Ted Leonsis’ Monumental Sports & Entertainment and streaming platform operator ViewLift are coming together on a joint product offering to provide media production and consulting services for pro sports teams in the U.S.
The unnamed business will launch in the fall, offering game and studio programming production and streaming platform development for interested teams. It will also advise teams on how to maximize their media rights through both linear and digital platforms.
Financial details of the product were not disclosed. MSE, the sports and venue holding company created by Leonsis in 2010, is a cofounder in ViewLift, which is spearheaded by Rick Allen.
Zach Leonsis, president of media and new enterprises for MSE (and Ted’s son), believes that the new service offering could help teams interested in reclaiming their local TV and digital media rights from their current media providers in the future.
“Strategically, all parties are looking to maximize and find the right balance between commercialization and accessibility of their rights,” he said in a video interview. “I think that underlying needs and desires for teams also include stability, and owning your own local media can be a point of stability for certain teams.”
Leonsis said the new venture hopes to provide that stability and “help someone stand up their own solution quickly. Because a lot of these opportunities have varying timelines, and sometimes they’re shorter than others.”
The shorter windows come into play for teams that have stuck with Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) after the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. Major League Baseball is currently producing live games and studio shows for several teams that were ensnared in the bankruptcy proceedings throughout 2023 and 2024
Leonsis said at least 20 NBA, NHL and MLB teams have reached out to him to understand how MSE took full advantage of its local media rights. In 2022, MSE purchased NBC Sports Washington from NBCUniversal, reclaiming local rights to the Washington Capitals and Wizards in the process. NBC Sports Washington was revamped into Monumental Sports Network as MSE built a new operation, from production studios to sales and marketing.
ViewLift provides the streaming apparatus that teams can use to capture cord-cutting (or cord-never) sports fans. The digital platformer is currently working with 16 teams across the NHL, NBA and MLB. The company recently signed on to take over operations of NESN 360 for the Boston Red Sox and create a streaming platform for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Leonsis said the joint venture will be able to offer more tailored options than what MLB currently provides. “One thing that is very clear in the local media distribution space is that there’s no one size fits all solution, and that we could work across league properties,” he said. “There may be teams that are working together in a single market, and we can be the agnostic third party, if you will.”
This isn’t the first joint venture attempting to pull in pro sports teams outside of its orbit. Last year, the New York Yankees’ YES Network and James Dolan’s MSG Networks linked arms to form Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment (GAME), which they describe as “a turnkey solution” for networks and teams to monetize their audience on linear and digital platforms.
The JV created the Gotham Sports app, which combined the digital platforms of both networks into a single interface, giving fans in the New York City region access to six teams across MLB (Yankees), the NBA (Knicks, Nets) and NHL (Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres). No other third-party service has emerged since GAME’s formation.
(This story has been updated in the first, third and fourth paragraphs to better describe the product offered by Monumental and ViewLift.)
