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New Orleans Pelicans Ditch Bally Sports to Make Games Free Over the Air

Ben Bowman
Ben Bowman was the Content Director of The Streamable. He cut the cord in 2009. He roots for all Detroit sports and is a fan of Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Edgar Wright, Paul Thomas Anderson, Billy Wilder, Buster Keaton, and the Coen Brothers. Ben streams on an Apple TV.
Read full bio ›
Ben Bowman

The bleeding at Bally Sports continues. Starting next season, the New Orleans Pelicans are abandoning the Bally family to air their games over-the-air.

NOLA.com reports the Pelicans now have a multiyear deal with Gray Television. This means that anyone with an antenna can access the games in Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe); Mississippi (Biloxi, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Meridian); and Alabama (Mobile).

The site reports that last season’s non-Bally games drew 260% more households than the Bally-exclusive Pelicans games.

Bally’s parent company, Diamond Sports, continues to battle its way through the bankruptcy process. Last month, Diamond told the Pelicans they were one of five teams the company planned to drop to try to stay afloat. That led the team to look for other partners.

Other teams that could break up with Bally include the Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, and Oklahoma City Thunder. The Dallas Mavericks may also be looking for a new broadcasting home.

NOLA.com reports that the Pelicans and Gray are weighing a sports-only, over-the-air TV network on substations in 11 different markets.

You may remember that the Utah Jazz launched Jazz+ and the Phoenix Suns rolled out Suns Live when they broke free from their regional sports networks. Both teams offer their games free over-the-air as well. Sports Business Journal reports Jazz viewership increased by 39%, while the Suns’ local ratings jumped by 69% after the move.

This decision likely means death for Bally Sports New Orleans. The channel hasn’t shown much beyond the Pelicans aside from occasional Texas Rangers and Tulane football games.

Ben Bowman
Ben Bowman was the Content Director of The Streamable. He cut the cord in 2009. He roots for all Detroit sports and is a fan of Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Edgar Wright, Paul Thomas Anderson, Billy Wilder, Buster Keaton, and the Coen Brothers. Ben streams on an Apple TV.
Read full bio ›
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