Dave St. Peter reveals how much Twins get paid by Bally Sports' owner

The Twins are in a court battle with Diamond Sports Group, which operates the Bally Sports Regional Network.
Dave St. Peter reveals how much Twins get paid by Bally Sports' owner
Dave St. Peter reveals how much Twins get paid by Bally Sports' owner /

Thursday marks the second full day of the broadcasting battle between Diamond Sports Groups and the four Major League Baseball teams, including the Minnesota Twins. 

Happening in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas, Twins President Dave St. Peter was called to the stand on Thursday and he confirmed how much money Diamond Sports Group pays the Twins for telecast rights on Bally Sports North, and how recent negotiations between the two sides led to a standoff in the courts. 

According to St. Peter, the team's current contract with Diamond Sports Group was a 12-year deal that ends this year. Diamond is contracted to pay the Twins around $60 million annually. 

  • $54.8 million for telecast rights
  • $1 million for ancillary items
  • $1.6 million signing bonus
  • $2 million for in-market streaming

The Twins and Diamond had an exclusive negotiating window from March 2022 to April 2023, and during that time Diamond offered the Twins a new deal that would've paid them around $54 million-a-year over a five-year deal, according to numbers discussed with St. Peter on the stand. That offer included 1% annual escalators the deal would've paid the Twins upwards of $56 million in 2028. 

"We subsequently countered to this offer and then received a follow-up from Diamond with a a slight increase from this original offer, and that really concluded the substance of the negotiations," said St. Peter. 

He said the Twins have not engaged in any "substantive" talks with vendors interested in taking control of the telecast rights, but they "expect to do so in the near future."

"We've heard from a number of interested parties who would love to engage with the Twins," St. Peter explained. "Our ownership felt it was best to see how this proceeding played out."

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Chris Lopez has said he'll make a ruling on the case as soon as closing arguments are made, which could happen later Thursday. 

There is a chance that Diamond gives telecast rights back to the Twins, at which point games would be produced and delivered to viewers by Major League Baseball. 

Related: Twins games could be on different channels in immediate future


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.