Why your team's local games keep switching channels: the regional sports network collapse, explained

The regional sports networks that carried local MLB, NBA, and NHL games for decades collapsed this year, leaving dozens of teams to find new broadcast homes. Their games are landing in three different places: over-the-air stations, streaming services, and league-run platforms. Here's why it happened, and how to figure out where your team moved.

The gist: If your local team's games vanished from their usual channel this year, you're not imagining it. The cable regional sports networks that carried local baseball, basketball, and hockey for decades collapsed, and teams have been scrambling to line up new homes for the 2026-27 season. The good news is that the replacements fall into a few clear patterns, so once you know which one your team picked, finding the games gets a lot easier. Here's what happened and how to track your team down.

What happened to the regional sports networks

For a generation, watching your local team meant one thing: finding it on the regional sports network, bundled somewhere inside your cable package. Those channels changed names over the years, from Fox Sports Networks to Bally Sports to FanDuel Sports Network, but they were run by the same operator, the company once known as Diamond Sports Group and later as Main Street Sports Group.

That company had been in trouble for years. It went through bankruptcy, came out in early 2025 under the Main Street name, and then ran short of money again. It missed rights payments to teams, a rescue sale to the streamer DAZN fell apart, all nine of its Major League Baseball teams walked away, and the operation wound down in April 2026, after finishing out the NBA regular season and the first round of the NHL playoffs.

The fallout was enormous. About 13 NBA teams and several NHL teams, on top of the MLB teams that had already left, suddenly needed a new local TV home heading into 2026-27. That is a huge share of local sports broadcasting being rebuilt all at once, which is why so much has been in flux this summer.

Where the games are going: three paths

The replacements sort into three patterns. Which one your team chose determines how you'll watch it this season.

1. Over-the-air broadcast stations

Some teams signed with local station groups that put games on broadcast TV. Scripps Sports took the Detroit Pistons and several NHL teams (including the Panthers, Predators, Lightning, and Golden Knights), and Cox Media Group took the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets. These games air on local broadcast channels, which means you can get them with an antenna or through any cable or live-TV streaming package that carries your local stations, with no separate regional-sports-network bill.

2. Streaming services

Others moved to streaming. DAZN is becoming the local home for the New York-area teams that were on MSG and YES Networks (the Knicks, Nets, Yankees, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, and Sabres) and for the Minnesota Timberwolves, with more NBA teams close to signing. Some clubs launched their own apps, like the Cincinnati Reds' and Kansas City Royals' branded services. These generally require a subscription, though several now stream in-market games without the local blackouts that used to frustrate home-market fans.

3. League-run platforms

The leagues themselves stepped in to fill the gap. MLB now produces and distributes local broadcasts for many of its teams through MLB Local Media, with in-market streaming that carries no blackouts in a team's home territory. The NHL is producing regional broadcasts in-house for several teams, which we covered in July. And the NBA is building its own centralized local streaming hub, targeted for the 2027-28 season, which is exactly why many of this year's team deals are short-term bridges with one-year exits.

What it means for you

The upside is real: a lot of these moves put games on over-the-air TV or on streaming without the old in-market blackouts, both of which can be more accessible than a cable-only regional network was.

The catch is that it's fragmented, and it varies team by team. Your local games might now be on a broadcast station, a streaming app, or a league platform, and there is no single national guide that covers every market. Two things are worth checking for your specific team:

• Where its local games landed: a broadcast station (antenna or a package that carries your locals), a streaming service like DAZN or a team app, or a league platform like MLB's.
• Whether you're in its home market: blackout rules still apply, so an out-of-market viewer often can't get a team's local feed even after paying, and needs a national or out-of-market package instead.

That combination, a different answer for every team and a blackout map layered on top, is precisely the problem StreamCaddy is built to untangle.

The bottom line

The cable regional sports network era is over, and what's replacing it is a patchwork of over-the-air broadcasts, streaming services, and league-run platforms that looks different in every market. If your local games moved this year, they didn't disappear, they relocated, and where they went depends on your team and where you live. The recent moves by the Magic, Hornets, and others are the latest pieces of a map that's still being drawn.

Not sure which of this week's games you can already watch? StreamCaddy maps the cheapest correct way to watch all of your teams and events for your exact location and subscriptions.

Sources

1. Awful Announcing — "Main Street Sports Group officially shuttering this month, 13 NBA teams become local TV free agents" (Main Street, owner of the FanDuel-branded RSNs and successor to Diamond Sports Group, winding down after the NBA regular season and NHL first round; 13 NBA teams and several NHL teams left seeking new local homes for 2026-27; NBA accelerating a centralized local package), April 3, 2026 — https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/main-street-sports-group-shuttering-13-nba-teams-local-tv.html
2. The Desk — "Main Street Sports to pull plug on FanDuel Sports Network" (company emerged from Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy; missed rights payments; DAZN sale talks failed; shutdown affects 13 NBA and several NHL teams; LA Kings an exception after the Angels acquired their channel), April 3, 2026 — https://thedesk.net/2026/04/main-street-sports-to-pull-plug-on-fanduel-sports-network/
3. Globe PR Wire (via StreetInsider) — "Regional Sports Networks Are Collapsing. The Scramble to Replace Them Is Just Getting Started." (as of February 2026, 21 MLB teams joined the league's in-market streaming model with blackout-free access in home territories; team apps like Reds.TV at $99.99/season or $19.99/month; NBA and NHL teams rebuilding distribution for 2026-27), June 4, 2026 — https://www.streetinsider.com/Globe+PR+Wire/Regional+Sports+Networks+Are+Collapsing.+The+Scramble+to+Replace+Them+Is+Just+Getting+Started./26603981.html
4. Sports Video Group — "Detroit Pistons Ink Local-Media-Rights Deal With Scripps Sports" (Scripps' first NBA local deal, adding to five NHL teams, the WNBA's Aces, and the NWSL's Denver Summit; the Tigers and Red Wings moved to MLB Local Media and a team-owned RSN), May 14, 2026 — https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/05/14/detroit-pistons-inks-local-media-rights-deal-with-scripps-sports/
5. Sports Video Group — "Cox Media Group Announces Local Broadcast Deals with Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets" (multi-year over-the-air local broadcast rights beginning 2026-27 for the Magic and Hornets), August 13, 2026 — https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/08/13/cox-media-group-announces-local-broadcast-deals-with-orlando-magic-and-charlotte-hornets/
6. CNBC — "Regional sports networks are faltering even as ratings soar" (Main Street winding down after the NBA regular season and NHL first round; remaining teams likely to find homes with broadcast station owners such as Scripps that have been acquiring local rights), April 2, 2026 — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/regional-sports-networks-are-faltering-even-as-ratings-soar.html