The Texas Rangers are poised to move forward with building their own regional sports network when the season and current contract with parent company Bally Sports Southwest ends Sunday, a person with knowledge of the club’s negotiating position said The Dallas Morning News.

It would be the most ambitious option the Rangers could pursue. The others: Allow Major League Baseball to take over its broadcast and distribution, or return to a deal with Diamond Sports, Bally’s parent company. While no deals are in place yet, an RSN model could give the Rangers the best chance to both improve distribution and increase long-term revenue. The Mavericks and Stars, whose seasons begin next month, have both left Bally Sports Southwest to form their own broadcast platforms.

According to a report by Sports Business Journal On Thursday, Diamond, citing unnamed sources, offered the Rangers a competitive rights fee to remain with Bally Sports Southwest, but the team declined. Rangers officials have neither confirmed nor denied the report. However, it’s worth noting that the current situation essentially makes the Rangers a free agent. If an RSN model proves to be too ambitious an undertaking, there is nothing that would stop them from returning to the table later in the offseason.

There is still a lot that needs to come together for the Rangers to put together their own RSN, including distribution deals and advertising sales. But a club-owned RSN could have the freedom to maximize its distribution by operating on linear cable, offering a streaming app and perhaps negotiating a package of over-the-air broadcasts.

“We have a five-state territory, 16.5 million households, and only 16% – just over 2 million people – can watch our games,” said Neil Leibman, the Rangers’ president of business operations and COO, at a recent conference organized by symposium Sports Business Journal. “We have to fix this.”

While the size of the territory is a long-term advantage, it does introduce complications in terms of the number of deals that need to be completed to maximize the execution of games. That means it may be well into the offseason before the Rangers are finally ready to announce the size and scope of their model.

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