Wild owner Craig Leipold said Tuesday he’s confident Bally Sports North will broadcast the team’s entire 2024-25 season but that the team and NHL are exploring other options for next season and beyond.

The team’s future with BSN has been on thin ice since March 2023, when Diamond Sports Group, which owns all of Bally’s regional sports networks, filed for Chapter 1 bankruptcy protection.

Since then, Diamond Sports has dropped a large handful of its teams, but Leipold said BSN approached the team about broadcasting this season’s games.

On Aug. 23, Diamond Sports secured new contracts featuring lower rights fees with the NBA and the NHL, shortly after agreeing to a new carriage agreement with Comcast, which dropped BSN — and hence Twins games — for a long chunk of the season this summer.

“We were all ready — we have options that were ready to go — and we have a contract so if (BSN) came back, we’re contractually obligated to be with them this season,” Leipold said. “And we’re very happy to be there. So, we’re there for at least one more year.”

After agreeing to a deal to restate BSN to its platform, Comcast moved BSN to its most expensive tier list.

All major sports leagues are exploring opportunities to stream their content directly to viewers, on their own or through media partners.

The Twins, whose contract with Bally expired after this season, could announce their plans for next season and beyond sometime in the next few weeks, team president Dave St. Peter said Wednesday.

“No matter what we decide to do, or who we might work with, it will involve streaming,” St. Peter said.

On Tuesday, Leipold said, the Wild watched a presentation from Amazon, which will begin streaming games of the NHL’s Canadian teams as part of Prime Monday Night, which kicks off Oct. 14. Amazon also streams the NFL’s Thursday night games.

“They’re such a powerhouse now in media and streaming that they’re very interested in what we have.” Leipold said.

“They’re doing stuff for us in Canada. They are incredibly happy with the results they’ve had in Canada, so hopefully we can expand that.”

Asked if that could be an NHL-wide deal, Leipold said, “It could be, in the future. Now it’s only the Canadian teams.”

According to ABC News, Diamond Sports has another bankruptcy hearing set for Nov. 15-16 in Houston. Asked if he’s confident there won’t be a disruption in the Wild’s television schedule, Leipold said, “All I know is they’re paying us in full, and they’ve already made two payments.”

If it does happen, he said, “We’ve got another option ready right now. It’s not as good as the Bally’s, but long term, it may be better. We don’t know.”

Boldy ‘on track’

Matt Boldy, sidelined on Sept. 22 by a lower body injury, went through his first full practice on Wednesday and is expected to be ready for the season opener Oct. 10 against Columbus at Xcel Energy Center.

“We expected him to be back. He’s on track,” coach John Hynes said. “To do it now, have a full skate — yesterday was kind of a morning skate type of thing — today was a regular practice and went through all that, so that looks good.”

Boldy, 23, was part of the Wild’s best line last season — one of the best in the NHL — and has scored a combined 60 goals over the past two seasons.

He practiced Wednesday with Marcus Johansson and center Joel Eriksson Ek.

Marco Rossi has moved between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello on the top line, and Ryan Hartman centered Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin on the third.

Although Boldy is on track to play the season opener against the Blue Jackets, he might not play in the final exhibition game Friday night in Chicago.

Jake Middleton, who missed Tuesday’s skate because of what Hynes called a bruise, practiced Wednesday. “For him to be able to come out and practice full today was positive,” the coach said.

The Wild must pare down their roster to 23 players by Monday.

Briefly

Veteran goaltender Troy Grosenick, who signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Wild in July, had surgery Tuesday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss the 2024-25 season.