The Portland Trail Blazers have two years left on their contract with ROOT Sports Northwest.
Im Soo-bun-USA TODAY Sports
MLB’s Seattle Mariners will take full control of ROOT Sports Northwest, the same network that broadcasts Portland Trail Blazers games.
But the ownership change could lead to even more chaos, according to the Seattle Times’ Ryan Dibbish and Adam Jude.
ROOT Sports also owns the local media rights to the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, adding two additional uncertainties to RSN’s future. The Kraken have a multi-year deal with ROOT Sports, with annual television rights fees said to be within the standard $15 million to $30 million range for NHL teams. Warner Bros. Discovery is in the business of producing live Kraken games (including pregame and postgame shows), as well as Mariners games. The Blazers signed a four-year broadcast rights contract with ROOT for an undisclosed amount in June 2021, and the contract is scheduled to run through the 2024-25 season. The Blazers have their own in-house operations for broadcasting games.
It remains to be determined how much of an impact this will actually have on the Blazers, or whether they will release him from his contract to find a new home for broadcast television.
A lot of uncertainty exists for regional sports networks throughout sports, which essentially means every decision the Mariners make regarding the future of ROOT Sports Northwest will impact the Blazers. .
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