Bally Sports Kansas City reportedly will change name after Royals season
We’re more than one-third of the way through the Major League Baseball season, and some Royals fans are still hoping to stream games on Amazon Prime at some point this season.
Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports Kansas City, said in January it had a plan to emerge from bankruptcy with the help of a Restructuring Support Agreement that includes a financial deal with Amazon.
That deal with Amazon has yet to be finalized by Diamond, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ahead of the 2023 season. Those bankruptcy court proceedings are continuing and there was a bit of news this week.
Sportico reported Tuesday the 18 regional sports networks (RSNs) owned by Diamond, which includes Bally Sports Kansas City, likely will be getting a new name.
“We recently reached an agreement in principle with a third party on rebranding the RSNs and we are working diligently to turn that agreement in principle into a document agreement,” Diamond’s lawyers told the court, per Sportico.
While Diamond didn’t reveal the new rebranding partner in court, Bloomberg reported the gambling company FanDuel was close to an agreement to have its name replace Bally Sports on those RSNs.
“A multiyear deal between the companies would also involve FanDuel-related programming for the channels,” Christopher Palmeri wrote, “according to people familiar with the terms, which are still being finalized.”
This wouldn’t have an effect on Royals games this year, but the name FanDuel would replace Bally Sports Kansas City at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Sportico said.
That story also noted that Major League Baseball doesn’t believe the Diamond Sports Group has the financial wherewithal to continue carrying games on its RSNs.
“We still have substantial concerns about the viability of the debtors’ business plan,” MLB attorney James Bromley told the court during Tuesday’s scheduled status update, Sportico reported.
In making that case, MLB pointed to the dispute between the Diamond Sports Group and Comcast/Xfinity that has left many Royals fans unable to watch games since early May.
That impasse is just one issue for Royals fans. Many have been frustrated for years about the lack of affordable streaming options.
Royals chairman/CEO John Sherman is aware of the discontent and said earlier this year that Major League Baseball would like to move away from an RSN model.
“I think long term, the league ultimately would like to get those rights back,” Sherman said. “I mean, that’s really what they’ve been arguing in the bankruptcy court. ... So there’s a lot to do there.
“But ... ultimately we’d like to get the rights back and then put together our own partnership with maybe it’s Amazon, maybe it’s Apple. We think baseball has left some money on the table in terms of our media rights values. When we’re packaged up in a regional sports network with the NHL and the NBA, we have more content and it has higher ratings than either basketball or hockey in most of the markets we’re in. So in some ways baseball is sort of subsidizing those sports on a local level.”
