TYSONS, Va.—Tegna Inc. and the Indiana Fever have announced they have expanded the broadcast distribution of 17 Fever WNBA games to 11 additional markets.
The new deal creates an 12-market footprint to air 17 Indiana Fever games for free over the air in 2024. With this expanded footprint, 4.6 million homes will have the opportunity to watch #1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark, 2023 #1 overall pick and WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston, and the exciting Fever roster, the team reported.
For the expanded footprint, Tegna worked with the WNBA to add coverage of these games in Iowa, with Tegna’s WOI in Des Moines and WQAD in Davenport (Quad Cities) joining the roster of stations that will broadcast games. Games will also air on Tegna’s WHAS in Louisville, as well as stations owned by Gray Television, Sinclair, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Coastal Television Broadcasting Group, and Weigel Broadcasting Co.
“This is a pivotal moment for our Fever team and women’s basketball, more broadly, and this groundbreaking partnership with Tegna will ensure more fans than ever will be able to watch this historic season,” said Rick Fuson, Pacers Sports and Entertainment chief executive officer.
“We could not be more excited to make these exciting WNBA games available to more fans, in more homes, across more markets, including Caitlin Clark’s home state of Iowa,” said Brad Ramsey, senior vice president, media operations, Tegna. “We are grateful to the Pacers organization, the WNBA, and our broadcast partners for their trust, and for helping us create a first of its kind fan experience.”
Sandy Breland, chief operating officer of Gray Television, added, “This is a key moment for women’s sports and live sports on broadcast television. Continuing Gray’s commitment to live local sports, Gray is beyond excited to bring the Fever free, over the air to local viewers in Cincinnati, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Lexington and South Bend.”
The Fever regular season schedule tips off on Thursday, May 14 when the team travels to Connecticut to take on the Connecticut Sun before returning to Indianapolis for their home opener against the New York Liberty on May 16. Highlight matchups include two encounters with the defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, scheduled for May 25 and September 11.
The 17 games available to viewers are:
- Thurs., May 16 vs. Liberty, 7 p.m. ET
- Wed., May 22 @ Storm, 10 p.m. ET
- Sat., May 25 @ Aces, 9 p.m. ET
- Thurs., May 30 vs. Storm, 7 p.m. ET
- *Sat., June 1 vs. Sky, 1 p.m. ET (subject to change)
- Sun., June 2 @ Liberty, 7 p.m. ET
- Mon., June 10 @ Sun, 7 p.m. ET
- Thurs., June 13 vs. Dream, 7 p.m. ET
- Sun., June 23 @ Sky, 6 p.m. ET
- Thurs., June 27 @ Storm, 10 p.m. ET
- Wed., July 10 vs. Mystics, 12 p.m. ET
- Mon., August 26 @ Dream, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Wed., September 4 vs. Sparks, 7 p.m. ET
- Sun., September 8 vs. Dream, 4 p.m. ET
- Wed., September 11 vs. Aces, 7 p.m. ET
- Sun., September 15 vs. Wings, 3 p.m. ET
- Thurs., September 19 @ Mystics, 7 p.m. ET
Stations airing the games (subject to change) include:
- Indianapolis, Ind.: WTHR 13.1, 13.3 & WALV 46.1 (Tegna)
- Champaign-Springfield, Ill.: WCIX 49.1 & WCIA 3.1 (Nexstar)
- Cincinnati, Ohio: WXIX 19.3 (Gray Television)
- Davenport, Iowa: WQAD 8.1, 8.3 (Tegna)
- Dayton, Ohio: WKEF 22.3 (Sinclair)
- Des Moines, Iowa: WOI 5.1 & KCWI 23.1 (Tegna)
- Evansville, Ind.: WFIE 14.2 (Gray Television)
- Fort Wayne, Ind.: WPTA 21.3 (Gray Television)
- Lafayette, Ind.: WPBY 35.1, 35.2 (Coastal Television Broadcasting Group)
- Lexington, Ky.: WKYT 27.2 (Gray Television)
- Louisville, Ky.: WHAS 11.1, 11.2 (Tegna)
- South Bend, Ind.: WCWW 25.1 & WMYS 69.1 (Weigel); WNDU 16.2 (Gray Television)
All games will be available over the air via antenna. Fans can visit wthr.com/fever for information on how to purchase or set up an over the air antenna. A majority of the games will be available via cable and/or satellite.
