Blazers Sign Four-Year Broadcast Deal With ROOT Sports
Trail Blazers games have a new on-screen home.
The team announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a multi-year broadcasting partnership with ROOT SPORTS, moving all Portland games from their longtime TV hub of NBC Sports Northwest.
"We are ecstatic to join the ROOT SPORTS regional network starting next season,” team president and CEO Chris McGowan said in a statement. “With so many other Pacific Northwest teams already in the ROOT SPORTS family and its broad footprint, choosing ROOT SPORTS was the best decision for our fans. We look forward to bringing Trail Blazers games to new viewers, as well as our loyal fans in Oregon, Washington and Alaska.”
ROOT SPORTS, a joint venture between AT&T Sports Networks and the Seattle Mariners, also has exclusive local broadcasting rights for other marquee sports teams and leagues across the Pacific Northwest. The Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Kraken, Seattle Seawolves, Gonzaga University Bulldogs, Big Sky Conference and Portland Timbers have called ROOT SPORTS home for years.
"The Portland Trail Blazers are a first-class organization, and we are thrilled to add Rip City basketball to our lineup of exciting game action,” ROOT SPORTS general manager Mark Jorgenson said. “Being the home to one of the best teams in the NBA solidifies ROOT SPORTS as a premier regional sports network in the nation.”
News of the Blazers' potential move from NBC Sports Northwest was first reported in March by Maury Brown of Forbes.
The Blazers' television reach will nearly double, in part due to ROOT SPORTS' distribution deals with DIRECTV and DISH, and they'll maintain full control of broadcast production and on-air talent. While the team champions the move for extending access to Blazers games in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports that the coverage map could also extend into Idaho and Montana due to their preexisting coverage of ROOT SPORTS.
But broadening geographic reach could mean leaving hundreds of thousands of Blazers fans unable to watch games at home. ROOT SPORTS isn't currently offered on any streaming service except AT&T TV, meaning most cord-cutters won't be able to watch the Blazers unless new distribution deals are reached before tipoff of the 2021-22 season.
Though ROOT SPORTS is in negotiations with other streaming services to broadcast Blazers games, AT&T Sports Networks president Patrick Crumb told The Oregonian no new distribution agreements are guaranteed.