Major League Baseball and its commissioner, Rob Manfred, have rejected a proposal to have Amazon invest $150 million in Sinclair's bankrupt regional sports networks subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, and assume long-term control over the local streaming rights of 11 MLB clubs, the New York Post reports, citing unnamed sources.
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“Manfred said if you want a digital deal it will be with us,” the paper quoted one of its sources as saying.
MLB is on the docket in the Houston bankruptcy court overseeing Diamond's restructuring to propose a plan to keep 11 of its teams on the company's Bally Sports-branded channels through next season, at licensing terms lower than previously contracted rates in some cases.
That deal would be similar in scope to short-term arrangements already made between Diamond and the NBA and NHL. But it appears that MLB isn’t interested in a deal that ties up its teams’ local rights, particularly the digital ones, beyond next season.
According to The Post, Diamond wanted to negotiate a long-term digital rights deal with MLB so it could enlist Amazon's lifeline.
Diamond has been in Chapter 11 restructuring since March. The company’s lawyers still haven’t rendered a restructuring plan.
