Rachel Barkley
Rumors and whispers have been prevalent throughout the NHL season that FanDuel Sports Network was nearing its end, and Thursday, it was made official as the lenders of Main Street Sports Group, who own the network, completed the paperwork to cease operations at the conclusion of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Trouble first became evident in March 2023, when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leading to the departure of numerous professional sports teams that had used them for their game broadcasts. However, in January 2025, they came out of bankruptcy and promptly rebranded themselves from Diamond Sports Group to Main Street Sports Group.
What Broadcasting Options Could the Carolina Hurricanes Turn to Next Season
Ever since the Carolina Hurricanes’ first season, they have been broadcast through the many iterations of the company, beginning in 1997 when it was still Fox Sports South.
They enter uncharted territory for the first time in Carolina, as they will have to secure a broadcasting plan before the beginning of next season – which is expected to begin sooner than usual as the NHL embraces an 84-game schedule.
The most obvious options they could take would be to broadcast through Victory+ or Scripps Sports, as many teams did during the Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy saga.
Both Victory+ and Scripps Sports are rather consumer-friendly compared to FanDuel Sports Network, with Victory+ being a free, ad-supported streaming network and Scripps Sports’ annual package only costing $69.99 USD for team-specific streaming apps, such as Knightime+ (Vegas Golden Knights) and Panthers Plus (Florida Panthers), and broadcast free over-the-air on local stations.
Outside of those two, the Hurricanes could even approach broadcasting through MLB, much like the Detroit Red Wings have decided to do.
While it sounds all but certain that local fans will have to watch the Hurricanes through a different streaming outlet next season, at least there is hope it may be more cost-efficient than FanDuel Sports Network’s $189.99 annual streaming price tag.
