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Tampa Bay Rays Reach Agreement to Air Games on FanDuel Sports Network Sun

Diamond Sports Group initially dropped their contract with the Tampa Bay Rays in October, but a new deal was reached that will keep the team on Bally Sports Sun as it rebrands to FanDuel Sports Network Sun.

Sam Connon

Sep 6, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A detail view of a Tampa Bay Rays hat and glove at Tropicana Field.
Sep 6, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A detail view of a Tampa Bay Rays hat and glove at Tropicana Field. / Kim Klement-Imagn Images
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The Tampa Bay Rays may still be searching for a place to play home games in 2025, but they won't be TV nomads after all.

Diamond Sports Group, which owned and operated the regional Bally Sports networks over the past few years, dropped its contract with the Rays in October while in bankruptcy court. Tampa Bay wasn't alone in that situation, either, as the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers all met the same fate.

In the ensuing weeks, Diamond Sports Group sold off the channels' naming rights, rebranding them as FanDuel Sports Networks. They also re-opened negotiations with certain clubs, and those negotiations turned out to be fruitful.

As shared by The Athletic's Evan Drellich on Wednesday, Diamond Sports Group said in new court filings that it has reached deals on amended telecast rights agreements with the Rays, as well as the Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. The Kansas City Royals are the only Bally castoff that does not publicly have a deal in place at the moment.

Diamond also revealed Wednesday that the regional FanDuel Sports Networks would be available on Amazon Prime Video for an add-on subscription, provided that a customer lives within a team's designated geographical area.

The Miami Heat and Tampa Bay Lightning had already reached new deals with Diamond before their respective seasons started, and the Rays wound up following suit. FanDuel Sports Network Sun, featuring a brand new coat of paint, will now head into 2025 with its full lineup intact.

FanDuel Sports Network Sun launched all the way back in 1988, at which time it was known as Sunshine Network. It became Sun Sports in 2005 before being rebranded as Fox Sports Sun in 2015.

When Disney officially acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019, it sold all the local Fox Sports networks to Diamond Sports Group – a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Allen Media Group. Those regional networks then had their naming rights bought up by gambling giant Bally's Corporation in 2021.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a Staff Writer for Fastball on the Sports Illustrated/FanNation networks. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's All Bruins, 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' Bruin Blitz, the Bleav Podcast Network and the Daily Bruin, with his work as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk.

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