REPORTS: Cleveland Guardians To Remain On Bally Sports This Season

The Athletic's Evan Drellich and The Associated Press's Tom Withers reported that Cleveland has agreed to a deal with Diamond Sports Group for the 2024 season.

Earlier this offseason, the Cleveland Guardians’ local television broadcasting future was uncertain.

This uncertainty began shortly before the start of last season, when Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last March.

But Cleveland now knows who will be broadcasting its locally televised games this season.

According to The Athletic Senior MLB Writer Evan Drellich, the Guardians will be broadcast by Bally Sports for the 2024 season.

Diamond today asked the court to approve 1-year deals with the Guardians, Rangers and Twins. They'll be broadcast by Bally in 2024. (Anything further would require more negotiation. Diamond didn't have those team's digital rights before and does not now.) https://t.co/aT9hanyLlP

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 2, 2024

A spokesperson from Diamond Sports Group issued this statement to The Athletic:

“We are pleased to have reached agreements with the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers that work for all parties and enable us to continue delivering high-quality, live game broadcasts on Bally Sports to dedicated fans through the 2024 season.”

Additionally, The Associated Press’s Tom Withers reported that the team has confirmed that it has reached an agreement with Diamond Sports Group for this season, pending court approval.

Guardians confirmed they reached agreement with Diamond Sports Group for 2024 season, pending court approval.

— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) February 2, 2024

This will mark Cleveland’s fourth consecutive season on Bally Sports, after first being broadcast on the platform in 2021. Last season, the team received $55 million from Diamond.

Sep 28, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians television broadcaster Rick Manning during a game between the Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field / © David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Diamond’s agreement with the Guardians comes just over two weeks after it formed a partnership with Amazon to stream local games on Prime Video for teams whose direct-to-consumer rights it owns. 

However, Cleveland will not have its games streamed on Prime Video because Diamond does not own its streaming rights.

The Guardians are scheduled to open their 2024 season on the road against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday, March 28 at 10:07 p.m.