In an expected move, Main Street Sports Group — which carries the games of 29 NBA, MLB and NHL teams under the name FanDuel Sports Network — will wind down after the first round of the NHL playoffs, Sports Business Journal first reported Thursday.
The Magic are one of 13 NBA teams that’ll be affected by the move after the company has reportedly missed its 2026 payments to the franchises. Those teams were informed in a league call Wednesday that “they will likely be reimbursed some portion of this year’s lost rights fee payments,” SBJ reported.
The Magic are joined by the Hawks, Hornets, Heat, Cavaliers, Pacers, Pistons, Bucks, Grizzlies, Clippers, Timberwolves, Spurs and Thunder as the 13 NBA teams who play their games on FanDuel Sports Network.
The league reportedly told those teams that they can begin signing new in-market deals for the 2026-27 season. The NBA, however, has told teams to sign one-year deals or packages with at least a one-year exit clause because the league is hoping to launch a national streaming platform by the 2027-28 season, according to SBJ.
The Magic have already simulcast some games over-the-air to local broadcast stations this season. Including Friday’s road game between Orlando and Dallas at American Airlines Center, the Magic are airing 10 total games with WESH2 and CW18 in Central Florida, WMOR-TV in Tampa and occasionally WJXT4 in Jacksonville.
Sunday’s game at New Orleans will be simulcast locally on CW18 and next Friday’s game at Chicago will be available on WESH2.
Wherever the Magic end up on TV next season, the team has made it clear fans won’t have to worry about not being able to watch games from home.
“Our priority is that Orlando Magic games remain available to fans with no interruption,” Magic chief communications officer Joel Glass said in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel in mid-January.
Regardless, Orlando’s last game of the regular season (April 12 at Boston) will also be its last on FanDuel Sports Network Florida.
This year is the first that regional sports networks, such as FanDuel Sports Network Florida, won’t carry first-round playoff games in addition to a national broadcast as part of the league’s new media rights deal with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon. The NBA Play-In Tournament is also exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video.
“FanDuel Sports Network has reached agreements with the NBA and NHL to broadcast games and other programming through the end of the 2026 NBA regular season and the end of the first round of the NHL playoffs,” a Main Street Sports Group spokesperson said in a statement to the Sentinel. “We are preparing to wind down our operations upon seasons’ end unless we reach a strategic transaction.
“We’re pleased to finish out the NBA and NHL seasons, and we appreciate the collaborative relationships we have enjoyed with our team and league partners as well as the connections we have fostered with local fans,” the statement added.
Magic help construct local playspace
Staff members from the Magic, the Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corporation, nine team partners and KABOOM! assisted in building a new playground at the Boca Club Apartments in Orlando on Thursday.
The project is part of a nationwide effort led by KABOOM! to end playspace inequity, according to the nonprofit organization that’s celebrating it’s 30th anniversary this year.
Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corporation, with volunteers from the Magic, various team partners and KABOOM!, build a playground at the Boca Club Apartments on Thursday. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel)
The Magic were joined by staffers from AdventHealth, City National Bank, Florida Blue, Gallagher, Kia, L3Harris Technologies, PepsiCo, ThreatLocker and Walt Disney World to help construct the playground. In January, kids from the Boca Club Apartments community shared drawings of their dream playspaces with project organizers, and those ideas were integrated into the new design.
“To be able to see everybody come together and do this type of hard work is fun,” Magic president of business operations Charlie Freeman said. “We are so excited to see the smiles on the kids’ faces that are peeking out and looking over, and hopefully they will be able to use it for many years to come.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic at Pelicans
When: 7 p.m., Sunday, Smoothie King Center
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Florida, CW18