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The seemingly inevitable liquidation of Diamond Sports — a process that gained steam when all NBA and NHL agreed to truncated one-year contracts to carry games this year on Bally Sports channels, and with MLB on a similar path during recent negotiations — was thrown a major curveball this week.
Instead, Diamond Sports will get an influx of cash from settling a lawsuit with Sinclair and a new investment from Amazon involving streaming rights. The amount is enough to pay off its largest creditors and emerge from bankruptcy as a solvent entity.
"We are thrilled to have reached a comprehensive restructuring agreement that provides a detailed framework for a reorganization plan and substantial new financing that will enable Diamond to operate and thrive beyond 2024," Diamond Sports CEO David Preschlack said in a statement.
The stunning turnaround, which I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast, has significant implications for the Twins — and potentially for other local teams and Minnesota sports viewers in general.
As Major League Baseball and Diamond Sports engaged in deep talks this winter, logic indicated the sides were getting close to an agreement for Diamond to carry teams for one more season before rights dissolved for everyone in 2025.
That path could have led to a resolution for the Twins — a local TV free agent after their Bally Sports North contract expired at the end of last season — as soon as this week. The expectation was that they could wind up on BSN for one more year before negotiating along with other teams a longer-term deal with a different entity (perhaps MLB itself) in 2025.
Instead, a resolution for the Twins could be at least a month away and could test how comfortable the team is with a lack of clarity as spring training and the regular season quickly approach.
It raises the possibility of Diamond, and by extension Bally Sports, continuing to be the local TV home of the Twins beyond just this year, particularly if Amazon comes through with a robust streaming package through Prime Video.
And it could be viewed as a showdown, with MLB on one side and Diamond Sports plus Amazon on the other.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred balked at the idea of a multi-year Amazon partnership with Diamond recently, preferring instead to deal directly with Amazon, but the new deal with Diamond would reportedly give Amazon streaming rights to five teams (Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay) in 2024.
What this means for MLB — not to mention those recently negotiated deals with the NBA and NHL — remains to be seen.
But the upshot of Wednesday is this: Maybe 2024 isn't the last year of Diamond Sports and Bally Sports channels after all.
Here are four more things to know today:
*La Velle E. Neal III took a spin through the 25-year anniversary of the Vikings' loss to the Falcons in the NFC title game, and I was joined by two longtime friends and fans to talk about it on today's podcast.
*Jim Harbaugh and Bill Belichick being available in the same NFL coach hiring cycle is going to make this an interesting month.
*A significant amount of uncertainty about the future direction of the franchise told the story of the first day of training camp for Minnesota United.
*Thursday's podcast will feature Gophers men's hockey talk with Randy Johnson.
