Is Fox Sports North Going Away In South Dakota?

It's been the home to Minnesota professional sports for 20 years and now it is going away. Well, kinda.

South Dakota fans of Minnesota sports no doubt have watched a game on Fox Sports North. The network that is home to the Minnesota Twins, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Minnesota Lynx, Minnesota UFC, and the Minnesota Wild is changing its name.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group purchased 21 regional Fox Sports networks, including Fox Sports North, in a deal that closed in 2019, according to the Atheltic. Thanks to the ownership change, Fox Sports North will be rebranded as Bally Sports North.

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So how do we get Bally Sports North from a company called Sinclair Broadcasting Group? A naming rights sponsorship.

Sinclair has sold the naming rights of the networks to Bally's Corporation. Bally owns and manages 11 casinos in seven states. Bally's said in a press release that, besides a change in the logo, viewers shouldn't notice any difference in the sports coverage.

Expect to see the changes before the April 1 start of the Major League baseball season when the Minnesota Twins head to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers in the newly rebranded American Family Field, formerly known as Miller Park. You can hear that game live in Sioux Falls on Information 1000 KSOO.

Fox Sports North launched as Midwest Sports Channel (MSC) in 1989. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, MSC became Fox Sports North in 2001.