With Diamond Sports Group still navigating bankruptcy and an uncertain future, three more MLB teams will have their local television broadcasts produced and distributed by Major League Baseball in 2025. The Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians, and Minnesota Twins will move their broadcasts to MLB next season, joining the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, and San Diego Padres, who came under the umbrella of MLB Advanced Media last season.
“With the media landscape continuing to evolve, Major League Baseball is committed to serving our fans by ensuring they can see their favorite Clubs, removing blackouts where we can, and ultimately growing the reach of our games,” said Noah Garden, MLB Deputy Commissioner, Business and Media. “We are proud to bring Guardians, Brewers, and Twins games to their passionate fan bases with the same high-quality production that we have demonstrated in Arizona, Colorado, and San Diego.”
Diamond, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, formerly produced and distributed all six teams’ games, airing them on various regional sports networks under the Bally Sports brand name.
MLB is taking over the broadcasts of three more teams: Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minnesota. MLB last season handled broadcasts of Arizona, Colorado and San Diego. pic.twitter.com/jwwx7MI7pO
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) October 8, 2024
Three More Teams Moving Local Broadcasts from Diamond to MLB in 2025
The RSN (regional sports network) model has been faltering in recent years due to the growth of cord-cutting. Meanwhile, other issues, like carriage disputes and rising costs of cable, satellite, and streaming services started to put a dent in the revenue of Diamond, which formed when Sinclair and Allen Media Group purchased 22 regional sports networks when federal antitrust regulators required the Walt Disney Corporation to sell them off following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019.
Diamond entered bankruptcy in March 2023 and has been in the restructuring process ever since.
From a viewer’s standpoint, very little will change. Announcers will largely stay the same, but production value will improve under MLB, which plans to bring some of the same technology and features it currently employs for national telecasts.
“In addition to expanding reach, Major League Baseball is utilizing resources to provide fans with an outstanding production that features new technology, improved picture quality, and better access to the game and players,” said Billy Chambers, MLB Executive Vice President, Local Media.
With MLB handling and producing the local broadcasts, RSNs no longer have territorial control over streaming options which means fans will be able to watch their home teams in-market through the MLB TV app, without the blackout restrictions that have been a problem for viewers for years.
In addition, teams will be able to sell their product directly to cable, satellite, and streaming providers while also selling their own advertising, which should help increase revenue, especially for smaller-market teams like the Brewers.
Photo Credit: © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
