Twins say goodbye to blackouts, agree to TV deal with MLB: What you need to know

Minnesota Twins blackout-free baseball is finally here.

Well, almost.

After a year of turmoil over their television broadcast rights, the Twins agreed Tuesday to a new contract to be broadcast by Major League Baseball, providing clarity and allowing about 150 games to be broadcast locally without restrictions.

MLB announced it will broadcast games for the Twins, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Guardians starting next season. The Twins' plan includes both its own local television station and direct-to-consumer digital streaming, team president Dave St. Peter said.

Although national television commitments prevent all 162 games from being available to customers, the new contract ensures that fans in Twins territory will be able to watch the majority of the team's games without restrictions.

While the price is not specified, it is likely to be comparable to the $19.99 per month and $99.99 seasonal packages offered last season by the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, said a team source.

“It's an exciting day for the organization, but more importantly, for our fans and our partners,” St. Peter said. “It will eliminate all blackouts as we know and hate them. In our view, it will bring improved production of Twins baseball, innovation and new features that I believe will make an already excellent television production team led by Cory Provus and Justin Morneau and others even better. It will take us into the future with a direct-to-consumer streaming option that our fans have been so desperately asking for.”

The new regulation helps the team and its fans on two fronts. First, it means the Twins will be available to an additional 3.3 million households in Twins Territory next season, up from 1.08 million in the past to about 4.4 million. Second, local fans would no longer have to purchase a cable package to watch Twins games.

This is a path the twins thought they were on a year ago.

When it was announced that he had been named the team's TV play-by-play broadcaster in December 2023, Provus stated that “there are no more blackouts” was one of the main reasons he agreed to a move away from radio.

With their contract with Bally/Diamond Sports Group expiring after the 2023 season, the Twins were well on their way to allowing MLB to produce broadcasts, as such a deal would provide greater reach. Convinced that they were no longer visible and in the minds of too many fans, the Twins hoped to reduce the number of blackouts and provide fans with a direct-to-consumer streaming option.

But in early February, Bally/Diamond proposed a new, more lucrative offer, which the Twins accepted, albeit without a streaming option, angering fans hoping to watch games without a required cable subscription.

The team's broadcast situation worsened on May 1 when Comcast pulled Bally Sports North from its lineup due to a contract dispute between Comcast and Diamond. While Diamond struck deals with several other cable providers during the same period, team sources were stunned when the parties were unable to reach an agreement, resulting in a three-month suspension that affected a significant portion of viewers throughout Twins Territory.

Comcast didn't budge in its negotiations and Diamond eventually relented over the summer, allowing the operator to place shows on a separate premium sports tier, costing subscribers an additional $20 per month over and above regular cable rates.

On August 1, the Twins finally returned to Comcast Airwaves. The final 55 games were broadcast on local cable before the team's final contract with Bally/Diamond expired at the end of the season.

In bankruptcy court last week, Diamond said it wanted to terminate contracts with Detroit and Tampa Bay, but also indicated it would terminate contracts with the Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins and… had to renegotiate with the Cincinnati Reds.

Although the Twins also had the opportunity to renegotiate with Diamond/Bally and may face another offseason of financial uncertainty until an agreement was reached, they chose certainty. St. Peter said the team feedback broadcast by MLB last season made it easier for the Twins to make the jump.

“We felt like this was the best way forward,” St. Peter said. “The distribution was there and honestly the fan feedback was really positive. We felt that clarity for our fans was the most important thing we could create heading into 2025. We recognized the uncertainty that we had actually been dealing with since opening day of 2023, and then what we had to deal with over the last offseason and then over the course of the '24 season. We perhaps wanted to give fans more clarity on how to follow the Twins in 2025. That’s why we wanted to make the decision sooner rather than later.”

While previous TV deals paid the Twins up to $54 million per season, the new model won't bring in nearly that much. According to team sources, the one-year deal the Twins accepted last February was not nearly as lucrative as the previous deal.

Team sources cited decreased TV revenue as a significant factor in the team's decision to cut player payroll by nearly $30 million last season, compared to the club record $160 million in 2023. Despite the expected Further reducing broadcast rights fees, St. Peter said it should remain the same next season. Last week, a team source said no further pay cuts were planned for the 2025 season.

“They knew on local television which direction we were going, so I don't think today's announcement has any impact on payroll,” St. Peter said.

The decision could impact what faces fans could see on their TVs, laptops, phones and other streaming devices. Provus and senior analyst Morneau are expected to return to the team's broadcasts in 2024. In addition, the Twins must determine who will work with them to create the broadcast schedule, including pregame and postgame shows.

“As much as we are excited about today, it is bittersweet knowing that today's decision brings great uncertainty for the people of the Bally Sports North family and that the twins are incredibly sensitive to it,” said St. Peter. “There are many women and men who have been involved in the production, sales and distribution of Twins baseball for a long, long time. We care about these people. As we move forward, we will focus on this area. I hope we can find roles for some of these people in producing Twins baseball on the MLB platform. But we still have a lot of work to do on this front.”

(Photo by Carlos Correa: Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)