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The Detroit Red Wings broadcast touted the switch from Fox to Bally as a good thing. At first, not much was different. Then the studio had more of a “sports library… look. Now, Bally is making it known they want a potential discount for broadcasting rights.
From the article:
Bally Sports needs to decide if it will pay NBA and NHL teams their full contracts or try to renegotiate unprofitable contracts. This is very similar to what we just went through with MLB teams, which resulted in two teams losing their TV deals with Bally Sports. The NBA teams Bally Sports currently has contracts with the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs. Miami Heat, and Milwaukee Bucks.
Essentially, this is very similar to the other broadcaster. The NHL is a league that has been doing its best to try and keep things looking as though nothing is really different. The 2021 1 billion dollar loan by the league (30 m per franchise) didn’t hit the news for almost 2 years. 3 to 5 teams were potentially going to default on bills, mortgages, etc. Arizona went from a tax funded arena to a college rink at about 25% capacity.
Who cares? I get a lot of that. I care, and if you enjoy watching the game you will too. There’s an agreement on the limitations of the cap, which won’t go up until revenues exceed expenses. We’ll know that’s the case once escrow is a lot closer to zero. At zero escrow the players and owners 50/50 split is enough to cover all player salaries and match that income going into each franchise.
I’ve said it, some of you have said it, we could shave teams. Keeping in mind that’s around 20-22 player jobs gone (plus all staff etc). I’m not sure I want to be in the meeting for that vote.
The broadcasters have just over one month to get 2 leagues settled with both major partners looking to negotiate lower rates and transfer to streaming. Some of you haven’t lived through a time when programming just disappears. I hope you don’t have to.
At some point an announcement will be made. This Wednesday is the day that all of ABC/ESPN and parent companies report fiscal losses. Bally just posted a drop in revenues for Q2 and that was a Quarter that started with half the expected subscriptions. People are dropping off, and hockey is near the bottom of the list of priority. NFL sold their rights to Youtube (DirecTV is in bad shape) and the NBA is still at about 1/5 of the viewing audience from 10 years ago. It may be boring to read about, but very soon all these decisions will affect how or if we watch our teams in September. By Thursday we’ll have a good idea of how the majority of games will be broadcast.