Dallas, Texas – November 19: The Bally Sports logo shines on the basket posts during the second game. [+] First half of a game between the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on November 19, 2023. User Notice: By downloading and using this photo, users agree to the terms of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
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Dallas Mavericks games will no longer be broadcast on Bally Sports Southwest. Diamond Sports Group, parent company of the Bally Sports regional sports networks, will terminate its contract with the Mavericks, pending NBA approval. Diamond will also terminate its contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.
The move to terminate contracts with the Mavericks and Pelicans comes as the NBA seeks to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The NBA announced Friday that it has reached an agreement to continue broadcasting games from 13 NBA teams and nine NHL teams in the upcoming 2024-25 season.
“We have entered into a new agreement with Diamond Sports Group for the 2024-25 season, in which Diamond RSN will broadcast local games for 13 NBA teams,” an NBA spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News. “The Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans will no longer broadcast their games on Diamond RSN, and we will announce more details in the coming days about how their respective markets will access their games next season. The new agreement is subject to bankruptcy court approval.”
In January, Mavericks lieutenant governor Mark Cuban said the team’s games would not be broadcast on Bally next season “unless something crazy happens, like Amazon buys us.” Amazon partnered with the Diamondbacks as part of a proposed debt restructuring deal, but Cuban said earlier this month that the Mavericks would look elsewhere to maximize coverage of their games.
While it’s unclear at this time what the maximum broadcast will be, at least 30 Mavericks games will be nationally televised during the 2024-25 season. Dallas announced earlier this month that nine games will be broadcast on TNT, nine on ESPN, seven on NBA TV and five on ABC. The release said local broadcast schedules will be announced at a later date.
Last season, the Mavericks signaled their willingness to work with local partners to broadcast games: The team and Dallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate WFAA reached an agreement to broadcast 10 games free of charge toward the end of the 2023-24 regular season.
The 13 NBA teams that will continue to have games broadcast on Valley Sports are the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma Thunder, Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs.
If Diamond does not have a Chapter 11 bankruptcy exit plan in place by the end of the next NBA and NHL seasons, the contract will be terminated.