Inside The Wizards

Wizards Games Harder to Access After Monumental Sports Split

Washington Wizards fans are going to have a tough time watching their favorite team play now.
Bryson Akins|
The Washington Wizards are just two months away from preseason basketball.
The Washington Wizards are just two months away from preseason basketball.

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Washington Wizards

The NBA season begins in three weeks, with the first preseason game scheduled to take place in just a few short days. Finally, Washington Wizards fans can watch their favorite players on the court and see how the new players perform. Well, you cannot, or the games are no longer easily accessible. Previously, every Monumental Sports Network team was broadcast on YouTube TV, Hulu, or the Monumental app. YouTube TV and Hulu recently ended their deal with the company, which now makes it challenging to watch any Washington, D.C. team other than the Commanders if you live in the DMV metro.

So, how can you watch Wizards games if you live in the DMV metro, and what does this mean for the future of D.C. sports?

If you want to watch the games, you can still watch on the Monumental Sports Network app. Currently, Monumental charges either $19.99 per month or $199 for a full-year subscription. This is around the same price as other streaming services, but still more expensive than some. There is, however, a solution to increase revenue and encourage fans to purchase the subscription, which Troy Haliburton, a well-known D.C. sports personality, wrote about on his Substack.

Haliburton highlighted that another team in the past had faced a similar problem, the Phoenix Suns. The Suns switched to a free over-the-air broadcast with Gray Television. There was also a paid streaming service, which is now called Suns+. This move was bold, but it did increase revenue and fan engagement, and Monumental can do the same thing.

What Monumental and the Wizards can do is implement this free over-the-air broadcasting system, which can allow for a broader reach. By doing this, they can then broadcast in parts of Delaware, southern Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Ultimately, the ending of this deal could actually spark a way to achieve higher viewership and return a greater profit for the team and its owning group.

The ownership group could also consider decreasing the streaming service on the Monumental app. By a simple decrease of a few dollars, making it cheaper than YouTube TV and NBA TV, the Wizards could attract more viewers by bringing in people who are out of market. Troy Haliburton used this example at the decreased price of $15 a month. The math showed that if only 75,000 people had the subscription, Monumental would still make $13 million annually.

Washington Wizards rookie Tre Johnson posing for media day.
Sep 29, 2025; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard Tre Johnson (12) poses for a portrait during Wizards Media Day at CareFirst Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Another benefit is that it allows for the promotion of merchandise and ticket sales. Even though it may cost less, Monumental could convince people to buy their merchandise and even tickets for games, bringing in more revenue.

What the end of this deal means for not only Wizards fans, but every DMV metro sports fan could go two ways. The first is what was explained in this piece. Monumental could take matters into its own hands. They could provide more accessibility for fans to watch, and decrease the current plan to watch games, thereby increasing subscriptions. The second option is that they go into a blackout and alienate the fanbase.

With both the basketball and hockey seasons starting soon in Washington, Monumental needs to make a decision in the coming days.

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Bryson Akins
BRYSON AKINS

Bryson Akins is a writer for the Wizards on Sports Illustrated. Akins graduated from Emerson College in the spring of 2025, the same school Wizards General Manager Will Dawkins attended. Some of Akins' past work includes covering the Thunder on Last Word on Sports, along with his YouTube channel "Thunder Digest." Bryson's favorite memory watching the Wizards are the hard screens center Marcin Gortat would set.

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