KC Royals say Bally’s financial crisis won’t affect fans’ ability to watch games

The Kansas City Royals are among 14 Major League Baseball teams with TV rights owned by Bally Sports network, a company that is now facing a financial crisis tied to regional broadcast rights.

The Royals insist, however, that the company’s financial troubles will not affect fans’ ability to watch Royals games this season, when opening day arrives at the end of March. The Royals will face the Minnesota Twins at home for opening day on March 30.

“MLB has been focused on this,” the Royals said in a written statement about Bally’s financial troubles, “and has a variety of contingencies in place to make sure fans have access to our games. We’ve had numerous conversations with MLB, and there is no higher priority.”

Last week, Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports network and is a subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, skipped about $140 million in interest payments that were due.

The missed payments by the parent company of 19 Bally Sports regional networks started a 30-day grace period that could be the prelude to a bankruptcy filing, possibly leading to changes in how televised games are made available to viewers.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Dean Manfred Jr. said Diamond has told MLB it intends to pay its baseball teams, but he called it an “unfolding story” that could change.

Manfred on Wednesday said that if Diamond Sports Group misses its payments, the clubs will terminate their agreements, forcing the league to produce and distribute those games itself, yahoo!sports reported.

That backup plan may include the league trying to air games on local cable while also streaming local games, which is currently not allowed, the online sports news outlet reported.

“We are prepared no matter what happens with respect to Diamond to make sure the games are available to fans in their local markets,” Manfred said. “We think it will be both linear in the traditional cable bundle and digitally on our own platforms, but that remains to be seen.”

Bally Sport Kansas City has had some problems in the past.

Most recently, in April, when the Royals clinched a 5-2 win over the White Sox in Chicago, fans watching from home were left hanging after television coverage cut out in the 10th inning.

Bally Sports KC released an apology, saying the issue was “the result of an error at our master control facility.”

The Star’s Eric Adler contributed to this report.