Short-Term Fragile Comfort Between Red Wings and Bally As of this morning, the Red Wings television home has officially re-branded from Bally Sports Detroit to FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. The network is one of 16 regional sports networks from the Diamond Sports Group umbrella to undergo the re-brand, which is made official today. David Preschlack, CEO of Diamond, stated in the press release formalizing the announcement: “Collaborating with FanDuel provides a tremendous pathway for Diamond to elevate the fan experience and deepen the incremental value we provide for our team, league and distribution partners. This partnership reinforces opportunities to further strengthen the close connection our RSNs have with local fans, including enhancing our DTC offering for a growing digital audience. In the meantime, having finalized agreements with the NBA, NHL and our key distributors, we remain focused on moving our business forward and driving value for our team partners and our stakeholders.” Mike Raffensperger, President, Sports, FanDuel, said in the same release: “Partnering with Diamond provides us an opportunity to put the FanDuel brand at the intersection of the nation’s largest group of regional sports networks. A large cohort of FanDuel customers are devoted RSN viewers and this agreement allows us to further cement the FanDuel brand with sports fans and provides a unique vehicle to reward our users.” The good news for Red Wings fans/subscribers to what was until very recently Bally Sports Detroit is that nothing is changing from a content/subscription perspective. If you were subscribed to Bally Sports Detroit, you are now a FanDuel Sports Network Detroit subscriber, and the offerings are the familiar ones, only with Bally's red color scheme replaced by FanDuel's blue. There is, of course, something a bit funny about the fact that in the lead-up to the NHL's expansion to Las Vegas, the league forbade the expansion ownership team from naming their new team "the Aces," because it was evocative of gambling. Now, the biggest conglomerate of RSNs around the league will wear the name of a sports book. The times they are a-changing, and with the NHL desperate for whatever remains to be squeezed from the RSN model, the league has found it within itself to overlook its previous aversion to the world of gambling. The first game on the "new" FanDuel Sports Detroit will air tomorrow night, when the Red Wings take on the New York Islanders on Long Island. It will be the Wings' familiar broadcast team on the call: Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond in the booth, Trevor Thompson rinkside, and John Keating, Chris Osgood, Danny DeKeyser, and Larry Murphy on the intermission/pre- and post-game show. ALSO FROM THN DETROIT * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined
