Nine MLB Teams Break Contracts with Main Street Sports
Faced with the financial instability of their regional sports network operator, and with the aim of obtaining greater flexibility, nine Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have terminated their contracts with Main Street Sports Group. This decision comes after reports of economic difficulties on the part of the company. Main Street, which manages 29 NBA, NHL, and MLB teams, and broadcasts their games under the name FanDuel Sports, emerged from a long bankruptcy process in early 2025, but is once again in serious financial trouble. Recent reports indicate that the company could dissolve at the end of the current NBA and NHL seasons if it fails to secure a sale to another platform. This situation has led the nine MLB teams under its portfolio —Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Rays— to terminate their original agreements with Main Street. According to sources, these teams could return to the RSN operator if it finds a new buyer and improves its prospects for the 2026 season. However, opting for termination allows them to explore other alternatives, including the possibility of joining MLB. This also protects them in case the company enters another bankruptcy, although a Main Street source considers this unlikely. “We are still in active dialogue with all of our MLB team partners regarding potential revised terms of our agreements in the future.” Currently, MLB owns the rights to the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, and Seattle Mariners, and the Washington Nationals are also expected to be part of the league this season. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that the league has the capacity to assume the distribution of any number of additional teams that decide to join.Under a local media department established in response to RSN issues two years ago, MLB broadcasts games, negotiates cable and satellite distribution deals, generates advertising revenue, and offers local streaming via MLB.tv for teams that break away from their local media contracts. However, this deal does not come close to matching the value generated by traditional cable agreements, which account for between 20% and 30% of team revenue and are especially valuable for being a source of fixed and reliable income. The potential loss of that revenue for nine additional teams could have a significant impact on spending this offseason, further exacerbating concerns about the salary disparity as the linear cable model continues to crumble. In 2024, MLB and the MLB Players Association agreed to use part of the money generated by luxury tax surpluses to help fund teams that suffered losses in local media of up to $15 million. However, that was only once. Main Street, formerly Diamond Sports Group, a Sinclair subsidiary, assumed nearly $9 billion in debt to purchase 21 regional Fox channels, leading it to bankruptcy in March 2023. Twenty-two months later, the company emerged from bankruptcy. By January 2, 2025, the company had secured a new naming rights deal, maintained a robust portfolio across three leagues, and signed a commercial agreement with Amazon. There was hope for sustained operations, but these did not last a full year. Sports Business Journal reported in late December that Main Street Sports had not made a payment to the Cardinals and was offering a fire sale to the streaming and entertainment platform DAZN to save its business. According to sources, more failed payments have followed. And SBJ reported Wednesday night that Main Street’s conversations with DAZN are “almost extinguished” after the company demanded that teams accept massive salary cuts in the new rights contracts. The nine MLB teams that remained with Main Street Sports after the bankruptcy period signed new agreements. None of those agreements, however, extend beyond 2028, according to a source, which aligns with MLB’s hopes of putting all 30 teams under a national umbrella by then.“No matter what, whether it’s Main Street, a third party, or the MLB media, the fans will have the games.”
Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner
