FanDuel Might Soon Have Its Name On MLB Television Broadcasts

FanDuel could soon have its name all over Major League Baseball broadcasts, according to several new reports.

The company, which started out as a daily fantasy sports site before branching out into sports betting, is nearing a deal to take over for Bally Sports as the named brand for the Diamond Sports Group regional television networks. Diamond infamously declared bankruptcy in 2023, leading to MLB taking over broadcasting duties for several of its teams.

But the company has been trying to find a new financial partner to emerge from bankruptcy, and the company announced in a hearing on Tuesday that they had indeed found another company to replace Bally. Bloomberg then reported that partner is likely to be FanDuel.

Effectively, this would mean that MLB games could soon be shown on a FanDuel-branded television channel. In a week when several minor league players were suspended for betting on baseball, it's sure to raise further questions about how involved leagues should be in sports betting.

READ: Five MLB Players Tarnish Their Careers — One Permanently Banned — Over Relatively Tiny Bets

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images)

FanDuel Name Could Soon Be Linked With MLB Games

The announcement comes at a pivotal time for Major League Baseball and its television future. The league had announced its intention to create a streaming package of games that would be blackout free, likely expecting Diamond Sports to collapse entirely.

While that would be beneficial for fans tired of limited availability, it would also mean owners would no longer have access to lucrative, guaranteed television deals. The partnership between FanDuel and Diamond provides a window for those contracts to continue, but limits the league's ability to end local blackouts for most of its teams.

Though MLB has nothing to do with this arrangement, it's yet another indicator of how cozy the relationship has gotten between sports betting sites and the leagues themselves. As the industry continues to explode, leagues have opened themselves up to previously unheard of arrangements. 

That doesn't excuse players from not knowing the rules around betting, or violating those rules, but it does make the leagues seem hypocritical when promoting betting on one hand, while punishing it on the other. It remains to be seen how FanDuel would be incorporated into broadcasts, but it's a near certainty that it would promote both sides of its business during MLB games.