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Sinclair Broadcast Group makes bid to buy NBC Sports Philadelphia, other local networks

Citizens Bank Park has been home to the Phillies since 2004. (Tim Kelly/Phillies Nation)

Sinclair Broadcast Group has submitted a bid to NBCUniversal in their attempt to buy a package of sports networks that would include NBC Sports Philadelphia – the primary television home of the Phillies – according to Josh Kosman of The New York Post.

NBC Sports Philadelphia – formerly Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia – has the television broadcast rights for the Phillies, 76ers and Flyers. In January of 2014, the Phillies reached an agreement to remain on the network for 25 years, a pact believed at the time to be worth “more than $2.5 billion.”

NBC‘s portfolio also currently includes networks with similar structures in Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

Bidding does not appear to be at an advanced stage yet, however. Kosman says that Sinclair Broadcast Group made this bid in late June, prior to a deadline that NBC had set for first bids. It’s unclear who else – if anyone – may have submitted a bid for the regional sports networks.

Sinclair Broadcast Group currently owns 21 regional sports networks, the vast majority of which operate under the “Bally Sports” umbrella. If they were to strike a deal to land these networks, it’s entirely possible that the name “NBC Sports Philadelphia,” which has been used since October of 2017, would give way to something like “Bally Sports Philadelphia.”

It’s unclear what Sinclair Broadcast Group would plan to do with the NBC Sports

regional websites, and any other programming currently being done outside of game telecasts.