Last month Main Street Sports Group, owners of the FanDuel Sports Network stations, missed a payment to the St. Louis Cardinals. That began to set off alarm bells and before Christmas rolled around it was reported that their only chance of survival for 2026 was if DAZN bought the company in the next few weeks.
Update (January 8th, 6:15pm ET)
Evan Drellich of The Athletic reports that the Cincinnati Reds, along with all other eight teams who still had deals with FanDuel Sports Network and Main Street Sports Group for 2026 broadcast rights have opted out of those contracts. As of right now what that means for the Reds and where their games will be located is unknown, but if you continue reading below you will find the most likely scenario.
(original article continues below)
Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal is reporting now that deal is not happening. Friend’s reporting says that executives in both the NBA and the NHL who have deals with Main Street Sports Group are skeptical that they can continue producing and distributing their games through the regular season – which is happening right now. His further reporting says that the Cardinals have already opted out of their deal with them for the 2026 season, and that six of the other eight teams they have the rights to are expected to opt out – including the Cincinnati Reds.
We discussed that on December 21st and with the DAZN deal falling through because they wanted to renegotiate the deals that were in place and asked for far too many concessions, the writing seems to be on the wall. All of this comes two months after the Reds and FanDuel Sports Network announced they had agreed to a 1-year deal to continue their partnership in broadcasting Cincinnati games.
As we noted in December here at Redleg Nation, if the Reds do indeed have to leave FanDuel Sports Network it’s very likely that they will revert to what they originally had in place for the 2025 season before later changing things and going with FanDuel. In that initial plan that was announced the Reds games were going to be broadcast locally on the available cable and satellite services, but would also be available through MLB.tv as a standalone option for fans who would otherwise be blacked out of those games via the service.
Other options could be on the table, but that is what the club was planning on 14 months ago before taking a detour. They know how that would work and likely wouldn’t have to put nearly as much time into a “new” plan to try and go another route this close to spring training.
For now, stay tuned for more information.
Perhaps best anyway not to see too much of the depressing product management is preparing for 2026. That is, nothing improved and possibly worse. A few new retreads to replace last year’s bargain retreads. Kinda sad. I’ll watch though, if they finally find some way to televise the summer slog to fall also-ran status.
The starting 9 is probably going to look like this;
EDLC – ss
McLain – 2b
Marte – Rf
Frield – of
Bleday – lf
Sal Stewart – 1b
Stephenson- C
KBH – 3b
Steer – DH
Greene- sp
Abbot – Sp
Burns – sp
Lodolo – sp
Singer – sp
Not many retreads or scrubs in the starters on that 2026 squad if healthy. Would be nice to upgrade the bench and bullpen for sure. I think Tito & DJ will get quite a bit out of this group. And some further minor signings will occur.
Probably losing a net 10$M in revenue by switching from FanDuel to MLB produced games in 2026 – but long term it’s the right thing to do.
Gold glove finalist Steer will be playing 1B over Stewart for sure.
ATH, I don’t know about Steer playing 1B over Stewart. I generally don’t think that it’s a good call to have a young player DH.
Plus, Steer will play a lot of LF against LH pitching.
“Gold glove finalist Steer will be playing 1B over Stewart for sure.”
if that’s true it doesn’t bode well for EDLC.
Melvin you actually think Stewart is a better first baseman? Have you watched enough of him to say he is better or is this just your man crush breaking through?
“Melvin you actually think Stewart is a better first baseman?”
JB – haha Stewart is 6’1″. Steer is 5’9″. Stewart obviously has a longer reach both above his head and on his stretches. EDLC needs all the help he can get. That’s my point. 🙂
Stewart will play somewhere. You can take it to the bank. What very well could happen eventually is Krall saying, “Hayes is a sunk cost”. It’s not like we haven’t heard that before. Hayes is being paid a lot of money to be a late inning defensive replacement. As I’ve been saying, Dodgers could do that. The Reds cannot.
Old Big Ed, I’ve re-thought the idea of the DH not being good for young players.
I had been thinking about the advancement of both Stewart and Collier towards almost identical roles, 1B/DH and how that might work.
Stewart turned pro at 18 and Collier at 17. So, they have been around the DH since they were teenagers. This has me thinking they (and other young players) are probably just fine DHing. That it’s probably us who think they aren’t.
Anyway, food for thought.
Yes, it is. Retreads it is. Nero Krall is competing for the gold medal in dumpster diving. Bleday is a step down from Hays, while Myers is meaningless. KBH can’t hit. McLain and Stephenson may not be able to hit again this year. Hopefully, they can. Steer is more likely at 1st than Stewart. And the Reds still have a bench of Silver Sluggers like Trevino, Lux, etc. So, no, this team isn’t competitive with last year’s team. And the Cubs bolstered their pitching staff overnight. Milwaukee will be competitive regardless of who they start. And the Pirates have added bats and aren’t done. The Reds will be battling the Cards for 4th place unless something changes, or last if you prefer. The organization is cheap and incompetent – always a bad combination.
And no LDS, this team IS better than last year.
Moving around the diamond …
A full season of Sal Stewart (vs 18 G last year) is a huge improvement. A seemingly healthy Spencer Steer is better than the shell of a player that left ST last season. Can Matt McLain be any worse than he was last year? I’m expecting a big rebound from him. Elly is a superstar about to explode, he was limited last year physically and emotionally (I’ve never lost a sibling, even now that I’m in my 60s, can’t imagine how it is to lose a sister in her 20s or 30s). Hayes’ fielding is under appreciated and he should be a very positive defensive influence on EDLC. And for those that whine about his bat, he’s a better hitter than Espinal who gave us 75 games at third in ‘25.
In the OF, Marte will have a full offseason to acclimate to RF. Friedl is a year removed from injury woes. And in LF you are only replacing 103 games from Hays. Hays was just slightly above average with an OPS+ of 105 when he was healthy.
The starting pitching should be even better (which is saying something!) while relief pitching is hardly consistent league wide from year to year.
Yeah, this team is better than last year.
@Earmbrister, that’s called hoping and wishing. You’re banking on recovery and breakout. Instead of signing proven, everyday ML’ers, count on hope. It always works so well, it could be a political slogan.
Nice post Earmbrister! Lots of good insights there. I can’t wait to see this club take the field this spring. Lots of interesting players to follow with more on the way.
I think Dan Myers may play a useful role in relieving TJ Friedl once or twice a week. I think JJ Bleday will end up like Nick Martini and will be a trivia question this time next year.
I know there are people here who are always eager to praise Nick Krall. But it would be refreshing for one of them to look at a transition like JJ Bleday and say “Yeah, you know what, I’m not sure what Nick Krall was thinking here”.
But, of course they never will do that because they spend so much time defending his every move, they can’t even conceive criticizing him.
LDS, I’m not counting on hoping or wishing but we can count on your doom and gloom. Despite many people saying that we needed two big bats, who are you gonna replace? I only see one spot in the lineup that I’d be willing to spend money on and that’s LF. Stuart and Steers have 1B and DH largely covered. Now you say, we should sign proven everyday ML’rs, but you don’t always get what you pay for. Candelario was a proven everyday player (despite the Monday morning QBrs contention otherwise) with OPS+s over the prior 4 seasons of 137, 121, 81, and 121. How did that work out? We’ll see how the offseason and season progresses.
Well said, Earmbrister.
RLN’s own Don Quixote is forever tilting at the Krall windmill. It’s his white whale if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphors.
But, of course he and the Hateful 8 never will do that because they spend so much time finding fault with his every move, they can’t even conceive crediting him for the successes like Singer, Marte, etc.
I was never on the Candelario bandwagon. Who to remove from the lineup/roster? That’s easy. Bleday, Steer, Lux, Benson – it’s a AAAA roster. And Richard, keep trying. Clearly, you’re comfortable with mediocrity
As long as @LDS can continue to provide vague, incompetent answers to clear questions he continue to be the RLN Eeeyore.
But it mostly shines light on his lack of connection to reality.
This from a fella who was touting his business management experience and acumen not long ago.
That may have been true at some point, but there’s clearly no credibility left.
None.
Lux, Benson, Steer, Bleday all signed contracts yesterday.
Sure, in a Bizzaro World of his imagination ‘letting them go’ is some kind of solution.
But that Bizzaro World is inhabited by one fella only, whose rants and proposals simply cannot be taken seriously any longer.
As if they ever were.
But as he slips further away from reality, they are simply best ignored.
Guys – and I do mean every single last one of you – I’m getting real tired of the direct attacks on other users over their opinions. Stop it.
The question was “other than LF” who are you going to replace? Lux and Benson are bench players. I would play a healthy Steer (at DH. Try Stewart who is a much bigger target at 1B).
Isimfred, you sure do brighten up a room …
It would seem that this failed TV revenue stream was known to the FO for months now. That loss of revenue, plus the anticipated lockout a year from now, may be the reasons that the team is being conservative with its payroll for now (and why they’re not pushing their chips to the middle of the table this offseason). In any case, this Reds team is hardly a bad product. A large part of the team is due for a bounce back season and just about the whole team is returning from last year.
The work stoppage is coming at a lousy time for the Reds.
As long as I have an option to watch here in West Central Indiana, I will not complain except for complaining about having a losing team! LOL
I reside in North East Indiana now and feel the same way. lol I need something to gripe about in the Summer instead of just the heat. I’m ready for Reds’ baseball!
Bengals Fan I take it? Colts fan here, so yeah ready for Reds Baseball!
Yes indeed! Im a longtime Bengals’ fan. I feel bad for you Colts’ fans this year. That was a rough ending.
This shouldn’t impact the Reds payroll. After all, we’ve been told the Reds offered Kyle Schwarber $150 Million dollars right? (hard eye roll)
Well this sucks. We have FanDuel on Comcast/Xfinity here in Chattanooga so I thought we’d have another year of “free” Reds games. We usually get around 140+ games each year via Comcast. Now that is in flux.
Does anyone know how much the other teams regional games cost via the MLB.tv package was last year (like the Cardinals? package was charging)? Any help on this question will be much appreciated.
I think it varied a tiny amount by team but I want to say it was something between $109-129 for the year.
So about the same as Fanduel is now for just the Reds season.
I was wondering how Fanduel expected to stay above water when a person could get the Reds, CBJ, and Cavs all three for ~$200 a year on the annual plan.
I follow the CBJ but have paid the extra for the monthly plan because I doubted the Reds would be on Fanduel through the 2026 season. Looks like it will be a wash for me.
Randy – Same here in Jasper, Tn., except on Spectrum. Bummer.
Hey neighbor! I’ve coached a few soccer games vs. Marion County in my day.
In some ways, I am glad that the Reds are will likely no longer be affiliated with Fan Duel.
It seems like more and more, sports is associated with professional gambling. And I think that this is/was a pretty bad thing.
I hope that the Reds can work out some kind of lucrative deal for televising their games, and get something close to the revenue they expected.
This uncertainty may also have been a factor in some of the later, “post-Schwarber” efforts, or non-efforts. Why the trade talks for Luis Robert Jr. fell apart or went cold, and why they got bargain players like Bleday and Myers. These guys are not the answer, but do fill in a void on the roster.
And why there will likely NOT be any big trades or deals in the near future (prior to ST) where real value is added, unless it is balanced by losing some payroll…..like Singer, for example.
I really wish they could somehow dump Ke’Bryan Hayes….what a strange move and a lot to pay for a guy that does actually not have much value.
I agree with you David. If the Reds do anything before ST it will most likely be just minor league signings. Then once camp starts the team will keep a close eye on Lowder, Williamson and Aguiar…if any one or all of them show that they are close to being ready I think they trade Singer at that point for prospects and salary relief.
I am somewhat more inclined to think that KBH hits better at GABP. He certainly won’t set the world on fire, but I think he could very well hit .240-.250 with 10-12 homers. Paired with his GG defense I would be happy with that.
Williamson has barely pitched since September 2023, there is zero chance of him holding up over a full season of innings. We should count our blessings if we are able to get a useful bullpen arm out of him at this point.
I like Williamson, and Aguiar as long relievers 1 to 3 innings per outing. I don’t think I’d really entertain more than a spot start from either of these two this season.
I agree with your first sentence. The invasion of the gambling angle seems to be even more insidious on the Fanduel CBJ telecasts than on the Reds telecasts. Then, to top it off, they have been running commercials for other gambling sites during the telecasts. That should tell us how desperate they are for ad income.
@ Jim Walker. I was at a CBJ game last year, and there was a constant hype during the game for betting with Fanduel, for all kinds of weird aspects of the game. Who will play the most minutes, who will score, etc.
It really detracts from the enjoyment of the game when “sports betting” is so flagrant and out in the open.
Jim, I completely agree, it is an invasion, that of a behavior many consider negative and unwelcome.
How anyone ever for one second thought legalized sports betting was a good idea, I will never understand.
And the use of gambling corporations to broadcast games is right behind it.
“How anyone ever for one second thought legalized sports betting was a good idea, I will never understand.”
I whole lot more things can be rationalized when those $$$ signs start flashing. 🙂
As long as I can still get the vast majority of games on MLB.tv for my usual price (ends up being about $100 after discounts), I’m good. I do wonder who from the broadcast team comes along with any deal.
@ Mark
I think I recall u mentioning going to Reds @ Nats game and thinking about making trip this year
Any suggestions positive or potholes from anyone appreciated. Looking at staying more near central DC sightseeing and using Metro for game day
I’ll probably be watching more minor league and college games like last year anyway.
Hopefully, the new deal will provide the Reds with some degree of stability. Dealing with this uncertainty every winter, a few weeks before Spring Training, while trying to put a roster together, must drive Nick Krall nuts.
I read an article in The Athletic about Manfred’s grand plan around a year ago. If he can consolidate the digital rights and fulfill his plan, it could be good for many of the teams.
He wants to sell full and partial plans for individual teams, just like season tickets for live attendance. He also wants to sell plans for a specific series or specific games.
Bear in mind that if all the rights are consolidated, MLB will be marketing these plans nationally without blackouts and perhaps even internationally.
Let’s try to avoid thinking, Yeah, but they will never get the megamarkets onboard, and instead give him a chance to pull this off.
@Jim, “Let’s try to avoid thinking, Yeah, but they will never get the megamarkets onboard, and instead give him a chance to pull this off.”
I agree, it’s big deal to make, but I think they’ll end up with a comprehensive plan. It’s really the only way forward for the league. You can’t have half or more unable to get tv deals. The sport will vanish.
Totally agree. How the next CBA prepares for the next TV deal is likely the key to avoiding a prolonged work stoppage. There’s a real chance to greatly grow league revenue, but it won’t help if the distribution doesn’t change.
Sadly, I think it’s going to take a couple of years for MLB to sort this out. MLB’s national TV deals all expire in 2028. So, it will likely be 2029 before there’s an opportunity to achieve real growth in this area. Not only has the RSN fiasco limited the Red’s payroll, but the uncertainty surrounding their local TV deal surely drives lower risk tolerance.
The Athletic reported earlier this week that MLB does not plan to divert any CBT dollars to affected teams this year as it did in 2024. They also reported that the team’s TV revenue from MLB TV will be directly tied to viewership, rather than the fixed price FanDuels and other RSN vendors typically offer teams. So, the Reds would have benefited in 2025 as their viewership was up. However, a season like 2023, where a bunch of guys go down in Spring Training, won’t bode well.
Hopefully DIRECTV will continue to carry the games like they do for the tribe, fingers crossed
Doug, no matter what happens, the fans will lose. It will be harder to watch games and it will cost more.
We have no idea if that’s true or not. 14 months ago when the Reds were going through the same exact situation as they are now they were going to have the games on cable and satellite just like a whole lot of people got the games before – it was just gonna be on a different channel. Not harder. Not more expensive. Just channel XYZ instead of channel CDF.
So a couple of years when this all started going down, one of the first teams affected was Phoenix Suns. They ended up putting a lot of their games on over the air TV.
I have no idea what FANDUAL paid the Reds, but I wonder if something like that can be put together in Cincinnati – sort of like the radio deal (carried in many markets). Years ago when channel 5 carried the occasional Reds game, NBC stepped in and said you can’t preempt network shows for your local shows. But I wonder if some of the smaller local stations (channel 64) would be able to carry games. ION network even talked about carrying games a couple of years ago when this all started to go down.
OTA is making a bit of a comeback as households switch to streaming from cable. Antennas are a lot different from the ones we had when I was a kid that had to be moved depending on the channel we wanted to watch. However, OTA is still a pretty small market. Many local TV stations already have the infrastructure in place, so it’s not too expensive to add a channel, so I could see OTA being part of the solution. However, the Suns and others are making most of their money via streaming. The big difference between the NBA and MLB is that the NBA’s national TV deal dwarfs any local deals. I believe that is a byproduct of all of the work that the NBA and their player’s union have done to enhance competition across their entire 30-team league.
I’m jealous that you live somewhere that doesn’t require you to move your OTA antenna around depending on which channel you want to watch or what time of day it is because I absolutely have to do that.
I’d say I move my antenna more after the digital transition than before it.
Ha, ha! Actually, we live at the bottom of a hill and can get very few channels with an antenna, no matter how much tinkering we do. A couple of years ago, when we were on level ground in a different city, we did pretty well.
The contrast to me is that the current antennae weigh less than a pound, and you don’t have to drill a hole in your roof and ceilings to use them. As the youngest child, I remember often getting directed to spin the aluminum pole until others were satisfied. So, that’s some progress.
We bash the Reds on not spending money. That’s hard to do when the biggest single driver of revenue is a complete crapshoot (I checked, that’s not a bad word).
About ten years ago, posters used to tell me that there was no risk in owning a pro sports franchise and there would be no end to double-digit revenue growth. The pandemic and the RSN debacles have been particularly poorly timed for the Reds.
Well I’d say they were right 10 years ago, but the change in viewing habits have destroyed the old cable viewing system.
What the MLB has to face up to now is their product has been delivered to the public in an outdated manner.
1 National deals like the 2 biggest sports are the best way to negotiate contracts as a whole, not individual deals.
2 Free national tv viewing ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX are the best networks to be on. Sports are still the best way to sell advertising.
3 Streaming platforms have taken over, and they need to partner with them as well.
I’m now thinking that if they played 162 on on of those networks, or a combination of those networks that would be the best plan. Like in football, they should make a weekly event. Game Day triple headers, but on Saturdays.
So Saturday you’d play a east and west coast game. East in the early afternoon, and then a west coast game mid afternoon, with a premiere matchup as the evening game.
You’re local team will be on of the 2 day games, and the other will be the game most connected to your regional market. Then you put the big game of the day Yankee’s vs Red Sox at night, etc.
They need the national baseball talk shows before and between the games just like the NFL.
They basically just need to copy the NFL. They’ve already created a template for success, follow it, but tweak it for your sport.
The streaming platform that they choose to stream games would be great for people who live out of the area of their local team or just want to watch a ton of baseball.
I fired the cable company 3 seasons ago when fiber internet became available at my location via a different IPS. While I used Fubo as my first cable replacement and now YouTube TV as my second, I have streamed the Reds directly since firing the cable company (the 1st season via Fubo creds).
Aside from some of the playoff action, I don’t recall watching a single MLB game on the traditional OTA channels available via my cable replacement, except for Reds games blacked out on their RSN.
Just throwing this into the mix, as it seems that most folks here who have access to see the Reds via traditional cable take that choice, while I had/ have that choice and dumped the cable.
@MBS, they were wrong ten years ago. Businesses go through cycles of peaks and valleys. Everyone understands that concept until it doesn’t match their current strongly held opinion.
The model you are describing is an older NFL model. The NFL has 272 games to sell each season, while the NBA has 1,230. MLB’s portfolio is the largest at 2,430. I suggest following the NBA model because it’s a proven model for managing a portfolio of games that will include both national and regional TV options. The NFL can get by with only national TV; it’s hard for me to envision the NBA, NHL, or MLB maximizing revenue without a regional TV option. However, I do think MLB could derive more money nationally than they do regionally, that’s what the NBA pulled off.