Diamond Sports Group to exit bankruptcy

Zoom in: Diamond said in a statement it will exit bankruptcy "in the coming weeks."

• The restructuring plan involves a debt-for-equity swap with Diamond's creditors, which will wipe out around 95% of the company's debt, Diamond CEO David Preschlack said during the hearing.

The big picture: Diamond will move forward with a significantly smaller footprint than when it entered bankruptcy 20 months ago.

• The business will end up with 15 fewer teams, though the company says it could still sign a new deal with one more MLB team.
• The loss of the San Diego Padres and all of its teams in the Phoenix market led to the shutdown of its TV networks in those markets.
• Diamond has a new naming rights partner in FanDuel and has a deal with Amazon to offer its RSNs as an add-on streaming subscription.

Between the lines: Major League Baseball, which has been skeptical about Diamond's ability to operate throughout the entire process, had objected to multiple aspects of Diamond's plan.

• On Wednesday, the league and the Atlanta Braves, who had joined MLB in objecting, withdrew their objections to Diamond's restructuring plan.
• An additional objection by the U.S. Trustee, a watchdog overseeing the case, was overruled.

What we're watching: The cable crisis isn't going away and national broadcasters see an opening to grab local rights for themselves.

• MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has made no secret about his desire to pool all of his teams' local rights together and sell them to the highest bidder.
• The NBA is also evaluating its teams' local TV situations.