Nine Major League Baseball teams that were airing their games via regional sports carrier FanDuel Sports Network have canceled their deals.
The Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays all canceled their contracts with the network’s parent, Main Street Sports Group, sources told The Athletic.
Prior to the cancellations, Main Street Sports Group missed payments to teams, including the Cardinals and the Marlins. Sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic that other teams also have missed out on the payments owed to them in the contracts.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told The Associated Press that “no matter what happens, whether it’s Main Street, a third party or MLB media, fans are going to have the games.”
The nine teams could choose to be broadcast and distributed directly by the league.
The teams that chose league-distributed broadcasts last season are the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins and San Diego Padres. The Seattle Mariners are joining them for the upcoming season, according to ESPN.
“Our focus, particularly given the point in the calendar, is to maximize the revenue that’s available to the clubs, whether that’s MLB Media or third party. The clubs have control over the timing. They can make a decision to move to MLB Media because of the contractual status now. I think that what’s happening right now clubs are evaluating their alternatives,” Mr. Manfred said, according to ESPN.
Main Street Sports Group also could be an option for the nine teams.
Sources told the Sports Business Journal that the teams are expecting new offers from the company Friday to keep them on the FanDuel Sports Network in the hopes of making the company more attractive for a possible sale.
The sources said that while a sale to streaming platform DAZN was looking less likely, another possible bidder could be competing streaming platform FuboTV.
Main Street Sports Group has been dealing with monetary difficulties for years. It used to be called Diamond Sports Group and its networks used to bear the Bally Sports brand before Diamond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023.
The company was spun off from Sinclair Broadcast Group, its networks were rebranded as the FanDuel Sports Network in 2024, and the company’s name was changed to Main Street Sports Group when it emerged from bankruptcy in January 2025, according to the AP.
