Amazon has reportedly pulled its $115m cash offer to Diamond Sports Group as the RSN carrier looks to emerge from bankruptcy.
Corporate juggernaut Amazon has reportedly pulled the $115m in funding it pledged to Diamond Sports Group, per Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal on Monday. The deal, reached in January, was seen as a coup for Diamond as it sought creditors that would help the company emerge from bankruptcy proceedings. As part of the agreement, Amazon would have received streaming rights for each team inked to a Diamond deal.
The news comes amid a series of recent agreements that Diamond reached with 22 NBA and NHL franchises that would see those teams remain on Bally Sports RSNs through the 2024-25 season. Said teams are set to take anywhere between a 20-40% reduction in rights fees from their original deals.
Per SBJ, Diamond seemingly has enough investors remaining to submit a viable reorganization plan to the federal judge overseeing its case. Diamond reportedly acknowledged in January that it was receiving $450m from various creditors to remain solvent.
Amazon’s view of the $115m offer to Diamond has changed in the eight months since striking the deal. For one, Diamond was considering dropping up to five of its NBA franchises. Though the company ended up dropping just two — the Mavericks and Pelicans — that is two fewer franchises that Amazon would receive streaming rights to.
Even with Diamond’s assurances that they remain on track to emerge from bankruptcy, there remains worry from NBA franchises that Diamond may miss payments. Citing an NBA team executive, SBJ says, “[w]e’re not worried about the first payment. We’re more worried about the last payment.” Diamond’s first rights fees are due to hit in October, coinciding with the beginning of the NBA season.
