Scripps Sports is the

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

division of the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...

; it is responsible for the broadcasting of sporting events across its

broadcast television Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. Analog television systems were standardized ...

portfolio, including local stations and co-owned networks (such as

Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...

History

Prior to the formation of Scripps Sports, in May 2022, The E.W. Scripps Company reached an agreement with the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

to air 14 conference football games and as many as eight women's or men's basketball games involving

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

and

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana, United States. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811, marki ...

on the Scripps owned

Montana Television Network The Montana Television Network (MTN) is a statewide network of CBS network affiliate, affiliates in the United States, U.S. state of Montana. It also includes one NBC station. All but one of these stations are owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. ...

. In 2025, Scripps Sports and the Big Sky extended their agreement through the 2029–30 season. The formation of Scripps Sports was announced in December 2022. Company president Adam P. Symson stated that the division planned to compete with

regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...

s to pursue local rights to professional sports teams for its stations, and pursue national broadcasting contracts for its

Ion Media Ion Media, LLC (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) is a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company that operates the linear broadcast networks Ion Television, Ion Mystery, and Ion Plus. Prior to its acquis ...

division (including

). He argued that the pay television RSN industry was an "old model" that is "not set up to move forward", and that "we are really well-situated to participate in future models with sports teams, leagues, and conferences." In April 2023, Scripps Sports announced its first broadcast contract, a regular season package of Friday-night WNBA basketball games for Ion. In March 2025, Scripps announced it had acquired the local rights to the WNBA's

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home game ...

. The following month, with

AT&T SportsNet AT&T Sports Networks, LLC (ATTSN) was a group of regional sports networks in the United States that primarily own and operate AT&T Sports Networks (founded in 2009, as Liberty Sports Holdings, later DirecTV Sports Networks, LLC). It was owned by ...

winding down, Scripps Sports reached an agreement for regional rights to the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Golden Knights compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

. The games would be syndicated to stations within the team's designated market (with

KMCC KMCC (channel 34), branded The Spot Vegas 34, is an independent television station licensed to Laughlin, Nevada, United States, serving the Las Vegas area. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, E.W. Scripps Company alongside American Broad ...

as flagship; the station moved Ion to a digital subchannel and became an

independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...

), and offered via the subscription-based over-the-top service KnightTime+. In October 2023, it also reached an agreement with the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...

, after Bally Sports Arizona rejected its contract with the team and subsequently shut down not long afterward. After initially airing on the

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operatio ...

-affiliated KNXV-DT2,

KASW KASW (channel 61), branded Arizona 61, is an independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate KNXV-TV (channel 15). The two stations share studios on North 44t ...

moved its

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

affiliation to that channel and similarly converted to an independent station to accommodate Coyotes games (Scripps would later relinquish its CW affiliation entirely, with majority owner

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

taking over

KAZT-TV KAZT-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Prescott, Arizona, United States, serving the Phoenix television market as a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of The CW. The station is locally owned by the Londen family of Phoenix ...

under a time brokerage agreement, and moving The CW to it in February 2024). On November 9, 2023, the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

announced Scripps Sports as a rightsholder beginning in the 2024 season, with Ion to air Saturday night doubleheaders. Ion also aired the 2024 NWSL Draft. In April 2024, the NHL deactivated the Coyotes franchise, and their players and personnel were acquired by a new Salt Lake City-based

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

owned by Ryan Smith. Scripps'

KUPX-TV KUPX-TV (channel 16), branded Utah 16, is an independent television station licensed to Provo, Utah, United States, serving Salt Lake City and the state of Utah. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox af ...

in Salt Lake City, which had been televising Coyotes and Golden Knights games, will continue to carry the former's games, but now as the

Utah Mammoth The Utah Mammoth are a professional ice hockey team based in Salt Lake City. The Mammoth compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

. The team's telecasts are produced in-house by SEG Media, a unit of team owner Smith Entertainment Group that also produces

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

games for

KJZZ-TV KJZZ-TV (channel 14) is an independent television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CBS affiliate KUTV (channel 2) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYU (channel 12) in St. George. The ...

via a similar arrangement. In July 2024, the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

announced a deal with Scripps Sports to move its games from

Bally Sports Florida FanDuel Sports Network Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the ...

, with

WSFL-TV WSFL-TV (channel 39) is an independent television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXM-TV (channel 35). WSFL-TV's studios are located on Sout ...

in Miami as flagship station. On August 18, 2024, Ion aired the finals of the

Manhattan Beach Open The Manhattan Beach Open is a beach volleyball tournament held annually during the summer in Manhattan Beach, California. Held on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier, the Open is the only professional volleyball tournament in which amateu ...

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

tournament as part of a one-off deal with the

Association of Volleyball Professionals Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

. In April 2025, Scripps Sports announced a five-year agreement to broadcast the women's Fort Myers Tip Off on Ion. Scripps also announced an agreement with

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

to launch the ''SI Women's Games''. The games will feature women, representing "Team America" and "Team World", competing in basketball, gymnastics, tennis, flag football, volleyball, and combat sports. Later on May 14, Scripps Sports signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning to carry their games on WXPX-TV, which would become an independent station, taking over the rights from FanDuel Sports Network Sun.

Programs

Current national broadcast rights

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

** ''Saturday Night Soccer''; 25 weeks of regular season matches on Saturday nights per-season on Ion Television (2024–present) ** 2024 NWSL Draft * WNBA ** ''Friday Night Spotlight''; 15 weeks of regular season games per-season on Ion Television (2023–present)

Current regional broadcast rights

Former regional broadcast rights

On-air talent

WNBA

*Larry Smith (Studio host) * Autumn Johnson (Studio analyst) * Meghan McKeown (Studio analyst)

NWSL

JP Dellacamera John Paul "JP" Dellacamera (born January 11, 1952) is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey. Early life Dellacamera grew up in Wa ...

(Lead play-by-play) * Jill Loyden (Lead color) * Maura Sheridan (Secondary play-by-play) *

Jordan Angeli Jordan Leigh Angeli (born May 31, 1986) is an American former soccer player and current soccer commentator. Known for her versatility, Angeli played for Boston Breakers in the Women's Professional Soccer, and the Washington Spirit and Western ...

(Secondary color) * Seb Salazar (Studio co-host) * Kylen Mills (Studio co-host)

References

{{Sports television in the United States 2022 establishments in Ohio

Sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

Sports television networks in the United States