MLB will air local games for Guardians, Brewers and Twins next season

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday it will produce and distribute local broadcasts for the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins next year. All three teams had contracts with Diamond Sports Group that expired at the end of the regular season.

The Texas Rangers, whose deal also expired last month, also announced they will no longer be partnering with Diamond. They are assessing their options for next season.

The addition of the Guardians, Brewers and Twins means MLB will be handling the production and distribution of at least six teams going into 2025.

MLB took over broadcasts of the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2023 season and the Colorado Rockies this year.

Rick Schlesinger, the president of business operations for the Brewers, said he expects more teams could be partnering with MLB by the opening of next season.

“This has been a long process. It’s a very deliberative process," he said. "We’ve done this through a lot of work, a lot of analysis. I think this is going to be a huge game changer for us, for our content.”

By taking over the broadcasts, MLB expects to increase the market reach of its teams by at least 2 million households in each market. The Diamondbacks went from being available in 930,000 households on a regional sports network to 5.6 million homes through a combination of being on local cable systems, satellite and direct-to-consumer streaming.

“With the media landscape continuing to evolve, Major League Baseball is committed to serving our fans by ensuring they can see their favorite clubs, removing blackouts where we can, and ultimately growing the reach of our games,” Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner for business and media, said in a statement.

The Twins took a public relations hit in Minnesota for cutting their 2024 player payroll coming off a division title and their first postseason series win in 22 years, in light of the reduced rights fee coming from Diamond. They will lose the rights fee altogether with this MLB-produced model, but team president Dave St. Peter said this announcement would not have an effect on player spending for the upcoming season.

“We’ve spent a tremendous amount of time with Major League Baseball trying to better understand this marketplace, trying to better understand what a model like this will ultimately provide to the team. We also have studied closely what’s happened in San Diego, in Arizona and in Colorado. We’ve gotten comfortable in those economics. They are where they are," St. Peter said.

"We do expect that there will be a reduction in local revenue coming to the Twins in 2025. I think that’s a fact. That said, over the long haul we have tremendous confidence in our content and believe, while maybe we’ll take a dip for ’25, that over time the viewership and those economics related to that viewership will increase.”

Cleveland games were available on approximately 1.45 million households on its regional sports network. That reach is expected to increase 235% to 4.86 million households. Minnesota's will go up 307% from 1.08 million homes to 4.4 million.

Schlesinger said the Brewers had 800,000 households that could receive games this past season, but he also expects to see significant growth with the new model.

“From a fan perspective, it’s great because you’re going to have total access and no blackouts," he said. “There’s a lot of staffing, a lot of infrastructure, a lot of decisions have to be made, a lot of people to be hired, a lot of sponsors to contact. This is the right time to do this. It’s a good jumping point, platform to make sure when the calendar turns to 2025, we’re already fully immersed in this and that we know when the first game starts, that we’re ready to go and the product’s going to be outstanding.”

MLB could be taking over more teams as Diamond Sports Group continues to go through bankruptcy proceedings. The nation's largest owner of regional sports networks could be down to doing only Atlanta Braves games in 2025.

The operator of the Bally Sports regional networks presented its reorganization plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston last week. As part of the reorganization, Diamond plans to void the contracts of the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays and to attempt to rework the deals of the five franchises that are partial owners of their regional sports networks — the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Peter said he expects more teams to sign onto the model in the future.

“Starting to build that direct-to-consumer foundation, which clearly is the future of the way our games will be distributed — it’s time to get on with that and we’re excited about that,” St. Peters said. “Our ownership understands the consequences of that, but I think over time there’s way more upside than short-term downside.”

A final hearing on Diamond's reorganization plan is scheduled for Nov. 14. Diamond also has the rights to 13 NBA and eight NHL teams.

Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co. for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was required by the Department of Justice to sell the networks for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets to be approved.

AP sports writers Dave Campbell in Minneapolis and Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed to this story.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - A fan takes photos during the seventh inning of a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

The Cleveland Guardians hold a baseball workout in Cleveland, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in preparation for the American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Bally reporter, Hanna Yates, broadcasts her pregame with fans standing behind her waiting for autographs before the start of a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

MLB will air local games for Guardians, Brewers and Twins beginning next season

MLB will air local games for Guardians, Brewers and Twins beginning next season

CHICAGO (AP) — Two court rulings this week have delivered major blows to reproductive rights in Texas and Georgia but, during a crucial time in the election cycle, Democrats are seizing on them in an attempt to energize voters who support abortion access.

Advocates hope the rulings will serve as reminders about what’s at stake in a post-Roe America just weeks before a presidential election that has been partly defined by competing visions of abortion rights and the sometimes harrowing consequences for women living in states with abortion bans.

“Every time our opponents say the policies we have in place are fine and not as extreme as you think, this continual drumbeat of headlines illustrates the reality and galvanizes voters,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, which is providing money and other support for several ballot measure campaigns hoping to preserve or strengthen abortion rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court decision that bans emergency abortions that violate Texas law. The same day, the Georgia Supreme Court halted a ruling that had struck down the state’s near-total abortion ban.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, took the opportunity to remind voters of the threats her campaign says a second Trump presidency poses to reproductive rights and his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, which once granted a federal right to abortion. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for appointing the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion that had stood for 50 years.

“Because of extreme Trump Abortion Bans in states across the country, including Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia, women are facing horrific consequences to their health and lives — even death,” Harris posted on X. “Let me be clear: Donald Trump is the architect of this health care crisis.”

Monday's rulings are just the latest court decisions around reproductive rights to ripple through this year's races for president and Congress. In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos can be considered children, a decision that temporarily halted in vitro fertilization treatments and threw the lives of couples seeking fertility treatments into chaos.

In April, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a near total abortion ban from 1864 — when the state was only a U.S. territory. The Legislature repealed it months later, but not until after the issue had galvanized abortion rights supporters in a state that will help determine the presidency and control of the Senate.

Kristi Hamrick, spokesperson for the national anti-abortion group Students for Life Action, accused Democrats of “latching onto anything and blaming losses on anyone but themselves in a desperate attempt to get votes.” She celebrated the two rulings Monday and expressed hopes the anti-abortion wins will instead energize voters against abortion.

“We’re grateful for these wins and hopeful they may add some wind in our sails,” she said.

In Texas, the state’s abortion ban – one of the strictest in the country – is playing a role in the Senate race between the Republican incumbent, Sen. Ted Cuz, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. The weekend before Monday’s ruling, Allred vowed to restore Roe v. Wade at a campaign event in Fort Worth.

Other Democrats in the statehouse, including Texas Rep. Donna Howard, also expressed outrage at the rulings. She accused the courts of "willfully ignoring the dangerous reality many pregnant Texans are forced to endure if they experience severe pregnancy complications.”

In Georgia, one of the seven presidential battleground states, the state supreme court’s ruling comes on the heels of outrage over the deaths of Georgia women Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, who died after being denied immediate care that was attributed to the state’s restrictive laws.

Georgia voters are watching these stories about the impact of the state’s abortion restrictions and “they will bring that to the polls” during the presidential election, said Jessica Arons, a director of policy and government affairs at the ACLU. But these headlines might also energize voters in contests up and down the ballot, including citizen-led ballot measures in nine states aiming to protect abortion rights, she said.

Support for legal abortion has risen since the Supreme Court eliminated protections two years ago, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Around 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion for any reason if they don’t want to be pregnant. That represents an increase from June 2021, a year before the Supreme Court decision, when about half of Americans thought legal abortion should be possible under these circumstances.

Many experts and advocates have credited this shift to Americans’ reactions to the abortion restrictions affecting a wide swath of the country since Roe was overturned. Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy while another four ban it after six weeks — before many women know they’re pregnant.

“It’s hard to say how much voters are following each development, but it’s clear abortion is still an incredibly salient issue, and these are reminders of why as we head closer to November,” Arons said. “As courts and politicians continue to play ping-pong with women’s lives, ballot measures will be especially important.”

Only about half the states allow citizen-led ballot initiatives. Georgia and Texas, states where Republicans control the Legislature and governor's office, are not among them.

Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for a coalition aiming to enshrine abortion rights into the Florida Constitution, said the Georgia Supreme Court ruling only adds to a “public health crisis in the Southeast.”

Florida is the only state in the Southeast that allows citizen-led ballot initiatives, Brenzel said. If Floridians vote in favor of abortion rights, the state may become a major access point for Georgians seeking abortions. The Florida amendment needs at least 60% support to pass.

“It raises the stakes for us here in Florida,” Brenzel said.

After the Arizona Supreme Court revived the Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions, a coalition organizing around a statewide ballot measure to protect abortion rights reported a surge in donations, volunteers and interest. Laura Dent, the coalition’s political director, said it's evidence that voters are paying attention and taking action.

“Arizonans are seeing these headlines,” she said. “This and all the whiplash we’ve seen since the Dobbs decision really brought into focus for Arizona voters how we need to protect this right, and I think that will be reflected in November.”

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - Supporters cheer as speakers arrive at an event kicking off a national "Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour" by the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz, Sept. 3, 2024, in Boynton Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)