Cincinnati Reds Local TV Future Uncertain For 2025 Season | Chatterbox Reds | MLB Off-Season

Cincinnati Reds Local TV Future Uncertain For 2025 Season | Chatterbox Reds | MLB Off-Season

Nick Kirby is joined by Austin Layton to discuss the future of the Cincinnati Reds on TV after Bally Sports has turned into FanDuel Sports Network while the network is in bankruptcy. Nick and Austin dive into the full history of how we got to this point and what the future might look like.

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How Bally’s latest bankruptcy bombshell might gut-punch Cincinnati Reds offseason plans
Gordon Wittenmyer
Cincinnati Enquirer

Terry Francona’s job as the Cincinnati Reds’ next manager got a lot tougher before he got the chance to even step foot in Cincinnati.

This week’s latest developments in the bankruptcy proceedings of Bally Sports’ parent company suggest revenue cuts could be coming for teams in partnership with Bally, such as the Reds.

And for a team that already operates on a small-market budget, that could mean a significant squeeze this winter on the team’s ability to add payroll to help fix what broke in 2024 – although team officials emphasize they’re still sorting through details and that 2025 budgets haven’t been formalized.

Bally’s parent company, Diamond Sports Group, indicated during the latest bankruptcy court hearing on Wednesday that it planned to commit to only one of its MLB teams under the current terms of its contract for 2025: the Atlanta Braves.

Meanwhile it planned to void the contracts of two of its partner teams (the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays), leaving the Reds among five Bally teams that own partial stakes in their regional sports networks.

Diamond Sports Group plans to renegotiate terms of the contracts of those five teams under the reorganization plan filed with the court, and DSG attorneys told the court new proposals already have been delivered to teams.

Teams sources say only that conversations are “ongoing” and it’s too early to know what the result will be for the Reds. The Reds have baseball budget meetings planned later this month.

What’s at stake is an estimated $60 million in annual revenue under the current Bally contract, a significant piece of the Reds’ overall revenue pie.

One high-ranking official for a rival Bally-broadcast team recently said Bally-partnered teams were bracing for at least 20-percent cuts into 2025.

With the full commitment of TV revenue set for 2024 and only one multi-year contract on the roster (Hunter Greene), the front office used its payroll flexibility to get aggressive in early-winter, front-loaded signings of short-term contracts for free agent pitchers such as Frankie Montas, Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagán and (returning) Buck Farmer.

Martinez is expected to exercise his second-year opt-out on a two-year, deal; Pagán is expected to decline his similar opt-out and remain for the final season of his contract. Montas was traded in July.

Infielder Jeimer Candelario was the only player signed to longer than those deals (three years, $45 million).

Candelario, Greene, Pagán and Jonathan India would be the only players under contract for 2025 heading into the winter, at a total of $34 million in ’25 salary.

But they also have 10 arbitration-eligible players who will be in line for raises if they’re not non-tendered, including first-baseman Ty France, catcher Tyler Stephenson and first-year-eligible pitchers Alexis Diaz, Nick Lodolo and Sam Moll.

The Reds had a payroll of roughly $100 million in 2024, which ranked among the bottom six in the majors.