Dallas Stars Split with Bally Sports Southwest; Games Will Air on New, Free Streaming Service
The departure of the Stars leaves Bally Sports channels with just nine NHL teams in their inventory.
The Dallas Stars are the latest professional sports team to leave the regional sports network (RSN) ecosystem. The team will depart from its longtime broadcast partner Bally Sports Southwest starting in the 2024-25 season, as the two sides have mutually agreed to terminate their contract in bankruptcy court. The team will air live, in-market games on a new streaming service dubbed VICTORY+, and best of all it will be free to watch for viewers in the team’s broadcasting footprint.
Key Details:
- Bally Sports’ parent company Diamond Sports Group agreed to allow the Stars out of their broadcasting contract last week.
- VICTORY+ will be an ad-supported streaming service that carries Stars games in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.
- The team is also on the hunt for a local TV deal.
The Stars and Bally Sports Southwest’s owner Diamond Sports Group jointly approached bankruptcy court Judge Christopher Lopez last week to ask for approval to dissolve the broadcasting contract between the two. Diamond is still working its way through bankruptcy proceedings, and mathematically doesn’t believe it can make the Stars’ contract profitable under its current terms.
That will allow the Stars to depart in peace from Bally Sports Southwest and its partner streaming service Bally Sports+. This means that the number of NHL teams that broadcast on a Bally Sports RSN will dip to nine. Last week, the Florida Panthers announced that they had reached a new deal to broadcast their games to in-market fans on local TV channels and that a new streaming service would be created for local audiences as well.
“After years of researching the right solution and careful planning with our partners at APMC, we’re proud to announce this pioneering streaming platform that will literally change the game for sports distribution on VICTORY+,” Dallas Stars president and CEO Brad Alberts said. “Our first priority has always been our fan base, and on VICTORY+ fans will be able to stream 100 percent of Stars content for free through this innovative and unique streaming platform for sports programming. Despite the mutual agreement between the Dallas Stars and Diamond Sports Group to end our current relationship pending court approval, we would like to acknowledge that we wouldn’t be here today without the partnership and commitment of Bally Sports and their staff over the past 25 years and thank them for their partnership.”
Where Will Dallas Stars Games Air in 2024?
The Stars have made their new deal in reverse order, finalizing an arrangement to stream games before agreeing to a pact with any TV providers in their area. The team has announced that starting this year, any Stars games not appearing on national TV channels like ESPN or TNT will air on a new streaming service called VICTORY+. The service will be free and ad-supported and will be available within the Dallas Stars regional territory of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Fans outside of that area can still watch ancillary programming on VICTORY+, but they’ll have to turn to ESPN+ to watch live, out-of-market Stars games. The new VICTORY+ service will be available starting in September.
The departure of the Stars means less revenue coming into Diamond Sports Group, but also one less team that the company has to make rights fee payments to. Diamond is due to see its bankruptcy reorganization plan come up for a vote at the end of the month, which could see it emerge from Chapter 11 protections as a going concern again, or it could mean the end of the company altogether.
Without the Stars, however, the Bally Sports Southwest channel could be in trouble. Its deal with the Texas Rangers expires at the end of the 2024 MLB season, and former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in November that he’d prefer to put the team on free broadcast channels as soon as possible. Cuban sold a controlling interest in the team to casino magnates Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont in December of last year. If the Mavs do abandon the RSN, that could lead Bally Sports Southwest to shut down just as Bally Sports Arizona did when the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, and Phoenix Mercury left the channel in 2023.
Bally Sports+
Bally Sports+ is a direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers live games for those who want access to their local Bally Sports RSN without subscribing to a cable or satellite package.