Sports fans in some states will soon see the Bally’s logo on their live sports content.
Sinclair Broadcast Group and Bally’s Corporation on Thursday revealed the new Bally Sports logo and Bally Sports regional monikers for Sinclair’s owned and operated regional sports networks (RSNs). The Bally Sports regional logos will replace the existing FOX Sports regional logos when the networks officially rebrand in the coming months, the companies said.
The announcement follows a late 2020 “long-term strategic partnership” between the two groups.
“We are extremely proud to unveil the Bally Sports logo as it signifies a new, transformative chapter in the regional sports business and is representative of our cohesive partnership with Bally’s,” said Steve Rosenberg, president of Local Sports at Sinclair. “The upcoming rebrand across our RSN footprint is incredibly exciting, not only for our entire portfolio, but for loyal sports fans across the country.”
George Papanier, president and CEO of Bally’s Corporation, commented that the arrangement “is going to revolutionize the U.S. sports betting, gaming and media industries.”
“We look forward to integrating Bally’s unique content,” he added, “including the award-winning daily fantasy sports platform we are acquiring from Monkey Knife Fight, across Sinclair’s live game day coverage and providing unrivaled sports gamification on a national scale.”
The changes include Sports Time Ohio becoming Bally Sports Great Lakes. Ohio has yet to legalize sportsbooks, but legislation could soon be introduced in Columbus.
Changes for Indiana, Tennessee
“Additionally,” the presser stated, “two limited part-time channels serving the South region – FOX Sports Carolinas and FOX Sports Tennessee – will be sunset to streamline program offerings. All live games and original programming – namely Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes content – that previously aired under those brands, will reside on Bally Sports South (previously FOX Sports South) and Bally Sports Southeast (previously FOX Sports Southeast), the two full-time networks that service the greater region.”
Bally Sports Indiana will also be a change in the pipeline. Both Indiana and Tennessee have online/mobile sportsbooks. Rhode Island-based Bally’s, formerly known as Twin River, is a relatively small player in the nascent U.S. sports betting industry so far. In late 2020, it was announced that Bally’s would acquire sports betting platform supplier Bet.Works in a deal worth $125 million.
Bally Bets is the name of the upcoming mobile sportsbook. It’s not yet live in either Indiana or Tennessee.
Bally’s, of course, has nationwide sports betting plans, and the RSN rebranding will be part of that.
Upon rebranding, the Sinclair-owned and operated RSN portfolio will include 19 network brands: Bally Sports Arizona, Bally Sports Detroit, Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports Great Lakes, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports New Orleans, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Ohio, Bally Sports Oklahoma, Bally Sports San Diego, Bally Sports SoCal, Bally Sports South, Bally Sports Southeast, Bally Sports Southwest, Bally Sports Sun, Bally Sports West, and Bally Sports Wisconsin.
Could Bally Bets soon challenge the top players in the sports betting space? Time will tell.