The Cavaliers are once again facing uncertainty with their local TV rights — and they’re not the only ones.
Main Street Sports Group — the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network, which holds the Cavaliers’ local broadcast rights — has missed a December rights payment to the St. Louis Cardinals, according to Sports Business Journal.
Main Street could begin winding down its business at the end of the NBA and NHL regular seasons if a "last-ditch" sale to streaming platform DAZN is not finalized by January, SBJ reported.
Under that scenario, local broadcast rights for roughly 30 teams across the NBA, NHL and MLB would revert back to the teams, a move that could accelerate the leagues’ shift toward national streaming options.
The company holds broadcast rights for 30 teams across the NBA, NHL and MLB, including the Cavs and the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.
The situation does not affect the Cleveland Guardians, who moved their TV rights in-house with Major League Baseball ahead of the 2025 season.
The Cavaliers elected earlier this year to continue their local media rights agreement with FanDuel through the 2026–27 season. They are scheduled to receive roughly $34 million this year under the deal, the third-highest annual total among FanDuel’s 13 NBA teams.
The Cavs declined comment on the report.
NBA officials have already started preparing teams for what could come next, per SBJ. During a recent leaguewide call, executives from the affected franchises were told to begin reviewing backup plans in case Main Street is unable to make future rights payments.
If that happens, the league has told teams it would step in to keep games on the air. The NBA would use its NextGen platform to produce and stream local games through the NBA app and League Pass, while teams would work quickly to line up temporary over-the-air television partners in their home markets.
The Cavaliers already operate an in-house broadcast channel, Rock Entertainment Sports Network, which airs select Cleveland Charge and Cleveland Monsters games and has produced several Cavaliers broadcasts in recent seasons. RESN is a collaboration between the Cavaliers’ Rock Entertainment Group and Gray Media, which owns local stations including WOIO and WUAB and holds a controlling stake in the network.
WUAB Channel 43 — a CW affiliate — has also carried select Cavaliers telecasts under recent simulcast agreements.
Long-term, over-the-air television options are considered a fallback for pro sports teams because they do not come with the rights fees teams receive from regional sports networks.
The Utah Jazz, for instance, saw their rights fee drop from $34 million to $16 million after moving to an over-the-air option, while the Suns went from $37 million to $15 million. The Cavaliers’ annual rights fee has reportedly dropped from $43 million to $35 million since 2021-22, but that’s still considerably more than what they would make over-the-air.
Main Street’s NBA teams are the Bucks, Cavaliers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Hawks, Heat, Hornets, Magic, Pacers, Pistons, Spurs, Thunder and Timberwolves.
Its MLB teams are the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals and Tigers, while its NHL portfolio includes the Blue Jackets, Blues, Hurricanes, Kings, Lightning, Predators, Red Wings and Wild.