The economics of sports has changed dramatically since my early days of watching the product in the 1960s.  Baseball, in particular, is a game I like to watch on the home screen.

The cycles of watching local sports teams, or just teams in your area, have gone back and forth.  Sometimes it is difficult, or virtually impossible, to watch your favorite Major League Baseball team.  Other times, it’s easy.

I happen to be a fan of the Cincinnati Reds.  I had a cable package at one time that gave me nearly all Reds games.  I had to cancel that provider because the cost was just way too high.  But that meant I lost my Reds games.

Now, I can use streaming to watch my Reds (even if they are rebuilding and not likely to contend this year).  Bally Sports has a streaming service.  It offers both Indiana Pacer NBA games and the Reds.  The cost is about $20 a month, a bit steep but worth it for fans of both teams.

So, I was looking forward to watching the Reds this season.  But wait, we have a new complication.

The parent company of Bally, Diamond Sports Group, has filed bankruptcy in an attempt to restructure its debt.  Cable TV cord-cutting, coupled with a weak advertising market, has hit regional sports networks like Diamond Sports Group hard.

There are lots of online journalists writing about this regional sports network economic model.  Based on that reporting, some are doing well, but firms like Diamond Sports are obviously struggling.

Diamond owns rights to a number of teams through its regional networks…14 Major League Baseball teams, 16 in the NBA and 12 National Hockey League clubs.  The NBA and NHL are nearing the end of their seasons, but what about baseball?

As the season starts, Diamond and Bally are broadcasting all their regional sports network games.  But one wonders how long that will last.

Diamond has said it may keep some baseball contracts and cancel others.  For example, deciding to keep the Arizona team but dropping the Cincinnati Reds.  Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said the contract language with these regional sports networks says if you cancel one team’s pact, you have cancelled them all.

I have not read these contracts and am no lawyer myself.  But even if the contracts say what Commissioner Manfred says, it will ultimately be up to the bankruptcy judge to make final decisions on these matters.

So, I start the season able to watch my Cincinnati Reds.  It is sad that future access to my favorite MLB team may not be in the hands of the teams or the TV execs, but a bankruptcy judge.  So is the state of sports economics today.