Diamond Sports Group Partners With FanDuel; Bally Sports RSNs to be Renamed FanDuel Sports Network on Oct. 21
The 16 Diamond-owned RSNs will also have their DTC streaming product integrated with FanDuel
Story Highlights
On Friday afternoon, Diamond Sports Group (“Diamond”) announced it has struck a deal with FanDuel, the North American online gaming company, that will include the renaming of Diamond’s 16 regional sports networks. As of Monday, October 21, the Bally Sports RSNs will officially be renamed under the FanDuel Sports Network brand with corresponding regional monikers.
“Collaborating with FanDuel provides a tremendous pathway for Diamond to elevate the fan experience and deepen the incremental value we provide for our team, league and distribution partners,” David Preschlack, CEO of Diamond said in the official release. “This partnership reinforces opportunities to further strengthen the close connection our RSNs have with local fans, including enhancing our DTC offering for a growing digital audience. In the meantime, having finalized agreements with the NBA, NHL and our key distributors, we remain focused on moving our business forward and driving value for our team partners and our stakeholders.”
In the longterm agreement, the Bally Sports direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service will also be rebranded to FanDuel Sports Network. The announcement says that the two entities intend to “explore a unified DTC app experience with the ability to syndicate FanDuel TV programming across FanDuel Sports Network, including studio programming like “Up & Adams,” “Run It Back” and FanDuel TV’s live rights programming.”
“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,” says Mike Raffensperger, President, Sports, FanDuel. “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.”
The Diamond Sports Group‘s 16 owned and operated RSNs will now be named: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, FanDuel Sports Network Florida, FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes, FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City, FanDuel Sports Network Indiana, FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, FanDuel Sports Network North, FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal, FanDuel Sports Network South, FanDuel Sports Network Southeast, FanDuel Sports Network Southwest, FanDuel Sports Network Sun, FanDuel Sports Network West, and FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.
Additional partnership elements and collaborations will be introduced in the coming months.
