Marlins TV money in jeopardy? Padres, Royals, Tigers advance

[Ely Sussman]

Offishial News for 10/3/24

On Wednesday, Craig Mish of SportsGrid confirmed our reporting that the entire Marlins major league coaching staff has been let go. That includes Mel Stottlemyre Jr. (pitching coach since 2019) and bullpen coach Wellington Cepeda (bullpen coach since 2020). In the Miami Herald, Mish specifies that the organization has interest in bringing back bench coach Luis Urueta and first base/outfield coach Jon Jay in 2025, but that is up to the next manager to decide. 

Also within that Herald article, Mish and Barry Jackson describe there being mutual interest between the Marlins and Bally Sports Florida to continue their television broadcasting partnership. The club was due to receive more than $50M in local TV rights next season, but that deal is being renegotiated as Bally's parent company, Diamond Sports Group, goes through bankruptcy proceedings. Assuming 2025 revenue is lower than initially projected, don't be surprised if the Marlins' player payroll is impacted.

Here's more Marlins news and content:

🔷 Another nugget from the Herald: play-by-play announcer Paul Severino has reached the end of his contract, though "there's no indication that the Marlins want to make a change." Severino has been willing to consider other opportunities, putting his name in the mix for the Yankees radio job. No decision has been made regarding the TV analyst rotation of Tommy Hutton, Rod Allen, Gaby Sanchez and Jeff Nelson.

🔷 Kevin Barral summarizes how Marlins trade deadline departures and their teams fared over the final two months of the regular season.

🔷 Marlins 1B Deyvison De Los Santos was a 2024 All-MiLB Team first-team selection.

🔷 Voting for the All-MLB team is open until October 11. Luis Arraez, Jake Burger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Tanner Scott are on the ballot.

🔷 Elsewhere around baseball, the Padres, Royals and Tigers won the second game of their respective Wild Card Series matchups, eliminating the Braves, Orioles and Astros. The O's have lost 10 straight postseason contests dating back to 2014. Detroit used a bullpen game with former Marlins prospect Sean Guenther recording five huge outs and earning the winning decision. It's the first time since 2016 that the Astros have fallen short of reaching the ALCS. Young Brewers outfielders Jackson Chourio and Garrett Mitchell combined for three homers to force a winner-take-all matchup against the Mets.

🔷 Today's MLB postseason schedule:

• New York Mets vs. Milwaukee Brewers Game 3 at 7:38 p.m. ET

 

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[Gabriel Revilla]

Question, does this mean that the marlins aren’t going to do the amazon tv thing anymore? this tv deal stuff is a bit confusing. Wouldn’t Miami want to work something out with a company that is not bankrupt? 

[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Lots of concerns over the Diamond Sports situation.  I heard Locked on Angels hosts discussing the same thing and the ramifications of a possible sale of the Angels. Would it prompt Moreno to sell as the television revenue was more uncertain, or would it be an opportunity to reset the team's future situation (TV and digital rights)? Would a team's value be materially affected? 

For the Marlins and Sherman's ownership group, it's another blow likely to manifest itself in the payroll immediately. Even more so than we perhaps already expected. According to Samson, the team has lost money each year since Loria sold, augmenting Sherman's overpay.

I am outside of the local market and buy MLB.tv anyway. My only blackout is when the Marlins play Cincinnati.  When I'm in Jacksonville, I watch Bally's, but that's not often during the hot months anymore.