ION announces five-year agreement with Fort Myers Tip-Off

ION is expanding its women’s sports footprint.

Wednesday morning, Scripps Sports announced that ION will be the new television home of the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, and early season college basketball tournament that launched in 2022. The agreement will see the holiday tournament air on ION for the next five years. This year’s tournament will take place on Thanksgiving weekend, consistent with the first several years of the tournament.

The move marks ION’s first foray into college sports. Currently, the network has media rights agreements with two of the premier women’s professional sports leagues in North America: the WNBA and NWSL.

“As the popularity of women’s sports among audiences and advertisers continues to explode, the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off will immediately become another major sports property for ION,” Scripps Sports president Brian Lawlor said in a release. “We’re proud that women’s sports have found a home on ION, and we look forward to bringing fans the action-packed world of women’s college basketball this fall.”

Women’s sports has proved a largely successful venture for the network. Last season, ION eclipsed one million viewers for seven of its Friday night WNBA games.

Teams for this year’s Fort Myers Tip-Off event have yet to be announced.

In addition to adding the Fort Myers Tip-Off, ION also announced it will begin to air a slate of women’s sporting events in conjunction with Sports Illustrated. The event, dubbed the “SI Women’s Games” will take place from October 28 to November 2 and feature athletes representing “Team America” and “Team World” competing across carious sports including basketball, gymnastics, tennis, flag football, volleyball, and combat sports.

The deal for the “SI Women’s Games” is described as “multi-year,” though no exact term is given.

“We’re proud to partner with Sports Illustrated, one of the most iconic brands in sports, to showcase and bring the compelling and exciting stories, athletes and events of the SI Women’s Games to every American household,” said Lawlor. “This is another milestone for Scripps Sports and ION as a premier destination for the best in women’s sports.”

The event certainly sounds unique and will fit in nicely to ION’s overall sports strategy. Details about the competition were sparse, other than which sports would be contested. It’s unclear whether athletes will be pulled from the professional or collegiate ranks to compete.

Given it’s just one weekend, there’s no harm in trying something new. Whether the event will resonate is yet to be seen.

With today’s announcements, ION and Scripps Sports made on thing very clear: they’d like to be a leader in women’s sports broadcasting for years to come.