As much as any other major American city, the sports television landscape is in major limbo in Dallas. What was once a luxury that was easily taken for granted has become a frustrating guessing game as traditional cable television has become one of the top casualties of the modern day streaming wars.
In July, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League announced they would no longer air their local broadcasts on the Bally Sports Southwest regional sports network. On Aug. 23, the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association announced they would be dropping out of their contract with Bally, which was set to run through the 2029-2030 season.
The defending Western Conference champions are able to do this because Diamond Sports Group, the company that owns the Bally Sports regional networks, has been swimming in major financial troubles for years now. By letting the Mavericks, as well as the New Orleans Pelicans, out of their contracts, Diamond Sports Group will reportedly remain in business and carry the games of 13 other NBA teams. The defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers games are still being broadcast locally on Bally, for now at least.
Aside from the financial woes of the channel that has carried Stars, Mavs and Rangers games for decades now, there’s the matter that many local fans haven’t been able to watch them for the past few years. Popular cable providers and multi-channel streaming options including Frontier, Youtube TV and Hulu Live have not carried Bally Sports Southwest on their offerings for some time now. Some North Texas sports lovers have recently taken the path that many Texan porn-watchers must now take in order to watch their teams: a VPN.
For now, there is reason to believe that things will be better soon, at least for Stars fans and, maybe, for Mavericks devotees. Victory+, the new way to watch Stars hockey, is notable in more ways than simply being a new outlet for hockey games.
According to the team’s July announcement, it will be free to watch all of the games that are scheduled to be local broadcasts for in-market fans. (Nationally broadcast games on ESPN, for example, will not be available on the Victory+ app). On Aug. 27, the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks announced they will also be broadcasting their locally available games on the Victory+ app.
Jacob Feldman covers the intersection of sports, business and media for Sportico. The latest broadcast developments for the Dallas teams strike him as pretty unusual even in these fast-changing times.
“The free access element of the Star's streaming strategy is pretty much unique among major men's pro sports,” Feldman told the Observer. “Others are generally offering the games for free on over-the-air TV channels but requiring a subscription for streaming access.”
Although a sports fan needs to subscribe to several apps in order to watch all of the games from their favorite teams, this direct-to-consumer (read: no television provider subscription needed) approach from the Stars is among the first of its kind throughout major North American sports. Add to that the low cost of zero dollars, and it almost seems too good to be true.
The Mavericks, on the other hand, present a different scenario, at least for now. With less than two months to go before their 2024–25 season begins on Oct. 24, it is unclear how one will be able to watch Mavs games locally. Reports detailing the Mavericks’ exit from Diamond Sports Group have speculated that joining up with the Victory+ app might be an option for the NBA club, but that hasn't been announced yet.
“Historically, it’s pretty rare,” Feldman said about the Mavericks getting out of their broadcast deal so close to a season. “But over the last few years as Diamond Sports Group has gone through a bankruptcy process, we've seen several NBA/NHL teams have to change their media strategies nearly overnight."
The future has arrived! Starting this fall, #TexasHockey fans can stream Stars games for FREE on @victoryplustv! 📺
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) July 8, 2024
MORE: https://t.co/MGYnwKzAyd pic.twitter.com/coT39gBtLT
As welcome as a new, free way to watch locally available NHL games is, you will still need access to ESPN, TNT, TBS and the NHL Network if you want to watch all of the Stars games in 2024–25, since there’ll surely be at least a few games scheduled for national broadcasts.
Gone are the days where one TV provider or streaming subscription can get you access to all local and national games. Texas Rangers viewers need to have access to not only Bally Sports Southwest, but thanks to exclusive deals for a wide-range of MLB game broadcasts, a baseball fan needs to have access to Apple+, MLB Network, Fox, TBS and even the Roku channel.
The NFL made tons of its fans mad online during the most recent playoffs when it made one of its postseason matchups available only on the pay-to-watch Peacock app. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, however, as the NFL has been making certain games throughout the year available only on subscription-based Amazon Prime and the NFL Network.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently ran an interesting look into how much it can cost the average sports fan to watch all the major sports they follow these days. Sports reporter Mac Engel does the math and estimates what one can expect to shell out for the pleasure of watching “all of the games.”
As for the future of sports-watching at home, Feldman anticipates things continuing in the direction that the Stars and Mavs are now going, including the offering of multiple viewing options.
“I expect there will be many options for fans to watch games,” he said. “Teams will likely create free versions to reach very casual consumers while finding ways to also offer premium viewing experiences for diehard fans.”
