NBC Sports Chicago is coming to grips with the reality that it will lose the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks this fall. The regional sports network painted a bleak picture to employees Thursday, saying it didn’t see a path to a deal with the teams before their contract expires Oct. 1, the Sun-Times has learned.
Kevin Cross, the president and general manager of NBC 5, Telemundo Chicago and NBC Sports Chicago, personally began meeting with affected employees at the NBC Tower and the RSN’s studios in the River North Point Center. Though he still was hopeful of reaching an agreement, he now is focused on making sure employees land on their feet.
Cross didn’t address the new network that will own the teams’ rights this fall, nor did he provide an end date for NBCSCH, which would shut down without games to broadcast. Last month, Cross held a video town hall meeting to assuage concerned employees after the Sun-Times reported the teams would launch their own RSN. NBCSCH declined to comment.
An announcement from the new network is expected next week, though previously planned announcements did not happen.
The structure of the network has become clearer. Stadium, the multiplatform sports network owned by Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, will not serve as the network’s home, though it will provide programming. Stadium will remain as is within Reinsdorf’s Silver Chalice media company, available online and through its app and distributors.
The new network will be part of a new company with partner Standard Media Group, a small company based in Nashville, Tennessee, that’s investing in the network and helping to distribute it. The latter will be the RSN’s biggest challenge, particularly with Comcast, considering the high price providers pay for carrying sports and the small local audiences that watch.
Comcast has been looking to move RSNs to a higher-priced tier. Last year, it moved Seattle’s ROOT Sports (Mariners and Trail Blazers) from the Popular TV package to the Ultimate TV package. This year, it moved up MASN (Nationals and Orioles) and SportsNet Pittsburgh (Penguins and Pirates) and dropped Diamond Sports Group’s Bally-branded networks when Diamond balked at moving up.
It’s conceivable that Chicago’s new RSN could be placed on the Ultimate tier, while the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network remains on the Popular tier until its agreement with Comcast expires. MSG in New York and Altitude in Denver should serve as cautionary tales for both Chicago networks, as well as fans. MSG and Altitude have been off Comcast for years because of carriage disputes.
With that in mind, the new network has been in talks with local over-the-air broadcasters about carrying games, a growing trend in sports broadcasting as cable subscriptions decline and programmers seek wide distribution. With streaming options proliferating – the new network is expected to have one, as well – and OTA broadcasts returning to relevance, cable is feeling the squeeze.
Without games to air, NBC Sports Chicago would shut down, continuing parent company NBCUniversal’s reduction in RSN inventory. NBC Sports Northwest shut down after the Trail Blazers left for ROOT Sports, and it sold NBC Sports Washington to Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, who rebranded the channel as Monumental Sports Network. NBCU’s RSNs in Boston, Philadelphia and California remain.
The new network is expected to maintain some continuity with the personnel who have helped produce game and shoulder programming for years, such as producers, directors, production technicians and salespeople. Some staff members at NBC Sports Chicago have been with the network through all of its iterations – SportsChannel, Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet.
CSN launched Oct. 1, 2004, in partnership with Comcast as the cable home of the Cubs, Sox, Bulls and Hawks, whose games also aired on WGN-Channel 9 and WCIU-Channel 26. On Oct. 2, 2017, CSN rebranded as NBC Sports Chicago to line up with NBC’s then-eight other RSNs. The Sox, Bulls and Hawks renewed with the network in 2019, which was the Cubs’ last year with them before launching Marquee.
Remote patrol
Fox Sports announced its full schedule for “Fox College Football Friday,” a dedicated prime-time window that will feature mostly Big Ten teams. Illinois will visit Nebraska at 7 p.m. Sept. 20, and Northwestern will visit Maryland at 7 p.m. Oct. 11.
• Fox NFL analyst and former Bears tight end Greg Olsen won the Sports Emmy for outstanding personality/event analyst this week. Of course, the honor will do nothing to keep Fox from replacing Olsen with Tom Brady in its No. 1 booth.
• Bulls TV voice Adam Amin and analyst Adam Wainwright will call the Cubs-Cardinals game Saturday night on Fox 32. The game Sunday night will air on ESPN, with Karl Ravech, analysts David Cone and Eduardo Perez and reporter Buster Olney on the call.
• Wayne Randazzo, analyst Dontrelle Willis and reporter Heidi Watney will call the Orioles-White Sox game Friday night on Apple TV+.