YES Network, MSG Networks to exit Gotham app for DAZN streaming
Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks dunks the ball during game six of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on May 2, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Tim Nwachukwu | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
The YES Network and MSG Networks will soon have a new streaming home.
The independently owned, top-tier regional sports networks that air local games for teams including MLB’s New York Yankees and the NBA’s New York Knicks are moving their direct-to-consumer streaming offerings to DAZN.
The two networks will exit their joint venture, the Gotham Sports app, roughly two years after its formation.
Yankees fans will still be able to finish out the season on Gotham, and the migration will occur during the 2026-2027 NBA and NHL seasons. YES also airs the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, while MSG Networks has the rights to the NHL’s New York Rangers, Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils.
Pay TV bundle customers who get access to each network through their cable provider will be able to stream those games on DAZN for free.
Pricing details for the New York-area teams on DAZN haven’t yet been released. Various subscription plans for the Gotham sports app started at about $209.99 per year.
The move to DAZN for some of the most popular professional teams comes as the regional sports network model faces severe pressure. Main Street Sports, the former owner of a portfolio of networks for MLB, NBA and NHL teams, shut down in the spring following a bankruptcy filing and various maneuvers that left the business often unable to make payments to teams for the rights to carry games.
While YES and MSG have not been directly involved in that turmoil — MSG Networks is independently owned by Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan, and YES, by a group including the Yankees — each channel has been affected by similar cord-cutting headwinds despite strong ratings.
DAZN has been among the suitors in a relatively strong position during the shakeout of streaming-only sports rights formerly owned by Main Street.
Many networks have launched their own streaming offerings in recent years in a bid to grab the fans who either cut their pay TV bundles, or never had them in the first place. Others have partnered with established players like Amazon Prime Video to stream games.
DAZN is a global streaming service looking to gain ground in the U.S. Last year DAZN was the streaming home of the FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S., and one of its executives has publicly said it was chasing the digital rights for Main Street’s NBA teams.
For YES and MSG, their teams’ fans have been through a few switches already. YES and MSG each launched their own apps in 2023 before combining into the Gotham app in 2024.
MSG’s linear networks suffered a temporary blackout in 2025 with cable TV provider Optimum, one of the New York area’s cable providers, and YES Network recently came close to a similar situation with Comcast, as CNBC Sport previously reported.