SALT LAKE CITY — Issues with Bally Sports’ financial outlook and broadcast access have reached All-Star status.
During his annual All-Star Weekend press conference, NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Saturday addressed his concern level regarding regional sports network operator Diamond Sports Group approaching a bankruptcy filing in the coming weeks.
A subsidiary of Sinclair, Diamond owns the local broadcast rights to 42 professional sports teams, including the Mavericks, Stars and Rangers on Bally Sports Southwest.
Sixteen of the NBA’s 30 teams have local broadcast deals with one of the 19 Bally Sports regional sports networks, and the potential timeline for Diamond to reach bankruptcy could conflict with the end of the regular season.
Diamond skipped about $140 million in interest payments on Feb. 15, triggering a 30-day grace period in which the company said it will continue discussions with creditors and stakeholders to consider alternative financial structures.
Diamond faces more than $8.6 billion in debt, according to multiple outlets, including $2 billion owed to sports teams for broadcast rights.
What does that mean for the NBA — and for Mavericks’ Bally Sports Southwest broadcasts this season?
“Short-term, I’m not all that concerned,” Silver said. “It largely affects the regular season for the NBA in terms of distributing, delivering those games directly to our consumers. And if they were to indeed, you know, file for bankruptcy, there won’t be that much of the regular season left.
“For that period of time, we will have in place arrangements, if necessary, to continue to distribute those games to fans. So I think that’s what’s most important.”
Silver referenced “local over-the-air television” channels and streaming services as potential fallback options should bankruptcy interrupt Bally Sports coverage.
Many have also viewed the NBA’s app, which debuted this season and has featured several native game streams, as a potential long-term path for the evolution of game broadcast logistics.
“In the mid-term, it’s an issue we’re going to have to work through,” Silver said. “We’ve been in extensive discussions with Diamond, the company you’re referring to, about a potential restructuring, and I’m fairly optimistic we’ll be able to work something out with them.
“As I said, if we can’t, we will make sure we have a system in place for delivering those games to fans.”
After the NBA’s regular season ends April 9, Bally Sports and local networks will carry the first round of the playoffs, which ends in late April. The league pivots to exclusive national broadcasts at the start of the second round.
That means the years-long headaches that Mavericks fans have endured to access and stream Bally Sports Southwest will persist for at least a little while longer.
Bally Sports Southwest is still not available on YouTube TV, Hulu Live or other popular streaming services.
FuboTV recently reached an agreement to again carry Bally Sports channels, joining DirecTV Stream and traditional cable options DirecTV and Spectrum as the lone current options for local fans to receive Bally Sports Southwest in part of a larger subscription plan.
Diamond unveiled Bally Sports+ this fall as a $20-plus a month subscription for the single Bally Sports channel available in a given region, and Bloomberg reported in January the company is considering a new service that would allow fans to pay for individual games or just the last few minutes.
But many Mavericks fans surveyed at the start of the season referenced the high price point for a single channel, technical issues on the app and disapproval of Sinclair as reasons they’ve declined to subscribe.
