Sinclair sounds hopeful about adding more MLB teams to its upcoming Bally Sports direct-to-consumer streaming app.
As it stands, Sinclair only has streaming rights for five teams—the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. The company is also rumored to be exploring a subscription streaming app for the Chicago Cubs. But there are 30 MLB teams in all, leaving lots of room for expansion.
Sinclair COO Rob Weisbord suggested Bally Sports may add more teams to the list.
“There are ongoing conversations. I’m cautiously optimistic, now that they got past the lockout,” he said during a Digital Entertainment Group event, according to The Streamable. “I believe that there is a path for a deal to get additional teams. But it takes a lot of conversations to get there and we’re having ongoing dialogue.”
During Sinclair’s most recent earnings call, CEO Chris Ripley said he expects the app will “soft launch” in the first half of 2022, but recent reports suggest the app won’t arrive until this summer. Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports recently announced $1 billion in incremental financing to help move forward with the Bally Sports DTC launch.
In addition to the handful of MLB teams on board, Sinclair has also renewed digital streaming rights deal with the NBA and NHL.
Sinclair has yet to announce a launch date or pricing for its upcoming streaming service but Sports Business Journal previously reported it will likely cost more than $20 per month and will limit live game availability to local markets.
In a regulatory filing last summer, Sinclair predicted its streaming service could eventually attract approximately 4.4 million subscribers and generate around $2 billion in annual revenue. The company projected about 1.7 million subscribers to the service would be from the cord-cutter/cord-never category and another approximately 1.4 million would be non-RSN subscribers from its distributor partners. About 1.3 million subscribers would come from current subscribers to its Bally Sports networks.