The Tigers announced the launch of Detroit SportsNet, an entity which will broadcast the club’s games this year as well as those of the NHL’s Red Wings starting with the 2026-27 season. Fans can subscribe for $19.99 per month or $189.99 for an entire year, which would allow them to stream both clubs. The games will also be on television in some form but full cable/satellite details aren’t yet available.
Up until recently, the Tigers were one of many MLB clubs to have a deal with Main Street Sports, previously known as Diamond Sports Group. That company, which operated the FanDuel Sports Network channels in 2025, has been going through tough financial times in recent years. They recently missed some payments to some MLB clubs. The nine teams who still had deals with the company, one of which was the Tigers, terminated their deals in January.
Of those nine, six of them quickly pivoted to having Major League Baseball handling their broadcasts. The Tigers, Angels and Braves were the three left up in the air. Atlanta recently launched their own regional sports network (RSN) called BravesVision.
On the surface, this appears to be the Tigers essentially going the MLB route. The club announcement today says that Detroit SportsNet will be “Powered by MLB.” Customers will be able to stream games through the MLB app. The one element that seems to make this a bit more unique is that the Red Wings are involved, a logical pairing since the Ilitch family owns both clubs.
Down the line, it will be interesting to see if this leads to a significant difference in the revenue brought in. Several teams have ended up with MLB after the collapse of an RSN deal. This route can sometimes lead to more viewers as it allows clubs to offer direct-to-customer streaming with no blackouts, but it can also lead to less revenue overall. Travis Sawchik of MLB.com reports that teams in this bucket get about 50% less than before, on average. As of a few years ago, the Tigers were getting about $60MM from their RSN deal. Having the Red Wings and Tigers in the same package could lead to more subscribers but the revenues will also presumably be split.
The Tigers have had a few notable financial developments this winter. In addition to this RSN situation, they also saw Tarik Skubal file an arbitration number far higher than anyone expected. He ended up winning his hearing and will make $32MM this year, $13MM more than the club’s $19MM filing figure.
Despite the uncertainty of the RSN situation and Skubal’s big raise, the team still spent aggressively this winter. They signed a number of free agents, most notably giving a $115MM guarantee to left-hander Framber Valdez. They are projected to set a new franchise record in terms of payroll and the competitive balance tax.
The broadcasts will seemingly be fairly unchanged compared to previous seasons, with the on-air talent expected to return. Details on the specific television channels carrying the games will be revealed in the future. It’s not yet clear which app will be used to access Red Wings games.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
