Rob Manfred: MLB open to taking over Twins TV broadcast rights next year

SEATTLE – The Twins know their games will be broadcast on Bally Sports North for the remainder of the 2023 season.

Next year, however, hasn't been settled.

The Twins' 12-year contract with Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports North, expires at the end of the season. Diamond, which filed for bankruptcy, was ordered in federal court to pay the full $54.8 million rights fee for 2023 or terminate the contract. Diamond made its payments and maintained ties in hopes to reach a new deal with the Twins for future seasons.

Another suitor for the TV rights to Twins games will be Major League Baseball, which assumed Padres broadcasts after Diamond terminated its contract in San Diego. When commissioner Rob Manfred was asked Tuesday if the league would join the bidding, he responded "bidding is a funny word."

"We will be available for teams that are looking for an alternative to the arrangement they are coming out of, or if they find themselves in a situation where there is not a bidder," Manfred said.

When the league took over Padres broadcasts, it struck deals to broadcast games on DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse, Spectrum, Cox and fuboTV. Through the MLB app, local blackouts were lifted, so fans in the San Diego market could buy a subscription to watch Padres games for $19.99 per month.

Manfred said the number of local Padres subscriptions on the app were "well into the five figures."

"It's a pretty stock formula for us," Manfred said. "What we've done in San Diego is whatever we can generate in terms of revenue in the traditional cable bundle, and whatever we can sell in terms of in-market subscriptions, that's the revenue that would be made available to the club. We think we can provide a viable local media alternative to clubs."

There are some notable changes from Bally Sports to a league-produced broadcast. Their score bug mimics the one from MLB Network. There is no formal pregame show for away games.

"San Diego is a good prototype," Manfred said. "There are variations on the theme that we might undertake with a little more time. You have to remember, San Diego, we literally had 24 hours notice [before taking over]. With a little more time, I would like to think there are some refinements that we would make, although the reaction in terms of ratings and whatnot in San Diego has been really good."

The primary advantage for a league-produced broadcast is lifting the restrictions on local blackouts online. If Diamond retains the rights to Twins games, the company will likely aim to acquire the streaming rights to air games on the Bally Sports app.

"Our goal from the beginning has been to make a transition from the current situation into a new model that did two things," Manfred said, "No. 1, increase the availability of our games to fans. No. 2, to minimize any financial disruption for clubs."

MLB has been successful in shortening games with the implementation of a pitch clock — the average game was cut by 26 minutes compared to last year — but the players association would like a little time added to the pitch clock for the postseason.

"I don't believe any player nor do I believe there are too many folks that want to have a new rule dramatically affect a game in a pennant chase or in the playoffs," said Tony Clark, the head of the players association.

Manfred didn't dismiss the possibility but noted the decrease in pitch clock violations since the start of the season, including at the end of regular-season games. The clock is set at 15 seconds between pitches with nobody on base and 20 seconds with runners on base.

"We are comfortable with where we are," Manfred said. "I do, in general, like the idea of playing everything under a single set of rules."

Twins All-Star Pablo López suggested pitchers should receive a timeout like batters, though maybe they would receive only one per inning instead of each at-bat.

"With people on base, you can step off," López said. "At least with people on base, you can play around the two disengagements you get. Without men on base, if you step off and the clock goes down, that's a ball.

"It doesn't have to be a timeout, but just a clock reset. You get one clock reset. You step off, you get back in, the clock resets and that's your only one. That's something I've talked about with some of my teammates, and we think that could be beneficial."

After the Twins made their third pick on the first day of the MLB draft on Sunday, all of the team's scouts donned white visors in a tribute to late scouting director Mike Radcliff. "We kept waiting all night for [MLB Network] to cut to our room," said Sean Johnson, the Twins' amateur scouting director. "It was really for our scouting brethren because the scouts that knew Mike well, they always saw him in a visor."