Scripps Sports

History

Scripps Sports was formally created in December 2022. Company president Adam P. Symson said the new division would go after local rights to professional teams for Scripps stations and seek national deals for the Ion Media network, including Ion Television. He called the traditional pay-TV regional sports network model outdated and poorly positioned for the future. Before the division existed, in May 2022, Scripps had already struck a deal with the Big Sky Conference to broadcast 14 football games and up to eight basketball games involving Montana State and the University of Montana on the Montana Television Network. That agreement was extended in 2025 to run through the 2029–30 season. Scripps Sports landed its first national contract in April 2023, a Friday-night WNBA regular season package for Ion. The next month, as AT&T SportsNet wound down, Scripps secured regional rights to the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. Games aired on stations in the team’s market, with KMCC as the flagship, and were also available through the subscription streaming service KnightTime+. In October 2023, after Bally Sports Arizona rejected its deal with the Arizona Coyotes and later shut down, Scripps picked up that team’s regional rights. The Coyotes initially aired on KNXV-DT2; KASW then moved its CW affiliation to that channel and became an independent station to carry the games. In November 2023, the National Women’s Soccer League named Scripps Sports a rights holder starting in 2024, with Ion airing Saturday night doubleheaders and the 2024 NWSL Draft.