In a series of late-breaking news reports from Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal on Wednesday night, the immediate future of Main Street Sports Group, the owner of the FanDuel Sports Network channels, is looking very uncertain.
Per Friend, Main Street’s potential sale to DAZN, which was reported last month as the company’s only opportunity to save itself from ceasing operations after the current NBA and NHL seasons, “are all but extinguished.” Now, Main Street is telling teams that a second buyer, reportedly the pay TV streaming distributor Fubo, has entered last-minute talks to purchase the crumbling company. A Fubo spokesperson declined comment to Sports Business Journal, and other industry sources deny Fubo is a bidder.
The DAZN deal reportedly collapsed as Main Street’s 29 teams across MLB, the NBA, and the NHL were reluctant “to meet key conditions” of reworked media rights deals. Those deals would’ve reportedly included a 20% dip in rights fee payments for the rest of the current NBA and NHL seasons, which would be deferred to Q2 and Q3 2026, as well as agreeing to a 50-50 profit share with a minimum guarantee for next season, and yet another reduction in rights fees for the 2027-28 season.
These terms were untenable for the majority of teams, according to Friend’s report.
Specifically, of the nine MLB teams currently tied to contracts with Main Street, seven are expected to leave. The St. Louis Cardinals, whose missed rights payment last month was the first public sign of Main Street’s collapse, have already informed the company it will be opting out “barring a lucrative 11th hour ‘final, final offer.” The Brewers, Reds, Royals, Tigers, Angels and Marlins are also expected to opt out, with the Braves “considering” an exit as well. That leaves the Rays as the only MLB club “seemingly willing to stick with Main Street.”
As for the NBA and NHL, both of which are currently in the middle of seasons, the leagues and teams are preparing for the worst. Per Friend, executives from the 13 NBA teams and seven NHL teams inked to deals with Main Street “are skeptical that Main Street will have the financial wherewithal” to continue producing and distributing games through the conclusion of the season. As such, teams are making “emergency mid-season plans” to reach over-the-air deals with local affiliates, or strike deals directly with pay TV distributors in their local markets to ensure fans can still access local broadcasts. Additionally, the NBA and NHL will stream games on their respective “NextGen platforms,” similar to NBA League Pass, for instance, if Main Street shutters before the season ends.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Main Street had missed January rights payments to some or all of its 13 NBA franchises, an indication of the dire financial situation at the company.
Even with the possibility of Fubo’s surprise bid for Main Street, the veracity of which is still unknown, the days of the FanDuel Sports Networks seem numbered. All three leagues — MLB, the NBA, and the NHL — have indicated desires in recent years to centralize local broadcast rights to sell to a streamer. The declining economics of the pay TV bundle have left little hope for traditional RSNs, many of which look likely to meet their fate sooner rather than later.