Citing uncertainty around the future of local NBA broadcast rights, Fubo has reportedly pulled its offer to serve as a local broadcast partner for the 13 NBA teams previously under contract with Main Street Sports Group, owner of the now-defunct FanDuel Sports Networks.
According to Tom Friend in Sports Business Journal, Fubo contacted the 13 teams on Wednesday, rescinding offers that ranged from $8 million to $20 million for local broadcast rights for the 2026-27 NBA season. Fubo deemed the deals were not “fiscally prudent” due to the uncertain nature of the proposed minimum guarantees it had offered to teams, and the likelihood that the NBA will centralize local broadcast rights in some form come the 2027-28 season, making any long-term partnership between Fubo and the NBA a tossup.
The company also could not agree on what early-termination clauses should look like for the 13 teams. Teams are looking to strike one-year deals, or at least deals that have an opt-out clause after one season, so they can join the NBA’s centralized platform should it come to fruition in 2027-28.
The news leaves teams with a few other options. London-based streaming service DAZN has been aggressive in courting the 13 teams as a means of potentially earning rights to a future centralized broadcast hub if/when the NBA launches one. However, DAZN’s offers were seen as less attractive than Fubo’s as they ranged from $8 million to just $15 million, and do not seem to include potential direct-to-distributor deals, while Fubo’s did.
The other likely avenue for teams, as displayed by the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, is striking over-the-air deals with local affiliates, and supplementing with a direct-to-consumer streaming service. Friend reports “most teams are leaning toward airing games next season on over-the-air stations … or through DAZN’s streaming service.” Another streaming platform, Victory+, is also reportedly still in the mix.
In pulling its offers, Fubo is also seemingly exiting the race to become the NBA’s choice for its central streaming platform. In addition to DAZN, Amazon and YouTube are reportedly interested in the local broadcast hub.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.