The Dallas Mavericks and TEGNA have agreed to a multi-year TV partnership, the NBA team announced Friday morning. Nationally televised Mavericks games will be free to air for approximately 10 million Texans.
The Dallas Mavericks entered into a partnership with TEGNA two weeks after the team parted ways with Bally Sports Southwest.
The news comes two weeks after the Mavs agreed to part ways with Bally Sports Southwest. The broadcast will be easily accessible to almost the same number of viewers who were able to access the games last season. TEGNA has 64 TV stations across the United States.
“What's really exciting is that more fans will be able to watch our games, for free,” Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall said in a news release. “That's something we've been focusing on for the past few years, the fans saying they won't watch our games.
Dallas Mavericks 🤝 TEGNA
We are pleased to announce a new multi-year broadcast rights agreement. MFFLs across North Texas will now be able to watch FREE games over the air‼️#MFFL pic.twitter.com/VeW78FRuxb
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) September 6, 2024
“Even though we have almost 20,000 people on that platform, our fans are over millions. We have great fans, and they want to watch us.”
Marshall described this partnership as the first phase of many TV broadcasts for the franchise. He said the next phase is to develop and implement a streaming service.
TEGNA station KMPX in Dallas-Fort Worth (Channel 29) will broadcast at least 70 games
Although there is no timetable for the start of the streaming service, he did not say that it will happen this season.
TEGNA station KMPX in Dallas-Fort Worth (Channel 29) will broadcast at least 70 games that are not scheduled to be broadcast exclusively on national TV. At least 15 of those local broadcasts will be broadcast on WFAA-TV (Channel 8), becoming the official local broadcast partner of the Mavericks.
KMPX will be an independent locally programmed station, already owned and operated by TEGNA. The season premiere of Oct. 24 vs. The San Antonio Spurs will play on TNT.
This is not Maverick's first relationship with TEGNA. When Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last season, stations TEGNA and WFAA picked up 10 Mavs games.
Mavericks games this season will be broadcast on TEGNA stations in Abilene, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, Tyler, and Waco.
Marshall said Ronnie Fauss, the Mavericks' senior vice president of business development, has spoken with their broadcast partners. However, the franchise is awaiting guidance from the NBA.
“The second thing that makes me very happy is that we will have the opportunity to run our own broadcasting,” said Marshall. “We love Bally, but the model is changing.”
Marshall said the Mavericks will eventually have their own studio.
In addition to Channel 29 and WFAA, Mavs games this season will be broadcast on TEGNA stations in Abilene (KXVA), Midland-Odessa (KWES), San Angelo (KIDY), Tyler (KYTX), and Waco (KCEN and -KAGS).
Currently, Spanish language content currently airs on Channel 29. As part of this agreement, Channel 29′s Spanish content will be moved to a different channel before the start of the season.
WFAA and TEGNA will lead local and regional sales and sponsorship of all local sports
In Friday's news release, WFAA and TEGNA will lead local and regional sales and sponsorships of all local sports. In the coming days, TEGNA is expected to announce additional Texas markets for Mavericks games.
“We look forward to giving Dallas Mavericks fans every opportunity possible to watch our exciting team build on their incredible run to the NBA Finals last season,” Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont said in a news release.
“Our new agreement with TEGNA helps achieve that goal in a meaningful way by broadcasting more games to more local homes than at any time in the franchise's history. With our new partnership with TEGNA and our expanded relationship with WFAA, more Mavs fans will be able to watch their favorite team than ever before.”
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