Texas Rangers Leaving Bally Sports for New TV, Streaming Options
The departure of the Rangers would leave the San Antonio Spurs as the last team left on Bally Sports Southwest.
The Texas Rangers are calling it quits with Diamond Sports Group. The Rangers are one of three teams that struck one-year deals with Diamond ahead of the 2024 MLB season, and it appears to have been a swan song for their relationship with the regional sports network (RSN). According to Sports Business Journal, the Rangers are set to decline the opportunity to renew their contract with Bally Sports Southwest in favor of new TV and streaming options built by the team.
Key Details:
- The reporting points to the Rangers trying to create a new regional sports network of their own to show games on.
- The Rangers’ new broadcast arrangements are expected to be in place by the start of the 2025 season.
- Bally Sports Southwest has seen the departure of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars in recent months.
The SBJ report cites sources who say Diamond approached the Rangers with a competitive rights fee to remain on Bally Sports Southwest for 2025, but the team rejected the proposed deal. Instead, the Rangers have begun work on their own RSN-adjacent channel that will be distributed by Charter and DIRECTV, with more potential partners to come. The Rangers’ current deal with Diamond expires at the end of the 2024 regular season, which is set for this Sunday.
Sources told SBJ the channel would be “a pseudo RSN, but not really an RSN. It’s a direct to distributor model that will look a lot like what MLB has done for the San Diego Padres. But it’s going to be owned by and run by the Rangers directly.”
MLB took over broadcasts for the Padres when the team’s rights were dropped by Bally Sports in 2023. It produces the games itself and sells them directly to distributors, and also offers a special in-market version of MLB.TV to allow fans to stream the games in San Diego.
The report also specifies that the Rangers will offer a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service which will presumably allow in-market fans to watch games without a pay-TV plan. If it’s anything like similar streaming options created by NBA, NHL, and MLB teams leaving their former RSN partners in the past few months, it will likely cost between $15 and $25 per month, and come with original programming and other features.
Does Departure of Rangers Doom Bally Sports Southwest?
At the very least, the Rangers leaving Bally Sports Southwest should give Diamond pause about the long-term viability of the channel. The departure of the MLB team leaves the San Antonio Spurs as the last team left on the channel.
The Dallas Stars were formerly part of the channel, but in July announced that they would be leaving Bally Sports Southwest and striking out on their own with a new, free streaming service called VICTORY+, which will offer all their non-national games in the team’s home market this season. The Dallas Mavericks were quick to follow, having their rights dropped by Diamond in August as their deal would cost the company more than it would make in revenue.
The Spurs are one of the NBA teams that agreed to a new deal with Diamond at the end of August. But if the company decides it would rather shut down Bally Sports Southwest, the Spurs may be forced to make an emergency broadcasting deal at some point ahead of, or during, the 2024-25 NBA regular season.
The judge presiding over Diamond’s bankruptcy case has approved the company’s deals with NBA teams, but MLB officials are still awaiting long-term clarity for a handful of teams whose rights are still held by DSG. Diamond is now targeting the first half of November for a confirmation vote from creditors on its bankruptcy reorganization plan.
Bally Sports+
Bally Sports+ is a direct-to-consumer streaming service that offers live games for those who want access to your local Bally Sports RSN without subscribing to a cable or satellite package.