The Twins took two out of three from the Orioles over the weekend, but perhaps their most significant victory was a monetary one.
Diamond Sports made an on-time payment by Saturday to keep Twins games on Bally Sports North through the end of this season, when a 12-year contract expires. The Twins had to fight for that full payment in court, but the end result is at least a temporary financial win for the Twins.
Diamond is paying the Twins $54.8 million to show games on BSN this year. Had the company walked away from the contract — as it did with the Padres a month ago and as seemed possible when Diamond initially skipped a payment to the Twins at the start of the season — the Twins would have been hit in the pocketbook.
Commissioner Rob Manfred testified in court that MLB was prepared to take over broadcasts and distribution of games while covering up to 80% of the price of the contract to the Twins had Diamond Sports ditched the deal, but that remaining 20% would have amounted to a loss of about $11 million — something Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
But a short-term financial win for the Twins was a short-term viewing loss for fans, several of whom vented to me via email after finding out there was no change to the status quo.
Bally Sports North is not currently available on several platforms, including services like Hulu and YouTube TV as well as the satellite provider Dish Network. Additionally, Diamond doesn’t have streaming rights to show Twins games on Bally Sports Plus.
That has led to a significant decrease in access to the channel and overall subscribers. Had Diamond relinquished rights, MLB would have distributed games via cable and satellite as well as a direct-to-consumer streaming option.
Of the several emails I received in the last two days, reader Ben gets to the heart of the matter and is the sort of fan the Twins need to prioritize. He’s 39, has three kids and ditched cable a long time ago. He will gladly pay to stream games legally, but that option doesn’t exist for in-market viewers.
“The Twins need to prioritize younger fans and cut the cord, like most of us did a decade ago,” Ben wrote.
Perhaps that time will come as soon as the 2024 season after this contract expires. But for now, more of the same means more pain for fans.
Here are four more things to know today:
*The more I see NBA teams reshuffling their rosters to get their financial situation in order, the more I become convinced that now is the time for the Wolves to trade Karl-Anthony Towns.
Don’t wait until next year when Towns’ supermax contract kicks in and you have to take back even more salary in a trade, Tim Connelly. Do it in the next couple of weeks and start legitimately building for the future around Anthony Edwards.
*Sonny Gray, the Twins’ only All-Star, improved to 4-0 on April 30. It is now July, and he hasn’t won a game since then — despite a very solid 3.53 ERA in his last 11 starts, including six shutout innings Sunday. On a team with a more reliable bullpen and better run support, he might be approaching double-digit wins by now.
*It’s possible for the Lynx to make the playoffs this season AND be in the WNBA Draft lottery because the league determines the lottery by taking the combined record from teams’ two most recent seasons.
The Lynx were 14-22 a year ago. They’re 7-9 this season after an 0-6 start — currently good enough for a playoff spot in a league where eight of 12 teams make it — but their combined record of 21-31 the last two years is the fourth-worst, which would put them in the lottery.
I created a Google spreadsheet to track this as the year goes on because I apparently need one more side project.
*No podcast on Tuesday for the Fourth of July, but listen for an insightful interview on Daily Delivery later this week with Vikings running back Alexander Mattison.
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