Sinclair may replicate the Cubs' Marquee Sports Network model with other teamsGETTY IMAGES
Sinclair President & CEO Chris Ripley said the new partnership with the Cubs to create Marquee Sports Network is expected to generate "about $40 to $50 million of free cash flow" annually for the company. The estimation came during the company's earnings call and represents the first on-record comments regarding any financials of the joint venture. Ripley also said the Marquee Sports Network model may be replicated with other teams. “It is a model for other partnerships going forward,” he said. “That’s definitely high on our mind, in terms of how we can create additional value. We love partnering directly with the teams and getting alignment of interest there." He added, "We are a perfect match for any team who wants to do this, so we’ll certainly be looking for other opportunities and there will be some coming up.” Ripley said Marquee Sports Network is not comparable to the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA and can avoid some of the distribution issues that channel has faced. “There was a very, very high sub fee ask associated with SportsNet LA. that was essentially needed to make the financing work for the purchase of the Dodgers, so it’s sort of a leveraged play,” he said. “We don’t have that situation here. We’re not buying a team. We don’t have a huge ask on the table.”
NO WORD ON FOX DEAL: Ripley declined to comment substantively on reports that Sinclair is also bidding on the Fox Sports RSNs, though he did say working with a financial partner on such a bid “is a possibility and part of active discussions.” More broadly, Ripley said he was very bullish on the RSN business, calling the current situation “a very unique moment in time here in the RSN space that we really like our positioning on.” The RSNs are “really super premium content with true scarcity value,” he said. “We think RSNs are highly complementary. They fit well with what we do on the broadcast side. They play on our strengths on distribution, production and ad sales.”
