On Friday morning, a bankruptcy court judge cleared the way for 16 of Diamond Sports Group’s regional sports networks (RSNs) — previously known as Bally Sports — to be rebranded as FanDuel Sports Network.
The name change will officially take effect on Oct. 21, slapping the FanDuel moniker on RSNs in such markets as Detroit, Florida, Kansas City, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Southern California and Wisconsin.
While FanDuel is purchasing the naming rights to the stations for an undisclosed sum, Diamond will retain ownership as it seeks to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“Partnering with Diamond provides us an opportunity to put the FanDuel brand at the intersection of the nation’s largest group of regional sports networks," FanDuel Sports President Mike Raffensperger said in a press release. “A large cohort of FanDuel customers are devoted RSN viewers, and this agreement allows us to further cement the FanDuel brand with sports fans and provides a unique vehicle to reward our users.”
While its branded RSNs will now play host to local telecasts of NBA, NHL and (to a lesser extent) MLB games and associated content, FanDuel will also have the opportunity to syndicate programming from its eponymous cable channel, FanDuel TV (nee TVG), on the regional networks.
The (Re)Name Game
News of the prospective partnership was first reported by CNBC, which, in reviewing a court filing, noted that the naming-rights agreement would give FanDuel the option to buy up to 5% equity in a reorganized Diamond Sports Group once it emerges from bankruptcy protection.
In the filing, Diamond said it considered FanDuel to be “an attractive potential partner … due to the high degree of alignment” between the RSNs and the online gaming business.
If RSN viewers have had a tough time keeping track of station names, that’s for good reason. As CNBC reported, Disney was forced to divest itself of the RSNs, then known as FOX Sports with a regional designation tacked on, after acquiring FOX Corp’s assets. It then sold the RSNs to Sinclair, which struck a naming rights deal with Bally’s.
However, the Bally’s branding was destined to end after Sinclair reached a settlement with Diamond, which remains an independently run subsidiary of Sinclair.
