MLB using strategy from Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale multi-starrer to reclaim digital rights from Diamond Sports Group, says former exec
Diamond Sports Group (parent company of Bally Sports), who once held half of the MLB team's broadcast rights, reportedly plans to drop the broadcasting rights of 11 of the 12 teams under them (except Atlanta Braves).
Former Marlins President David Samson thinks MLB will be opportunistic in this scenario, much like the biographical crime comedy-drama film "The Big Short," which featured an ensemble cast of Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, etc.
"MLB wants Diamond to drop all of these teams because MLB wants to get all the digital rights back that were granted to Diamond as part of the existing broadcast deals. If you can take all the digital rights back, then you can put them all together," said Samson on Thursday's episode of his "Nothing Personal with David Samson" podcast. [28:11]
In his analogy, Samson compared MLB allegedly trying to bundle all media rights into a single package to that of the bad mortgages bundled together in the film "Big Short."
"You can pretend you’re in the movie The Big Short, and then you go to somebody and say, "Hey, look, I’ve got a whole big mess of digital rights. Pay me a lot of money." And then Apple says, "Hey, that sounds good. What about the Red Sox?" Nope, not exactly. "Yankees?" I don’t think so. "Dodgers?" For sure, we love them. No, not them either," said Samson. [28:30]
The analogy is spot on, as big teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers wouldn't be part of the deal if the MLB tried to sell it to a big entity like Apple. It is thus similar to the problematic mortgages in the film.
In the movie, Christian Bale portrayed Michael Burry, a real-life hedge fund manager. Ryan Gosling portrayed Jared Vennett, while Brad Pitt essayed the role of Ben Rickert.
All three characters in the movie used credit default swaps to short the market and profit from the impending mortgage crisis.
Will MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's ambitions create such a scenario? It remains to be seen. All rests on whether Diamond Sports Group can work out a deal with the MLB.
David Samson explains why the NFL model won't work for MLB if Diamond Sports Group departs
Diamond Sports Group's deals with the MLB and the other major sports leagues in the USA, like the NHL and NBA, are extremely different. They have reportedly cut deals with the NBA and the NHL and thus will continue with their broadcasting commitments.
MLB has not cut any deals with Diamond and David Samson doesn't think they intend to do so. On his podcast, Samson speculated MLB's intention to pool different rights together won't work. The former Marlins President analyzed that the MLB's revenue-sharing format is unlike the NFL, where it is equally shared.
Per Samson, if something like that happens, a significant portion of the revenue from broadcasting rights will go to the bigger markets like Los Angeles and New York, leaving other teams vulnerable. According to him, Diamond Sports Group is thus essential for the smaller MLB markets.
Some think the upcoming collapse of Diamond Sports Group will mark the end of the MLB's RSN-driven model. With Amazon, Netflix, and other companies entering the streaming business, it's unclear what the future holds. Furthermore, Amazon has a minority position in Bally Sports, which makes it interesting.