MLB will broadcast 2025 Brewers games after deal with Diamond Sports falls through
Like many teams around the league, the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans have been adversely impacted by Diamond Sports' ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Diamond went around and gobbled up all the TV distribution deals they could get their hands on and once they started to go under, the future of baseball TV broadcasts was thrown into complete disarray.
With their latest court filing, Diamond made it abundantly clear in bankruptcy court that they were not willing/able to broadcast nearly a dozen teams, including the Brewers, for the 2025 season with only the Braves seemingly profitable enough to justify their existing deals. Obviously this created a number of problems as teams need their expected TV revenue numbers to plan for the offseason and the timing of Diamond's move threw those plans for a loop.
There was a chance that some teams would reach a new, less lucrative deal with Diamond for 2025, but MLB decided to instead be proactive with a handful of teams, including Milwaukee, and will broadcast their games next season.
MLB will handle broadcasting of Brewers games in 2025, but details are still fuzzy
What we know from this release is that MLB will be broadcasting Brewers games for at least next year if not longer, it will involve a direct-to-consumer option, and that local blackout restrictions will be relaxed. This is certainly better than having no TV deal at all which is what the Brewers faced, but details are a bit fuzzy. MLB's press release pointed to their deal with the Guardians and how it expanded the reach of the team, so that is probably a good starting point for setting expectations.
The biggest question remains, however, and that is how much the Brewers stand to gain financially from the deal. It is almost certainly true that this agreement with MLB won't be as lucrative as RSN deals were just a few years ago, but the actual amount of the difference is going to matter considerably when it comes to projecting any changes in the Brewers' spending.
At minimum, Brewers fans can rest easy that there will at least be an option to watch Brewers games next season from a stable source. As for the exact details of what that will look like and how much it will cost, we will have to wait until closer to Opening Day 2025 to find that out.