KANSAS CITY ¨C While the Royals¡¯ front office has been busy in the first part of the offseason finding ways to upgrade the team on the field for 2025, the business operations group has been busy finding a way to help as many fans as possible watch that team.

The answer is that the Royals are following a similar path as 2024.

The Royals on Tuesday announced an agreement with Diamond Sports Group for games during the 2025 season to continue to be produced and distributed by FanDuel Sports Network (recently rebranded from Bally Sports). This deal is focused on 2025, Royals president of business operations Brooks Sherman said, with the organization able to re-evaluate their options next offseason.

FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City will continue to deliver live games to fans across cable and satellite as well as a streaming package directly through the network, which has offered an in-market, direct-to-consumer option for Royals games since 2022. The app has gone through major upgrades and worked ¡°through some kinks¡± since then, Sherman said, and the Royals are confident in the product as they head into 2025.

FanDuel Sports Network has deals with DirecTV, Cox, Charter and Comcast and will actively pursue additional affiliate companies, according to a Royals spokesperson. The team would also like to see and has encouraged a deal between FanDuel Sports Network and YouTube TV, but that has yet to come to fruition.

In 2024, the Royals¡¯ linear viewership was up more than 30% and the streaming audience grew more than 200%, according to the team. The Royals say they ended last season with more than 40,000 streaming subscribers, with more than half watching every game for at least 90 minutes. Royals games had the biggest viewership growth in baseball, according to the club.

That growth, especially with the Royals coming off a successful 86-win season with a postseason berth, was part of the reason Royals stuck with FanDuel Sports Network, Sherman said. The other option was to join Major League Baseball¡¯s production group, which is planning to produce and distribute broadcasts of at least six teams this coming season.

¡°We believed either was a good option,¡± Sherman said. ¡°We have a lot of faith in MLB media and what they¡¯re doing. At the same time, FanDuel Sports Network, as it will be known now, has the experience with us. The success that we had last year on the field, seeing us being in the top 10 of TV ratings of all MLB clubs last year on our local broadcast, the 30% growth year over year that we enjoyed on linear and peaking at 60,000 direct-to-consumer fans viewing our games last year.

¡°When you think about fans being able to know how to go get the games with no questions ¨C all the distributors for linear TV with Diamond are signed up for the full year next year ¨C it just told us, ¡®Let¡¯s make it the simplest for our fans. Let¡¯s give them great flexibility here with the direct-to-consumer product.¡¯¡±

Fans who streamed Royals games in 2024 on the former Bally Sports app can update to the new FanDuel Sports Network app in preparation for the upcoming season. Specific pricing for the package was not available Tuesday, but it has been $19.99/month in the past, with a year-long subscription available. Sherman also hinted at specials and trials the team and FanDuel Sports Network would run throughout the season.

Also starting in 2025, streamers throughout the Royals territory will also be able to watch the Royals through Amazon Prime Video as an add-on subscription. Customers will be able to subscribe to and watch their local FanDuel Sports Network content, including live games and pre- and post-game programming directly through Prime Video.

Pricing details for the Amazon add-on will come at a later date.

¡°Our renewed partnership with the Royals highlights our shared commitment to connecting as many fans as possible to the team, however they choose to watch,¡± Diamond CEO David Preschlack said in a statement. ¡°We are confident that our evolving partnerships with Amazon and FanDuel, and combined linear and digital platforms will provide fans with exceptional value and an unparalleled viewing experience.¡±

The Royals will be bringing in less revenue through their TV rights deal in 2025 with this new agreement, Sherman said, although he didn¡¯t specify by how much. He emphasized that the Royals would not let that change affect their team payroll, mentioning the three-year, $51 million deal Michael Wacha signed at the beginning of the offseason.

¡°While none of us like to ever earn less revenue, we¡¯re playing the long game here,¡± Sherman said. ¡°Ultimately, we¡¯ll recapture those revenues. That¡¯s why I¡¯m talking about reach. We need to reach all our fans, more fans, and that revenue will come back to us. We¡¯re confident of that, and we¡¯re going to earn greater revenues in other areas as well.

¡°We¡¯re not going to let it affect our business or our desire to perform on the field.¡±

The agreement covers all non-nationally televised Royals games in 2025, starting in Spring Training. Now that the Royals have come to an agreement with Diamond, the next step is to finalize their broadcaster lineup for 2025.

Sherman also said the Royals are in talks about having some games next year shown over the air ¨C meaning on a local TV station ¨C in Kansas City, simulcasted so fans could watch over the air, as well as the regular cable and streaming options

¡°That¡¯s going to involve reaching an agreement with television stations to put it over the air here in local territory on a few games, whether that¡¯s 10 or 12 or something like that,¡± Sherman said. ¡°But that¡¯s a real possibility for us, so we view that as a big positive as well here.¡±