As Main Street Sports Group, owner of the FanDuel Sports Networks, inches towards its likely shuttering unless a last-minute purchase by London-based sports streamer DAZN saves the company, many of the 29 teams currently under contract with the regional sports network conglomerate are eyeing alternatives.
According to a report by Tom Friend in Sports Business Journal, multiple franchises among the group of 29 are in “emergency talks” with the Victory+ streaming platform should Main Street fold in the middle of the current NBA and NHL seasons. Per Friend, teams are once again expecting Main Street to miss upcoming rights payments, due Feb. 1, and are looking for “a quick and reputable replacement that will pay on time.”
Enter: Victory+, a novel streaming service that has applied free-streaming models to two NHL teams — the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks — with encouraging results. Stars and Ducks broadcasts are streamed for free on Victory+ to anyone within the teams’ local markets. The bet is that through wider reach and younger demographics, teams will be able to maximize other revenue streams like merchandising and ticket sales, and also get more favorable ad rates than the older-skewing audiences of linear television. Victory+ offers these teams “minimum guarantees” for local media rights payments, and any revenue earned above that threshold is shared between the streamer and the team.
Both NHL clubs to have signed on with Victory+, per Friend, have seen growth in merchandise and ticket sales since joining the streamer.
Along with every local broadcast streaming for free on Victory+, teams are able to license a subset of games to local over-the-air affiliates to further increase reach.
Teams could presumably choose to use Victory+ for a paywalled service as well, which the streamer has done for MLB’s Texas Rangers. Even with a $20 monthly subscription, the Rangers averaged over 100,000 viewers on Victory+ each game during the 2025 season. Some teams might be more comfortable in their ability to recoup lost revenue from Main Street via a paid subscription service.
Main Street teams should know in the coming days whether DAZN decides to purchase the flailing company or not. DAZN is reportedly holding conversations with MLB about whether a purchase of Main Street could increase its chances of landing a centralized local broadcast package come 2028, which will help determine if it should buy the company or not.
It is not clear exactly which, or how many, Main Street-affiliated teams have engaged with Victory+. However, the streamer says it would need only three days to fully onboard a new team onto the platform if necessary.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.