The NBA’s Dallas Mavericks are the latest professional sports team to shift local games out of the regional sports network model in favor of a broadcast partnership, on Friday announcing a new multi-year deal with Tegna.
Under the new deal, all Mavericks basketball games that are not exclusively televised nationally will broadcast for free over-the-air via local stations, accessible to approximately 10 million people in Texas. Per the companies, the agreement nearly triples the current number of households the NBA team can reach across the state.
Tegna’s airing starts with the Mavs vs Suns game on October 26. Specifically, the Tegna KMPX Dallas-Ft. Worth station will broadcast 70 or more games in the first season, with 15 or more games simulcast on WFAA Dallas-Ft. Worth. Games will also be broadcast on Tegna stations in Waco (KCEN and KAGS), Tyler (KYTX), Midland-Odessa (KWES), Abilene (KXVA) and San Angelo (KIDY).
“We are looking forward to giving Dallas Mavericks fans every opportunity possible to watch our exciting team build on the momentum of its incredible run to the NBA Finals last season,” said Patrick Dumont, governor of the Mavericks, in a statement. “Our new agreement with Tegna helps meaningfully deliver on that goal by broadcasting more games to more local homes than in any period in franchise history.”
As part of the agreement Tegna’s WFAA station in Dallas becomes the official local broadcast partner of the Mavericks. Together, WFAA and Tegna will lead local and regional advertising and sponsorship sales for all local games. According to the announcement, Tegna plans to disclose additional Texas markets in the coming days through work with partner broadcast companies.
“This is an incredible day for Mavs fans and our partners across Texas, and we are grateful to the Mavericks organization for their partnership and trust,” said Brad Ramsey, senior vice president, media operations at Tegna, in a statement. “Mavericks fans, our audience, and our advertising partners had an unbelievable reaction to the 10 games we made available last season, and we are thrilled to build off of that momentum and make every game, home or away, available to more fans, in more homes.”
The Mavericks team was one that agreed late last month to terminate its contract with embattled Diamond Sports Group as the Bally Sports-branded RSN owner reached an agreement with the NBA, subject to bankruptcy court approval, to continue broadcasting games of other teams through the 2024-2025 season, whether or not it successfully emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The other team was the New Orleans Pelicans, which inked its own deal with Gray Television’s WVUE Fox affiliate.
In a recent column on StreamTV Insider, TVREV analyst Alan Wolk unpacked the Pelican’s shift, describing the now-troubled RSN model as “the original money-printing machines of the cable industry.”
While that was once the case in the heyday of cable television, things have since changed, and Wolk explained why professional sports teams are turning to local broadcasters instead.
“Fast forward to 2024, and those cable bundles are withering on the vine and teams are doing the math and realizing that they can get more viewers by going with a local broadcaster whose station will be available over the air or via a much cheaper bundle from an MVPD or vMVPD,” wrote Wolk. “What’s more, they will have more leverage with broadcasters, who need them more than the other way around. The broadcasters are also going to have strong local ad sales squads that will be able to create extra revenue for the team in a way an RSN could not.”