The New Orleans Pelicans will broadcast their games on over-the-air TV on a full-time basis starting next season, The Times-Picayune has learned.
The Pelicans, who in 2023-24 experimented by showing a handful of games on WVUE-TV Fox 8, have struck a multi-year partnership with Gray Television — one of the nation’s largest owners of local TV stations — multiple sources said.
The agreement with Gray means that approximately 70 of the Pelicans’ 82 regular-season games next season will be available for free in Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe); Mississippi (Biloxi, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Meridian); and Alabama (Mobile).
This move will improve the Pelicans’ accessibility and allow the team to reach a significantly larger TV audience. The seven games the Pelicans showed on WVUE-TV Fox 8 last season and other major over-the-air stations drew an average of 46,057 TV households — a 260% increase from the 12,807 TV households the team averaged on Diamond-owned Bally Sports, according to Nielsen data.
The financially imperiled Diamond Sports is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings. In July, the Pelicans were told that they were one of five teams Diamond planned to drop in its attempt to remain financially viable. That prompted the Pelicans to hold discussions with other potential local TV partners.
This past weekend, Diamond Sports re-engaged with the Pelicans and offered them a new deal that was more lucrative than anything they had previously been presented. The Pelicans on Monday notified many of the major players involved that they were still choosing Gray as their broadcast partner despite Diamond’s offer being 20% higher.
The Gray partnership means Pelicans fans can watch Zion Williamson and Co. play for free at a time when cord-cutting is intensifying. The Gray deal gives the Pelicans the potential to reach more than 3 million TV households.
Furthermore, the Pelicans and Gray are in discussions to launch a sports-only over-the-air TV network on substations in 11 different markets. The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network could feature live sports programming — not just Pelicans games, but Birmingham Squadron and high school games, too — in addition to other New Orleans Saints and Pelicans digital content.
The Gayle Benson-owned Saints and Pelicans have a long history with Gray. In 2008, Tom Benson purchased a majority stake in WVUE-TV, which he held onto until 2017. WVUE remains the home of the Saints during their preseason slate.
The Pelicans’ decision to part ways with Diamond Sports is part of a larger trend of NBA teams making their games more accessible to local audiences. Before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns decided to make a majority of their games available on over-the-air TV. According to Sports Business Journal, Jazz viewership increased by 39%, while the Suns’ local ratings jumped by 69% on a Gray-owned channel called Arizona’s Family.
The Jazz and Suns also last season introduced streaming services to their local audiences. The Pelicans are working with the NBA to bring a streaming product to market for next season.
Play-by-play voice Joel Meyers and color commentator Antonio Daniels will continue calling Pelicans games.
New Orleans is coming off a 49-win season and a playoff appearance. In June, the team traded for All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. The Pelicans are seeking to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons, which hasn’t happened since the Chris Paul era.
Big time!!
Better than any trade news that could have come out. God I hated Bally
Thank the Lord.
Hell yeah baby
Fantastic move to grow the fan base!
Awesome news and we still have Joel and AD!
The OTA games I watched were horrible quality. So grainy. I hope that’s sorted or there’s a streaming option.
I hope I’m able to receive this. I live about 70 miles south of BR, get BR news… but couldn’t get the games last year
Huge
Finally some great news for this team
I used to pray for times like this.
Couldn’t have F5ed for anything better. Good riddance.
I wasn’t able to watch the bounce TV games last season in NOLA bc some other show was on during the games. This article says a significant amount of games will be on Bounce TV. Hopefully this issue gets worked out
If I primarily use my phone to stream games will it be available on fox sports app or something similar?
finally the big off-season move we’ve been waiting for
So I need a digital antenna right?
“Play-by-play voice Joel Meyers and color commentator Antonio Daniels will continue calling Pelicans games.”
I read this article with much anxiety until I got to this line….
Biggest win this off-season
Am I going to be able to watch over the antenna in Lafayette?
21 comments
The New Orleans Pelicans will broadcast their games on over-the-air TV on a full-time basis starting next season, The Times-Picayune has learned.
The Pelicans, who in 2023-24 experimented by showing a handful of games on WVUE-TV Fox 8, have struck a multi-year partnership with Gray Television — one of the nation’s largest owners of local TV stations — multiple sources said.
The agreement with Gray means that approximately 70 of the Pelicans’ 82 regular-season games next season will be available for free in Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe); Mississippi (Biloxi, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Meridian); and Alabama (Mobile).
This move will improve the Pelicans’ accessibility and allow the team to reach a significantly larger TV audience. The seven games the Pelicans showed on WVUE-TV Fox 8 last season and other major over-the-air stations drew an average of 46,057 TV households — a 260% increase from the 12,807 TV households the team averaged on Diamond-owned Bally Sports, according to Nielsen data.
The financially imperiled Diamond Sports is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings. In July, the Pelicans were told that they were one of five teams Diamond planned to drop in its attempt to remain financially viable. That prompted the Pelicans to hold discussions with other potential local TV partners.
This past weekend, Diamond Sports re-engaged with the Pelicans and offered them a new deal that was more lucrative than anything they had previously been presented. The Pelicans on Monday notified many of the major players involved that they were still choosing Gray as their broadcast partner despite Diamond’s offer being 20% higher.
The Gray partnership means Pelicans fans can watch Zion Williamson and Co. play for free at a time when cord-cutting is intensifying. The Gray deal gives the Pelicans the potential to reach more than 3 million TV households.
Furthermore, the Pelicans and Gray are in discussions to launch a sports-only over-the-air TV network on substations in 11 different markets. The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network could feature live sports programming — not just Pelicans games, but Birmingham Squadron and high school games, too — in addition to other New Orleans Saints and Pelicans digital content.
The Gayle Benson-owned Saints and Pelicans have a long history with Gray. In 2008, Tom Benson purchased a majority stake in WVUE-TV, which he held onto until 2017. WVUE remains the home of the Saints during their preseason slate.
The Pelicans’ decision to part ways with Diamond Sports is part of a larger trend of NBA teams making their games more accessible to local audiences. Before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns decided to make a majority of their games available on over-the-air TV. According to Sports Business Journal, Jazz viewership increased by 39%, while the Suns’ local ratings jumped by 69% on a Gray-owned channel called Arizona’s Family.
The Jazz and Suns also last season introduced streaming services to their local audiences. The Pelicans are working with the NBA to bring a streaming product to market for next season.
Play-by-play voice Joel Meyers and color commentator Antonio Daniels will continue calling Pelicans games.
New Orleans is coming off a 49-win season and a playoff appearance. In June, the team traded for All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. The Pelicans are seeking to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons, which hasn’t happened since the Chris Paul era.
Big time!!
Better than any trade news that could have come out. God I hated Bally
Thank the Lord.
Hell yeah baby
Fantastic move to grow the fan base!
Awesome news and we still have Joel and AD!
The OTA games I watched were horrible quality. So grainy. I hope that’s sorted or there’s a streaming option.
I hope I’m able to receive this. I live about 70 miles south of BR, get BR news… but couldn’t get the games last year
Huge
Finally some great news for this team
I used to pray for times like this.
Couldn’t have F5ed for anything better. Good riddance.
I wasn’t able to watch the bounce TV games last season in NOLA bc some other show was on during the games. This article says a significant amount of games will be on Bounce TV. Hopefully this issue gets worked out
If I primarily use my phone to stream games will it be available on fox sports app or something similar?
finally the big off-season move we’ve been waiting for
So I need a digital antenna right?
“Play-by-play voice Joel Meyers and color commentator Antonio Daniels will continue calling Pelicans games.”
I read this article with much anxiety until I got to this line….
Biggest win this off-season
Am I going to be able to watch over the antenna in Lafayette?
Praise Zion