 | |
| Network | WGN-TV (1948–2022) WGN America (1978–2014) |
|---|---|
| Launched | April 23, 1948 |
| Closed | October 9, 2022 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | |
| Key people | Paul Rennie (president/general manager, WGN-TV) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Major broadcasting contracts |
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| Formerly known as | WGN-TV Sports (1948–1993) |
| Format | Sports |
| Original language(s) | English |
WGN Sports (originally known as WGN-TV Sports from 1948 to 1993) was the programming division of WGN-TV (channel 9), an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States—which is owned by the Nexstar Media Group—that was responsible for all sports broadcasts on the station, some of which were previously also broadcast on its former national superstation feed, WGN America (now news and entertainment channel NewsNation).
At various points between the station's founding in 1948 until 2019, WGN Sports produced telecasts from several of Chicago's major professional sports teams, most notably the Chicago Cubs (MLB), Chicago White Sox (MLB), Chicago Bulls (NBA) and Chicago Blackhawks (NHL). Since the inception of the sports programming unit, the station had produced ancillary pre-game and post-game shows for most of its sporting events, including The Lead-Off Man (pre-game) and The Tenth Inning (post-game) for its Cubs and White Sox baseball telecasts and BullsEye for its telecasts of Bulls basketball games. In addition to those shown over WGN-TV within the Chicago market, game telecasts produced by the station were also syndicated to television stations in other parts of Illinois as well as portions of Indiana and Iowa that are within the respective broadcast territories of the contracted teams.
WGN-TV wound down its broadcasts of team-based sports programming between March and September 2019, beginning with the conclusion of Bulls and Blackhawks game coverage that spring, as the four professional teams prepared to make their game telecasts cable-exclusive (with the Cubs planning to move their telecasts to Marquee Sports Network upon its launch on February 22, 2020, and the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox relegating their local television broadcasts to existing regional sports network partner NBC Sports Chicago beginning with the Bulls' 2019–20 preseason schedule), thereby ending the Chicago market's distinction as the only remaining American media market to regularly offer over-the-air telecasts of sporting events from NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball teams. Amidst this hiatus, in February 2020, Chicago Fire FC (MLS) announced a multi-year agreement with WGN-TV to transfer their over-the-air telecasts to the station beginning with its 2020 season, returning regular sporting events to the station after a seven-month lag.[1] WGN-TV's final sports broadcast was the October 9 matchup between the Fire and the New England Revolution, as a result of Apple TV reaching an exclusive 10-year worldwide broadcast deal with MLS.[2]
- ^ "WGN-TV to air 24 Chicago Fire Football Club games in landmark multi-year broadcast agreement". WGN-TV. Nexstar Media Group. February 19, 2020.
- ^ Jeff Agrest (June 16, 2022). "WGN loses Fire as MLS moves games to Apple". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago Public Media. Retrieved October 1, 2022.