Royals will remain with Diamond Sports Group to broadcast games for 2025 season
The Kansas City Royals have made a decision regarding their exclusive broadcasting rights.
On Tuesday, the Royals announced plans to remain with the Diamond Sports Group for the 2025 season. The club will broadcast games under the rebranded FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City.
“We’re excited to make this decision and get moved ahead for 2025,” Royals president of business operations Brooks Sherman said. “It’s one that we have been working on for quite a while. And (we) just came to the conclusion that this is a good way to stay engaged with our fans with the success we had on the field last year and how that parlayed into ratings growth both linear and direct-to-consumer.”
Fans will be able to watch Royals games in multiple ways.
In the KC area, that could be via such TV providers as DirectTV, Spectrum and Xfinity, to name a few. Royals broadcast coverage also expands to other regions in Kansas, mid-Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Fans without cable can stream Royals games in-market with the FanDuel Sports Network App or Amazon Prime Video. Both require a paid “add-on” subscription.
Sherman didn’t share specifics about the cost of such subscriptions.
“We are going to work with FanDuel Sports to come up with a multitude of ways for a fan to view these games and at least have a trial and see how these work,” Sherman said. “And I can’t tell you exactly what those prices will be and things like that, but I’m sure we will offer that and get as many fans in as we can and show them we have a good product.”
The Royals had considered various options for their broadcast rights. The club had negotiated with Diamond Sports Group and Major League Baseball for several months. Both presented offers.
Diamond Sports Group filed for bankruptcy in March 2023 and has worked to restore its financial position since then. The transition to FanDuel Sports Network allowed major-league teams to stick with the parent company, if they wanted to.
The Royals considered having MLB broadcast their local games but decided their experience with Diamond Sports Group made that the best option. The club will see less exclusive-rights revenue with a short-term deal but will be able to negotiate a new contract after the 2025 season.
“I won’t get into specifics on it, but it’s reflective of the current market conditions and kind of where things are,” Sherman said. “In either case, staying like we did with FanDuel Sports or going to MLB media, we were going to realize less revenue than last year.
“None of us like to ever earn less revenue. We are playing the long game here. Ultimately, we will recapture those revenues.”
The Royals’ relationship with Diamond Sports Group last year was a successful one. The Royals ranked in the top 10 for TV ratings across all MLB markets this year, peaking at 60,000 direct-to-consumer fans watching a game.
Sherman indicated that he stressed ease of access in selecting this TV arrangement, saying fans will be able to avoid local blackouts via the streaming service.
He alluded to games potentially being broadcast over air with a local TV station in the near future. That would be similar to how Kansas City Chiefs games are simulcast on local stations. The Royals plan to have those games available alongside streaming options and regular cable.
The next step for the Royals will be to finalize their broadcast crew for the upcoming season.
“We’ve had good success with, together, with all of our TV broadcasters,” Sherman said. “You know, Ryan (Lefebvre), Joel (Goldberg), Monty (Jeff Montgomery) and Jake (Eisenberg), (Rex Hudler), and we look forward to having those discussions as we work through those plans jointly.”
As for finalizing the club’s overall broadcast plan for the coming season, Sherman indicated the Royals are keeping their options open beyond 2025.
“I would just look at it as a 2025 deal and we will look at our options down the road,” he said. “And what I would say though is that our fans, we will keep them well informed on how they can access our games as we move through 2025 and beyond.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 10:38 AM.
