FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — On Sunday, in pouring rain and nearby thunder and lightning, hundreds of thousands of fans came to the beach to celebrate the first-ever Stanley Cup championship for their local National Hockey League team.
Many of them suffered through a season marred by a carriage dispute between the cable TV channel they called home and Comcast’s Xfinity system. With the 2024-2025 season, that problem will be erased, as the Florida Panthers are moving their games from Bally Sports to local TV channels in three DMAs.
It’s thanks to a just-announced deal with Scripps Sports, the enterprise within The E.W. Scripps Co. helmed by Brian Lawlor.
The deal marks the third to involve an NHL franchise and, interestingly, to involve back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. Scripps has a deal with the 2022-2023 champions, the Las Vegas Golden Knights; and the NHL’s Utah hockey team that formerly played as the Arizona Coyotes.
“The Florida Panthers are the best team in the NHL, and their fans deserve to be able to see all of their games on every available broadcast platform, including free over-the-air,” Lawlor, who serves as Scripps Sports President and previously had oversight of the company’s broadcast TV properties. “When the Stanley Cup champions take the ice in October, Scripps Sports will be proud to bring all locally broadcast games to all the Panthers fans in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers using our powerful over-the-air TV stations.”
In Miami/Fort Lauderdale, all locally produced games will air on WSFL-39, which will be dropping The CW Network; Nexstar Media Group has not announced where it is moving to, although it opted not to renew any affiliates owned by Scripps.
In the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Vero Beach DMA, all locally produced games will air on WHDT-TV, recently rebranded as “South Florida’s 9.”
In the Fort Myers-Naples market, where the Kelly Cup Champion Florida Everblades minor league hockey team just concluded its affiliation with the Panthers, a decision on where to place the NHL franchise’s games is yet to be announced. Scripps owns FOX affiliate WFTX-36, largely found on cable channel 4 across the DMA.
With league approval, this gives Scripps Sports the power to televise all pre-season, regular-season and first-round playoff games. Financial terms of the deal will not be disclosed, Scripps said.
In a post on X [formerly Twitter], Bally Sports Florida said, “Today marks the end of our Panthers coverage on Bally Sports Florida. We want to thank all of the Panthers fans for their loyal viewership over the years.”
Florida Panthers President/CEO Matthew Caldwell commented, “After back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances and celebrating 30 years of Panthers Hockey in South Florida, we could not be more excited about the future of our hockey team. Scripps’ distribution network and
accessibility makes them the ideal partner to stream and carry Panthers content on and off the ice. Panthers content will be available for free over the air and we are thrilled
about the new homes this will reach as we continue to grow our great sport.”
Scripps Sports and the Panthers will also launch a team-branded direct-to-consumer application, with details to be announced prior to the start of the 2024-2025 season. The forthcoming direct-to-consumer application will be the destination for live streaming of all Scripps Sports-produced games throughout the team’s territory in South Florida.
