NBA’s Local Broadcasting Crisis: A Potential Midseason Meltdown
The National Basketball Association is facing what one executive calls their “worst fear” in the local broadcasting sphere. Main Street Sports Group, which owns the FanDuel regional sports networks broadcasting games for 13 NBA teams, is reportedly on the brink of shutting down operations before the end of 2025. This precarious situation has already shown warning signs when Main Street failed to make rights payments to the St. Louis Cardinals, raising serious concerns about the stability of broadcast arrangements for nearly 30 professional sports teams across the NBA, MLB, and NHL.
The fate of these broadcasts now hinges on a potential acquisition by sports streaming service DAZN, which must be finalized by January. Without this lifeline, Main Street has reportedly planned to “wind down and dissolve” all of its FanDuel networks by year’s end. What’s particularly alarming for basketball fans is that this dissolution might occur mid-season, forcing the NBA to scramble for alternative broadcasting solutions. The league is already preparing contingency plans, including potential linear affiliate agreements for affected teams and leveraging its League Pass app to ensure games remain available to viewers.
This broadcasting crisis represents more than just a business hiccup—it’s a reflection of the rapidly changing media landscape that’s challenging traditional sports viewing models. Four NBA markets have already reclaimed their local broadcast rights after payment failures, including the Chicago Bulls with their Chicago Sports Network. For fans, this instability has created frustration through inconsistent access to games, blackout restrictions, and the increasingly fragmented nature of sports viewing options in the cord-cutting era.
While undoubtedly disruptive in the short term, this broadcasting upheaval might ultimately benefit NBA fans. The league could use this opportunity to reimagine its broadcasting approach, potentially creating a more unified viewing experience without the blackout complications that have plagued both local and national broadcasts. As regional sports networks struggle to maintain economic viability in a streaming-dominated world, the NBA might be forced to accelerate its transition toward more direct-to-consumer options that better align with modern viewing habits.
Not every team would eagerly embrace such changes. According to reports, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, benefiting from lucrative local agreements, might resist a league-wide broadcasting solution. However, the majority of NBA franchises could find themselves open to a new, more centralized approach by the 2026-27 season—especially if it provides greater financial stability and broader fan accessibility than the current patchwork system of regional networks.
For basketball enthusiasts caught in this broadcasting uncertainty, the upcoming months will be telling. While the immediate concern focuses on potential mid-season disruptions to game broadcasts, the long-term implications could reshape how fans connect with their favorite teams. As traditional regional sports networks face existential challenges, the NBA stands at a crossroads that could accelerate the inevitable shift toward streaming-based distribution models. Though potentially messy in the short term, this transition might ultimately deliver a more coherent, fan-friendly viewing experience—one that better serves both the league and its dedicated audience in the digital age.
