The fading fortunes of Victory+ have cost its CEO his position.
Victory+ CEO Neil Gruninger has been removed from his position and will be reassigned to another position within A Parent Media Co., which he co-founded, according to Tom Friend and Alex Silverman of Sports Business Journal. Gruninger will be replaced by company board member Jon Spencer.
The move comes as Victory+ has lost multiple high-profile partners in the past month, the latest being the NWSL — which announced Thursday that it is terminating its months-old deal with the streamer effective immediately. All games scheduled to air on Victory+ the remainder of the season will instead be carried on the league’s in-house streaming platform.
Per multiple reports, the termination came after Victory+ missed multiple rights payments. That was also the stated reason for the streamer losing its rights deals with the NHL Ducks and MLB Rangers earlier this month. Per SBJ, the company asked all three partners to renegotiate their deals and was rebuffed.
Victory+ still has remaining deals, including with the NHL Stars and WNBA Lynx and Dream, but the company was supposed to be expanding by this point. It had been mentioned as a potential contender for local rights to the NBA teams who left Main Street Sports Group, and per SBJ had at one point been in line to acquire rights to the Hornets, Magic and Timberwolves. Those potential deals were conditioned on securing sufficient financing to fund “significant rights fees,” which never materialized.
Instead, the Timberwolves announced a deal Thursday to join DAZN, and the Magic and Hornets are reportedly close to digital deals with the same company. DAZN is also expected to acquire additional local NBA rights, and announced a deal this week to become the exclusive streaming home of the teams carried by YES Network and MSG Network in New York.
It does not appear as if Victory+ will be competing with DAZN — or Fubo, or any other potential streaming bidder — for any of those major league rights. Per SBJ, the company expects that a “decision to downsize” will allow it to make its remaining rights payments while pursuing a more manageable revenue sharing model in any future deals, presumably with lower-tier leagues and teams who do not need a rights fee.
