SEATTLE — Amazon surprised many within the sports business world on Wednesday when it was revealed the company had injected over $100 million as part of a partnership with a company that owns local broadcast rights for a significant number of professional American sports teams.
Diamond Sports, which is a regional sports operator for 37 different pro teams, has been amidst Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection last March. Under the terms of the restructuring agreement with Diamond's creditors, Prime Video would become the streaming home for the company's broadcasts.
ROOT Sports, which is the regional sports network for Seattle's Mariners and Kraken as well as the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, has been dealing with financial challenges, according to multiple reports. The Mariners became sole owners of ROOT Sports in 2024 after Warner Bros. divested its 29% stake in the network, The Seattle Times reported in December.
Mariners owner John Stanton met with ROOT staffers in December to discuss the future of the company and could not promise they all would keep their jobs, The Seattle Times' Ryan Divish reported citing sources. Considering local television revenue is a primary source of income for professional baseball teams like the Mariners, internal money issues at ROOT appear to have affected the team's offseason strategy. The Mariners have parted with quite a few high-salary players this offseason and have not made many waves in free agency outside of a deal with Mitch Garver.
All this being said, if Amazon is wedging itself into the regional sports network business, could the locally-founded tech giant be the lifeline for a fledgling company like ROOT?
Amazon has steadily grown its sports broadcast portfolio, with a weekly NFL game on Prime Video as well as Wednesday's announcement and deals with leagues like the WNBA (select Seattle Storm games are available to all Prime subscribers).
Excluding the local ties, would ROOT Sports be an attractive option for Amazon to invest in? The company holds broadcast rights for three teams across three leagues, essentially controlling all of the most coveted professional games in the Pacific Northwest.
Divish reported citing sources in December that the Mariners' most likely option would be to "absorb the operational costs of producing live games and maintain the status quo in 2024." Divish did not report any exact figures on what those costs might end up being, but there's no question it will be expensive and increase the team's expenses significantly.
Amazon would curry a lot of local favor if they worked out a deal to stream Mariners and Kraken games in the Seattle market, especially since the limited options for non-Xfinity or Fubo customers to watch games digitally is a consistent concern for fans.
No information was available on what it would cost for local subscribers to watch their teams under the new Diamond/Bally RSN agreement, as it would not be something offered under the standard Prime Video membership.
There likely will be more clarity on the future of ROOT Sports by the end of January, as the Mariners will want to have some kind of framework in place well before the team heads to Arizona for Spring Training.
If Amazon sees value in furthering its footprint in the regional sports network industry, the Bellevue-headquartered ROOT Sports could be another option to increase streaming access for those within western Washington, where Amazon still has tens of thousands of employees.
