FanDuel Sports Network wants to win back some of its former teams.
According to a report by Mike Vorkunov in The Athletic, Main Street Sports Group, the owner of the FanDuel Sports Network channels, is looking to bring back teams that left the regional sports network group amid its fight back from bankruptcy last year. Per Vorkunov, Main Street is “[open] to adding more teams or bringing [back] teams it used to have the rights for.”
Currently, the FanDuel Sports Networks control the media rights for 13 NBA franchises, nine MLB clubs, and seven NHL teams. In the past two years, several teams from the three leagues have left Main Street (formerly Diamond Sports Group), either to join a different regional sports network or opt for a partnership with a local over-the-air broadcast network paired with a direct-to-consumer streaming platform instead.
Teams that opted for the over-the-air plus streaming combo have tended to lose out on significant local media revenue. Despite the undeniable decline of regional sports networks, they are still able to pay top dollar for local media rights given the lucrative carriage agreements they have with pay TV distributors. Contrarily, over-the-air networks command lower retransmission fees from distributors since they can be accessed for free with an antenna. Thus, teams that ditch their regional sports networks become reliant on the increased reach of local broadcast networks to boost advertising revenue, which rarely, if ever, fully supplants the fees earned from regional sports networks.
That, at least, is the pitch Main Street is giving teams it wants to win back.
Five NBA teams have gotten out of the regional sports network business so far: the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, and New Orleans Pelicans. And while that move has resulted in more viewership for some, it has also proven detrimental to the bottom line. The Trail Blazers, for instance, saw a $20-25 million decline in local media revenue this season.
Vorkunov does not give any indication about which specific teams Main Street might be courting to win back.
In its current form, the company’s main priority is bolstering its streaming portfolio. Main Street plans to amass one million in-market streaming subscribers for its teams by the end of 2025. But with most of its teams on short-term agreements, and leagues like the NBA and MLB looking to nationalize local media rights in the next few years, which likely includes a streaming component on a larger, more established platform, Main Street will be fighting an uphill battle. Winning over more teams might help the company make its case that it can be part of the broader local media rights solution for these leagues, rather than simply a relic of a bygone era.
