WGN-TV in Chicago, a local affiliate of The CW owned by Nexstar Media Group, reportedly has interest in broadcasting sports again, surmising a potential to air Chicago Sports Network presentations of the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks that have yet to take the airwaves on Comcast platforms.
No deal has been announced between the two entities, but an agreement would cover nearly all consumers using television in the local market, including those subscribed to the Xfinity cable service from Comcast. The channel is available as an over-the-air network and also can be streamed through various vMVPDs in the market as well.
According to Jeff Agrest of the Chicago Sun-Times, WGN is confident that it could compile a limited schedule of games for the three teams despite existing commitments with CW Sports, such as airing the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Atlantic Coast Conference football and basketball games.
The schedule could include a limited number of contests for each team, taking a similar approach adopted by the network in 2008 when the Blackhawks started airing 20 games a year on the channel. On top of that, the teams would reportedly need to approach a deal as a marketing expense rather than delivering a significant rights fee.
While going around Comcast in potentially making this deal could further damage the relationship between Chicago Sports Network and the cable provider, Bulls president and chief executive officer Michael Reinsdorf has already accused the company of acting in “bad faith.” Furthermore, Reinsdorf referred to the behavior of Comcast as being “discriminatory” and articulated that the network believed it had reached a deal with the company in December before it ultimately fell through for an “undisclosed reason.”
WGN-TV last broadcast Chicago Cubs baseball until the team exercised an opt-out in its contract in 2019, ending a 72-year run on the channel. The team proceeded to launch the Marquee Sports Network RSN in tandem with Sinclair Broadcast Group, which continues to serve as the television home of the team today. WGN had also carried White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks games before dropping those games in the mid 2010s as it transitioned its business model to becoming a basic cable channel.
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