Sinclair Broadcast Group said it sold its controlling interest in sports network Stadium to Jerry Reinsdorf’s Silver Chalice.
Reinsdorf is the owner of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball and the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Chalice has owned a stake in Stadium since it was started in 2017.
Sinclair has been unwinding its sports businesses. The broadcaster bought the Fox regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co. in 2019. Those network were renamed Bally Sports following a deal giving Sinclair equity in Bally’s.
With cord-cutting and rising costs for sports rights, the regional sports network business has collapsed and Diamond Sports, the division of Sinclair that runs the Bally RSN, declared bankruptcy in March.
A Sinclair spokesperson said the decision to sell Stadium was not related to the RSN situation. Instead, they said Stadium did not generate enough audience interest to continue funding.
The local broadcast rights deals for both teams with NBC Sports Chicago expire in 2024. With the decline of the regional sports network business, the way those teams deal with local carriage is likely to be different going forward.
With its studios located in Chicago’s United Center — where the Bulls and Blackhawks of the National Hockey League play — Stadium assets could be used to build a TV business that could carry those teams.
The sale of Stadium was initially reported by Front Office Sports.
