There are a few surprises in the Texas Rangers’ new media rights agreement.
The Texas Rangers have had a busy and astute summer in comparison to many of their MLB contemporaries.
To bolster a lineup that struggled in 2024, they acquired corner infielder Jake Burger and added designated hitter/outfielder Joc Pederson. They signed Hoby Wilner, Shawn Armstrong, Jacob Webb, and Chris Martin to strengthen a struggling bullpen. In the transaction that sent Nate Lowe, the first baseman, to Washington, they acquired Robert Garcia, another reliever.
It appears that there aren’t many issues with their hazy regional sports network scenario. In the midst of its bankruptcy court restructuring, Diamond Sports Group (now known as Main Street Sports Group) parted ways with the Rangers last October. According to Sportico, the agreement provided the Rangers “around $110 million per year,” and many teams’ summer preparations have been hampered by the lack of an RSN partner.
The RSN model has been the main source of funding for MLB teams’ payrolls. These collaborations made it possible for the New York Mets to sign Juan Soto for $765 million in December and the Los Angeles Dodgers to sign Shohei Ohtani for $700 million in 2023, both of which were record-breaking deals when they were signed.
The Rangers’ financial sheet was in danger due to Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy, which affected a dozen clubs, or more than one-third of the league. They announced on Monday that they will be collaborating with Victory+ for the upcoming season in order to stream games in 2025.
— January 15, 2025, Texas Rangers (@Rangers)
In a statement, Rangers Sports Media & Entertainment Company chairman Neil Leibman stated, “The Rangers’ partnership with Victory+ as our direct-to-consumer provider is a tremendous first step as the club continues to finalize our television offerings for 2025 game broadcasts.” “Victory+ has proven itself over the past few months as a reliable streaming home for several professional sports teams, and we feel Rangers fans will enjoy the familiarity, convenience and simplicity of this service.”
The Dallas Stars of the NHL are also available on Victory+. Rangers games will cost more, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, but Stars games are free for subscribers.
While Victory+ is a well-known service among Rangers fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, those who just want to know where and how to watch Rangers games have encountered some unexpected detours due to the ambiguity around their current and future intentions.
According to the Dallas Morning-News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the club intends to personally negotiate individual agreements with different streaming and/or cable providers in order to essentially create its own RSN over the long run. In the upcoming weeks, the Rangers are anticipated to make the final announcements about their non-streaming choices for supporters; however, even those announcements may just serve as a stopgap measure until the long-term arrangements are finalized.
Rangers supporters may count themselves lucky no matter how things turn out. Their team anticipates starting the 2025 season with a payroll of $214 million on Opening Day, which is a significant increase from the $196 million payroll it carried on Opening Day two seasons prior — when the Rangers won the World Series — and only a minor decrease from the $225 million payroll it opened with the previous season.
Leave a Reply