PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers announced Wednesday that it has ended its nearly three-year partnership with ROOT Sports, effective immediately.
"Trail Blazers basketball will no longer air on ROOT Sports, but we thank ROOT Sports for years of great partnership," the Blazers said in a statement. "An exciting announcement on the future television home of Blazers basketball will be made soon."
The team had one year left on its deal with ROOT Sports.
Blazers are discussing new deals with multiple broadcast partners and will also have a "direct-to-consumer" streaming option before the start of the season, according to a source of the Portland Business Journal, KGW's news partner.
The Blazers are not the first to depart from the regional sports network. Earlier this year, the Seattle Kraken also moved on from ROOT Sports in favor of linear broadcasts on KGW, KING 5 and KONG in Seattle, and KREM in Spokane.
ROOT had broadcast rights to three major professional sports teams: the Seattle Kraken, Seattle Mariners and the Blazers. With the departure of the Blazers, now only the Mariners remain.
The Blazers had only been with the regional sports network for two seasons, ending a 14-year partnership with NBC Sports Northwest in March 2021. Reportedly, there was a growing frustration with the broadcaster's inability to strike a deal with a major satellite provider; at the time, ROOT had that with both DirecTV and Dish Network, though its deal with Dish expired three months later.
ROOT took another hit when its cable provider, Comcast Xfinity, dropped the sports network from its standard channels package just before the Blazers season began. The change meant that Blazers fans would have to pay about $20 more per month — or $240 more per year — to upgrade to Xfinity's highest-tier "Ultimate" package to watch games.
Other than ROOT, Blazers fans can watch national games on NBC. The network plans to air up to 100 regular-season games as part of a new deal signed with the NBA.
