Is Fubo preparing to buy FanDuel Sports Network channels?
Is Fubo preparing to buy FanDuel Sports Network channels?
The channels’ owner, Main Street Sports Group, is on the ropes as it looks for another partner to help it through tough financial times.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a well-known group of regional sports networks (RSNs) is in financial trouble. Only months after Main Street Sports Group resolved its long bankruptcy proceedings, the company is struggling to make rights fee payments to teams on time once again. It’s discussing partnerships with other companies to try and lift itself from financial turmoil, and a new possibility has arisen: a purchase of Main Street by the sports streaming service Fubo.
Key Details:
- Shall we dance?: Main Street has been telling partner teams that it has been in contact with Fubo about a deal.
- Second choice: Talks with Fubo only started after a deal with DAZN to purchase Main Street fell through.
- MLB migration: Several MLB teams are likely to leave FanDuel channels after not receiving rights fee payments.
Per reporting from Sports Business Journal, Main Street Sports Group has been telling partner MLB teams that it is in talks with Fubo about a potential acquisition of FanDuel Sports Network channels by that streamer. Other media sources denied that it was the case when asked by SBJ, and Fubo representatives refused to comment.
If Fubo does buy the collection of FanDuel RSNs, it would save them from being consigned to the scrap heap of television history — at least for a while. Before this latest round of supposed talks with Fubo began, Main Street had been discussing a deal with the international sports platform DAZN to purchase the networks, but as reported by Awful Announcing, that possibility is all but dead.
The overarching problem for Main Street is money. It has missed January rights fee payments to nearly all of the 13 NBA teams that it has partnered with, and has asked all NHL partners to take 20% less in fees for the rest of the season, as well as to consider deferred payments from the company. The MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals are strongly leaning toward splitting with its FanDuel partner, and six of the other eight teams that partner with Main Street are also pondering an exit.
If Fubo were to purchase FanDuel channels, it would be fascinating to see what becomes of them in the future. Fubo itself is due to be acquired by a bigger fish, as it is currently in the process of a merger with Disney’s streamer Hulu + Live TV. And of course, if Disney becomes the owner of FanDuel channels, it has a great opportunity to attract more fans to its new ESPN direct-to-consumer offering.
ESPN not only has a deal to stream MLB.TV through its platform in the coming years, but also has an agreement with MLB to stream in-market games for a number of teams whose contests were previously distributed by the league. Adding more local rights to that mix would be a boon for ESPN, even if it were only able to hold onto them for a short time. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred still harbors dreams of an in-market MLB streaming platform that offers games from all teams.
That’s all well and good for ESPN, but Main Street Sports Group once again finds itself in a tough position. It may be staring financial turmoil in the face once again, and could be looking to a last-minute deal with Fubo to pull it from the fire once more.
FanDuel Sports Network
FanDuel Sports Network is a direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers live games for those who want access to your local FanDuel Sports Network RSN without subscribing to a cable or satellite package. It was most recently known as Bally Sports, and prior to that, Fox Sports Network.