The Vegas Golden Knights have joined the NBA Suns and WNBA Mercury in abandoning the RSN model in favor of broadcast television. Plus: Diamond Sports is seeking to block the Suns’ new deal and ESPN’s interest in Pac-12 rights is being disputed.
Golden Knights join Suns, Mercury, in ditching RSNs for OTA
The Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday announced a deal with Scripps Sports to carry all of their local broadcasts on KMCC, a Scripps-owned ION affiliate that will be soon rebranded as an independent. Those games previously aired on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, one of the Warner Bros. Discovery RSNs that will soon be shutting down.
The Golden Knights join the NBA Suns and WNBA Mercury in abandoning the RSN model for broadcast television. Those teams reached a deal with Gray Television last week that has since been challenged in court by their current rights partner Diamond Sports.
Vegas is the second property to strike a deal with Scripps Sports, which last month reached a national rights deal with the WNBA. Scripps has been open in its desire to acquire rights since forming its sports division last year. (NHL 5.4)
Diamond Sports seeks to block new Suns deal
Diamond Sports Group, operator of the Bally Sports RSNs, filed an emergency motion in bankruptcy court Wednesday seeking to block the Phoenix Suns’ new rights deal Gray Television. Diamond, whose deal with the Suns remains in effect until the end of the NBA season, says the team violated the existing contract by reaching a new deal before its expiration and by denying Diamond the right of first refusal.
Diamond also claims that its deal with the Suns is protected by the automatic stay triggered by its bankruptcy, which prohibits the non-bankrupt party from collecting on what is owed to them. (AZCentral 5.3)
ESPN’s interest in Pac-12 rights disputed
CBS Sports reported Wednesday that ESPN is no longer pursuing the primary Pac-12 media rights package, but that was disputed by multiple reporters, with independent writer John Canzano saying “it wasn’t accurate.” The primary source quoted in the CBS report is a Big 12 administrator who said ESPN executives told his conference that the company would not be moving forward with the Pac-12. Per the report, ESPN could still pursue a smaller package of Pac-12 football games specifically for the late night window.
Reporters at Sports Illustrated and The Athletic said Wednesday that ESPN and the Pac-12 had held discussions as recently as earlier that day. (CBS Sports 5.3, Canzano 5.3, Nicole Auerbach/Twitter 5.3, Ross Dellinger/Twitter 5.3)
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