Each team in MLB has its own problems. But it looks like there is a small group of nine teams that are having problems, nothing related to their on-field performance. It is all about their TV and broadcasting rights.

“Next season’s television income for nine Major League Baseball teams — close to one third of the league — is up in the air,” wrote The Athletic.

A growing crisis surrounds regional baseball broadcasts after Main Street Sports Group missed payments to teams. The issue surfaced publicly when the St. Louis Cardinals confirmed a missed December rights payment. That failure exposed uncertainty across local television revenue streams that many clubs rely upon annually, financially.

Nine MLB teams, including the Reds, Brewers, Cardinals, Rays, Braves, Tigers, Royals, Angels, and Marlins, are affected. Several NBA and NHL franchises also face risk because Main Street controls 29 combined broadcast contracts.

Fans have already seen the Padres and Diamondbacks lose RSN coverage midseason during Diamond’s 2023 collapse.

These problems trace back to cable subscriber declines that shattered revenue projections behind older RSN deals. Main Street lost approximately $200 million in 2025 despite exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings recently. Streaming growth reduced leverage for networks, leaving them unable to meet fixed annual team payments.

Teams now face outcomes ranging from reduced fees to MLB takeover of production and distribution rights. MLB has already broadcast games for six teams, proving an operational backup exists today leaguewide.

For the league, centralized control could stabilize access, but revenue uncertainty still pressures payroll planning.

For the Reds, Brewers, and Cardinals, the real opponent is Main Street Sports Group today. MLB watches Braves, Rays, and Tigers budgets wobble as television money stalls leaguewide reality. Royals, Angels, and Marlins learned that wins cannot fix contracts built for vanished cable viewers.

MLB also has a bold plan for the San Francisco Giants

Baseball’s power structure is getting restless, and San Francisco knows it. What has quietly printed money for the Giants for years is suddenly part of a much bigger conversation, one that reaches straight into Rob Manfred’s office. This isn’t a tweak or a trial balloon. It’s a pressure point, and the Giants are right in the middle of it.

Most MLB regular-season games are controlled locally, while national partners handle select games and the postseason. San Francisco Giants games have aired on NBC Sports Bay Area under long-running regional rights agreements. In 2022, Forbes reported the Giants generated $92 million annually from their local television deal.

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The Giants own a 30% stake in NBC Sports Bay Area through a deal ending in 2032. Regional sports networks face disruption as cord-cutting rises, pushing some MLB teams away entirely. At least 7 teams shifted broadcasts under MLB control after RSN bankruptcies and ownership instability.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has proposed pooling all 30 teams’ local rights after contracts expire in 2028. Manfred said centralized sales could simplify access, as MLB prepares new national deals after 2028. Any shift would require compensating teams like the Giants, Dodgers, and Yankees with long, lucrative RSN contracts.

MLB is no longer debating television futures quietly, and the San Francisco Giants understand why. Rob Manfred’s plan forces powerful franchises to choose stability today or league-wide control tomorrow. For the Giants, comfort and certainty now sit across the table from MLB ambition.