Major League Baseball team the Cincinnati Reds has extended its rights agreement with Fox Sports Ohio, and also acquired an equity stake in the regional subsidiary of the Fox Sports network.
The new 15-year agreement comes into effect from the 2018 MLB season and runs until the end of the 2032 campaign. The current deal expires at the end of the 2017 season.
Financial terms of the new rights deal were not disclosed, although the team’s chief operating officer, Phil Castellini, said the extension is a “nice increase”. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper, the Reds’ current deal with Fox Sports Ohio has guaranteed the team $30m (€27.6m) a year since 2007.
Fox Sports Ohio currently produces Reds games with ‘Reds Live’ pre- and post-game show coverage, while it also broadcasts live training games and programmes such as Reds Weekly, Spotlight, Round Table and Cup of Coffee.
In recent years, the team considered starting its own regional sports network but it has now committed to Fox Sports Ohio by purchasing a stake in the network. Terms of the investment were not released.
“We really view it as a new relationship that looks more like a partnership,” Castellini said. “It’ll operate very much the same as it has – Fox will be in charge of all elements of the broadcast, the technical aspects – but we are in it more together.”
Fox Sports Ohio has been broadcasting Reds games since 1998.