Following a delay in a soft deadline to decide if they could work out an extension for their media rights agreements with FanDuel Sports Network, five NBA teams have now decided to opt in on keeping their current agreements for the upcoming 2025–2026 season. According to a report in the Sports Business Journal, the contracts for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Minnesota Timberwolves have all been renewed. Consequently, these teams have chosen to return to the network instead of searching for a new agreement with another RSN.
Previously, a report last month noted that the five NBA franchises delayed a soft deadline of April 1, following an extension from another deadline last December to finalize the arrangement. Diamond Sports Group, which owns FanDuel Sports Network, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January under the new name of Main Street Sports Group. As a result, the company will continue to hold broadcast media rights agreements with a total of 13 NBA franchises for the upcoming season.
“FanDuel Sports Network is excited to continue to deliver exceptional broadcasts for our 13 NBA team partners through a flexible, multi-platform offering that fans can easily access and reaches 100% of the teams’ local markets,” said a Main Street Sports Group spokesperson to the Sports Business Journal.
Meanwhile, the news comes as the NBA continues to work on a potential national streaming option. For example, the option would provide teams a choice to return to FanDuel Sports Network, work on their own RSN agreements, or alternatively, choose to adopt a more linear, over-the-air model like what the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, and several other teams have done in recent years. Looking ahead, the likely start of a national streaming RSN option for teams will arrive no later than 2027. In the meantime, the league will continue discussions with Apple, Amazon, YouTube, and potentially Roku and ESPN’s new DTC app, which will be announced today.
As of last month, Sports Business Journal was reporting that the NBA is informing team executives that the streaming RSN deal for the league is not imminent. Therefore, executives are being advised to stay patient with the ongoing negotiations.
In related news, FanDuel Sports Network announced last week that since the start of the 2025 MLB season, the network’s streaming platform has averaged 250,000 unique daily users and nearly 1 million unique monthly users. Impressively, in just eight weeks, the network has doubled its paid subscriber base to nearly 650,000 and is on pace to reach 1 million direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscribers by the end of the year.
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