The Brewers announced on Tuesday that they’ve reached agreement with Diamond Sports Group to handle in-market broadcasting for the 2025 season. Unsurprisingly, the team did not reveal how much they’ll make in rights fees.
It’s a reversal from plans announced in October. At the time, Major League Baseball announced that it would take over in-market broadcasting for Milwaukee. That came shortly after Diamond, the parent company of FanDuel Sports Networks (formerly the Bally Sports Networks), announced that it was abandoning its contract with the team. Diamond subsequently finalized a plan to avoid liquidation and emerge from bankruptcy to continue operations for at least one more year.
Evidently, Diamond and the Brewers had kept open communications even though Milwaukee initially intended to turn broadcasts to the league. They’ve found a mutually agreeable price point — presumably below what Diamond would have owed under their previous agreement — to stick with the company for another season.
Brewers business operations president Rick Schlesinger tells Adam McCalvy of MLB.com that the team could turn the rights to MLB as soon as the 2026 season. “Long term, whether it’s 2026 or thereafter, I do think MLB Media is the place where we’re ultimately going to land, and I think that’s going to be in the best interest of the fans and the teams and the league to get a model that provides for the widest possible distribution across the most number of platforms with the highest technology and the best economics for the league and the teams,” Schlesinger said. “But we are comfortable with the quality of the production that Diamond Sports, Ballys and now FanDuel are operating under, and we like the continuity. Our fans will find the games the same places they found it last year.”
It isn’t known if this will have any impact on Milwaukee’s player payroll. The Brewers have only made one major league free agent addition this offseason, signing lefty Grant Wolfram to a deal that presumably landed around the league minimum. RosterResource calculates their payroll around $118MM, narrowly above the approximate $116MM mark at which they ended the ’24 season.
Diamond is back up to eight MLB teams for which it’ll carry in-market broadcasts: the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Royals and Tigers. The Guardians, Reds and Twins are turning broadcasts over to MLB. They’re following in the footsteps of the Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies — each of whom was broadcast by MLB this past season. Diamond has also dropped its deal with the Rangers. The Texas organization is not expected to return to Diamond or to sign on with MLB. Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote this month that the Rangers were exploring ways to negotiate individual deals with various cable providers rather than contracting with an RSN.
I’m just thankful for the Dodgers and their 8 billion dollar tv contract that gives them over 300 million a year.
Ok, well what happens when they can’t make those bloated payments to the Dodgers?
When you have an elevated local population and broad international interest, you can make the payments.
What is it with people having problems with high revenue teams pouring their resources into their on-field product? The Dodgers and Yankees and Steve Cohen aren’t the enemies to the game of baseball people make them out to be.
The Nuttings and Fishers and similar ownership attitudes, happy to collect a revenue sharing check and TV money, and then not feel the need to win and be competitive are way more of a problem for baseball as a whole. In my humble opinion.
Both can be huge problems.
Amen to that Druuu. That’s why Red Sox are sick of lining the pockets of other revenue recipient Billionaires who don’t contribute to MLB. I don’t blame Henry…but irks me to no end…
If you don’t know or realize why by now, then no one can educate you.
Hear, hear.
Well said. Players are getting paid generational wealth instead of the owners making a s*** pile of money and not putting it back into the team and us still all watching anyway. The owners are going to get paid either way. Guys like the Oakland owner and Miami owner should be forced to sell rather than forced to spend to reach a revenue sharing threshold.
@Fonzo et al,
Even as an A’s fan I largely agree with you. However all 29 other owners agreed with A’s move to a much smaller market in Vegas. No questions, just a blank cheque. So if the A’s, amongst others, collect further revenue payments you know exactly who to blame.
You do realize that 48% of all local revenue including local TV and radio goes into a pot that is shared equally among all teams, right?
100% accurate. I’m a Twins fan and this is looking large.
Bucsfan, it’s been 10 years without a problem and I doubt Time Warner will ever have trouble paying 334 million a season. Time Warner is also owned by Warner Discovery which has a net worth of 26 billion.
Time Warner does not own the contract. That would be Charter Communications through their subsidiary Spectrum.
Your opinion about how the contract will go is suspect when you don’t even know who owns the contract.
latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2013-jan-28-la-sp-dodger…
My bad, I see that Charter acquired Time Warner Cable. How does that make my opinion about the contract wrong? Do they not have a deal in place for over 8 billion? Do they not get over 300 million a season? I’m well aware of the fact that 48% of it goes into a pot, but they still get over 300 million before it divvied up. Some of you Padre fans really come across as some salty people.
Charter has lost $8 billion in the last year and the stock is down 11.81%. Their losses in a single year are more than DSGs entire debt load. The deal is not a sure thing to be around through the end.
No. They put 48% of that $300 million in the pot and get what is left + 1/30th of what all the teams combined put in. .
So now you are NOT a Padres fan Ryan? Since when?
Lol… the Dodgers are getting over 300 million before they put 48% in the pot, I don’t know why you can’t admit it. You just sound salty. I’m not Ryan.
You are Ryan and they put 48% in the pot before they get their portion. Then they get 1/30th of what everyone puts in total after that.
Jesus Christ, how much is Charter paying the Dodgers each season? Once again, I’m not Ryan.
The Dodgers can’t put anything in the pot until Charter gives them their 334 annual payment. Why don’t you understand this?
Ryan, the Dodgers immediately have to put 48% in the revenue sharing pot. Its not theirs. Its the league’s. Why don’t you understand this?
How much does Charter pay the Dodgers each season, is it 300 plus million, yes or no?
Adding complexity to the RSN deal, the Dodgers own SportsNet LA. Charter has a services agreement with the RSN where it gets all the ad revenue and affiliate revenue. But it also means that Charter is on the hook for the $334-million-per-year rights fee that it must pay the team. sportsbusinessjournal.com/SB-Blogs/Newsletter-Medi….
Thankful ! Every night, you should be bowing down to an altar you’ve made in its honor.
Then they go use it well. Good times indeed.
Should they give some of the money back?
How many billions is Charter worth? No Dodger fan is going to be less confident in the tv deal:
$48.74 billion. Their losses were 17% of their total market capitalization
The Dodgers tv money is going to be just fine no matter how much you want their contract to fail since the Padres contract pays so little.
The only way Charter doesn’t have to pay the Dodgers is if they go bankrupt. What are the odds of that happening? sportsbusinessjournal.com/SB-Blogs/Newsletter-Medi…
Ryan, what part of Charter had a 17% loss in one year did you not understand? That is a larger deficit as a percentage of market cap than DSG lost in 2022 prior to filing bankruptcy.
I’m not Ryan. DSG is not Charter and I find it funny that a bitter Padres fan desperately wants Dodger fans to be worried about the tv contract. Nothing is going to stop the Dodgers from getting their 334 annual check from charter, so give it a rest already.
You are Ryan and about 10-12 other accounts and DSG was in better financial shape than Charter is.
Why would I be bitter or care if the Dodgers lose their TV deal. The Padres lost 20% of one $8.5 million payment in the DSG bankruptcy and haven’t lost a dime since then.
Keep dreaming Ryan. Just keep dreaming.
As a Charter Communications shareholder, I would advise you to be less than confident in that contract long-term. CHTR stock lost 11.81% over the last year and the company lost $8 billion.
Yeah, without a cap, that’s fair.
Geno,
A cap limits player earnings. Increased revenue sharing would be a better way to balance spending.
Probably falls in the less than they got last year but more than they would get from MLB. I wonder what that number looks like exactly?
MLB doesn’t want you to know how much they are getting stiffed. Doesn’t fit their narrative.
They are keeping their numbers for MLB streaming secret. I too assume Diamond is still paying more or the teams wouldn’t take it.
It has been reported that the old deal paid about $33 MM a season. I’m guessing this one is in the $20 MM range.
Does this mean they can trade back for Willy adames?
Why would they want to the guy is going to have like 20 hrs and have an average of around 240 plus 150 strike outs
sad tormented: Why on earth would the Giants trade him now?
Maybe the brewers should acquire a 3rd baseman somehow..brutal
Sign bregman
Very unlikely.
I wouldn’t be entirely shocked if the plan is for Ortiz to play 3B, and the infield prospect they got for Devin Williams (Dublin?) to play SS. Turang at 2B and Hoskins at 1B.
“Our fans will find the games the same places they found it last year.” … yeah blacked out. I love baseball but these teams choose RSNs like diamond that aren’t on most cable/streaming providers. People don’t get into team because they can’t see them on tv. Then mlb cries when attendance drops.
it’s absurd. some free advice to mlb: if you want to get young people into baseball maybe they should be able to watch it
Football is king because it has been free to watch for years. As they move to a pay to watch set up, they too will fall
The Padres and Diamondbacks were back on the same exact TV carriers they were on with DSG the next day after DSG defaulted.
Unlike when they were with DSG, both teams have local streaming packages through mlb.tv that are not blacked out at all.
can’t wait for the lockout. dodgers and Yankees will be worth the same as Tampa Bay….cmon….Join Baseball, Betman.
How will burning it all down make it better? We’re living in a dark time.
This obviously means MIL will be signing
Santander, Bregman, Alonso, Flaherty and T. Scott
or maybe just re-painting the bathrooms?
Maybe Alonso otherwise nobody of significance.
If they could just dump the carcass of Rhys Hoskins and his $20 million contract, I’m sure Mark Attanasio can set aside $200 million to meet the unreasonable demands of the game’s best 1 tool player.
I believe Hoskins defense is just average but he could be NYM 1B for a kind of bridge year. He could DH say 20+ games. (This assumes Alonso is not back)
Long term 1B could be Vientos,AAA player or someone outside the organization. Vlad Jr. or ???
Vientos is the main 3B, plays some 1B then they can make an assessment if he can handle the position.
(Assumes NYM doesn’t trade for or sign a 3B).Baty and Mauricio play some 3B & 2B, they can try Mauricio and Acuna in the OF. In spring training they can get a better sense and work these things out.
Baty gets more time to see if he can be a major league hitter
Alonso turned down $90/3.
Doesn’t mean he gets more than that.
Is this good or bad news?
I think it is good for the team, because the Brewers get something from DSG instead of nothing from DSG as it were.
I think it is bad for the fans, because the DSG/Bally streaming options are terrible, if even available.
I paid for them for 2 years. They are so bad that I will never again.
Hopefully for a decent number. Milwaukee does it right as a small market team.
It is much smaller than what it was, which is why the Yankees sent cash along for Williams
All of the deals with DSG with one exception, are for 2025 only.
MLB and the Braves said in their final filings in the bankruptcy case that they see no way that DSG can survive past 2025.
So where will all these teams turn next? MLB? I think so.
Professional basketball had to learn the hard way several years ago when a number of teams went bankrupt.
There is a reckoning coming in baseball too. When 20 teams have issues keeping up because of the massive local TV deals giving a small number of teams an advantage they are using to drive salaries out of most teams range to pay, well, there will either be hard changes or professional baseball is pretty much gone in 20 years.
The next work stoppage will be a doozy. Players will not wake up to reality and the majority of owners will not cave this time. The next national TV contract will be a big letdown too with the declining ratings in middle America.
Samson tells a similar story and makes a similar prediction. From memory, I don’t think they need a majority of owners though. Just 8.
Oh good, now they can officially reunite with Wade Miley.
Doing business with Diamond at this point is just asking for disaster.
You’d think these teams that circled back insisted on full payment up front. Wouldn’t be shocked if they didn’t though.
They need to end their contract with American Family insurance and go back to Miller Park. Which oddly enough is owed by Coors. Maybe that’s why they renamed their stadium. I don’t know. What I do know is American Fmaily Field is a terrible name.
Coors/Miller never made an offer. Can’t accept $0 because you as a fan feel uncomfortable.
I don’t feel uncomfortable. It’s just a terrible name. Plus no matter what they call it. When the Cubs visit it’ll always be known as Wrigley North. The Brewers could have a team like the Dodgers or Yankees and when the cubs visit it turns into Wrigley North
Once again underscoring the fact that the MLB economic model has been broken for decades