Cord cutting is an established trend; even sports won’t stop millions from ditching cable. But sports media is seeing a larger, less discussed trend: Rights holders are leaving cable for OTT. This is the domino that’ll topple traditional sports media. While OTT previously catered to rights holders that didn’t receive revenue to broadcast their events or who paid for linear distribution, today, governing bodies have moved entire schedules to OTT -- getting more value than ever before for their event rights. As the dominos of sports like wrestling and gymnastics tumble, mainstream sports are lining up their move. We’ll look 5 years ahead, with OTT players and rights holders exploring how the migration of rights deals will impact cable programming and spur a breakdown in sports consumption.

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