NBA logo before a game between the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets at Little Caesars Arena on March 11, 2024 in Detroit.
Nick Antaya | Getty Images
Fans of the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans are looking forward to new ways to watch local games in the upcoming National Basketball Association (NBA) season.
Both teams will be removed from the regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports, according to a bankruptcy court filing on Friday.
The NBA season is scheduled to begin on Oct. 22. Neither team has announced where they will broadcast their local games, but both teams have a history of having their games broadcast on local stations.
The Pelicans are Gray TV A person close to the team spoke to CNBC confirming previous media reports, while Gray and representatives for the Pelicans declined to comment on the matter.
Last season, the Pelicans aired 10 games on Gray’s local station, while the Mavericks, who played in last season’s NBA Finals, TegnaDallas-Fort Worth station.
Representatives for the Mavericks and Tegna did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to find out who will broadcast local games.
The Mavericks and Pelicans are the latest teams to shift the majority of their regular-season games from Diamond’s Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks.
As Diamond Sports has been trying to emerge from bankruptcy for the past 18 months, several NBA, WNBA and National Hockey League teams have ditched their regional sports networks in favor of local broadcasters. Some major league teams that have left those networks will now have their games produced by the league.
According to court documents, Diamond Sports will receive repayments of more than $1.3 million and $297,000 from the Mavericks and Pelicans, respectively, as part of the release agreement.
The breakup with the Mavericks and Pelicans comes as the Diamondbacks reach broadcasting and streaming rights deals with the NBA and NHL for next season as part of their bankruptcy proceedings, which are subject to court approval.
“We appreciate our continued collaboration and long-term partnership with the NBA and NHL,” Diamond Sports CEO David Pleszlak said in a statement, adding that the deals with the leagues were “another major milestone” toward emerging from bankruptcy protection.
Diamond Sports is one of many companies hurt by the decline of cable TV. The company launched a sports-only streaming service for some of its teams in 2022, but its $8 billion in debt was too high to prevent it from filing for bankruptcy.
With the NBA and NHL seasons approaching, the Diamonds have also come under pressure in recent months to come up with a viable business plan and prove they can afford the necessary rights fees.
Diamond reached another milestone this summer when it inked a deal to bring the network back to the United States. ComcastThe company’s cable TV customers lost access to Comcast’s Bally Sports Network, Diamond’s third-largest distributor, in early May.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
