The two professional basketball teams in Phoenix — the NBA’s Suns and WNBA’s Mercury — are taking a radical step: putting all their games on free broadcast television while also making games available to stream
. Ishbia bought the Suns earlier this year and, faced with those unappealing trends, directed the team’s media deals in a new direction.After the Suns announced the deal Friday morning, a spokesman for Diamond released a statement that said the Suns had breached their contract and that Diamond would “pursue all remedies against any parties that attempt to exercise control over our property interests while we reorganize.
Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein responded in a statement: “Diamond’s position is totally inaccurate. We are moving forward with this deal and could not be more excited about what it means for our fans and our future.”Gray CEO Pat LaPlatney said it will make both Suns and Mercury games available in 2.8 million homes. He said there are around 1.
Suns fans will have to get used to finding games in new places. The majority of Gray’s TV stations are over the air independent networks — not the usual CBS or NBC that are most associated with broadcast TV. In Phoenix, Gray owns two TV stations that will split Suns games next season. In Tucson, the games will air on a CBS station. The station in Yuma is still in the process of launching.
“There’s no better local content,” LaPlatney said. “It’s a big day for local broadcasting. I think other pro sports teams will find this model interesting and attractive.”
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