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Back To The Future: Golden Knights Replace AT&T SportsNet With Scripps Sports To Broadcast Free Over-The-Air Games On TV

VGK President Kerry Bubolz (left); Adam Symson, Scripps (center); VGK owner Bill Foley (right). Photo credit: Hugh Byrne/LVSportsBiz.com

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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz,com Publisher/Writer

The Vegas Golden Knights went old school with their new TV broadcast deal, cutting a new TV rights deal with Scripps Sports to broadcast VGK games on free over-the-air broadcasts.

With the business dynamics of regional sports networks changing drastically, the Golden Knights saw their six-year broadcast rights deal with AT&T SportsNet end and started a multi-year deal with Scripps Sports.

The National Hockey League approved the broadcast rights deal, which is the first in the league where fans can watch NHL games for free over the air.

The agreement allows The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) to televise all non-nationally exclusive Golden Knights games with full distribution on cable, satellite and over-the-air television. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley liked the deal because the Knights brand will get more exposure across Rocky Mountains states like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and even northern Arizona and eastern  California.

VGK owner Bill Foley  Photo credit: Hugh Byrne/LVSportsBiz.com

Scripps will air VGK games on local channel 34, KMCC-TV, which will be rebranded into an independent station before the NHL 2023-24 season. Scripps owns Channel 13, the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas.

The VGK’s current TV broadcasters led by play-by-play man Dave Goucher and analyst Shane Hnidy will continue for the Scripps Sports broadcasts, with pregame and postgame shows continuing as well.

VGK TV broadcaster Dave Goucher. Photo credit: J. Tyge O’Donnell/LVSportsBiz.com

“This deal is a significant win for our fans because they will be able to see our games on television and for free, if they wish,” VGK president Kerry Bubolz said.

Golden Knights team president Kerry Bubolz. Photo credit: Hugh Byrne/LVSportsBiz.com

The Golden Knights are the first professional sports team to reach a deal with Scripps Sports, which launched in December. It is the second deal Scripps has announced in the past 15 days. The first was an agreement with the WNBA, which announced April 20, to televise games on ION on Friday nights during the regular season starting May 26.

Bill Foley. Photo credit: Hugh Byrne/LVSportsBiz,.com

 

Alan Snel: Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.
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