Are Regional Sports Networks Actually Dying—or Just Evolving?

Nana Kofi Amoh

Sep 20264 min read

Are Regional Sports Networks Actually Dying—or Just Evolving?

Editor's Note

Amoh Sports Media is a column by Nana Kofi Amoh, creator of Amoh Sports Media and one of the voices navigating the shifting economics of sports media. This piece maps the breakdown of the traditional regional sports network model: the collapse of legacy cable carriage, the wind-down of RSNs, and how some teams are generating record revenue by taking their broadcasts in-house.

Recognizing whether or not the future of the regional sport network (RSN) is projecting for the better has to begin with how the RSN got to where it is today.

The Origins of the Local Broadcast Model

The vision of the RSN is for local fans to be able to watch their hometown teams on a dedicated channel rather than relying on national broadcasts. In May of 1969, the first RSN that was created was the Madison Square Garden Network, which housed New York Knicks and Rangers games. At the time, cable television was still growing which resulted in very few subscribers able to watch Knicks and Rangers live broadcasts.

For big markets like New York City, Philadelphia (whose first RSN was PRISM, housing local sports and movies in 1976), and Los Angeles (Prime Ticket in 1985), it seems straightforward to capture local fans through committed broadcasts to their respective teams.

Expansion, Acquisition, and the Advent of Bally Sports

But what about the mid to small markets across the country? Fast forward to 1996, FOX created the largest collection of regional sports networks that lasted just over two decades that would cover the majority of these markets. After a couple acquisitions, in 2021 the Sinclair Broadcast Group signed a naming rights agreement with Bally’s Corporation which would be rebranded to Bally Sports. Bally Sports would house a number of RSNs that would broadcast games for more than 40 teams including 15 for the MLB, 17 for the NBA and 13 for the NHL.

Bally Sports’ financial model was heavily dependent on cable subscriptions as it believed that is where the local fan still is. But as cord-cutting began to rise, Bally Sports was losing its subscribers to top streaming companies as connected television (CTV) rose as a new way to consume content. Because of the local fan’s viewership changing from cable to streaming, Bally Sports had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023. And in October 2024, the Bally Sports networks were rebranded again as FanDuel Sports Network after a new naming-rights agreement with FanDuel.

Issues with cord-cutting continued to grow. Although Diamond Sports Group was able to come out of bankruptcy and rebrand itself as Main Street Sports Group, the business model continued to decline. Teams demanded large annual rights fees, carriage revenue from cable operators kept shrinking and most importantly, cable subscribers continued to decrease year over year.

In the spring of 2026, Main Street Sports Group informed NBA and NHL partners that it intended to wind down the FanDuel Sports Network RSNs after the NBA regular season and the first round of the NHL playoffs unless a buyer was willing to take on the networks. Teams have since been free to negotiate new local television and streaming agreements with whoever is willing to take on their local budgets.

Teams Reclaim Their Rights

With a number of MLB, NBA and NHL teams still looking for places to broadcast their games, there are a few teams that have taken matters into their own hands. BravesVision, the streaming platform for the Atlanta Braves and one of Bally Sports’ RSN teams, has seen tremendous growth debuting in the 2026 MLB season. Before the season, the Braves secured deals with distributors such as DirecTV, Spectrum and Fubo allowing the Braves to reach local fans in more than one way. As a result, Opening Day 2026 was the highest-rated prime-time program in Atlanta when the Braves played the Kansas City Royals on BravesVision because of these agreements. Executives from the Braves recently stated the club is on pace to exceed the local media revenue it previously received from Main Street Sports Group with their new strategy.

Other teams are copying the same strategy as the Braves rather than waiting for another company to acquire rights like the MLB’s Texas Rangers (Rangers Sports Network) and the Los Angeles Angels (Angels Broadcast TV - also houses NHL’s LA Kings games). The NBA’s Detroit Pistons signed a new local media rights agreement with Scripps Sports, which makes WMYD TV 20 (Scripps’ owned and operated station in Detroit, Michigan) the new local television home of Pistons basketball.

The Future: Sports Franchises as In-House Media Agencies

MLB, NBA, and NHL teams without local media rights should look internally to house their live, in-game content. Fanbases enjoy their own broadcasters and reporters whether from the sideline or in the dugout. With the uncertainty of who will take on the old-school RSN model next, building a media platform from within the team shows local fans how much their team cares about maintaining their fan base. We can see more teams act like media agencies with their inventory so they do not need to go through another third party to have their pre-, live-, and post-game coverage presented.

The RSN model is evolving; there is no denying this. It is a matter of how many other teams are willing to take on the challenge to adapt to the new age of local sports consumption.