RSNs in trouble again

[The Great Hambino]

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/12/fanduel-sports-network-shutdown-possible/

Main Street Sports Group, the artist formerly known as Diamond Sports Group and current owner of what's left of Fan Duel RSNs, just missed a scheduled payment to the Cardinals and apparently will be shuttered permanently if the proposed deal for them to be purchased by DAZN falls through.  Roughly half the NBA still has local rights through them, and they're apparently takings steps to move all those in-house if necessary.

It looks like the Twins might have some new roommates in the MLB.tv clubhouse come the start of the 2026 season.  This could ultimately be a good thing for the Twins - the more local rights controlled under MLB.tv, the more lucrative that package potentially becomes

[mnfireman]

I wouldn't mind MLB controlling broadcast rights to games, except that they would then muck it up like every other league does: games on Netflix, Peacock, Paramount+, Amazon, etc...oh wait, they've already done that!!  😜

[Parfigliano]

On 12/21/2025 at 10:04 AM, mnfireman said:

I wouldn't mind MLB controlling broadcast rights to games, except that they would then muck it up like every other league does: games on Netflix, Peacock, Paramount+, Amazon, etc...oh wait, they've already done that!!  😜

I'm confident they can find a new way to F-it up.

[DJL44]

MLB confirms that it will be handling broadcasts for the Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals and Reds. If you want to change your favorite team to the Brewers for 2026, that's a new option. Also, Twins-Brewers games won't be blacked out on Twins TV.

MLB now controls broadcast rights for 13 teams: Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals, Reds, Mariners, Nationals, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins and Guardians.

The Braves, Tigers and Angels have not formalized plans.

Teams with their own local broadcast deals: Dodgers ($200M), Yankees ($145M), Blue Jays, Phillies ($125M), Red Sox ($100M), Cubs ($100M), Giants ($90M), Mets ($90M), Rangers ($75M), Astros ($73M), Athletics ($70M), White Sox ($60M), Orioles ($60M), and Pirates.

The Athletics lose their TV deal when they move to Las Vegas.

[Vanimal46]

It's been a slow death for these RSNs, but it is lining up nicely to get a pretty significant national TV contract in 2028. In the short term, that's a lot of TV money leaving the sport. 

[The Great Hambino]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

MLB confirms that it will be handling broadcasts for the Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals and Reds. If you want to change your favorite team to the Brewers for 2026, that's a new option. Also, Twins-Brewers games won't be blacked out on Twins TV.

MLB now controls broadcast rights for 13 teams: Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals, Reds, Mariners, Nationals, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins and Guardians.

The Braves, Tigers and Angels have not formalized plans.

Teams with their own local broadcast deals: Dodgers ($200M), Yankees ($145M), Blue Jays, Phillies ($125M), Red Sox ($100M), Cubs ($100M), Giants ($90M), Mets ($90M), Rangers ($75M), Astros ($73M), Athletics ($70M), White Sox ($60M), Orioles ($60M), and Pirates.

The Athletics lose their TV deal when they move to Las Vegas.

Of the teams that still have their own deals, how many would be considered secure enough to last long-term?

Definitely Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets.  Possibly the Cubs and Blue Jays.  Are the NBC-backed RSNs (Phillies, Giants) on solid ground?  The rest would seem to be extremely vulnerable.

So that means by the time they're negotiating new rights, MLB could potentially have as many as 24-26 teams in the fold.  That may be past the tipping point that forces the elites to play nice with everyone else in terms of local TV revenue

[DJL44]

2 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

Of the teams that still have their own deals, how many would be considered secure enough to last long-term?

Definitely Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets.  Possibly the Cubs and Blue Jays.  Are the NBC-backed RSNs (Phillies, Giants) on solid ground?  The rest would seem to be extremely vulnerable.

The Blue Jays are owned by the TV network, so they're pretty solid. It's basically the MLB package for all of Canada.

[DJL44]

The Atlanta Braves are starting their own sports channel.

Braves' TV broadcast rights drama just took a wild turn that could change everything

[The Great Hambino]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

The Blue Jays are owned by the TV network, so they're pretty solid. It's basically the MLB package for all of Canada.

I thought that might be the case but I wasn't sure.  So I guess 24-25 teams then could be possibly under the MLB umbrella come negotiation time.  I'm not convinced the Cubs' set-up is on solid ground.

And even if they don't cede all control to MLB, there's potential options - licensing agreements, etc - to get all teams onto a single platform for distribution.  Or perhaps revenue sharing can be modified for teams outside of MLB distribution.

The bottom line is the more teams that are distributed by MLB, the better it is for the Twins

[DJL44]

Tigers are partnering with MLB

Detroit Tigers moving from FanDuel to MLB Media for 2026 season

That makes 14 teams.

I would not be surprised to see the Angels take the A's NBC Sports California deal when it ends.