Royals broadcasts in limbo as FanDuel Sports Network future turns murky

One of the biggest quality-of-life issues for baseball fans is simply watching their favorite team every night. Kansas City Royals fans can’t just subscribe to MLB.tv and be done with it; they still live under the shadow of antiquated blackout rules.

The regional sports network model has been wobbling for years, and Diamond Sports Group going bankrupt in 2025 only kicked one more leg out from under the table. Their new look, Main Street Sports Group, isn’t exactly standing on steady ground either.

The Royals broadcasts could look very different in 2026.

The current rights holder missed a payment in December to the St. Louis Cardinals, all while scrambling for more cash or a sale to DAZN. Sports Business Journal reported the situation is so dire “that if the DAZN purchase does not close by January, Main Street will wind down and dissolve its business at the end of this year’s NBA and NHL regular seasons.”

That gives Main Street Sports Group, the owner of FanDuel Sports Network, until early April as a functioning broadcaster.

While Main Street is “working to finalize a complex strategic investment” that would make DAZN the primary owner of FanDuel Sports, the calendar is not on anyone’s side. FanDuel Sports broadcasts games for nine MLB clubs, mostly smaller-market teams across the Midwest.

As the Kansas City Star’s Pete Grathoff reported, “Main Street Sports hasn’t missed a payment to the Royals,” but that doesn’t erase the looming question: what happens if the music stops a couple weeks into the 2026 season?

If FanDuel Sports goes dark, teams would regain their broadcast rights overnight with very few ready-made solutions. Grathoff pointed out that MLB is the “top candidate” to step in and produce Royals games, just as the league has done for other franchises caught in similar situations in recent years.

That outcome would likely be a win for fans, with Royals games moving under MLB’s umbrella and becoming available on MLB’s own streaming service. MLB Local Media is still less than three years old, but it already handles broadcasts for six clubs and has the infrastructure ready.

Another option, one that the Texas Rangers and other big-market teams have embraced, is launching a team-controlled network. The New York Yankees have YES, the Orioles and Nationals share MASN. It can be done, and done well.

But trying to spin up a new Royals-branded channel on this timeline, and at a cost that makes sense for a smaller market, feels like an uphill climb. In that light, partnering with MLB Local Media looks like the cleaner, more realistic path if things fall apart with FanDuel.

All of this hinges on Main Street and DAZN actually closing their deal. NBA teams are already planning for a world where Main Street disappears, and MLB would be wise to follow suit.

The league is not going to let regular-season games vanish into a broadcast black hole. In fact, Main Street dropping the ball on baseball might just accelerate the timeline toward MLB centralizing more of its own broadcasts by 2028, a stated goal of commissioner Rob Manfred.

For Royals fans, it’s another offseason worry layered on top of bullpen depth charts and trade rumors: not just how the team will play in 2026, but where, and if, you’ll be able to watch them at all.