packages for Xfinity subscribers or fans who have cut the cord and are not willing to pay for an all-encompassing streaming platform (like Fubo).

It looks like the blackout will continue throughout July. Another bankruptcy hearing involving Diamond is scheduled for July 29. St. Peter said he is not “terribly optimistic” that a resolution might happen before then.

St. Peter said that hearing “could be an inflection point either with Comcast and/or with maybe freeing up the ability for us to introduce a direct-to-consumer option in the market for the last couple months of the regular season. That’s certainly our hope.”

Chip Scoggins – Star Tribune

As of now, the Minnesota Twins own the streaming rights to their own games… but Bally Sports still has local blackout laws/restrictions in place, which means neither can stream games locally, without an attached cable, satellite or Fubo service.

Why do July’s Diamond Sports (Bally) bankruptcy hearings matter for Minnesota Twins fans?

But the bankruptcy hearings that are scheduled for July 29-30 are expected to decide the future of Diamond Sports. The judge is determined to rule one way or another whether or not the company that owns Bally Sports regional networks will be allowed to try and emerge out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy or if Diamond Sports will instead be forced to shut down operations.

A confirmation hearing is scheduled for July 29-30, at which point a bankruptcy judge could determine whether Diamond, which runs the regional sports networks (RSN) for 38 MLB, NBA and NHL teams under the name Bally Sports, will move forward as a business or shut down entirely. It’s a decision that could expedite drastic changes in a rapidly evolving media landscape and one that will have a major impact on MLB’s strongly held desire to place media rights under a national umbrella.

ESPN

Either way, one side could be forced to grant the other side standalone streaming rights as part of the proceedings. If Diamond Sports wins, the judge could rule that they cannot operate successfully without having streaming rights, thus forcing the MLB to hand or sell them over.

That would mean that Bally Sports North would be able to offer standalone Twins games on the Bally Sports app for $20/month, just like they do Wild and Wolves games.

Related: The Minnesota Twins Had What They Need to be True World Series Contenders

On the other hand, should the judge rule that Diamond Sports must cease business operation, it’s expected that they would lose the local broadcasting rights that cause games in their local market to be blacked out.

If this is the judge’s decision, the MLB would likely take over the broadcasting of games that are currently done by Bally Sports. That would allow in-market fans to purchase a standalone streaming package through MLB.TV, and not be subject to the blackout restrictions that in-market Twins fans are currently.

Either way, it appears some hope is on the horizon. Until then, just get Fubo for a month so you don’t miss what this team is doing right now. Here is one free week, to try it out.

New Minnesota Twins TV Deal with Bally Sports North official

Judge Chris Lopez says he "happily approves" the Guardians, Rangers, Twins agreements to stay with Diamond and Bally for 2024. "A huge step forward," Lopez says. Now it's official.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 9, 2024

Unfortunately for cord-cutting Twins fans, streaming rights are expected to remain the exact same as they were last season, which we touched on in more detail last week, when news of this agreed-upon contract first came to light.

Related: Derek Falvey Says Twins are Still Working on More Potential Moves

In summary, unless you have the regional sports network as part of your cable, satellite or catch-all streaming provider (like Fubo TV), you will not be able to stream Twins games this summer, if you live within the local broadcast market.

Twins, Diamond request financial documents be sealed from public

As unfortunate as the bad streaming news is, it’s not new. What was new this morning, and what certainly caught the attention of Evan Drellech (The Athletic) was an unusual request made in the courtroom via one of Diamond Sports Group’s attorneys, who asked the judge to make sure that all financial information or any documents containing terms of the new agreements be sealed from the public.

Diamond’s attorney claims that the financial information contained in those records is “highly confidential” and that “the teams would not like [the terms of the agreements] in the public forum”.

I will translate: "Please don't tell fans or the media how much we are paying the teams."

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 9, 2024

As of now, it has not been made clear whether or not the judge accepted Diamond Sports Group’s request to seal the terms of this new agreement, or if he’s expected to.

Pohlads don’t want you to know how cheap they are being

It is very interesting, though. I’ve written recently about reports that the Minnesota Twins do not plan to increase the shrunken player payroll budget, which they announced at the beginning of the season, no matter how much of the lost TV revenue (~$65 million) they recovered in this new Bally Sports North contract.

Related: Will Carlos Santana Play 1st Base or DH for Minnesota Twins?

Thus, it would make sense that the Pohlads do not want us to know how much of their TV revenue they were actually able to save. Team presidents Dave St. Peter and Derek Falvey have talked incessantly the last few months about how much TV revenue uncertainty negatively impacted their ability to spend and make moves this offseason.

But of course, now that there is no more TV uncertainty, and even if they recouped most of that money back, they still aren’t going to bump payroll back near where it was in 2023. So it makes sense they wouldn’t want us to know how much TV money they are putting into their billfold this season, instead of back into the roster.

If were doing shady baseball owner things, I wouldn’t want anyone to know the details surrounding my inexplicable actions either.

Minnesota Twins + New Deal with Bally Sports North: What We Know

Unfortunately, it appears those frustrations may continue to exist in 2024, after details of a new one-year contract between the Twins and Bally Sports North were released late Friday morning. The new agreement still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy judge next week, but the expectation is that approval won’t be a problem.

In the finer details of the contract, as tweeted out here by MLB insider Evan Drellich (The Athletic), a clause appears to restrict both the Twins and Bally Sports North from selling or offering any direct to consumer streaming options during the 2024 season.

One note: Although they have retained their streaming rights, Guardians, Rangers, Twins are *not* in position to do something else with them *this* year. All three teams have a variant of the below highlighted clause, using the Twins as an example: pic.twitter.com/hxgON95i09

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 2, 2024

In other words, the Twins/MLB did NOT sell their streaming rights to Diamond Sports Group (parent company of Bally Sports), as part of this new one-year contract. So as of now, Bally Sports North does not have the authority to offer standalone live streams of Minnesota Twins games directly to a consumer.

This part of the contract is not surprising. Earlier in the week, when this deal was getting close to the finish line, it was reported that the Twins, along with the MLB, did not want to release streaming rights to Diamond Sports Group (Bally) as part of the rumored (at the time) new one-year deal.

Related: How to Stream Timberwolves and Wild Games with Bally Sports App Not Working

What was a bit surprising is the restrictions included for the Minnesota Twins and MLB. They cannot sell their direct-to-consumer streaming rights to a 3rd party for the 2024 season, nor can they stream games directly to fans themselves, without local blackout restrictions coming into play.

Meaning, as of now, nothing about Minnesota Twins broadcasts in 2024 will be different from what fans dealt with during the 2023 season, or in seasons prior. Unless Bally Sports North is offered as part of your…

• Catch-All Stream-Only package – Only option currently is Fubo (My Recommendation)
• Cable TV package – Spectrum, Xfinity, etc.
• DirecTV package (also offers stream-only option)

… you still can’t watch the Minnesota Twins this season, as things currently stand.

What's happening right now is a one-year band-aid that basically runs back the status quo, for a year, and keeps the teams getting paid. What happens for 2025 and beyond is the question https://t.co/L2rkmlQXl8

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 2, 2024

Any good news…?

There are some out there who are holding out hope that this is only the first step in a multi-step process that eventually lands Twins games on Amazon Prime this summer. Diamond Sports Group doesn’t own streaming rights for the Minnesota Twins, or nine other teams that they have TV broadcast rights for.

Related: Minnesota Twins Suddenly Eager to Spend in Free Agency and Falvey is Eyeing Up Outfielders

But for the five teams that they do own streaming rights for, those teams will move over to Amazon Prime as soon as this season. Optimists out there believe another round of negotiations between the MLB, Bally and Amazon will begin, regarding the remaining teams’ streaming future in 2024, after this process is wrapped up.

Remember, this initial contract had already missed multiple deadlines and was under a lot of pressure from the bankruptcy court to get done. Now that it is complete, some of the details they couldn’t agree on under the gun, could, in theory, be revisited.

Don’t lose hope on Twins streaming. I think what the court is doing is not assuming the Diamond-Amazon deal gets done until that’s approved. If that goes through, I’m guessing Twins are streamed by Amazon for a year. Remember, bankruptcy court doesn’t care about fans reaction.

— Judd Zulgad (@jzulgad) February 2, 2024