The E.W. Scripps Company is looking to establish itself as a significant player in the sports media business with the launch of its new sports division, Scripps Sports.
Scripps Sports will further leverage the company’s local station portfolio and national broadcast reach for media partnerships with sports leagues, conferences, and teams.
“There is no better way to reach every generation of sports fan than through live broadcast television,” Scripps president and CEO Adam Symson said in a statement. “Scripps is working with the leagues and teams that recognize the role our assets can play in increasing reach and visibility for audience engagement.
Symson has appointed longtime Scripps’ Local Media head Brian Lawlor president of Scripps Sports.
“Brian Lawlor is a highly regarded broadcast executive who has transformed our local media business – building the division from 10 TV stations in 2009 to 61 today,” Symson added. “For the last year, he has already been leading the Scripps sports plan, bringing the same commitment to entrepreneurship and creativity for the company.”
Scripps’ sports portfolio includes local market rights for the National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, National Women’s Soccer League, and multiple college sports rights, including several Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Big Sky Conference.
With its purchase of ION Media and its affiliate stations in 2020, Scripps now boasts 61 affiliates across the country — important as it bids for media rights to air on ION Media platforms.
“Sports is one of the most important content genres in television, with its consistently large and dedicated audiences,” Lawlor said in a statement. “But the sports viewing marketplace has become extremely fragmented. Cable subscriptions are down, and regional sports networks are challenged, keeping fans from watching their home teams. Between our vast number of local stations and ION, a national network that can be customized in many markets, we believe Scripps is positioned to widely showcase leagues and players that are currently limited by aging distribution deals.”
The E.W. Scripps Company is also the parent company of the free over-the-air news network, Newsy, which will relaunch to Scripps News beginning Jan. 1, 2023. The name change reflects the combination of Newsy, Scripps Washington D.C. Bureau, and Local Media national news desk to form a national news division.