A few weeks after Diamond Sports Group emerged from bankruptcy as Main Street Sports Group and claimed to have a “significantly deleveraged balance sheet,” inked deals with FanDuel and Amazon and continued to add to its rights portfolio, the company has engaged in a round of layoffs. FanDuel Sports Network is said to be laying off approximately 24 staff members in a transaction that will reportedly affect its digital content operations. It remains unknown how things will change amid the diminished staff, which also reportedly includes production executives, editors and those overseeing content. Daniel Kaplan was the first to report the news of these layoffs at FanDuel Sports Network for Awful Announcing.
“After careful analysis, we’ve made the decision to rebuild our digital and social efforts in a way that better supports our direct-to-consumer growth and helps scale the business,” a spokesperson for Main Street Sports Group said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this shift has led to the difficult decision to part ways with some team members whose roles and skillsets supported our previous strategy.”
These layoffs come surrounding a variety of managerial changes at the media conglomerate as chief executive officer David Preschlack reportedly sought to reduce the production budget by $30 million. Michael Connelly, the senior vice president and executive producer of FanDuel Sports Network, reportedly left the company last month. Former ESPN executive Norby Williamson joined Main Street Sports Group earlier in the month as the president of production and programming.
Main Street Sports Group currently has teams spanning MLB, the NBA and NHL within its portfolio, recently agreeing to new deals with the Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds to further bolster its offerings. The company was previously set to dissolve; however, the course changed during its bankruptcy hearing that ultimately led to it having the ability to exit the proceedings as a soluble entity.
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