Sinclair Teams Up with Casino

In a money grab for the conservative broadcaster, Sinclair announced that they have sold the naming rights of their sports networks to Bally’s casinos.

Sinclair has agreed to rename its 21 sports networks Bally Sports.

Bally’s has agreed to pay Sinclair $85 million over a 10-year period for the naming rights of the sports nets.

The NY Post says that the goal, sources said, is for viewers to eventually be able to bet on games using a Bally’s online gaming tool directly from their TVs.

The casino company, controlled by Soo Kim’s Standard General hedge fund, can launch the new online gaming tool in the states where sports betting is legal, including Nevada, Louisiana, Colorado and New Jersey, if it also has a physical casino there.

For Sinclair, a sports-betting partnership could help drive up views at a time when its investment in local sports networks has been sagging. Sinclair bought the Fox channels from Disney in August 2019 for $9.6 billion only to write down their value earlier this month by $4.23 billion, or nearly half.

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