Anthony Crupi at Sportico with a minor update in the Diamond Sports bankruptcy proceedings—
In a hearing convened Friday morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Judge Christopher Lopez said attorneys for MLB, the NBA and NHL must be given access to Diamond’s contracts with the three operators, albeit under the strictest confidentiality. The most guarded information in these financial documents, including the particulars of Diamond’s “most-favored nation” clauses (MFNs), is to be released on an anonymized basis, to be reviewed solely by the leagues’ non-staff counsel.
This could be prove to be an important development. The leagues need to know what they are dealing with if they are to negotiate with Diamond in good faith. Otherwise they have to take Diamond’s word in any deal. The leagues feel they were fooled once and will not be fooled again.