Bally Sports Is Dead: What’s Next For The TV Home Of The Minnesota Wild, Wolves

The saga of the TV home of the Minnesota Wild, Timberwolves, and (up until now) Twins has taken several twists and turns over the last few years. Today we learned about a pretty significant new one.

Bally Sports North, part of the Bally Sports Network, used to be known as FOX Sports North for a number of years. The name was shed after it was acquired by Sinclair Broadcast Group, operated under their subdivision Diamond Sports.

They rebranded after working out a naming partnership with casino operator Bally', which was rolled out in 2021, which is when it became known as Bally Sports North.

The continued downward trend in traditional cable and satellite subscribers has been a big factor in Diamond Sports dealing with serious financial difficulties, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.

In the wake of these financial challenges, relationships with the pro sports teams that call the network home have been strained. As of right now, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Wild remain with Bally Sports North for their 2024-2025 seasons, but the Twins announced this fall that they will be forging a new path for their next season in 2025.

Just days after that news of the Twins departing, the parent company of Bally Sports North announced a big change as Diamond Sports pivots away from Bally's to a new partnership and new naming rights for the network across the country.

What's happening next?

Shared on social media on Friday, October 18, Bally Sports announced they will be rebranding as part of this new partnership to become the FanDuel Sports Network.

The newly-branded FanDuel Sports Network will continue to locally be the home to the Minnesota Wild and Timberwolves, at least for the upcoming season, under the agreements the network's owners (Diamond Sports) still have with the teams.

This change will see all 16 of the regional Bally Sports Network channels (including Bally Sports North) and the Bally Sports app all rebranded to FanDuel Sports Network products.

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The new website for the FanDuel Sports Network says the newly-branded network will still be home to select NBA, WNBA, NHL, PWHL, and other teams across the country. This, as I mentioned before, includes the local teams of the Timberwolves and Wild.

In addition to the rebranding, FanDuel TV programming like "Up & Adams" and "Run It Back" will be added to the lineup across the TV network.

When does this change happen?

Quite quickly, actually. The news was announced today (October 18) and the new branding rollout will be on Monday, October 21.

The new name will be FanDuel Sports Network North, following in the footsteps of the previous names of Bally Sports North and FOX Sports North. Across the border, a similar situation will happen with Bally Sports Wisconsin, becoming FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

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A press release about the partnership says "Additional partnership elements and collaborations will be introduced in the coming months" beyond the addition of FanDuel TV programs and a renaming of the network.

The release says "Fans can visit fanduelsportsnetwork.com to continue streaming their local games when they log in with their TV provider or subscribe directly to FanDuel Sports Network."