Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Minnesota sports fans have had to worry about consuming their favorite teams for years now. Thanks to the ineptitude that is FanDuel Sports Network (previously Bally Sports, part of Diamond Sports Group), no organization has been safe. The Minnesota Twins were once taken off the air, and the Minnesota Wild may be next.
Last season the Twins transitioned to their own standalone product in TwinsTV. The MN Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves are still produced by FanDuel Sports Network. The company’s operating procedures haven’t grown any more tenable though, and one of the best teams in the NHL is fearful.
Broadcast changes for the Minnesota Wild
Last week the Minnesota Wild announced that four of their games would be going over the air on 45TV and ABC. That’s not happening by coincidence and both Michael Russo (The Athletic) and Joe Smith (The Athletic) combined to bring some clarity to the situation.
The Wild have been working the past two years to find alternatives in case FanDuel goes under. They don’t know if FanDuel will get through this season, let alone be around next season. So the alternatives they’ve investigated are streaming games themselves or putting games over the air. This is clearly a guinea pig to see how it’ll work if it ever gets to this point permanently.
On Xfinity, games on FanDuel have been elevated to upper-tier packages, so the Wild’s reach to their fan base is more limited than ever. So the Wild are testing the waters to try to get their product to a much larger audience because over-the-air games are available to theoretically everybody, and their current agreement with FanDuel allows for the Wild to do this.
Multiple affiliates throughout the Minnesota Wild’s broadcast territory will carry those games as well. Considering the unpredictability of a company constantly teetering on bankruptcy and failure, it makes sense that the franchise would want to have alternatives.
To date the Wild have played just 53 games. Getting through the final 29 regular season contests while being able to disseminate the product to fans is a must. While gate and in-stadium transactions provide a good amount of revenue, it’s the broadcast rights that often drive the greatest check.
DateOpponentChannelTimeJanuary 29CalgaryKSTC-TV (45)7:00pmFebruary 27UtahKSTP-TV (5)8:00pmApril 11NashvilleKSTC-TV (45)4:00pmApril 14AnaheimKSTC-TV (45)7:00pm
Minnesota building in contingency plans makes even more sense given the uncertainty for next season. FanDuel Sports Network has already lost the backing of Major League Baseball and that won’t help already struggling revenues.
A Stanley Cup run would only further invite interest in the team. Over-the-air games are available to anyone with a set of bunny ears, and making sure to stoke the fire while figuring out the path forward makes good business sense.
Mentioned in this article: FanDuel Sports Network
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