The NBA logo is pictured before the game between the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on March 11, 2024.
Nick Antaya | Getty Images
Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans fans can expect a new way to watch local games next season in the National Basketball Association.
Both teams are exiting their regional sports networks owned by Diamond Sports, according to a filing in bankruptcy court on Friday.
The NBA season is set to begin on October 22. While neither team has publicly announced where their home games will air, both teams have a history of airing their games on local broadcasters.
The Pelicans have reached a preliminary agreement with gray tv A person close to the team told CNBC, confirming earlier media reports, that the channel will air games this season. Representatives for Gray and the Pelicans declined to comment.
Last season, the Pelicans aired 10 of their games on Gray's local stations, and the Mavericks, who appeared in the NBA Finals last season, entered into a 13-game agreement with TignaDallas-Fort Worth stations.
Representatives for the Mavericks and Tegna did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for information about who will broadcast their local games.
The Mavericks and Pelicans are the latest teams to carry the bulk of their regular-season games on their Diamond-owned regional sports networks, which operate under the Bally Sports brand.
Diamond Sports has spent the past 18 months trying to emerge from bankruptcy, and along the way, several NBA, WNBA and NHL teams have abandoned regional sports networks in favor of local broadcasts. Some Major League Baseball teams that left those networks will now have their games produced by the league.
Diamond Sports will receive $1.3 million and more than $297,000 in severance payments from the Mavericks and Pelicans, respectively, as part of the termination, according to the court filing.
The split with the Mavericks and Pelicans comes as Diamond has entered into broadcast and streaming rights deals with the NBA and NHL for next season as part of its bankruptcy filing. The deals are subject to court approval.
“We appreciate the continued collaboration and long-standing partnerships with the NBA and NHL,” Diamond Sports CEO David Breschlak said in a statement, adding that the deals with the leagues “mark another major milestone” toward emerging from bankruptcy protection.
Diamond Sports was one of many companies crushed by the cable downturn. Despite launching a sports-only streaming service for some of its teams in 2022, the company’s $8 billion debt load was so staggering that it didn’t stop it from filing for bankruptcy protection.
With the NBA and NHL seasons approaching, Diamond has faced increased pressure in recent months to form a viable business plan and prove it can make the necessary payments for rights.
Diamond achieved another milestone this summer when it reached an agreement to return its networks to ComcastCable TV customers. Bally Sports Networks stopped airing on Comcast — Diamond's third-largest distributor — in early May.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
