In what would be a monumental shift in the local television sports landscape, the Marlins and Heat are preparing for the growing possibility, if not likelihood, that Florida’s regional sports networks will shutter in the weeks or months ahead.
Main Street Sports Group — the financially strapped media company that owns FanDuel Sports Florida and Sun and other regional sports networks — did not pay the Marlins the partial rights fee that was due on Jan. 1, and the Marlins then terminated their contract Wednesday evening, a source told the Miami Herald.
The Marlins — one of nine MLB teams whose games air on FanDuel — fully expect their games to air elsewhere next season, the source said.
Main Street also missed payments to some or all of its 13 NBA teams, according to Sports Business Journal. The Heat declined to say whether the team was not paid the most recent installments of its annual reported $55 million rights fee.
The Heat is declining comment on the matter entirely, in accordance with a league edict that teams do not discuss this publicly.
Main Street Sports Group — which carries the games of 29 NBA, MLB and NHL teams — is on life support because talks to sell the company to British sports streaming giant DAZN have fizzled in recent days.
Among the reasons that deal now looks very unlikely, per SBJ: DAZN reportedly has asked the 29 teams to give them their digital rights and authorize a one-fifth reduction in rights fees, with additional reductions later this decade. Teams have been disinclined to do that, which has made DAZN reluctant to move forward.
Main Street hopes to keep the FanDuel networks on the air through at least the end of the NBA season, but one team official said there’s skepticism about that.
If FanDuel networks shutter during the NBA season, the Heat likely would move its games to WPLG 10, which dropped its ABC affiliation last August and thus has the flexibility to air Heat games in prime time. WPLG already is simulcasting 12 of FanDuel’s Heat cablecasts this season.
Also, the NBA will stream games on their “NextGen platform,” similar to NBA League Pass, if the FanDuel networks go off the air before the season ends.
The Heat isn’t believed to have firmed up a long-term plan; a deal exclusively with WPLG would bring the Heat far less revenue than a centralized approach in which the NBA would take over broadcast rights of the teams affected and potentially compensate them.
The Marlins’ plan in a post-FanDuel era has more clarity.
According to a source, the Marlins intend to either:
A). move their games to Scripps (WSFL Channel 39), which carries Panthers games or
B). More likely, move their games into the MLB Media package which has been created to assist teams whose deals with regional sports networks have been dissolved. The latter of those options would be more financially appealing, a source said.
Under the MLB Media package, fans could see Marlins games on mlbtv.com or marlinstv.com or on Comcast, which is South Florida’s largest cable provider. Comcast would air games on a channel with no content otherwise.
If the Marlins go the MLB Media route, games also will be available in South Florida, for a charge, through DirecTV’s Extra Innings package that carries out-of-market games. Local blackout restrictions for Marlins would be eliminated in that scenario.
That approach potentially would leave the Marlins off the air in YouTube TV homes, but that’s also now the case because YouTube doesn’t carry the regional sports networks. Availability on Dish Network and Breezeline also would need to be worked through.
Amazon has a deal to stream games on FanDuel networks, but those would dissolve if the FanDuel networks shutter.
The Marlins have a third option that’s permitted by MLB: Airing the games through the aforementioned MLB Media package, but simulcasting some of the games on a local over-the-station. Last season, 15 Marlins games were simulcast on CBS 4 and WBFS 33, and that would remain an available option this season.
Both the Heat and Marlins likely would keep their television play-by-play and color analysts, but a decrease in TV revenue could force some cuts elsewhere, such as costs associated with pre-game and post-game programming.