Diamond Sports Group, owner of 14 MLB teams' broadcast rights, files for bankruptcy

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Diamond Sports Group, the Sinclair subsidiary that owns the broadcasting rights of 14 MLB teams plus several NBA, NHL and WNBA teams, announced Tuesday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company, which holds more than $8 billion in debt, said it expects its Bally Sports regional sports networks "will continue to operate in the ordinary course during the Chapter 11 process," with $425 million in cash on hand to fund the business.

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While DSG said it will continue broadcasting games, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has already outlined what the league intends to do should the company start missing payments.

The plan, as Manfred explained it, would see the league try to get the games aired on local cable like usual while creating a new option for fans to stream local games, which has long been forbidden under the usual RSN structure:

"We've been really clear that if Diamond doesn't pay, under every single one of the broadcast agreements, that creates a termination right, and our clubs will proceed to terminate those contracts. In the event that MLB stepped in, what we would do is we would produce the games, we would make use of our asset, the MLB Network, to do that. We would go directly to distributors — meaning Comcast, Charter, the big distributors — and make an agreement to have those games distributed on cable networks.

"We would also be seeking flexibility on the digital side, so that when you look at MLB.tv, you'd go in, you can buy your out-of-market package like you've always had, but you would have the option to buy up into in-market games, which I see as a huge improvement for fans."

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