At the beginning of the season, drama ensued between Major League Baseball and several teams’ regional sports networks, all of which operated under Bally Sports.
Bally had announced that they had gone bankrupt, thus spelling the end of the line for their regional sports networks.
The first team to be affected by this is the San Diego Padres.
On Tuesday, Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports in conjunction with Sinclair Broadcast Group, refused to pay the Padres their scheduled rights fee.
As a result, Tuesday night’s game was the final Padres telecast on Bally Sports.
On Twitter, Alden Gonzalez of ESPN provided the details and revealed what MLB had planned for the Padres over the next several days.
MLB will air Padres games free on https://t.co/xPAeOwq5KY thru Sunday, then in-market fans can pay a lesser rate (no blackouts!). Games will also be available thru several cable outlets (DirecTV, AT&T, Fubo). In-game, on-air talent remains same.
More … https://t.co/J6g8G9GTKZ
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) May 31, 2023
This is quite the development around the league.
The Padres are the first team to be affected by Bally Sports’ bankruptcy.
Fortunately, MLB has a plan in place that will ensure that fans in San Diego will still have the opportunity to watch Padres games.
MLB will be airing Padres games for free on MLB TV through Sunday.
After Sunday’s game, fans within the market will be able to pay a lesser rate and not have to deal with blackouts in their areas.
According to Gonzalez, games will also be available on networks such as DirecTV, AT&T, and Fubo.
The announcers will remain the same.
This has been a problem for in-market fans of each team for quite some time, and with regional sports networks falling, MLB has finally decided to step in and put an end to blackout restrictions.
NEXT: The Padres Own A Shocking 2023 Mark
