Rangers set to join Dallas Stars on streaming platform Victory+
Late Tuesday evening a cryptic post was seen on the Victory+ page was seen and caught the eye of Rangers fans.
The post showed “73 Days” turn into “72 Days” which many fans caught onto the fact that 72 days is the amount of time until the Rangers’ 2025 Opening Day. Not long after, multiple Rangers sources confirmed that the team had struck a deal with the streaming platform.
Victory+ has been the home of the Dallas Stars this season as a replacement for Bally and has allowed fans in the North Texas area to watch their team after the backlash received during the BallySports era. Although streaming their team is free for Stars fans, it won’t be free for Rangers fans as the team has announced the full season coverage will be $100. This deal will allow Rangers fans to watch their team without restrictions for the upcoming season at a price of about 62 cents per game when you break it down. Some fans aren’t thrilled due to their app counterparts being free to watch, although when you do the breakdown of it all, not even including the select Spring Training Games and the non-stop Rangers coverage, the price tag is seemingly worth it for a full season of coverage.
The hope is to widen the Rangers fandom, as in the last 2 years, it became difficult to watch the Club with the restrictions put on Bally and being able to have the direct-to-consumer platform, it became a hassle and next to impossible for many fans to watch without paying an arm and a leg. But this is just step 1 in reaching a bigger audience for the Rangers as COO Neil Leibman expressed that the Rangers will be looking to also finalize deals for standard cable and over the air as they look to widen access to games for fans. These deals will take a longer process since the Rangers will be dealing with Individual companies and carriers having to meet criteria, numbers, and much more on the business end.
This deal comes after over two of uncertainty, with the last two offseasons being filled with the shadow looming over the club as they looked for a solution to find a source for Rangers games locally and bring in the revenue from that since the Bankruptcy of Diamond Sports scrapped all the revenue for the Rangers, although it was a much bigger issue in the 2023 offseason after the team won their first title. The full deal is yet to be released, so the financials are not yet known, but the $100 price tag will allow the Rangers to get more money in their pockets for the future and keep a top payroll in the league while also giving their fans a good price for full-season coverage.
Owner Ray Davis chose not to go with what so many teams did and give their rights to the MLB, such as San Diego, Arizona, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, Milwaukee, and Minnesota. He and the Texas Rangers stayed vigilant and waited until they finally found something they truly loved and believed in. The full situation of the Rangers widening their reach is still a work in progress. However, this deal with Victory+ is quite a substantial first step on the path to it.
The Service will be available next month in time for Sring Training and will get the ball rolling for the Rangers and their new partnership with their DFW counterpart.
