This past winter was dominated not by offseason moves being made by the Minnesota Twins to improve the roster, but endless headaches caused by the TV rights drama that put a damper on everything.
Rather than spend on a team that made it to deeper into October than it has in twenty years, the Twins slashed payroll by $30 million over fears of lost future television revenue. This all stemmed from Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports North, going bankrupt and refusing to pay its bills.
Despite speculation that a better option might be found, and promises from ownership that they wanted nothing more than for games to be accessible, the Twins went back to Bally Sports North for one more season.
It's a decision, like most of the ones the team made over the offseason, that has already aged incrediby poorly.
Twins fans won't be able to watch Bally Sports North on Comcast starting May 1st
Caught in the middle of the drama are fans who just want to be able to watch games at home.
That's going to get even harder than it already. According to sports business insider John Ourand, Comcast is dropping Bally Sports North and all other Diamond Sports Group regional networks starting on May 1st.
Comcast released a statement basically saying Diamond Sports Group doesn't want to pay up. To get an idea of just how bad this situation is, credits are being offered to customers which means Comcast are the good guys here.
That's where we're at with Bally Sports North.
Comcast statement: “We have been very flexible with Diamond Sports Group for months as they work through their bankruptcy proceedings, providing them with an extension on the Bally Sports Regional Networks last fall and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year,…
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) May 1, 2024
This isn't just a Minnesota viewing area issue; Comcast is the second-largest cable provider in the country and fans all over the map are about to lose regional coverage of their team. The situation with Diamond Sports Group was already on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory, but this is somehow a new low.
Fans in Minnesota were already at wit's end with how impossible it already was to find the Twins on Bally Sports North. The streaming app only works for one cable provider and none of the ones most commonly used by people living in the viewing area.
Due to blacout restrictions, MLB.tv isn't an option for fans since only out-of-market games are available. That's why the upside to the drama this winter was that the team had an opportunity to find a provider that could make games more easily available to fans -- something ownership swore was a priority.
That didn't happen, and once again fans are feeling betrayed, and this feels like another cruel twist of the knife.