The Fever have extended their local over-the-air TV contract with Tegna-owned WTHR in Indianapolis, creating an 18-game package with an undisclosed rights fee even though 41 out of the team’s 44 regular season games will still be nationally televised.
The deal means that 15 of those local broadcasts -- airing on Tegna’s NBC affiliate WTHR and its MeTV affiliate WALV -- will go head-to-head with national telecasts. But Tegna appears unconcerned, considering Fever games on WTHR last season drew household ratings 63% higher than national simulcasts.
“We were excited to go into an initial partnership with the Fever [last season], and that was going to be hard to top,” said Brad Ramsey, Tegna’s SVP/Media Operations. “But we’re even more excited to partner with [Pacers Sports & Entertainment] on a renewed partnership that we think is only going to be bigger and better. It’s more games. The popularity of the league continues to grow. The Fever is selling out visiting arenas and in larger venues.”
Last season’s local Fever contract was originally slated for 17 games, but, after two of those were flexed to a national network, Tegna ended up broadcasting only 15. But with the WNBA increasing its regular season schedule to 44 games this year, Tegna was able to elevate its local game package to a total of 18. The deal was facilitated and negotiated by Dan Granik and David Sternberg of Range Sports, a division of Range Media Partners, who have a longstanding relationship with PSE.
Tegna, meanwhile, has continued to be an over-the-air presence across multiple sports markets. In the WNBA, they have contracts with the Fever and Wings, and, in the NBA, they have a full-season deal with the Mavericks alongside four limited packages with the Nuggets (20 games), Spurs, Pacers and Timberwolves (all five games each).
“In an odd twist of circumstances, one of our [WTHR] Pacers games was also on the [FanDuel] RSN and on ESPN -- available in three places,” Ramsey said. “And the WTHR game on our local NBC station in Indianapolis delivered 4-times the audience of the other two combined. ... So these games with popular teams on our popular stations with popular brands really deliver outsized audiences.”
