The quest to purchase the former Fox regional sports networks has taken yet another twist with reports that Major League Baseball has teamed up with Liberty Media Group to buy the assets, which are worth about $10bn (€8.8bn).
The Walt Disney Company has received final-round bids for the 21 RSNs, which it must divest as part of its $71.3bn deal to acquire 20th Century Fox’s entertainment assets, according to Bloomberg. Disney is required to sell the RSNs within 90 days of the deal’s completion on March 19.
Along with the MLB–Liberty joint bid, the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Ice Cube’s Big3 sports and entertainment company have also made bids. “We’re still in the game. Now it’s time to win it for the culture,” Ice Cube tweeted on Tuesday.
The New York Yankees, meanwhile, are close to acquiring the YES network, in a deal valued at around $3.5bn. The Yankees have teamed up with Amazon and Sinclair to buy the RSN.