FanDuel is strategizing its new partnership with the Diamond Sports Group as it prepares to rebrand the 16 former Bally’s regional sports networks.
Fresh Start
America’s most popular mobile sports betting platform, FanDuel, previously announced its plans in June to partner with Diamond Sports Group, currently in the throes of bankruptcy, to rebrand the 16 channels of the former Bally’s regional sports network. The deal has been consummated and is now officially the FanDuel Sports Networks.
The deal contains the following major elements:
- Exclusive right to name Diamond’s 16 regional sports networks (“RSNs”) and Diamond’s digital offerings, including the direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) product, as FanDuel Sports Network.
- Linear and digital media placement and integration opportunities across all live NBA, NHL, and MLB games on FanDuel Sports Network.
- Shared commitment to explore a unified DTC app experience with the ability to syndicate FanDuel TV programming across FanDuel Sports Network, including studio programming like “Up & Adams,” “Run It Back,” and FanDuel TV’s live rights programming.
- FanDuel will have reseller designation for Diamond’s DTC product and additional economic and equity elements.
Mike Raffensperger, President of FanDuel, stated: “Partnering with Diamond provides us an opportunity to put the FanDuel brand at the intersection of the nation’s largest group of regional sports networks. A large cohort of FanDuel customers are devoted RSN viewers, and this agreement allows us to further cement the FanDuel brand with sports fans and provides a unique vehicle to reward our users.”
Bally’s RSNs: End of an Error
Bally’s has made plenty of missteps along the way in its expansion from its bread-and-butter land-based casino business to the digital sports betting realm. Using its leverage to buy BetWorks as its online sports betting platform was just one such failure, and in March 2023 the company replaced Lee Fenton as CEO and hired Robeson Reeves to right its digital ship.
Earlier this year, Bally’s chairman Soo Kim admitted, “We have made our mistakes in sports betting. Years ago, we tried to say, ‘Ok, let’s try to own everything. Soup to nuts. Build everything ourselves. Buy a little bit and build on top of that.’ That was a mistake. And that cost us real money.”
Another such strategic error came in its partnership with the Diamond Sports Group when Kim said at the time that the partnership of RSNs would “deliver significant shareholder value.” This did not pan out, and between shutting its app down for several months in 2023 due to its platform transition to Kambi, along with deliberately late arrivals to new online sports betting markets to avoid the financial bloodletting that comes with promotional expenses to win early adopters, Bally’s has had a tumultuous digital gaming run.
