Bally to drop Reds baseball in 2025

[BlackPete Ibold]

Along with all other teams not the Braves:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/581...-11-mlb-teams/

So really not sure where that leaves us out of market folks, real impact likely to effect Reds payroll in a negative fashion.

[KYExtemper]

This whole thing is a mess and I feel like MLB hasn't done enough to get in front of it.

Will definitely hurt team payroll because if I had to guess, MLB is going to have to find a way to get the 11 teams a broadcast partner OR assume it themselves. That might mean no blackouts on MLB TV for Reds games, though. And who knows, maybe those of us with YouTube TV might actually be able to see some games.

[Roy Tucker]

lol. Nothing like being sharp and on top of your business. From the article:

MLB’s representatives said they were “sandbagged” by this news and were not prepared to respond fully.

“We have no information about what is being done,” Jim Bromley, lawyer for MLB, said at a hearing on Wednesday. “We’ve had no opportunity to review and now we’re in front of the court and being asked to make our comments

[cumberlandreds]

lol. Nothing like being sharp and on top of your business. From the article:

They had to know Bally was in trouble with these teams. Didn't they drop a few others in the past couple of seasons? Anyway MLB needs to use these that have gone under to put these teams under one TV contract similar to the NFL. Maybe eventually everyone would fall into line and the TV portion of money would be equitable for everyone. I know that's a pipe dream but you never know.

[WildcatFan]

I don't know that MLB wants to take on 11 more team broadcasts with five months' notice. When this happened to Arizona (and others) last year, reports were that they lost $60 million in TV money. I don't feel good about handing this ownership group a tailor-made excuse to go even cheaper.

[RedTeamGo!]

Wonder if someone like Apple TV will buy up the rights to these teams. Would be a smart move by them. I would immediately re-sub to them. They have good shows anyways.

[Wonderful Monds]

Wonder if someone like Apple TV will buy up the rights to these teams. Would be a smart move by them. I would immediately re-sub to them. They have good shows anyways.

I imagine if no one else it’ll be a streamer. YouTube TV perhaps since they do NFL ticket. Maybe Amazon, who also does NFL.

Max has live sports too. Really could be any of them.

[RedTeamGo!]

I imagine if no one else it’ll be a streamer. YouTube TV perhaps since they do NFL ticket. Maybe Amazon, who also does NFL.

Max has live sports too. Really could be any of them.

I wonder what that looks like. Let's say Apple TV buys the rights to broadcast 11 teams of MLB for $1 billion. Does that get divvied up by those 11 teams or all 30 teams?

[757690]

This might explain why the Cardinals are looking to shed salary. I would expect the Reds to use this as a reason to cut payroll as well.

[backbencher]

I imagine if no one else it’ll be a streamer. YouTube TV perhaps since they do NFL ticket. Maybe Amazon, who also does NFL.

Max has live sports too. Really could be any of them.

I agree that's most likely.

It's also an economic challenge. Streamers will compete with the MLB.TV product. If I'm a Reds fan living in Dallas, I subscribe to MLB.TV and, perhaps, Prime - separately. If the Reds end up on Prime, I'm reducing that to one subscription, and it's not MLB.TV (even though I think the MLB.TV product is truly excellent). That lowers the value of MLB.TV. On the streamer side, if Prime (for example) already has a 20% penetration in the Cincinnati market, the value of adding the Reds will be reduced. All issues that can be negotiated - but I think the bottom line is lower revenue likely for the Bally clubs. So, a pretty dark day. Depending on how nimble MLB and teams are, they may even have to open the CBA to address it. One solution would be greater revenue sharing, but that cannot happen quickly or quietly.

[757690]

I wonder what that looks like. Let's say Apple TV buys the rights to broadcast 11 teams of MLB for $1 billion. Does that get divvied up by those 11 teams or all 30 teams?

I imagine it would look very similar to the structure Bally’s and Fox Sports had earlier, just on streaming instead of cable. Each team would negotiate their own deal with whomever does the steaming.

[Coopdaddy67]

I have a really tough time believing that Reds games won't be widely available among all the service providers in the area on their standard packages.

That applies to the other 10 teams in their local markets as well.

[Strikes Out Looking]

Two things I would bet on:

1. The Reds will be available on tv be it a streamer, a streamer created local product (Amazon is interested, that is one of the reasons why they bailed on their investment with Diamond Sports) or a mlb produced product. Those living in the Cincy area will be able to watch the Reds in 2025.
2. The Reds will immediately use this as a reason to drop payroll next year. No Nick Martinez extension (maybe even not offering him the one year deal that would result in a draft pick if he doesn't take it), no veteran signee, and no extensions for TySteve or any one else.

[Sea Ray]

I could be wrong but I think this will work out better for Reds fans than Bally did. Don't know about the Reds ownership. Let's follow this closely and see what happens

[RiverRat13]

180 million adults in the U.S. already have Amazon Prime. I think that would be the most advantageous solution for both MLB fans and for MLB to push out their product.