Amazon is in talks with bankrupt regional sports networks subsidiary Diamond Sports Group about a possible multiyear investment and streaming partnership, the Walls Street Journal reported.
Under such an arrangement, Amazon Prime Video would become the exclusive streaming home for regular-season, non-nationally-televised games played by nearly 40 Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League teams remaining under the Diamond's Bally Sports umbrella.
WSJ quoted a "source with direct knowledge on the matter," but neither Diamond or Amazon have officially commented on any of this.
Also read: Amid Diamond's Apparent Detente With MLB, Twins Return to Bally Sports Remains Doubtful
Diamond was set up by its now estranged corporate parent, Sinclair Broadcast Group, after Sinclair paid $10.6 billion to purchase 19 regional sports networks from Fox back in 2019.
Several years, a few questionable Sinclair stock buybacks and numerous quarters of massive cord-cutting later, the Diamond subsidiary found itself mired in more than $8 billion of debt, its channels generating only a fraction of their previous margins.
Diamond entered Chapter 11 way back in March, hoping to leverage its teams into renegotiating deals and forking over streaming rights.
By fall, with nary a viable restructuring plan in sight, Diamond and Bally Sports appeared destined for liquidation. Diamond suffered alienated league constituencies, notably MLB, seemingly ready to move onto alternative local TV arrangements. It also had to renew pay TV carriage with Comcast, DirecTV and Charter Communications, a prospect that appeared dim given the market and Diamond's seemingly soft leverage.
But lately, things have been looking up for Diamond.
It was able to sign short-terms deals with the NBA, Comcast and DirecTV that got it a lot closer to buying another year of life. Those prospects got a whole lot more solid late last week, when the MLB agreed in mediation to a framework that would keep 11 teams currently still under contract in the Bally Sports fold through the 2024 season.
Diamond's ongoing fate had largely been written off after that, most notably by its estranged parent, Sinclair, which is currently fighting its spun-off subsidiary in court over things like management fees. Sinclair's lawyers even told federal bankruptcy judge Chris Lopez last week that Diamond better cough up the management fees it allegedly owes Sinclair now because the broadcaster doesn't believe its subsidiary will be around much longer.
Of course, a major backing from Amazon, which is looking for ways in to live sports, could change Diamond's trajectory in a dramatic way.
And it could also be a game-changer for live sports, with Amazon capturing a fairly large piece of live-sports access for relatively not that much money.
Where there's a will, there's a way, of course, and Amazon has both.
For its part, Amazon recently paid the NFL $100 million just to stream one regular-season game on Black Friday.
