Scripps Sports announced Wednesday a pair of multi-year broadcast agreements with both Sports Illustrated and the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off basketball tournament.
SI, a longtime leader in sports journalism, is launching of a new biennial event — the SI Women’s Games — a multi-sport, all-star competition featuring elite female athletes from around the world. Set to take place from Tuesday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Oceanside, California. The Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, launched in 2022, has quickly become one of the nation’s premier early-season college basketball tournaments. It regularly draws championship-caliber programs to Southwest Florida.
“As the popularity of women’s sports among audiences and advertisers continues to explode, the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off will immediately become another major sports property for ION,” said Brian Lawlor, Scripps Sports president. “We’re proud to partner with Sports Illustrated, one of the most iconic brands in sports, to showcase and bring the compelling and exciting stories, athletes and events of the SI Women’s Games to every American household.” Lawlor said. “This is another milestone for Scripps Sports and ION as a premier destination for the best in women’s sports.”
According to the release, the SI Women’s Games will highlight top competitors across six sports, including basketball, gymnastics, tennis, volleyball, and combat sports. The event will offer prize money based on performance and will crown one athlete as the SI Women’s Games Champion.
“The SI Women’s Games are a groundbreaking opportunity to do what we have always done at Sports Illustrated,” said Sports Illustrated Editor in Chief Steve Cannella. “This is an exciting new way for us to tell the best stories in sports. We can’t wait to watch these incredible athletes compete in California and celebrate everything they do, both on and off the field.”
To bring the SI Women’s Games to a national audience, Sports Illustrated has entered into a multi-year broadcast partnership with Scripps Sports. As part of the agreement, ION will serve as the exclusive U.S. broadcast home of the event. Available on pay TV, connected TV, free ad-supported streaming platforms, and over-the-air in 123 million homes, ION is one of the most widely watched networks on television.
ION will also serve as the exclusive television home of the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off for the next five years, as part of a new multiyear agreement between Scripps Sports and Intersport, the agency that manages the tournament.
Under the new agreement, ION will air live coverage of every matchup during this year’s tournament, set for Nov. 28-29 over Thanksgiving weekend. The games will take place at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers. ION’s coverage will be available on cable, satellite, major streaming platforms and over the air.
“We’re proud that women’s sports have found a home on ION, and we look forward to bringing fans the action-packed world of women’s college basketball this fall,” said Lawlor.
In just its first few years, the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off has brought national powerhouses such as South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland and Purdue to participate, along with other top-tier programs including Iowa State, DePaul, Michigan and Oklahoma.
This deal marks the first national women’s college basketball rights agreement for Scripps Sports. It also expands the network’s growing portfolio of women’s sports programming, which includes the Women’s National Basketball Association and the National Women’s Soccer League.
The addition of the tournament comes as ION continues to gain momentum with its women’s sports programming. The WNBA on ION reached more than 23.3 million total unique viewers last season, including 9.4 million who were new to the network. Seven WNBA broadcasts surpassed 1 million viewers.
Mark Starsiak, senior vice president of Intersport, echoed the enthusiasm for the new partnership.
“Scripps Sports and ION are now a top destination for women’s sports, and we’re thrilled to partner with them for the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off,” Starsiak said. “This tournament has proven to be an exciting one for college basketball fans everywhere, and the Scripps Sports team will elevate this event even further.”
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