Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred expressed relief following the conclusion of Diamond Sports Group's bankruptcy, which provides short-term certainty for the league's media rights strategy.

A bankruptcy judge approved Diamond's reorganization plan on November 14, 2024, allowing the largest operator of regional sports networks to emerge from Chapter 11 after 20 months.

Diamond will continue partnerships with at least six MLB teams, while MLB currently retains local media rights for seven teams.

The six teams negotiating new deals with Diamond are the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Rays, all of which will see their contracts expire by 2028.

In 2025, MLB will broadcast games for teams including the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres, with additional teams potentially joining.

MLB aims to negotiate broadcast rights for about half of its teams by 2028, with a long-term goal of holding linear and digital rights for all 30 clubs to maximize revenue and eliminate local blackouts.

Nationalizing broadcast rights is viewed as a way to expand reach and revenue, though it requires convincing clubs with stable regional networks to relinquish control.

Teams that partially own their networks, such as the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees, may resist giving up local rights, complicating the nationalization effort.

Key discussions with big-market teams like the New York Yankees, which owns 25% of the YES Network, regarding local-media revenue sharing have not yet begun.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner noted that discussions on revenue sharing with other owners are still pending, while Mets owner Steve Cohen declined to comment on the matter.

Manfred emphasized the need for clubs to see the economic benefits of increasing national broadcasts to build consensus around this strategy.

Any changes to revenue sharing would require approval from the players' union, indicating the complexity of the negotiations ahead.