The Arizona Coyotes won’t be hunting for a new media rights partner in Utah.
On Friday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that existing rightsholder Scripps Sports would still broadcast the team’s games following its move to Utah. Additionally, Scripps will also air Coyotes games in Arizona, despite the relocation.
“Scripps has been very cooperative and we’re grateful. We’re going to flip markets so Scripps is going to pick up the games of the team in Utah and the games will be down here as part of the Utah team’s extended market. That they make it better or they make it worse, the games will be viewable here,” Bettman said.
In the Salt Lake City market, Scripps owns Fox affiliate KTSU and Ion affiliate KUPX. KUPX, under the Utah 16 branding, will air Coyotes games during the 2024-25 season.
In February, the Coyotes partnered with Kiswe to launch a direct-to-consumer (DTC) service for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. The future of that service remains a question, but a DTC service for the Coyotes in Utah will still likely exist. The Vegas Golden Knights, another Scripps team, launched a DTC service called KnightTime+ in partnership with ViewLift last fall, while the Utah Jazz, also owned by Ryan and Ashley Smith, launched a DTC service called Jazz+ a year ago.
Coyotes games still airing in the Phoenix market is probably a bitter pill for fans to swallow, but mostly seems like a logical move from Scripps. After all, there are probably still some Coyotes fans in Arizona who won’t bail on the team after its move and will want to keep watching them.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.