Major League Baseball has added a seventh team to its stable of local broadcast rights.
The Cincinnati Reds, linked to potential agreements with Diamond Sports Group ahead of the company’s exit from bankruptcy, will have their games produced and distributed by the league. They will join the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, and Minnesota Twins as teams that have given MLB control of their local broadcasts.
According to Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal, the Reds and Diamond mutually agreed to terminate the relationship last week, with the team selling back its 20% stake in Diamond’s Ohio-based regional network for $1. Per the report, by swapping to MLB for distribution, the Reds will go from reaching 1.1 million households via Diamond’s RSN in 2024 to 13.5 million households across seven states via MLB’s distribution in 2025.
Despite the increased reach, the Reds will likely lose a substantial portion of their media rights revenue by ditching the RSN model and its lucrative fees.
With its local broadcast rights now in the league’s hands, Reds fans can expect both linear and digital distribution to be available without blackouts. MLB has offered both a linear and digital component for each team that has come under its media rights umbrella in recent years.
The final team to watch regarding local rights is the Kansas City Royals.
The team remains negotiating with Diamond to become the seventh MLB franchise the reorganized company holds rights to.
