Reds expected to opt out of their TV contract with FanDuel

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.

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.