Well, it’s happening. On Wednesday morning, rumors from a few weeks ago, that Amazon and Diamond Sports were deep into negotiations that would make Prime Video the streaming home of at least two major professional Minnesota Sports teams — the Wild and Timberwolves.
Related: How to Stream Minnesota Wild and Timberwolves Games if Bally Sports App Stops Working
Future Minnesota Timberwolves and Wild streams moving to Amazon Prime Video
As part of the Diamond Sports Group (parent company of Bally Sports) bankruptcy agreement that was made public this morning, Amazon is buying a minority stake in the flailing regional sports broadcasting network. In return, Amazon obtains streaming rights to all NBA, MLB and NHL games broadcast by Bally Sports regional sports networks.
Under the terms of the RSA, Amazon also has committed to make a minority investment in Diamond and enter into a commercial arrangement to provide access to Diamond’s services via Prime Video. Under this arrangement, Prime Video will become Diamond’s primary partner through which customers will be able to purchase direct-to-consumer (DTC) access to stream local Diamond channels. Customers will be able to access all local DTC content, including live MLB, NBA and NHL games, and pre- and post-game programming, for the teams for which Diamond retains DTC rights, through Prime Video Channels.
BusinessWire.com
No information has been released yet on when Bally Sports streams will move to Amazon’s streaming platform. When the move happens, though, we know that Timberwolves and Wild streams will be included, just like all of the other NBA and NHL teams whose TV/streaming rights are owned by Bally Sports.
Minnesota Twins not included in Diamond Sports + Amazon deal
Last week, it was reported that Diamond Sports’ negotiations with the Minnesota Twins, along with two other MLB teams, were dragging on and holding up bankruptcy proceedings.
Read More: MLB, Bally Sports Delay Bankruptcy Hearing Over Twins, Others
But according to Michael Rand (Star Tribune), whenever that move is made, the Twins will not be a part of it because their TV/streaming rights were not included as part of this bankruptcy agreement, leaving their broadcasting future (yet again) up in the air.
“From my information, the Twins are not one of the five [MLB] teams [included in the Diamond Sports + Amazon streaming agreement] and, in fact, the Twins are still one of those teams very much in limbo right now. They don’t have a TV contract yet for 2024, their contract with Diamond [Sports] expired at the end of the 2023 season and they’ve been trying to negotiate — along with a bunch of these other Diamond Sports teams — a deal for 2024 and potentially beyond.”
Michael Rand – Daily Delivery Podcast
Rand goes on to say that it could very well be another month or even longer before we know how we are going to be able to watch the Twins play baseball in 2024. Which, for those keeping track of the MLB calendar, is supposed to be in March.
So we thought there might be some clarity on [the Twins’ TV/streaming future] this week. That does not seem like it’s gonna happen. We might be into mid February or even later before we know exactly how the twins are gonna be shown on TV and streamed this year. so that piece of it adds wrinkle of upheaval to all of this”
Michael Rand – Daily Delivery Podcast
I have reached out to Diamond Sports and the Twins to get more clarity on their exclusion from this deal. I will update this article when I hear back or different media outlet reports anything further.