The Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) will continue operating in 2024, but the Bally Sports branding won’t continue past this year.
Per Sportico, in the Diamond Sports Group’s reorganization plan filed Thursday evening, there is a section about the naming rights agreement with Bally’s. As part of Diamond’s near half-billion settlement with Sinclair, the naming rights deal will be rejected by Diamond, though the branding will remain in place through the 2024 MLB season.
As part of the proposed re-org, Diamond will extricate itself from the legacy naming-rights deal with Bally’s Corp. that its parent company, Sinclair Broadcasting, inked on Nov. 18, 2020. At the time of the transaction, Sinclair received various warrants and options with respect to the common stock of Bally’s, valued at more than $184 million; for its part, Diamond was set up to generate approximately $88 million in naming-rights fees from Bally’s over a span of 10 years.
According to the disclosure document, under the terms of Diamond’s $495 million settlement with Sinclair, Bally’s commercial agreement “will be rejected, and Bally’s will release and waive any claims against Diamond, including any claims for rejection damages.”
That said, Diamond may “continue to use the Bally’s trade name (at no cost to Diamond) through the end of the 2024 MLB season.”
The original naming rights deal between Sinclair and Bally’s was struck in November 2020, paying just $85 million over ten years. In a lawsuit filed by Diamond against Sinclair last summer, Diamond alleged that “Sinclair wrongfully caused Diamond to transfer more than $1.5 billion in cash and other consideration to or for the benefit of Sinclair.” The suit was settled this week as part of Diamond’s reorganization plan, with Diamond receiving $495 million from Sinclair.
Sinclair’s naming rights deal with Bally’s was derided from the start by fans, and further integration with sports betting in the Bally Sports app never came about.
Diamond will now go on the hunt for a new naming rights deal, which will hopefully be in place for the start of the 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons in the fall. If a deal can’t be reached with a company, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with simply rebranding the RSNs as “Diamond Sports.”
[Sportico]