On Friday, Diamond Sports announced that it will broadcast more than a dozen NBA team games during the 2024-25 season.
As The Times-Picayune first reported earlier this month, the New Orleans Pelicans will not be among the 13 teams partnering with Diamond Sports this season.
The Pelicans have decided to part ways with the bankrupt operator of regional sports networks and will announce a partnership with Gray Television, the owner of WVUE-TV Fox 8, in the coming weeks. This move is intended to improve the team’s reach in the New Orleans area and the wider Gulf South.
Last season, the Pelicans broadcast seven of their games on WVUE-TV Fox 8. This season, sources familiar with the situation told The Times-Picayune that between eight and 10 of the Pelicans’ 82 regular-season games will again be broadcast on Fox 8.
According to multiple sources, the Pelicans plan to eventually broadcast the vast majority of their games on a newly created channel that will be called the Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network.
The Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network will be available as a terrestrial signal, meaning anyone with an antenna in many of the major markets in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama can access it for free. Multiple sources said there have already been initial discussions about whether the channel will also carry high school sports.
In July, the Pelicans were notified that they were among five NBA teams that Diamond Sports was considering dropping in a fight for survival. The Pelicans and Gray Television, who had already worked together last season, began talks about a permanent partnership. Diamond Sports re-signed the Pelicans in early August, but the team still chose Gray Television as its local rights partner, despite Diamond Sports offering more guaranteed money for the rights fees.
Last season, the 69 Pelicans games broadcast on Diamond-owned Bally Sports reached an average of 12,807 television households. The Pelicans games broadcast over the air drew significantly more viewers. The seven games broadcast by Fox 8 and other Gray affiliates reached an average of 46,057 television households, while the three games shown on the subsidiary Bounce reached an average of 18,400 television households.
As cable subscriber numbers continue to decline across the country, some teams have turned to making their games available to local television viewers via over-the-air signals. The Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns both broadcast their games last season via over-the-air television and enjoyed strong ratings. According to Sports Business Journal, the Jazz’s local viewership increased 39%, while the Suns’ local ratings increased 69%.
