How Minnesota sports fans feel about Bally Sports' potential move to Amazon Prime Video
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Cord cutters may soon have a new way to watch local professional sports.
A new move by Amazon, if approved by the court, would put Bally Sports teams on Amazon Prime.
For the last several years, cord-cutting fans of the Minnesota Twins, Wolves, Lynx and Wild have been left in the dark for most local broadcasts.
"Cable got too expensive," said Nate Stoebe, a Wild fan from Sartell.
Stoebe echoes the sentiment of sports fans who have increasingly been quitting cable and satellite over the last decade.
Diamond Sports, owner of Bally Sports, announced Wednesday morning that thanks to an investment by Amazon, initially a $115 million investment, local teams whose games are on Bally Sports would be available through Prime Video.
It was last year when Diamond Sports filed for bankruptcy protection.
Sports fans at Mall of America Wednesday said they welcome the news.
"Definitely would be interested, yeah," said Stoebe.
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Ardelle Olson, a Twins fan from Inver Grove Heights, said she wishes the games were on free, over-the-air television, but said she would also accept a streaming option.
"We would love to have it on streaming. We have Amazon Prime so that would be great, too," said Olson.
"It would open up a lot of doors for new fans and even fans around here," said Sean Foersch from Eagan.
Questions remain, like how much the games would cost and when the games would become available on Prime. Current Prime subscribers likely would not receive the games with their current subscriptions.
With the Prime deal, the games would remain on cable and satellite.
Due to the complexity of the Diamond bankruptcy, it may be a while before the games end up on Prime.
WCCO reached out to Amazon for details, but has not heard back.
The home of Twins broadcasts for next season is still in question, since their contract with Bally expired after last season.
Fans said they wish their teams could be found in one, centralized location.
"Eventually a central spot would be ideal," said Foersch. "A central sports location."
"I hope that it can just be platformed so everybody and every Minnesota sports fan can watch their favorite team whenever they want," said Stoebe.
