Mavericks and TEGNA Announce Multi-Year Broadcast Agreement

The Dallas Mavericks and TEGNA have entered into a multi-year television partnership agreement, the NBA team announced Friday morning. Mavericks games that are not exclusively nationally televised will be broadcast free-to-air to approximately 10 million Texans.

Dallas Mavericks partnered with TEGNA two weeks after the team parted ways with Bally Sports Southwest

This news comes two weeks after the Mavs mutually agreed to part ways with Bally Sports Southwest. Broadcasts will be more accessible to nearly three times as many viewers as were able to watch games last season. TEGNA owns 64 television stations across the United States.

“The most exciting thing is that more fans will be able to watch our games for free,” Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall said in the press release. “That’s something we’ve been focused on for the last few years, fans who say they can’t watch our games.

Dallas Mavericks 🤝 TEGNA

We are excited to announce a new multi-year broadcast rights agreement. MFFLs in North Texas can now watch games over the air for FREE‼️#MFFL photo.twitter.com/VeW78FRuxb

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) September 6, 2024

“Even though we have almost 20,000 people in that arena, our fan base is millions. We have great fans and they want to see us.”

Marshall described this partnership as the first of several phases regarding the franchise’s broadcast television. She said the next phase is to develop and implement a streaming service.

TEGNA station KMPX in Dallas-Fort Worth (channel 29) will broadcast at least 70 games

While there is no schedule yet for the launch of the streaming service, she does not rule out that it will happen this season.

Dallas-Fort Worth TEGNA station KMPX (channel 29) will air at least 70 games not exclusively scheduled to be televised nationally. At least 15 of those local broadcasts will be simulcast on WFAA-TV (channel 8), which will be the Mavericks’ official local broadcast partner.

KMPX will become a locally-programmed independent station, already owned and operated by TEGNA. The Oct. 24 season opener against the San Antonio Spurs will air on TNT.

This isn’t the Mavericks’ first partnership with TEGNA. When Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of last season, TEGNA stations and WFAA picked up 10 Mavs games.

Mavericks games this season will air on TEGNA stations in Abilene, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, Tyler and Waco

Marshall said Ronnie Fauss, the Mavericks’ senior vice president of business development, has spoken to potential streaming partners, but the franchise is awaiting direction from the NBA.

“The second thing I’m most excited about is that we have the opportunity to do our own broadcasts,” Marshall said. “We love Bally, but the model is changing.”

Marshall said the Mavericks will eventually have their own studio as well.

In addition to Channel 29 and WFAA, the Mavs’ games this season will also be broadcast on TEGNA stations in Abilene (KXVA), Midland-Odessa (KWES), San Angelo (KIDY), Tyler (KYTX) and Waco (KCEN and KAGS).

Currently, Spanish-language content is broadcast on channel 29. As part of this agreement, channel 29’s Spanish-language content will be moved to another channel before the start of the season.

WFAA and TEGNA will lead local and regional advertising and sponsorship sales for all local games

According to Friday’s press release, WFAA and TEGNA will lead local and regional advertising and sponsorship sales for all local games. TEGNA is expected to announce additional Texas markets for Mavericks games in the coming days.

“We look forward to giving Dallas Mavericks fans every opportunity to see our exciting team build on the momentum of its incredible run to the NBA Finals last season,” Mavericks Governor Patrick Dumont said in the release.

“Our new agreement with TEGNA helps meaningfully achieve that goal by bringing more games to more local homes than ever before in franchise history. Through our new partnership with TEGNA and our expanded relationship with WFAA, more Mavs fans than ever before will be able to watch the team they love.”