In a move touted to "revolutionize the U.S. sports betting industry," Sinclair's Fox Sports regional networks will be rebranded as Bally Sports.
The new name comes 18 months after Sinclair Broadcast Group -- which owns WKRC-TV, WSTR-TV, WKEF-TV and WRGT-TV in Southwestern Ohio – bought Fox Sports Ohio and 20 other Fox regional sports networks. Sinclair acquired them in August 2019 from Disney, which owns ESPN, and was required to sell off the Fox Sports regionals when it purchased 21st Century Fox's TV and film assets.
Last November, Sinclair and Bally's announced a strategic partnership. The logo was unveiled today.
"Rolling out Bally's iconic logo across Sinclair's regional sports networks is a rewarding first step in a transformational partnership that is going to revolutionize the U.S. sports betting, gaming and media industries," said George Papanier, Bally's Corporation president and chief executive,in a media release today.
"We look forward to integrating Bally's unique content, 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," Papanier said.
Bally logos will replace Fox Sports regional logos in the coming months. Fox Sports Ohio will become Bally Sports Ohio; Cleveland's Sports Time Ohio will become Bally Sports Great Lakes. FSO carries the Cincinnati Reds, Columbus Blue Jackets and Cleveland Cavaliers games, and Access Reds, Bearcats Insider, tennis and poker programming.
Prime Ticket in the Los Angeles area will be renamed Bally Sports SoCal.
Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes programming – which has aired on the part-time Fox Sports Carolinas and Fox Sports Tennessee channels – will be carried by full-time networks Bally Sports South (previously Fox Sports South) and Bally Sports Southeast (previously Fox Sports Southeast).
Sinclair's other regional networks are: 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 Oklahoma, Bally Sports San Diego, Bally Sports Southwest, Bally Sports Sun, Bally Sports West and Bally Sports Wisconsin.
In addition to 19 regional sports networks, Sinclair owns, operates and/or provides services to 188 television stations in 88 markets; the Tennis Channel and Stadium channel; and the Stirr streaming service.
When acquisitions are complete, Bally's Corporation will own 15 casinos in 11 states, a horse racetrack and 13 authorized off-track betting licenses in Colorado.
