Pretty much summarizes why i haven't been a fan of the WBC so far. Everything feels too gimmicky.

I think Great Britain's jerseys are the opposite of gimmicky. They quite literally look like they were designed in Microsoft Word.

DSG formally files Chapter 11

https://awfulannouncing.com/sinclair/diamond-sports-group-bally-sports-bankruptcy-chapter-11.html

They interestingly filed in southern district of Texas

Now the dance really starts. DSG insists they are going to continue broadcasting on all their RSNs. Of course, they now can't PAY the clubs without court approval. As creditors, the clubs will likely step up and say "aw hell no they're not paying us the carriage fees so we want those rights back".

And a judge has to rule. And that takes time.

Do the Rangers lock the Bally broadcast crews out of the stadium and stream themselves? Does the judge rule quickly for the clubs and the Rangers already have a deal lined up with - Hulu? Amazon? Does the judge say "aw hell let Bally broadcast until - June 1? - and I'll decide by then".

Next couple of weeks are gonna be wild af.

Just so you know, bankruptcy is only handled at the federal level, and the Southern District of Texas handles a whole hell of a lot of bankruptcy cases. Not surprising to me at all.

So corporations can pick and choose? Is there a benefit to South Texas?

AgBQ-00 said:

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I'm just ready to know if I can cancel DirecTV or not. Bally having the Stars and Rangers is the only reason we still have it.

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Exactly. Same here. Can't go back to YTTV though because no MLB Network.

Entities can essentially forum shop much like traditional civil cases; "Under the current filing rule a company can file for bankruptcy in any of the following locations: where its headquarters are; its principal assets are; it is domiciled; or an "affiliate" of the company has already filed for bankruptcy." The affiliate option allows entities to file almost anywhere they want, and the Southern District of Texas is maybe the foremost forum for bankruptcy in the country because of Texas attracting tons of business etc.

If I recall correctly, DSM owes the Rangers about $25 MM on Friday. This is the next big milestone. I'm thinking companies in Chapter 11 cannot spend that $ without court approval.

Can the court approve some, but not all, fees payments? Can the court react that quickly? Can the Rangers immediately dump DSG and move on to streaming on MLB.tv?

No one really knows for sure.

Oh boy - The Atlantic has a leak staying the Rangers are one of the teams DSG wants to walk away from.

Best thing for the casual user - access will be elsewhere - hopefully on MLB.tv with no blackouts. Worst thing for the team and players - big cash flow problem.

Hold on to your butts https://t.co/2d0fwmPeQs pic.twitter.com/CN6rXZDBz6

— Levi Weaver (@ThreeTwoEephus) March 14, 2023

So we are possibly going to be up the creek with the best Stars team in a long time and the beginning of the Rangers season.

Typically a court (or Trustee if at that stage) cannot act that quickly in a bankruptcy situation. One of the real reasons that entities file for bankruptcy is to keep creditors from trying to collect the debts that are owed to them. Once someone files for bankruptcy, all individual efforts from creditors to collect are halted, and creditors (secured or unsecured) must make and provide proof of claims against the debtor, file them with the court, and then further into the process. I see very little chance the Rangers see any money for Bally/Sinclair anytime soon.

About as I thought. Thanks for adding insight.

So next question is can Rangers say FU and just start streaming games? I would think that, if they can, the announcement would be coming quickly so people can get signed up for however they plan to do it.

This is where things get incredibly murky, imo. Bally/Sinclair still technically owns the rights to broadcast those games, and they will be protective of those rights (as they should). The Rangers on the other hand want those games broadcast no matter what for the advertising dollars, etc. My guess is that the Rangers contract with Bally/Sinclair has some language that covers the scenario where Bally/Sinclair become insolvent or files for bankruptcy etc. I just don't know what that language is.

Since this has been a slow motion trainwreck, I'd have to assume the Rangers had plans in place for all the possible permutations of what could happen. Opening Day is 15 days away.

What a cluster ****.

the fact MLB.tv wasnt part of the last lockout BS is par for the course for MLB. Manfred and Clark are a disaster for baseball.

I did read somewhere, maybe that Athletic Article, that mlb was just going to stream the games kinda like they did for the Shriners classic.. or maybe it was just through MLB.tv..

Will depend on how the contract is written. The bankruptcy rules are there to protect creditors, but these tv rights are a revenue/cash-generating asset for Ballys. So the bankruptcy court would typically look to preserve the value of that asset (by not letting them be taken for broadcast elsewhere), so a lot of this will come down to how the contract is written and where the Rangers/MLB sit in preference order with other creditors.

Yeah, that makes sense.. it just sucks because I feel like literally everyone is waiting on this to try to figure out what to do with their streaming service or cable.

Me and my wife are wanting to drop our suddenlink cable and go back with something like Fubo tv.. but a little help would be nice!

All good points.

It is worth noting all public pronouncements about "we'll just stream on MLB.tv" or "of course Bally will show Rangers games" is so much hot air. The COURT now decides who does what.

Kinda pisses me off watching the media letting these people lie about what they're going to do when they are speaking out their ass.

what pisses me off is watching the Rangers horrible teams for the last 5-6 yrs and now that the Rangers finally decided to try and win again….. Ballys is gonna **** the bed and who knows how this is gonna play out on the broadcast side!

From The Athletic:

The Texas Rangers notified Diamond Sports last week it would terminate its media rights deal with the parent of the Bally Sports Regional Networks in the event of its insolvency, which the company's bankruptcy filing may trigger.

The disclosure was made in a court filing Wednesday in the Chapter 11 case Diamond filed Tuesday. Diamond in the filing said it would fight any attempt by the Rangers to end their agreement.

It's behind a paywall, but if you can get to it

https://theathletic.com/4313148/2023/03/15/rangers-diamond-sports-bankruptcy/

So basically if a judge rules the Rangers can terminate the deal, then they're free to do whatever they want? Is that basically what I'm gathering?

The court and the judge now control that decision. By showing that the Rangers intention was to cancel the deal, the judge knows their state of mind before the filing. If a creditor showed a desire to exit the deal, the court may be more favorable to approve the separation.

The question I have is - if DSG misses their quarterly payment, do they still own the local broadcast rights? It isn't an asset they bought like a camera or a truck. It's an asset they're - leasing? - for lack of a better word.

This will go down to the contracts, and no decision will be made anytime soon. I could very well see the Rangers telling DSG "you not welcome here" and locking them out.

vander54 said:

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Here is the link. I haven't set up the draft yet but it will be a 10 team league with head to head scoring.

https://fantasy.espn.com/baseball/league/join?leagueId=365359113&inviteId=027d577c-a8be-43b5-a878-24d5ccdb9fad

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Only 1 spot left. The draft is now Sunday at 8:30 pm central.

Had a thought re: the TV situation, and want to put the disclaimer up front that I might be (probably am) wrong about this, but here goes...

I was under the impression that the TV rights are actually owned by MLB, and are granted to the teams. If I'm wrong about that, then the rest of this is moot. But if I'm correct, then it would seem to me that MLB could rescind the Ranger's license to broadcast their games via the provider of their choice (DSG) and they could then take over the broadcasts. That's probably a pipe dream on my part, but I wonder if it might at least be a part of the negotiation strategy going forward.

Would love someone more in the know to me to chime in...I'm a songwriter, not a lawyer, but I am very familiar with how copyrights work and that's why this occurred to me.

I just can't see a world where any broadcast company would agree to a contract where they could lose the rights to the game without warning for any or no reason at all.

Again, I'm probably wrong.

However, it's not without warning or for no reason at all. DSG would have triggered it with the bankruptcy filing. Converse to your point, I can't see the Rangers/MLB agreeing to a contract that would bind the team(s) to a RSN if it were to become insolvent.

The thing that you have to keep in mind about bankruptcy filing is that the court is looking out for ALL of the creditors, and again, these broadcast rights generate revenue to help get all creditors paid as much as possible. So pending what is in the agreement, it likely isn't going to be a clean "we just take our rights back". Defaulting on a payment may have that kind of consequence, but that default in conjunction with bankruptcy may very well tie/hold up what the normal consequence would be

I get the feeling broadcasts will continue on Ballys until the courts sort out the bankruptcy, and in the meantime the Rangers stay kind of screwed like other creditors

I'm sure you guys are right and I'm way off base. I only brought it up because there's a copyright/trademark component to some degree, and copyright law is an entirely different animal.

Oftentimes what will happen is the courts approve payments to get released based on criticality to keep the business operating. So I would think the Rangers would at least be in decent position there. Or if it's a net loser, the court may approve them being cut loose entirely