As any veteran of Major League Baseball postseason play knows, momentum is a powerful thing and can greatly impact game outcomes. That also applies to the league’s initial viewership of the 2024 playoffs, which has already been one of the most memorable in recent memory. 

Already enjoying the presence of the Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani in the playoffs for the first time, MLB, Fox, and TNT Sports collectively posted a 41% boost in viewership across the initial two days of the Division Series on Saturday and Sunday. 

Within that overall boost, Fox Sports averaged 3.64 million viewers for its first four National League Division Series games. That average is the highest such mark through the second day of play in this playoff round since the network’s FS1 channel began showing postseason baseball in 2014. 

TNT Sports, meanwhile, generated an average of 2.6 million viewers for its American League Division Series coverage Saturday, a pair of Game 1s that produced a 21% increase compared to the start of the round last year. Further data from Monday’s ALDS Game 2s is expected Wednesday. 

Notably, both Fox Sports and TNT Sports posted their viewership gains on Saturday competing against a stacked slate of college football, and then for Fox Sports on Sunday, the NFL. 

Kind of a Big Deal

The robust viewership figure arrived as MLB has four 1–1 ties for the first time in Division Series history. That round of postseason play debuted as a permanent entity in 1995 after a prior, one-off stint in 1981 due to that season being impacted by a labor dispute.

The across-the-board series ties guarantee the league will have at least 16 of 20 potential Division Series games this year. That figure contrasts significantly from last year when the Division Series had just 14 games and two sweeps among the four matchups. 

In any postseason series, drama and viewership typically rise the longer it goes, leaving MLB and its rights holders to generally root for as many games as possible.

“The fact that we’re here and we have a great opportunity to be back but playing meaningful games, playoff games here in October in front of our fan base, is exciting,” said Carlos Mendoza, manager for the Mets, who resume their Division Series against the Phillies on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s awesome. I can’t wait.”

The Division Series also follows a wild-card round that produced a 25% viewership increase from last year, and the best totals since that round of the postseason began in 2022. 

FanDuel already enjoys a status as the No. 1 sportsbook operator, as measured by U.S. market share. Now it’s extending its powerful reach and brand to the country’s largest collection of regional sports networks.

According to industry sources, the company is now finalizing a deal to become the title sponsor of the Diamond Sports Group–owned RSNs previously known as Bally Sports. The agreement has been in the works for several months, but DSG updated the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of its efforts to rename the networks Monday, without mentioning FanDuel by name.

“The debtors are close to reaching agreement with a third party on the terms of an agreement for naming and branding rights with respect to the debtors’ RSNs,” DSG said in a court filing. “The contemplated agreement will lock in a new naming rights partner for the 2024-2025 NHL and NBA seasons while also providing the debtors with a long-term naming rights partner if the debtors are ultimately able to emerge as a going concern.”

The deal will involve FanDuel acquiring a “single-digit percentage of equity” in a reorganized DSG, with performance-based warrants that would allow for a doubling of that ownership stake. 

The court filing arrives as DSG approaches a planned Nov. 14 hearing of its bankruptcy organization plan that would allow the company to continue as a viable entity. A status conference is set for Wednesday in that ongoing effort, and at another such conference last week, DSG disclosed it intends to shed nearly all of its MLB rights agreements. That dramatic move threatens to have significant ripple effects across baseball. 

It is not yet clear how a FanDuel-branded set of RSNs will interact with the sportsbook’s extensive content operations that already exist, highlighted by FanDuel TV.  

Money Matters

DSG, meanwhile, detailed its financial state as it nears that intended confirmation hearing. As part of recently renegotiated rights deals that include lowered rights fees, DSG said it owes the NBA and the 13 basketball teams it airs $253.1 million for the 2024–2025 season, and the NHL and nine of its teams are set to receive nearly $135 million. 

If DSG is forced to liquidate and wind down its operations, though, the NBA would instead receive a sum between $163.7 million and $187.9 million, while the NHL would gain between $87.3 million and $100.2 million.

As part of DSG’s efforts to winnow its baseball contracts, the company has just $16.4 million in outstanding MLB obligations. 

An estimate provided by Moelis, DSG’s investment bank, pegs the enterprise value of a reorganized DSG at between $600 million and $1 billion. That figure is a mere fraction of the $10.6 billion value of the RSNs just five years ago, when they were acquired by DSG parent company Sinclair. In addition to DSG covering fewer teams now—due to either dropping some clubs or their leaving voluntarily for other broadcast options—the dramatic loss in value illustrates just how substantially that cord-cutting and broader media industry disruption has ravaged the RSN business. 

DSG, meanwhile, confirmed Amazon is no longer a potential investor, though the online retail and streaming giant remains in talks on a more conventional deal to distribute the RSN content on Prime Video. But DSG warned “the debtors’ ability to reorganize as a going concern will depend on [its] ability to raise additional exit financing commitments. … Although the debtors are in discussions with multiple potential financing sources, there can be no assurances that the debtors will be able to secure commitments.”

Caitlin Clark mania is set to hit women’s golf during the Indiana Fever star’s WNBA offseason, with the hoops sensation scheduled to play in a pro-am on the LPGA Tour next month.

Clark will headline a list of celebrities teeing it up on Nov. 13 at Pelican Golf Club in the Tampa Bay area, ahead of that week’s LPGA event, officially named the Annika driven by Gainbridge. She’ll also be a panelist on a women’s leadership summit hosted by the tournament the day before.

While this isn’t Clark’s first foray into the golf spotlight, this specific occasion came together strictly through her sponsorship with Gainbridge, Front Office Sports has learned.

In March, the Indianapolis-based financial services company signed Clark to an endorsement deal—less than a week after she announced she would enter the 2024 WNBA draft (the Fever had already won the draft lottery and top pick in December). Gainbridge took over naming rights of the Fever’s arena in 2021 and began sponsoring the LPGA event last year. The Fever led all WNBA teams in attendance at Gainbridge Fieldhouse this season. And now, the company is hoping to cash in with Clark on the golf course, too.

In July 2023, Clark played in the pro-am event at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in Illinois, about an hour’s drive from Iowa’s campus. On that hot summer day, she drew huge crowds at TPC Deere Run. Clark was also featured in multiple YouTube videos posted by the Big Ten Network, chronicling her admiration for golf.

Tickets are on sale for November’s LPGA pro-am, but tournament officials don’t yet have an expected attendance number for the day Clark will play. There are also currently no plans to broadcast or livestream Clark’s round, which will likely draw heavy interest on social media, at the very least.