The Rangers are planning to announce a streaming agreement for the 2025 season, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The team is set to join Victory+, the provider which also carries the NHL’s Stars. While Stars games are available on the service for free, consumers will need to pay an annual subscription fee to access Rangers contests, Grant writes. Pricing has not been reported.
The organization has been without an in-market broadcasting plan since the end of last season. Its contract with Diamond Sports Group (now known as Main Street Sports), the corporation operating the Bally Sports regional networks, expired at the end of the year. With the company facing questions about its long-term viability even after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Rangers haven’t had interest in negotiating a new agreement. That’s in contrast to the majority of teams that had previously contracted with Main Street Sports. All others have either renegotiated a deal with the regional sports network — presumably for a lesser rights fee — or handed distribution over to Major League Baseball.
Grant suggests this is likely to be the first of multiple steps to expand distribution of Rangers games within the local market. The Dallas Morning-News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram have each previously written that the team hopes to essentially build its own RSN by directly negotiating individual deals with various streaming and/or cable providers.
The model could leave the Rangers with some uncertainty about their local broadcast revenues. The team’s contract with Diamond Sports Group reportedly paid around $111MM through 2023. Texas agreed to a lesser fee — reportedly around $90MM — on a restructured deal to stay on Bally Sports Southwest for the ’24 season. It’s not clear how much they anticipate making off their partnership with Victory+ or any additional agreements they may reach in the next two months.
Hopefully MLB becomes a national sport and gets rid of the regional stuff altogether next CBA.
Yes, every other sports league runs that way except MLB.
It’d be nice if there was actual, mutually divided revenue sharing… 30 for 30 equality after all the chips are counted. It’d be a much more interesting game than the current Haves vs. Have-nots!
The cba in baseball expires in 2026. Prepare for a strike that could last 2 years so both sides wake up. In the end baseball fans and vendors get screwed again.
I welcome it if it ends up with a system like the NFL. Also, I’d like to see a draft for International prospects.
I’d rather like to see owners willing to pony up interest for international prospects with talent and payroll while keeping their teams competitive than rely on a so-called “international draft”
unless MLBPA agrees to a salary cap its not going to happen and thats a non starter it seems in any negotiating and also with the cap there needs to be some kind of floor which will be a non starter for teams like the pirates a’s and marlins. Also no other sport has a minor league system like mlb or multiple draft types (prospect, rule 5, or international caps) which is a lot to do away with..
also MLB is going to have to pony up big dollars to get out of any local / regional broadcasting deals like the dodgers or the yankees network which add a lot of value to the team.
“consumers will need to pay an annual subscription fee to access Rangers contests”
Good to see they learned from mistakes… oh, wait.
I live on Long Island and my provider used to be the owners of the Knicks and Rangers. Cable was sold a few years ago and with his son in charge of the teams as well as distribution, he’s playing hard ball and as of 01/01, we don’t have MSG Network. While I love hockey and the Knicks, I’m not really missing the games. Come playoffs, it likely will be different if it hasn’t been restored. I mention this because only football, a once a week event can truly dictate (yet I do not subscribe to Netflix and couldn’t watch the games on Christmas day). Gambling and the NFL is totally different than any other American sport. Soccer abroad is likely in the same category but other sports will get buried if they don’t self police and make deals that are fair to all including the paying public. I had been getting MLB free through T-Mobile for years but switched last July. While I’m saving enough with my new provider that I can get it again at effectively still no cost, I made a decision that I’d wait to see what kind of product the Red Sox will put on the field in 25. Baseball being a local or regional sport, my guess is most subscribers only watch “their team’s like I do. At a reasonable cost, I’ll likely re-up but if they become more like a pig and take their cash cow for granted, their golden goose might just get cooked.
Sorry for the stupid wording at the end but I guess I’m nervous about getting an epidural in the morning. Last one didn’t help and I’m not looking forward to a possible surgery.
I thought you hit a homer, Dewey. Good luck with the thing, braddah! Prayers up
Well, can’t be worse than last year. I’m in.
Best of luck to the Rangers. I sincerely hope some team can come up with a working broadcasting model that is both fan/user friendly and profitable enough for the owners to want it.
It’s way past time to move on from the RSN model.
Not sure I agree. I still have cable and until now, by negotiating a great deal for many years that includes high speed internet, the separate prices would be much higher. look at what the said charge to get only them or what Gotham is now charging for NY sports. Because of Gotham, my cable provider on Jan 1st no longer carries MSG network. Dolan is trying to force a change that is not feasible for cable any longer. The old ESPN model of getting a high fee for all subscribers on basic cable.
Cable is going to fade away imo. Sports is really one of their last hooks to keep people subscribed. I think in 5-10 years most sports will be streamed on the bigger streamers. WWE Raw (debatable if it’s a sport) just went to Netflix. Notre Dame streams games on Peacock. Paramount streams European soccer. HBO Max was streaming playoff games in the past. I can see a big streamer just buying the rights for a whole league.
I’m not sure what kind of fiscal return the team sees, but I freakin’ love the Padre-casts through the MLBTV app!
I would pay to watch mlb regular season games with someone else’s money. Thats ridiculous.
F that just Google mlb stream and watch for free
Lawmakers have threatened in past to review mlb’s right to monopolize baseball, in contradiction to Sherman Act, n owners don’t want to open that can of worms. Once regular ol US tax payer baseball enthusiasts can’t watch for free congress would rattle mlb’s cage by threatening removal of their exemption. Already, why playoffs aren’t pay-per-view. “Not my constituents ! USA !” Could run on that platform.
Will Rangers game stream on Fubo as well?
A year or 2 ago Jason gay on the Wall Street journal talked about how soon every sport will be pay per view and the normal cbs and fox channels will become obsolete for sports
At the time I thought that the pro sports leagues weren’t that evil… until the nfl went to prime and peacock… and now MLB has followed with this service I’ve never heard of
As a mariner fan I can’t wait to see root sports or something eventually become a full time streaming service where they make season tickets for a tv so everyone pays money! (for a specific topic I’m not even going to get into cable tv bills)
Victory +?? They’ve won. Yay!!
VICTORY!!!
“It’s on Tubu. It’s literally on Heebee. It’s on Poodee with ads. It’s literally on Dippy. You can probably find it on Weeno. Dude it’s on Gumpy.
It’s a Pheebo original. It’s on Poob. You can watch it on Poob. You can go to Poob and watch it. Log onto Poob right now.”
So Rangers fans that live in the Metroplex have to pay for Victory+ which can’t be watched out of service territory.