After months of uncertainty, three Major League Baseball teams now officially know their games will air on the Bally Sports RSNs this season. Plus: Nielsen is expanding its out-of-home panel; the NBA Draft is expanding to two nights; and more, including a new home for New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand.
Diamond Sports reaches deals with Twins, Guardians, Rangers
Diamond Sports has reached deals with the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Guardians and Texas Rangers to carry the teams’ games on the Bally Sports RSNs through the end of this season, after which those contracts will be terminated, per multiple reports Friday.
Diamond and MLB had been in a standoff for months about the status of those teams on the Bally Sports RSNs, as Diamond had not been willing to pay the full rights fees owed. The deals with the Guardians and Rangers have been amended to reduce said rights fee. (No amendment was necessary for the Twins, who are operating under a new deal with Diamond after the expiration of their previous contract.)
The arrangement is similar to since-discarded agreements Diamond reached with the NBA and NHL to terminate long-term deals after this season in exchange for a rights fee cut. (AP 2.2)
Nielsen to expand out-of-home panel
Nielsen announced Thursday that it is expanding its out-of-home viewing panel to cover all television markets in the lower 48 states, an increase from 65 percent currently. The move will assuredly result in even larger audiences for live sporting events and has the potential to skew year-over-year comparisons when the change goes into effect in the coming months.
Nielsen began tracking out-of-home viewing in 2016 and began including that data in its official currency four years later. The out-of-home impact is the driving force behind the numerous viewership records set by the NFL over the past two years. (Nielsen 2.1)
NBA expands draft to two nights
The NBA announced this week that it is officially expanding its draft to two nights. The first round is set for Wednesday, June 26, with coverage simulcast on ABC and ESPN. The second round is set for Thursday, June 27 — the original date of the full, one night draft — and will air on ESPN alone.
The three other “Big Four” sports drafts also take place over multiple nights, but they also consist of many more rounds. For the second round, the NBA says ESPN’s coverage will include “a comprehensive review” of the first round and “storytelling about the draftees.” (NBA)
Plus: Paramount, Marchand, NHL-Olympics
— The entrepreneur Byron Allen this week submitted a $14 billion bid to purchase Paramount Global with the plan of selling most of the company’s assets and retaining the CBS broadcast network, local stations and news and sports divisions. Allen previously made an offer on a handful of Disney’s linear channels, including ABC, after Bob Iger publicly suggested they were available. (Reuters 2.1)
— New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand, who emerged as one of the most prominent sports media reporters during his second stint with the tabloid, announced this week that he is moving to The Athletic. Marchand joins his former podcast co-host John Ourand in changing publications this year; Ourand left his longtime home of Sports Business Journal for the subscription site Puck. (NYT 1.30)
— The NHL announced Friday that it plans to allow its players to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. NHL players were held out of the Games in 2018 and were originally set to return four years later before COVID-related scheduling disruptions caused the NHL to abandon those plans. (NHL)
