FuboTV has received a big dose of good news—on multiple levels—with the preliminary injunction against Venu Sports. Now the question is how long the company’s financial and legal boosts will last. 

A federal judge granted FuboTV’s sought-after injunction blocking the planned Aug. 23 debut of Venu Sports, the high-profile streaming alliance involving Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The somewhat shocking ruling, arriving late Friday, nearly six months after the company initially filed the antitrust lawsuit, immediately sent FuboTV’s stock up by nearly 17%, with shares closing at $1.53 each. After-hours trading Friday brought 12% of further lift, suggesting more growth to come once the New York Stock Exchange reopens Monday morning. 

The market activity marked a big turnaround for a stock that has lost more than half its value this calendar year, and for a company that, despite ongoing growth in revenue and paid subscribers, remains unprofitable. Most recently, FuboTV reported 1.45 million paid subscribers in North America, up by 24% compared to 2023’s second quarter, but still posted a net loss of $25.8 million. 

FuboTV has argued that Venu Sports, even before it was formally named, has engaged in “extreme suppression of competition in the U.S. sports-focused streaming market,” to the detriment of consumers through higher prices.

“A fair and competitive marketplace is necessary to provide consumers with multiple, robust, and more affordable streaming options,” FuboTV co-founder and CEO David Gandler said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for fairness and for what’s best for consumers.”

Just Getting Started

The preliminary injunction, however, is just that and will soon be contested by Venu Sports’ three participants.

“We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling and are appealing it,” Disney, Fox, and WBD said in a joint statement. “We believe that Fubo’s arguments are wrong on the facts and the law, and that Fubo has failed to prove it is legally entitled to a preliminary injunction.”

The three media giants are expected to seek emergency relief, particularly as a WBD lawyer argued last week that “a preliminary injunction would terminate the joint venture.” FuboTV, conversely, said that the lack of one would doom its business.

FuboTV, however, has already received further support from DirecTV, which is similarly concerned about the potential for an uneven playing field in the multichannel video business as a result of Venu Sports’ arrival. The satellite carrier, along with Dish Network and Newsmax, was also a signatory to a letter FuboTV sent in May to several key U.S. Senate committees looking for Congressional hearings on the development of Venu Sports.

“We are pleased with the court decision and believe that it appropriately recognizes the potential harms of allowing major programmers to license their content to an affiliate distributor on more favorable terms than they license their content to third parties,” DirecTV said in a statement. 

Formula One will return to the grid this week for the Dutch Grand Prix after its nearly monthlong summer break, and the closest championship race of the last three seasons could help fuel an overall U.S. viewership increase after a slight dip last year.

ESPN is averaging 1.19 million viewers per race this season. That’s just below the 1.2 million average audience through this point of the calendar a year ago, but up 7% from the final 2023 race viewership figure of 1.11 million. F1’s season-long U.S. TV record came in 2022, when ESPN averaged 1.21 million viewers per race.

Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen dominated the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but they have seen their leads in the drivers’ and constructors’ standings shrink while earning just one podium since Verstappen’s last victory five races ago in Spain. The Dutchman remains the betting favorite to win the drivers’ title, but McLaren has passed Red Bull in the constructors’ odds.

Down, Set, Start Your Engines

The nine-race closing stretch of F1’s longest season will include three races in North America, highlighted by the second edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. And the long-running U.S. Grand Prix may get a boost from college football’s shifting conference and media landscape.

This year’s race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin falls on the same weekend as Georgia-Texas (currently ranked Nos. 1 and 4, respectively) on Oct. 19, a new matchup in the expanded SEC. In years past, that contest would likely be on CBS as the best SEC game of the week. But ESPN and ABC have taken over those rights.

ESPN is working on potential synergies between the two events, the network’s director of programming and acquisitions, John Suchenski, tells Front Office Sports. Imagine Red Bull boss Christian Horner or Mercedes star driver Lewis Hamilton joining the College GameDay set. Or Pat McAfee strolling the F1 paddock. “It could provide an opportunity that hasn’t existed in the past,” Suchenski says. “And if we can use those two together to cross-promote people between the two, it could bring in an even larger audience than we traditionally see.”

The 882,000 viewers from last year’s U.S. Grand Prix on ABC made up the smallest audience of the three American races. Las Vegas averaged 1.3 million, and Miami had the largest live U.S. F1 audience with 3.1 million.

A Hot Commodity

ESPN’s current F1 deal, believed to be worth at least $75 million annually, expires after the 2025 season. Suchenski says conversations about an extension haven’t started yet, but they should resume at some point between now and next season. 

The network is expecting strong interest from other bidders. “There was [competition] the last time around, and it’s kind of the downside of doing what we do really well and bringing a larger audience to these events and the success we’ve added,” Suchenski says. “Unfortunately, the nature of the business is to create more demand and more competition, but we love our position.”

There is a potentially impactful new twist in the long-running Royals stadium saga, one arriving against the backdrop of an increasingly impatient Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

The MLB club is now considering Washington Square Park, on the southern edge of downtown Kansas City, as a site option for a new ballpark. The location, if chosen, could give further momentum to the Royals staying in Missouri after Jackson County voters in April soundly rejected a sales tax measure tied in part to a proposed ballpark in the city’s Crossroads neighborhood.

“If the Royals are looking at downtown, then we’ll do all we can to make sure—while having respect for our taxpayers—that we come up with that proper balance,” said Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas.

The Washington Square Park site was first proposed two decades ago as a potential new home for the Royals, but then team owner David Glass opted to remain at a renovated Kauffman Stadium—an upgrade now reaching the end of its workable life.

The latest development arrives as Missouri leaders are heightening their efforts to keep both the Royals and their current Truman Sports Complex neighbors, the NFL’s Chiefs. The state is facing fast-growing competition to retain the franchises as the Kansas legislature approved bonding in June to help build new stadiums for the two teams.

Get It Done

The reworked site search is also emerging as Parson has made it clear the Royals have a narrow window of less than four months to get a new funding deal done in Missouri—should they decide to do so. The governor said waiting until next year will make obtaining public-sector help much more difficult. Parson, not coincidentally, is term-limited and will complete his governorship in January. 

“Some decisions have to be made. I don’t know how to sugarcoat this, but the Royals have got to make a decision,” Parson said recently on KCMO Talk Radio. “You can’t make a plan in November, December, and expect the state to come in and help you.”

That comment is a rather marked change in tone from early last month, when Parson quipped, “I’ve got six months. How much more time do you need?”

The Chiefs, meanwhile, last month set a loose deadline of January 2025 to decide their stadium future. That team’s options include staying in a renovated Arrowhead Stadium or building a new facility. In part because of that renovation possibility—something not on the table for the Royals—the Chiefs’ situation has not assumed quite as much urgency.