Leagues express skepticism about Diamond plan at bankruptcy hearing

The Twins have already experienced how disruptive Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy has been — loss of revenues, lingering uncertainty, and now the inability of many of their customers to see their games.

The NBA and NHL made it clear to a federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday that they don’t want to live through similar nightmares. So they’re giving Diamond Sports Group one month to prove it can stay in business.

“It is imperative, and I cannot emphasize this enough … that we have certainty, one way or another, by June 18,” Vincent Indelicato, an attorney representing the NBA, said during a hearing in Houston before Judge Christopher Lopez. “We simply cannot afford to have our next season disrupted by the uncertainty as to whether Diamond will or will not have a viable business.”

Attorneys representing MLB and the NHL made similar warnings, each of them skeptical that the Bally Sports Networks, which are owned by Diamond, can survive unless they come to an agreement with Comcast to resume carrying them. Comcast dropped networks like Bally Sports North, and its telecasts of Twins games, on May 1 when the two sides could not agree on a new contract.

The three sports leagues all stressed the urgency of solving that dispute — the NBA and NHL because they want to know who will televise their games next season, and MLB for a more critical reason.

“Now is the beginning of the crest of popularity of baseball. Weather is getting warmer, the teams are out of spring training and the races are beginning to develop,” said James Bromley, representing MLB and the 12 teams carried on Bally networks. “And we have teams that are facing substantial problems … because their fans are unable to watch these games.”

Diamond’s attorney, however, painted a far more positive picture, noting that Diamond is “very close to a new naming-rights deal” to replace its contract with Bally Corp. and provide “a significant source of revenue” that he said validates the bankrupt networks’ plan to stay in business. And he pointed out that Diamond has agreed to long-term contracts with Charter Communications, DirecTV and Cox Communications, their other three largest carriers.

“We now have multiyear distribution agreements covering nearly 80 percent of our broadcast footprint, which is a huge accomplishment,” said Brian Hermann, the attorney representing Diamond. “We are currently at an impasse with Comcast. … Those things happen from time to time, and they have often been resolved, and we remain optimistic that we can resolve this as well.”

Prove it, Bromley challenged.

“While I certainly understand Mr. Hermann’s desire to keep feet to the fire, I’m not sure that there’s a fire, and I don’t know where Comcast’s feet are,” the attorney said. “This is not the deal that Major League Baseball and its clubs signed up for. And this is not a run-of-the-mill dispute.”

Lopez approved Diamond’s deal with DirecTV during the hearing — though the three sports leagues complained that they have not been provided with any details of the agreement — and set another hearing for June 4 to update him on the progress of negotiations.

“A lot of good work has been done” in Diamond’s efforts to remain in business, Lopez said, “but a lot of questions need to be answered.”