The NBA's New Orleans Pelicans have become the latest pro sports team to leave the bankrupt Bally Sports regional sports network, signing a multiyear deal to broadcast their games locally with Gray Television.
Also read: NBA's Mavs, Pels, Pistons, Grizzlies and Thunder Appear To Be on the Bally Sports Chopping Block
According to Nola.com, the "vast majority" of Pels games will air on WVUE-TV Fox 8 and Bounce TV.
Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About the Bally Sports Bankruptcy
Bally operator Diamond Sports Group, now trying to emerge from a lengthy Chapter 11 restructuring, allowed its contracted NBA teams to experiment with 10 games toward the end of the 2023-24 season, and the Pelicans ran some of their games on Gray stations.
Should it ultimately escape liquidation, Diamond will could lose up to four more NBA teams, with the Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary asking teams to take haircuts on their local TV rights fees of between 30% - 40%.
The Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons are other teams that could soon bolt Bally for similar broadcast TV relationships.
Last year, the Phoenix Suns started this exodus when the team eschewed a renewal agreement with Bally Sports to move to Gray TV.
