 | |
| Launched | December 15, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Division of | E. W. Scripps Company |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Key people | Brian Lawlor (President) [1] |
| Major broadcasting contracts |
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| Official website | scrippssports |
Scripps Sports is the sports division of the E. W. Scripps Company; it is responsible for the broadcasting of sporting events across its broadcast television portfolio, including local stations and co-owned networks (such as Ion Television).
Prior to the formation of Scripps Sports, in May 2022, The E.W. Scripps Company reached an agreement with the Big Sky Conference to air 14 conference football games and as many as eight women's or men's basketball games involving Montana State University and University of Montana on the Scripps owned Montana Television Network. [2]
The formation of Scripps Sports was announced in December 2022. Company president Adam P. Symson stated that the division planned to compete with regional sports networks to pursue local rights to professional sports teams for its stations, and pursue national broadcasting contracts for its Ion Media division (including Ion Television). He argued that the pay television RSN industry was an "old model" that is "not set up to move forward", and that "we are really well-situated to participate in future models with sports teams, leagues, and conferences." [3]
In April 2023, Scripps Sports announced its first broadcast contract, a regular season package of Friday-night WNBA basketball games for Ion. [4] [5]
The following month, with AT&T SportsNet winding down, Scripps Sports reached an agreement for regional rights to the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL. The games would be syndicated to stations within the team's designated market (with KMCC as flagship; the station moved Ion to a digital subchannel and became an independent station), and offered via the subscription-based over-the-top service KnightTime+. [6] [7] [8] In October 2023, it also reached an agreement with the Arizona Coyotes, after Bally Sports Arizona rejected its contract with the team [9] and subsequently shut down not long afterward. [10] After initially airing on the Antenna TV-affiliated KNXV-DT2, [9] KASW moved its The CW affiliation to that channel and similarly converted to an independent station to accommodate Coyotes games (Scripps would later relinquish its CW affiliation entirely, with majority owner Nexstar Media Group taking over KAZT-TV under a time brokerage agreement, and moving The CW to it in February 2024). [11] [12] [13]
On November 9, 2023, the National Women's Soccer League announced Scripps Sports as a rightsholder beginning in the 2024 season, with Ion to air Saturday night doubleheaders. Ion will also air the 2024 NWSL Draft. [14] [15]
In April 2024, the NHL deactivated the Coyotes franchise and their players and personnel were transferred to a new Salt Lake City-based expansion team. Scripps' KUPX-TV in Salt Lake City, which had been televising Coyotes and Golden Knights games, will continue to carry the former's games, but now as the Utah Hockey Club's flagship station. [16]
In July 2024, the Florida Panthers announced a deal with Scripps Sports to move its games from Bally Sports Florida, with WSFL-TV in Miami as flagship station. [17]
On August 18, 2024, Ion aired the finals of the Manhattan Beach Open beach volleyball tournament as part of a one-off deal with the Association of Volleyball Professionals. [18]
| Team | League | Flagship station | Affiliates | OTT subscription outlet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana and Montana State (2022–present) (Football, Men's Basketball and Women's Basketball) | Big Sky Conference | Montana Television Network [2] | ESPN+ (both in-market and out-of-market) [2] | |
| Florida Panthers (2024–present) | NHL | WSFL-TV/Miami, Florida | ||
| Utah Hockey Club (2024–present) [22] | NHL | KUPX-TV/Provo, Utah |
| |
| Vegas Golden Knights (2023–present) | NHL | KMCC/Laughlin, Nevada [24] |
|
| Team | League | Flagship station | Affiliates | OTT subscription outlet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Coyotes (2023–2024) | NHL | KASW/Phoenix, Arizona |
|
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and initially played their home games at Miami Arena before moving to the Amerant Bank Arena in 1998. Located in Sunrise, Florida, the franchise is the southernmost team in the NHL. The team's local broadcasting rights were held by Bally Sports Florida from 1996 to 2024 when they made a new broadcast deal with Scripps Sports. The Panthers are primarily affiliated with two minor league teams: the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL.
The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area, which competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division, the Pacific Division (1998–2020) in the Western Conference, and the West Division (2020–2021). They played at America West Arena in downtown Phoenix from 1996 to 2003, at Glendale's Gila River Arena from 2003 to 2022, and at Mullett Arena in Tempe from 2022 to 2024.
The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is headquartered at the Scripps Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its corporate motto is "Give light and the people will find their own way", which is symbolized by the media empire's longtime lighthouse logo. In terms of market reach, Scripps is the second largest operator of ABC affiliates, behind the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and ahead of Hearst Television and Tegna. Scripps also owns a number of free-to-air multi-genre digital subchannel multicast networks through its Scripps Networks division, including the Ion Television network and Scripps News.
KASW, branded Arizona 61, is an independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate KNXV-TV. The two stations share studios on North 44th Street on the city's east side; KASW's primary transmitter is located on South Mountain.
KUPX-TV, branded Utah 16, is an independent television station licensed to Provo, Utah, United States, serving Salt Lake City and the state of Utah. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Fox affiliate KSTU. KUPX-TV's offices are located on Lawndale Drive in the southern section of Salt Lake City, and its transmitter is located on Farnsworth Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains, southwest of Salt Lake City.
A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region.
KMCC, branded Vegas 34, is an independent television station licensed to Laughlin, Nevada, United States, serving the Las Vegas area. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate KTNV-TV. The two stations share studios on South Valley View Boulevard in the nearby unincorporated community of Paradise. KMCC uses a distributed transmission system, with the main transmitter located near Dolan Springs, Arizona, and a secondary transmitter at the KTNV studios.
Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Miami, Tampa and Orlando.
Bally Sports Arizona (BSAZ) was an American regional sports network (RSN). The channel broadcast professional, collegiate and high school sports events, with a primary focus on Phoenix-area teams. It was available on most cable providers throughout Arizona and available nationwide on satellite provider DirecTV.
AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain was an American regional sports network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its TNT Sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the network broadcast regional coverage of sports events throughout the Rocky Mountain region, mainly focusing on professional sports teams based in the Denver metropolitan area, Utah and Nevada.
Brian Nicholas Cousins is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the third round, 68th overall, by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Cousins has also previously played for the Florida Panthers, Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, and Nashville Predators. Cousins won the Stanley Cup with the Panthers in 2024.
The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Golden Knights compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expansion team, the team is the first major sports franchise to represent Las Vegas. The franchise is primarily owned by Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, a consortium led by Bill Foley, with Adrienne Maloof holding a minority stake. Their home games are played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.
Diamond Sports Group LLC is an American media and entertainment company operating as a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, and partnered with Allen Media Group. The company operates Bally Sports, a group of regional sports channels that was formerly known as the Fox Sports Networks. The company also has stakes in Marquee Sports Network and YES Network.
The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Allen Media Group. The naming rights to the network were sold to casino operator Bally's Corporation.
The 2023–24 NHL season was the 107th season of operation of the National Hockey League (NHL). The regular season began on October 10, 2023, and ended on April 18, 2024. The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs began on April 20. The Stanley Cup Finals began on June 8, and ended on June 24, 2024, with the Florida Panthers defeating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games, winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
The 2024–25 NHL season is the upcoming 108th season of operation of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Arizona Coyotes franchise was deactivated and its players and personnel were transferred to a new expansion team in Utah. The regular season is scheduled to begin on October 4, 2024, when the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils are to play the first of two games in Prague, Czech Republic, as a part of the 2024 NHL Global Series. The Stanley Cup playoffs are then planned to begin in April 2025, ending with the Stanley Cup Finals in June.
Scripps stations in markets with Big Sky schools will broadcast football games and men's and women's basketball games ... The Big Sky Conference will retain rights to digitally distribute and stream programming via the ESPN+ app both within and outside the league's footprint, and these broadcasts on Scripps will not be subject to any blackout restrictions.