Hubs

They made a deal last week to not discount the rights of the majority of their MLB team deals for 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tentative-deal-between-diamond-sports-023720346.html

Is it? I think there's more involved. They wanted to keep him, they weren't going to be able to try if they shipped him out.

You don't know that the Angels aren't an appealing destination to baseball players.

I mean, you're excusing a guy from the worst team organized cheating scandal since the 1919 White Sox. This isn't like steroid users, who did it with the teams' blessing at the worst. Those 25 men should've been investigated, the worst offenders banned, and the world series title should've been vacated. Then no one would've done it again, but baseball backed down. (AND yes, I know others played on that team like Max Stassi, and Joe Musgrove, Devenski, etc. Marisnick was intrinsically involved)

Marisnick is a steriod user, an ass hat, and a cheater. He was the forefront of the Astros cheating scandal and should've been banned from baseball, but our clown of a GM thinks this is a good deal? Fuck this guy.

I keep saying this but the national media and some others push this narrative that this is the way to rebuild your farm. It doesn't work.

I'm not denying you're right about the carriage fees declining with the advent of streaming, but I think you're wrong to pinpoint that as the sole cause of the RSN's bankruptcy. They have what 14 MLB teams? So with most RSN rights fees coming in at less than the Angels, you're probably talking at most $1B for Baseball Rights fees per year. More likely it's around $700 Million. EDIT: I found this list for 2022. Arizona 68M, Atlanta 100M, Cincinnati 48M, Cleveland 55M, Detroit 60M, Kansas City 45M, Angels 112M, Miami 49M, Milwaukee 33M, Minnesota 42M, San Diego 47M, St. Louis 59M, Tampa Bay 56M, Texas 111M. = 885M in Baseball Rights fees per annum. They pay for other rights fees too, from college sports to NBA to NHL, but these aren't even close to what baseball gets due to the number of games, the number of nationally televised games in the NBA's case, and the number of viewers. Baseball is the cream of the crop. Assuming these cover say 45% of the population, and an equal number of cable subscribers, this is 45% of the 65 Million estimated cable subscribers. I'm gonna assume $6 bucks for the RSN per month per subscriber = $72 per year. 29 Million *72 = 2.088 Billion per year in carriage fees, down from approximately 2.7 Billion when the deal was signed. The 8 Billion in loans has to carry a payment of 800M per year. Probably more. You're not getting a 30 year mortgage on a loan like this. I'm guessing 10 year loan max, but probably less (5 or 7) and probably at a significant interest rate. So if you are getting $2.1 Billion in revenue, not including commercials, of course, and paying out over 1/3 in debt service that you weren't paying before, and watching your subscribers go down, it's time for Chapter 11. They can focus on rights fees and declining cable subscribers all they want, but this debt service is causing the bankruptcy.

You can continue to ignore the debt side and focus on lack of revenue, but having that burdensome debt surely accelerated their demise. And no one talks about it. They overvalued and bought the teams almost with almost 80% debt, If Fox Sports (and Disney) still owned the RSN's... Revenue including carriage fees.... X Expenses including rights fees... Y X-Y = Profitability. Even if X goes down, as long as X is greater than Y, they are profitable and able to meet their obligations. Now...with the ludicrous Diamond Sports / Sinclair / Bally Sports debt deal... Revenue including carriage fees.... X Expenses including rights fees... Y Debt Service = Z X-Y-Z = Profitability. It's a huge issue.

As a reminder, here's how Sinclair financed the purchase from Disney (one of the is listed as secured note, but it was later found to be unsecured). The aggregate purchase price, transaction costs, and an additional cash amount contributed to Diamond was funded through a $1.4 billion cash contribution from Sinclair, $1.0 billion of preferred equity issued by a parent company of Diamond (also an indirect subsidiary of Sinclair), a $3.3 billion secured term B loan facility entered into by Diamond, and $3.1 billion of secured notes and $1.8 billion of senior notes issued by Diamond and Diamond Sports Finance Company. They've since given up their equity and forfeited their 1.4 billion, but there is still 8.2 Billion in loans. During the bankruptcy, those note holders will end up being the new owners of the RSN's. The Angels also own 25% of Fox Sports West (now Bally Sports West).

I will point out that the lack of a streaming option most certainly caused the devaluation in the Bally Sports Groups RSN's, but if they had not been purchased with 10B in unsecured debt and that Sinclair was allowed to manipulate and then sue their own subsidiary was ridiculous. These stations, left on their own with their own rights deals and such were certainly profitable when they were bought in 2019, and yes Covid... upped the streaming boom, but they are less profitable now, and they would still be able to afford the rights fees, if not all of them... Having to pay 10B in debt, caused this fall, and no one points this out, they all jump to rights fees and cable subscribers, etc. It's lazy journalism. It's like ignoring the mortgage on the house, but complaining that costs on the utilities went up, so you can't afford the rent anymore. There is still a gigantic loan to satisfy first. That's causing all of these issues.

Sinclair should never have been permitted to buy these stations solely with debt. The unsecured debt payments alone doomed this deal, and they furthered it by spinning it off and then trying to charge for management services. They are getting denied. Which they should, they should not pay themselves (spin off or not) for management before paying the team for rights fees they owe. This is a truly fucked up deal, and yes, while viewership and cable declined, the onus of this bankruptcy comes down to the debt used to purchase the deal, and the way in which it was structured, which never should have been allowed. I'm annoyed because I bank at one of the banks that made a stupid unsecured loan and will get stiffed. Sinclair is one of the worst companies in Media, and they should be responsible for their bad deal, instead of stiffing and shifting blame. This is the problem with bankruptcy laws in the USA. Too easy to manipulate.

I would agree except I think they’ll trade for an arm too. And then use the surplus starting pitching to add another bat

Yeah this logo is too like the Alabama logo. Not my fav.

This would just mean they lose a lot of games 5 to 2. They need to improve all three areas of the team, including the offense.

I was also big on the Torii Hunter acquisition.

Everyone keeps saying $80, but GMJ Signed for 5/50. so $50M catch.

That wouldn't be enough for Burnes, would probably take Sandoval & Adell, but like maybe Shane Bieber. Or someone like that. Bieber and a minor leaguer for Jo Adell, Luis Rengifo and Tyler Anderson. Or $3M per season for two seasons, and no Adell.

I could see Adell and like Anderson to someone for a guy making more money. But, they'd have to sign an OF then.

Top 10 clubs do not trade their stars for Prospects. Angels want to be a top 10 club, but they're not. When was the last time the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Red Sox traded their star player for prospects who were any good? The Red Sox got nothing for Betts. The Mets trades last year of their two expensive pitchers netted a nice return, but thats also cuz they were so far over the tax line, they were trying to get under the huge penalty line.

Vladimir Guerrero and then Ohtani. Pujols too probably. This offseason, they're gonna do something big, Arte's 77 and is not gonna rebuild. We'll see what it is.

When the team moved to Anaheim in 1966, there was a significant distance between the city of Los Angeles and Anaheim. Downtown was 20 miles away, and you drove through farms and such to get to Disneyland and Angels Stadium. Land was cheap. Now, you don't really know which city you are in, on your way from Los Angeles to Anaheim, there is no difference, no barrier. No farms.

No competent team would take 5 years to rebuild let alone 10.

Scratch Lee he just signed with the Giants

Ok he left in FA. For our crosstown rival. That sucks but they paid him a ton, deferred money aside. I doubt Arte would’ve wanted to defer as much as he did anyway, and it’s still a huge hit. Maybe he would’ve. Yes there would be some shiny new prospects on the farm but I doubt they’d have gotten anyone in the league’s top 30 for a two month rental. And the teams willing to trade for him, well, they would not have been the same team to sign him either. I think they need to pivot to a few players and Arte needs to spend 70ish million on some new free agents and more importantly, spend on development. Personally, without Ohtani, I’d spend on Snell or Yamamoto. Imanga maybe too. Or Trade for Glasnow. Add Hicks or Moore or both. Id definitely look at Korean OF Jung Lee and an infield bat. Maybe Tim Anderson is a good fit.

It won’t cost this much.