Despite RSN Churn, MLB Advertiser Interest And Streaming Subs Remain Strong

The bankruptcy of the FanDuel branded networks has thrown the regional sports networks of MLB into uncertainty. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images) Getty Images As Major League Baseball starts the 2026 season, fans have to face as many as five different subscriptions and 10 networks to watch all their favorite team’s games this season, a dizzying – and expensive – proposition for consumers. To add, as of Wednesday night, when MLB opened the season with a single game between the Giants and Yankees, for the first time on Netflix, nine clubs had yet to announce all the channels fans would find on Thursday.

For fans of the Nationals, Mariners, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals, Tigers, and Braves, they are dealing with the fallout of Main Street Sports – the former FanDuel-labeled networks – going bankrupt. Like the Padres, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Twins, and Rockies in the last couple of years, eight of them have gone under Major League Baseball’s umbrella. The Braves have launched their own regional sports network.

Just before the game on Netflix, DirecTV announced that they would carry all eight of the clubs under the MLB umbrella. The bankruptcy of the FanDuel branded networks has thrown the regional sports networks of MLB into uncertainty. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images) Getty Images Based on all of this, one might expect that advertisers would be running to the hills.

It’s quite the opposite. For Playfly Sports, which handles advertising bundles for the MLB regional sports networks, as well as for clubs that have gone over to MLB, where MLB Network has handled production, the schism with Main Street Sports hasn’t really affected how the advertising business flows. “At Playfly, we are an agnostic group that is deeply tied to the health of the distribution and the availability and the engagement of fans in local media coverage of baseball teams, so that's what we do,” said Craig Sloan, CEO of Playfly Sports.