Earlier this month, a report from the Sports Business Journal suggested that five NBA teams, including the New Orleans Pelicans, could find their broadcast rights deals with Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports, severed heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. And on Thursday, the Pelicans beat them to the punch.
According to Christian Clark of Nola.com, the Pelicans agreed to a multi-year partnership with Gray Television to air the “vast majority” of games on WVUE-TV Fox 8 and Bounce TV.
This comes after the Pelicans experimented with games being shown on Gray Television near the end of last season after Bally Sports allowed NBA teams under contract with them to sell the broadcast rights of ten games to local affiliates.
Clark noted that this agreement means that the majority of Pelicans games will be free to viewers in many areas of Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe); Mississippi (Biloxi, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Meridian); and Alabama (Mobile).
The bigger underlying story here of course is the ongoing bankruptcy reorganization of Diamond Sports Group, which led to the Phoenix Suns also deciding last year to make the majority of their games available on over-the-air TV with their own Gray Television local affiliates.
Now, the Pelicans are following in the Suns’ footsteps, which could end up being a smart decision when it comes to overall viewership of the team’s games.
All 10 games shown on Gray Television affiliates last season saw a drastic increase in viewers over the 12,807 average households that tuned into Bally Sports broadcasts, including a 260% increase on the seven games specifically shown on WVUE-TV Fox 8 broadcasts.
[Nola.com]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.