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Scripps Sports
Sports broadcasting division of the E. W. Scripps Company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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).
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History
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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] In 2025, Scripps Sports and the Big Sky extended their agreement through the 2029–30 season.[3]
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."[4]
In April 2023, Scripps Sports announced its first broadcast contract, a regular season package of Friday-night WNBA basketball games for Ion.[5][6] In March 2025, Scripps announced it had acquired the local rights to the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces.[7]
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+.[8][9][10] In October 2023, it also reached an agreement with the Arizona Coyotes, after Bally Sports Arizona rejected its contract with the team[11] and subsequently shut down not long afterward.[12] After initially airing on the Antenna TV-affiliated KNXV-DT2,[11] 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).[13][14][15]
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 also aired the 2024 NWSL Draft.[16][17]
In April 2024, the NHL deactivated the Coyotes franchise, and their players and personnel were acquired by a new Salt Lake City-based expansion team owned by Ryan Smith. 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 Mammoth's flagship station.[18] The team's telecasts are produced in-house by SEG Media, a unit of team owner Smith Entertainment Group that also produces Utah Jazz NBA games for KJZZ-TV via a similar arrangement.[19][20]
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.[21]
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.[22]
In April 2025, Scripps Sports announced a five-year agreement to broadcast the women's Fort Myers Tip Off on Ion. Scripps also announced an agreement with Sports Illustrated to launch the SI Women's Games. The games will feature women, representing "Team America" and "Team World", competing in basketball, gymnastics, tennis, flag football, volleyball, and combat sports.[23] Later on May 14, Scripps Sports signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning to carry their games on WXPX-TV, which would become an independent station, taking over the rights from FanDuel Sports Network Sun.[24]
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Programs
Current national broadcast rights
Current regional broadcast rights
Former regional broadcast rights
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On-air talent
WNBA
NWSL
- JP Dellacamera (Lead play-by-play)[35]
- Jill Loyden (Lead color)[35]
- Maura Sheridan (Secondary play-by-play)[35]
- Jordan Angeli (Secondary color)[35]
- Seb Salazar (Studio co-host)[35]
- Kylen Mills (Studio co-host)[35]
References
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