Texas Rangers TV Deal Uncertain With Bally Sports Payment Looming

Bally Sports and parent company Diamond Sports Group are navigating bankruptcy as a payment to the Texas Rangers is coming due.

The next hurdle for the Texas Rangers and Diamond Sports Group is coming up in mid-April, according to Sports Business Journal.

SBJ reported on several regional sports network issues Monday, noting that Diamond Sports Group — owners of Bally Sports Networks — hasn’t made its rights payments to the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians yet. Diamond now enters a 15-day cure period to make the payment.

Next up? It’s the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds. SBJ reported that the Reds are not expected to be paid on time. It also reported that there is less certainty around the payment to the Rangers.

Diamond Sports Group is going through bankruptcy proceedings. It owns the rights to broadcast games for 14 MLB teams, including the Rangers. Major League Baseball says is has a plan to broadcast games if DSG is unable to. But that involves teams getting their rights back. For that to happen, DSG must become insolvent or give teams their rights back.

Since DSG went into bankruptcy last month, it has made rights payments to several teams, including the Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers. DSG also made its payment to the San Diego Padres at the end of its cure period after skipping the payment.

The Rangers have already informed DSG that the franchise will file to get its rights back if the company becomes insolvent. The Rangers sent a letter stating as such to DSG once the company filed for bankruptcy.

This also comes as SBJ reported that the Rangers’ Opening Day ratings for Thursday’s win over the Philadelphia Phillies were up more than 30 percent from last year. Many Dallas-Fort Worth viewers are frustrated with the lack of access to Bally Sports Southwest in the market.

BSSW cannot be seen on most major linear cable plans and Rangers games are not available on the Bally’s streaming app as MLB has not given DSG those rights.

More From SI’s Inside The Rangers:

1. Texas Rangers MVP in 2023?
2. Predicting Texas Rangers 2023 Record
3. Jose Altuve Injury Potentially Helps Texas Rangers Playoff Chances
4. MLB Plan for Television Texas Rangers
5. Why did Bochy Tab deGrom for Opening Day?
6. Bally Sports Southwest to Televise Nearly All Rangers Games
7. Texas Rangers to Wear Nike City Connect Jerseys for First Time
8. Texas Rangers Unveil Exciting New Ballpark Food
9. Rangers Believe They're as Good as Astros, Dodgers
10. Rangers Rotation Set Behind Jacob deGrom

---

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.