Major League Baseball team the Arizona Diamondbacks has agreed a billion-dollar extension to its local rights deal with regional sports network Fox Sports Arizona, according to the Arizona Republic.
The newspaper said sources would not disclose terms of the new deal with the Fox Sports affiliate, but added it is in line with expectations based on prior comments from Diamondbacks officials.
Team officials have said the club was discussing 15 and 20-year contracts and that a new deal would at least triple the annual value of the team’s previous agreement, which was set to run through the current 2015 MLB season.
The Republic said the current deal is worth $31m (€27.3m) annually, which means a 15-year contract would be valued at close to $1.4bn if the club secures a three-fold increase through a fresh agreement.