Edward Thoma: Thoma column | Twins TV 2024: No Bremer, no contract, no clue

Nov. 6—The Twins will be on TV in 2024. We just don't know who will be calling the games or how we will view them.

And the Twins organization doesn't know how much money it will get.

Little things like that.

In the brave new world of Twins broadcasting, what we don't know is more important than what we do know.

The Twins have no television carrier — their contract with Bally Sports North has expired, and and it took a court order to get 2023's money from BSN's bankrupt parent, Diamond Sports. They announced last week that Dick Bremer will not be in the booth in 2024, triggering immediate speculation that Cory Provus will move from the radio side to TV.

Let's take this in pieces.

Bremer

Bremer has been the face of Twins TV for most of their tenure in Minnesota. His departure is momentous all by itself.

Leaving the booth was reportedly not his idea, but he isn't making a fuss about it. Considering the turmoil and uncertainty about the future of the broadcasts, clearing the slate makes a certain amount of sense. So much is going to change anyway.

His retirement was coming, sooner or later. He is, frankly, at or approaching an age at which many veteran broadcasters seek to cut back on travel. The travel schedule of a major league team is rough enough on 25-year-old athletes; he's in his upper 60s and can probably do without those 3 a.m. hotel check-ins.

But his enthusiasm for the game is undiminished. The demise of "Dick-and-Bert" as a daily team brought a rotating crew of analysts and revealed Bremer's greatest attribute: He gave his sidekicks the space to shine.

In recent seasons, the likes of Justin Morneau, Glen Perkins, Trevor Plouffe and LaTroy Hawkins — players of recent vintage — have given the viewers insights into the modern game that we didn't get from Bert Blyleven, who was just phoning it in.

Provus

I work nights. For me, the radio broadcasts are more important than the TV — but that's just me. If Provus slides into the TV booth, I understand. But I would rather he stay on radio.

I'm not sure Provus is going to remain a Twins broadcaster for long in any medium. He's a Chicago-area native; he apparently has based his family there; he does a lot of Big Ten football and basketball television. There is speculation that the Cubs' lead radio voice, Pat Hughes, might soon retire.

Provus moving to the Cubs at some point seems almost inevitable.

The carrier

The Twins were paid some $54 million for the television rights in 2023. We know that because a federal bankruptcy judge last spring ordered Diamond Sports, the holding company for more than a dozen "regional sports networks," to make the full payment or surrender the rights, and it paid up.

Diamond did give up the rights to the San Diego Padres. Major League Baseball immediately took over production and distribution of the Padres broadcasts.

In an MLB Network Radio interview during the World Series, Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke highly, but vaguely, of how that went, saying something along the lines of: We established that there is an audience willing to pay to stream the games.

A few days later the Athletic reported that the Padres had to take out a $50 million loan to meet payroll.

Connect the dots: The RSN revenue the Padres expected went away, the games were streamed instead, and a big hole in the budget appeared.

If the Twins games are streamed by MLB — which I think is a likely outcome — it is hardly certain that the team's revenues will match what it got from Diamond Sports. That would figure to show up, sooner or later, in the payroll and roster.

Edward Thoma is at ethoma@mankatofreepress.com and @bboutsider.