Twins TV Deal Official; Sides Move to Hide Terms of New Contract from Fans

Well, it’s official. The Minnesota Twins will be back on Bally Sports North this season, after a bankruptcy judge happily approved the deal that the Cleveland Guardians, Texas Rangers and Twins made with Diamond Sports Group (parent Co. of Bally Sports) last week, calling it “a huge step in the right direction”.

New Minnesota Twins TV Deal with Bally Sports North official

Judge Chris Lopez says he "happily approves" the Guardians, Rangers, Twins agreements to stay with Diamond and Bally for 2024. "A huge step forward," Lopez says. Now it's official.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 9, 2024

Unfortunately for cord-cutting Twins fans, streaming rights are expected to remain the exact same as they were last season, which we touched on in more detail last week, when news of this agreed-upon contract first came to light.

Related: Derek Falvey Says Twins are Still Working on More Potential Moves

In summary, unless you have the regional sports network as part of your cable, satellite or catch-all streaming provider (like Fubo TV), you will not be able to stream Twins games this summer, if you live within the local broadcast market.

Twins, Diamond request financial documents be sealed from public

As unfortunate as the bad streaming news is, it’s not new. What was new this morning, and what certainly caught the attention of Evan Drellech (The Athletic) was an unusual request made in the courtroom via one of Diamond Sports Group’s attorneys, who asked the judge to make sure that all financial information or any documents containing terms of the new agreements be sealed from the public.

Diamond’s attorney claims that the financial information contained in those records is “highly confidential” and that “the teams would not like [the terms of the agreements] in the public forum”.

I will translate: "Please don't tell fans or the media how much we are paying the teams."

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 9, 2024

As of now, it has not been made clear whether or not the judge accepted Diamond Sports Group’s request to seal the terms of this new agreement, or if he’s expected to.

Pohlads don’t want you to know how cheap they are being

It is very interesting, though. I’ve written recently about reports that the Minnesota Twins do not plan to increase the shrunken player payroll budget, which they announced at the beginning of the season, no matter how much of the lost TV revenue (~$65 million) they recovered in this new Bally Sports North contract.

Related: Will Carlos Santana Play 1st Base or DH for Minnesota Twins?

Thus, it would make sense that the Pohlads do not want us to know how much of their TV revenue they were actually able to save. Team presidents Dave St. Peter and Derek Falvey have talked incessantly the last few months about how much TV revenue uncertainty negatively impacted their ability to spend and make moves this offseason.

But of course, now that there is no more TV uncertainty, and even if they recouped most of that money back, they still aren’t going to bump payroll back near where it was in 2023. So it makes sense they wouldn’t want us to know how much TV money they are putting into their billfold this season, instead of back into the roster.

If were doing shady baseball owner things, I wouldn’t want anyone to know the details surrounding my inexplicable actions either.