If this “works, or comes even close,” expect "a lot of teams all over North America to follow the direct-to-consumer model”Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The
Stars' new streaming deal with APMC "will be entirely ad based," and that is a financial risk the team “had to take” as it makes its move away from the RSN model, according to sources cited by Mac Engel of the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The team was paid $25M a year under its previous agreement with Bally Sports, and sources said that they do not "see how the Stars will make anything close to their previous figures." Stars President & CEO Brad Alberts said, “The risk of us going backwards financially has been eliminated. I feel very good where we are financially on this. (Broadcast rights) has been an important financial stream, to be able to pay players and to make it all function the way we want. No one wants to put our team in a financially bad situation, and we feel strongly this won’t.” Engel wrote this is a risk that other teams “will monitor closely.” If this “works, or comes even close,” expect "a lot of teams all over North America to follow the direct-to-consumer model” (
FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 7/8).
COLLABORATING EFFORT: In Dallas, Lia Assimakopoulos noted the Stars “contemplated following a similar model to other teams” like the Golden Knights and Coyotes, which offer DTC streaming for a monthly or season-long fee but decided “it wasn’t necessary.” Alberts said, “The longer we got into it, the more comfortable we felt with the model and our ability to create the necessary revenue from it, too.” Alberts said that North Texans “need to download the app and use it” in order to “account for that revenue loss.” To ensure that happens, the team is “working to make sure it offers quality content beyond games.” Alberts said they are creating, “essentially, a digital television network.” Alberts: “We’re going to need other content other than just our games at 7 o’clock at night. That’s part of what our challenge will be moving forward. We need a lot of people to download the app, and we need a lot of people to watch, so it’ll be important to make sure our content on this is compelling and the games are, too” (
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/8).
WAIT AND SEE: DMAGAZINE’s Mike Piellucci wrote it is about the “best possible news for the many, many people frustrated by how difficult Bally Sports made it to watch their favorite hockey team.” He added what "may work for the Stars may not work" for the Mavericks and WNBA Dallas Wings, which "may not work for the Rangers.” But it is “a safe bet that all three will have an eye sharply trained on the Stars’ path.” Piellucci: “Monday is the start of something big, in other words. Now we wait and see how deep, or wide, that something runs” (
DMAGAZINE, 7/8).
