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    Cincinnati Reds television 2025 Bally Sports Diamond Sports MLB bankruptcy

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    The Cincinnati Reds are severing ties with parent company Bally Sports Network, assuming a bankruptcy court filing Friday night is approved by the court, according to a report by The Athletic.

    That likely means the Reds will join other teams in moving to MLB for its 2025 broadcast platform, though that could not be immediately confirmed, and the Reds declined to comment until the settlement agreement filed Friday is approved by to the court.

    The next hearing in this two-year bankruptcy saga of Diamond Sports Group and the remaining teams with rights relationships with DSG will take place next week.

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    The Reds are one of the few MLB teams with a “joint venture” relationship with DSG, which meant they shared ownership in the local broadcast operation. Friday’s filing would dissolve that with a DSG purchase of the Reds’ stake for “nominal consideration” or $1.

    What is clear from a competitive point of view is that the end of their long-term broadcast partnership is expected to mean a steep reduction in local broadcast rights fees, at least in the short term.

    Before Friday, sources said the Reds faced the likelihood of at least a 20 percent cut if they renegotiated to stay with DSG, and team president Nick Krall said as he left the annual general managers’ meetings in San Antonio from Thursday, that he still hasn’t done it. received a 2025 payroll.

    That limbo is unlikely to change until the court rules in the coming days on Friday’s case.

    But sources said before the latest news that a decision to reject DSG’s renegotiation offer to go with MLB would almost certainly mean a deeper hit to revenue in the near term. And because the final number on that revenue stream would depend on factors like advertising revenue and streaming subscriptions, it would be impossible to predict a concrete figure.

    The Reds’ filing comes a day after St. Louis Cardinals announced an agreement to remain with DSG’s recently rebranded FanDuel Sports Network on a renegotiated, three-year contract that represents a roughly 25 percent discount from the Cardinals’ original deal. with the company—which was believed to be in excess of $75 million annually.

    The average annual value of the initial deal with the Reds was believed to be closer to $60 million.

    DSG has agreed to honor its initial rights fee obligations with only one MLB team: the Atlanta Braves.

    The fear for some teams, such as the Reds, to accept a reduced DSG deal that could actually end up far more than MLB’s alternative could produce is the fear cited by MLB in its separate filing on Friday, which s -they opposed the DSG plans. to this point: that it has not made a strong enough case to suggest that it will not be forced into a stage of bankruptcy that forces liquidation.

    This could mean a sudden loss of all outstanding commitments under the renegotiated terms.

    For the Reds, the MLB broadcast route could mean cutting about $100 million from their 25th-ranked major league payroll as they try to fill roster holes this winter in an effort to fight in 2025.

    “I still like our young core,” Krall said when asked Thursday about his level of optimism with his current roster amid budget uncertainty.

    “I think that’s what we’re going to build off of and it’s going to be the main driver of our success,” he said. “I’m still excited about that group that we have.”

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