An update on how Major League Baseball is handling the RSN collapse. Plus: scheduling news for the USFL and XFL.
MLB far apart in negotiations with distributors for Pirates, Rockies games
Major League Baseball is expected to reclaim the local media rights owned by the soon-to-be-defunct Warner Bros. Discovery-owned, AT&T-branded RSNs, but is far apart in negotiations with cable and satellite distributors to carry two of the affected teams — the Pirates and Rockies — per Sports Business Journal.
The New York Post reported Sunday that MLB is not expected to take over the WBD-owned rights by Opening Day and that games will continue to air on the AT&T-branded RSNs for now.
Per the same Post report, MLB is said to have tried and failed to reclaim rights to all 14 of the teams that have deals with the Diamond Sports-operated, Sinclair-owned, Bally Sports-branded RSNs. Diamond Sports is expected to ask out of its contracts with four of those 14 teams once it enters bankruptcy this week. Those four teams are the Reds, Guardians, Padres and Diamondbacks, with Diamond having already missed a rights fee payment for the latter of the four.
Bally reportedly plans to continue carrying games for the NBA and NHL teams it has deals with through the first rounds of those leagues’ respective postseasons. (SBJ 3.13, NYP 3.12)
USFL gets additional broadcast TV exposure
The FOX and NBC broadcast networks are set to carry a combined 29 games in the second season of the USFL, up from 22 last year. The new season is scheduled to begin April 15 with a day-night doubleheader on FOX, with NBC opening its coverage with a matinee the following day.
NBC is set to carry a primetime game following the Kentucky Derby on May 6 and also has a pair of primetime playoff games — including the championship on July 1. FOX has six primetime games, including three straight on Sunday nights in June. (Fox/NBC PR)
ESPN moves a third XFL game off of FX
ESPN announced Monday that it has moved a third XFL game off of FX, replacing the network’s primetime DC-Orlando game April 2 with a St. Louis-Houston matinee on ESPN. DC-Orlando will now air on ESPN April 1 in a window originally set aside of San Antonio-Vegas, which moves up to ESPN2 in an afternoon window originally occupied by St. Louis-Houston.
ESPN had previously moved two XFL games off of FX, Houston-Seattle this coming Thursday (now airing on ESPN) and Houston-DC on March 27 (now airing on ESPN2). FX has only four more XFL windows left on schedule; DC-Orlando was originally going to be its final game of the season.
Prior to this year’s XFL coverage, FX had not carried live sports consistently since it aired FOX college football games in the early 2010s. The network was one of the Fox properties sold to Disney in 2018. (ESPN PR)
