NBC Sports Chicago Could Lose Blackhawks, Bulls, White Sox Games Starting This Fall

The winds of change are blowing in The Windy City. A new report from the Chicago Sun-Times states that the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago White Sox are set to move off their current broadcasting home of NBC Sports Chicago in favor of the Stadium channel, in a move that seems to be a step back in time for the teams as regional sports networks (RSNs) around the United States appear to be struggling.

• The three teams’ contracts with NBC Sports Chicago expire in October.
• A six-month extension to carry NBC Sports Chicago through the 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons is possible.
• Stadium will be changed from a free streaming channel to a cable-distributed RSN, with in-market streaming options possible.

From the tenor of the report, it sounds as if NBC Sports Chicago may not be in operation for much longer. Its contracts with the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox are set to expire this October, just as the current MLB season is ending and the 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons are beginning. That’s why the possibility still exists that the channel will agree to a six-month extension with the three teams until the 2025 White Sox season is ready to start next spring.

Once the three teams leave NBC Sports Chicago, they’ll head to the Stadium channel, which is currently available to stream on The Roku Channel, Plex, and other platforms. When the teams join Stadium it will cease to operate as a free streaming/cable channel and will transform itself into an RSN to seek carriage deals with pay-TV distributors like Comcast, Spectrum, and DIRECTV.

Stadium is controlled by Jerry Reisdorf, who is also chairman of the Bulls and the White Sox. He helped launch Stadium with Sinclair Broadcasting Group in 2017, which used the platform to distribute games now found on its Bally Sports-branded channels. Those RSNs were eventually offloaded to their current owner Diamond Sports Group, which meant that Sinclair no longer had any need for Stadium.

Are the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox Moving Backward?

At first glance, the move to another RSN for the three Chicago teams would seem to be a lateral one at best. Regional sports channels across the country are teetering on the brink; Warner Bros. Discovery shut down its collection of RSNs in 2023, and Diamond Sports Group is preparing to exit bankruptcy proceedings that have lasted for more than a year, and could still stretch through November.

But the Sun-Times report also indicates that a direct-to-consumer option is possible, which would make the new Stadium operation more closely resemble RSNs like Washington D.C.’s Monumental Sports Network or Marquee Sports Network, the other Chicago-based RSN. These channels allow in-market customers to stream games live without a cable subscription, ensuring customers have multiple ways to access games.

The report also mentions that Reisdorf is seeking possible over-the-air (OTA) partners for the teams involved, suggesting that at least some of their games each year will be offered on channels available to watch for free with an antenna. Several NBA teams who are covered by Bally Sports channels have aired a small package of games on broadcast TV this year, and the Utah Jazz moved all of their non-national games to a local OTA network starting with the 2023-24 season.

While the move to another RSN may not be the most ideal outcome for viewers who are tired of sports games being held behind the cable paywall, it sounds as if Reisdorf and other Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox officials are thinking of ways to make contests available to as wide an audience as possible. Chicago sports fans will want to follow this story closely through October to see where they’ll be able to stream the three teams next season.