The Dallas Mavericks are the latest sports franchise to bring their media rights future into the spotlight.
Amidst a rough week for Bally Sports, the Dallas Morning News asked Mavericks owner Mark Cuban about the future of the team’s media rights. Cuban hedged a bit on his response, saying the team would “look at all of our options” once the media rights deal with Bally Sports Southwest ends.
Cuban also said the team would make their games available for free “if we could.”
“Once the contract’s up, we’ll look at all of our options,” he told The Dallas Morning News before speaking at the Chase for Business Make Your Move Summit in Frisco.
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“We obviously want as many Mavs fans to be able to watch our games,” and so do the Stars, Cuban said. “Nobody wants to limit distribution.”
“If we could, we’d make the streams available for free and make the broadcast available for free right now, but we can’t, we have a contract,” he continued.
While those comments from Cuban are all well and good, Mavericks fans counting down the days until the end of the team’s relationship with Bally Sports might want to pump the brakes. Back in 2015, the team signed a new deal with what was then Fox Sports Southwest, reportedly taking it through “the end of the next decade” and paying $50 million per season.
Unless the Diamond Sports Group, operators of the Bally Sports RSNs, fails in its bankruptcy reorganization proceedings or voluntarily discharges the Mavericks’ media rights, we’re probably looking at a change years, rather than months, in the future. There’s nothing wrong with Cuban keeping the team’s options open, but there won’t be any imminent changes to the Mavericks’ broadcasting situation.
