NBA renews Bally Sports deal

 

According to Sports Business Journal, the NBA quietly renewed its streaming deal with Diamond Sports, keeping local games on the company's Bally Sports+ service.  Diamond Sports has a significant debt issue and could face bankruptcy proceedings soon. The NBA renewed the deal for just one year; if Diamond meets a number of pre-conditions, the league will consider renewing the deal for an additional year. The conditions included launching and continuing to finance the Bally Sports+ platform, along with full rights fees paid by the company's regional sports cable networks. Should Diamond file for bankruptcy in mid-March, as expected, this would breach one of the deal's conditions; the league could then opt to take back the rights. The Diamond deal expires at the end of the 2024-2025 season, the same time that the NBA's overall deals with ESPN and Turner Sports conclude.