The Atlanta Hawks and 12 other NBA teams are preparing for the worst after Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network, missed their January payment for all 13 teams with which they are contracted. Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reported that Main Street will “dissolve its business” at the conclusion of this NBA season, barring a “last-ditch” sale to DAZN.
Local network deals are quietly a massive part of the league’s revenue. In the Hawks’ case, Main Street is paying the club $32 million in broadcasting rights this season, which is 21% of the salary cap.
Main Street's struggles were first announced when the company missed a payment to the St. Louis Cardinals in December. Murmurs around the MLB and NBA indicated that there is little confidence in the network, but the company line is that Main Street is determined to fulfill their contract through the summer, when the NBA and NHL seasons end.
Upon hearing of the missed payment to St. Louis, the NBA held a conference call with the 13 teams partnered with Main Street. The takeaway from the call was, “For now, no big change, but refine your contingency plans, continue discussions with everybody, things will happen over the next few weeks, couple months, and let the league know if you hear anything,” one source said.
While Friend’s reporting gave no indication that Main Street’s financial woes would impact the NBA this season, it is not a stretch to doubt the reliability of a partner who just missed a payment this month. If the writing on the wall wasn't clear enough, all nine MLB teams partnered with Main Street have cancelled their deals (subscription required).
If Main Street indeed collapses midseason, the NBA plans to distribute games through the league’s NextGen platform. In practice, this would allow fans to stream games via NBA League Pass and/or the NBA app.
This could be disastrous and have impacts far beyond the game
To step away from basketball for a moment, the human impact of Main Street's struggles could be devastating.
If the worst-case scenario plays out, one team source described the situation with, “The league has the capacity to put [games] on, to stream them, and all the teams are certainly equipped to go over-the-air to do it.” For fans, this means they can access games no matter what.
The source followed with a scathing prediction, however, saying, “But now the revenue gets crushed. Hopefully a lot of people have already gotten paid at least 30 to 50% of this year’s revenue. But you’ll never get the rest of that money back, you’ll never recoup the money.’’ This is not what you want to hear as a business owner or an employee benefitting from Main Street's payment.
Another team source added, “You’re just basically going to find some way to put your games out there and [lose] all your money. Everyone’s going to be [losing] money. For two years.’’
Friend explained that "for two years" was in reference to the solution the league has crafted to counter the decline of regional sports networks (RSNs) nationwide. The league has vague plans to create a "national streaming RSN," which would aggregate local streams into a single network that is easier (and likely cheaper) for fans to use. This new network would then be distributed through a national partner, such as Amazon Prime. However, due to contractual obligations, the league has a soft target of launching the program during the 2027-28 season.
While it is promising that there was already a plan in place to address the league's problem with RSNs, there could still be disastrous short-term impacts.
The path forward is unclear, likely because Main Street is still attempting to negotiate a deal with DAZN. If this falls through, however, someone will have to fork over the money to keep people employed. Whoever this burden falls upon is in for a rough two years.