A new partnership between Gray Media, the Portland Fire, and Portland Thorns will create the first women’s sports-focused regional sports network.
Gray Media announced a broadcast agreement with the Fire and the Thorns in February. The Fire are entering their inaugural season in the WNBA, while the Thorns are in their 14th season in the NWSL.
The original plan was for Fire and Thorns games to air on “Fox 12 Plus,” branding that has been in use for the over-the-air station KPDX since 2018. But now, Gray Media and RAJ Sports, which owns the Fire and Thorns, are partnering to rebrand KPDX as “Rose City SportsNet.”
KPDX will become a 24/7 sports-focused channel, with the Fire and Thorns serving as the flagship properties. While Gray and RAJ are positioning the network as women’s-focused, other sports will air on the network as well.
As for why, Lisa Bhathal Merage, the Governor of the Portland Fire and Portland Thorns, said, “There is undeniable demand for women’s sports, and for too long, access hasn’t kept pace with that growth.”
For antenna users, the network is available on channel 49 in the Portland area. It will also be available on local cable systems. Additionally, Fire games will be available through a direct-to-consumer streaming service that costs $5.99 a month.
This is the 16th over-the-air regional sports network that Gray Media has launched since 2022. Many of these networks feature less-watched sports, such as college hockey and Minor League Baseball. While the Thorns are the first NWSL team to reach a deal with Gray, the Fire are not the first WNBA team. Gray also holds the exclusive local rights to the Phoenix Mercury on Arizona’s Family Sports and the Atlanta Dream on Peachtree Sports Network.
These over-the-air regional sports networks are relatively new for Gray Media, and it remains to be seen whether they can succeed long term. Past cable-focused regional sports networks, which made money through carriage fees from cable and satellite distributors, have focused on NBA, MLB, and NHL teams as their centerpieces.
But with the NBA and MLB likely moving toward nationalized, streaming-heavy models, leagues like the NHL, WNBA, and NWSL could become the centerpiece of these networks. E. W. Scripps Company, a competitor to Gray Media, has launched several similar over-the-air networks focused on the NHL.
These networks can be accessed with just a $20 antenna or basic cable, making them more accessible than a fully streaming-based model. If they succeed, they could provide a significant boon for these less-watched leagues.
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