ROOT SPORTS Northwest (stylized as ROOT SPORTS Northwest) is an American

regional sports network In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region. ...

owned as a 60/40

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

and

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...

respectively, the latter of which operates it through its sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet chain of regional networks and as an affiliate of

Bally Sports The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios. The naming rights to the network ...

. Headquartered near

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in the city of

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as ...

, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Seattle and Portland. It is available on

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

providers throughout

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

and nationwide on

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

via

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

History

ROOT SPORTS Northwest was launched in late 1988 as Northwest Cable Sports, by

Tele-Communications Inc. Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone. The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Co ...

and Viacom. Early programming included games from

and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Universities and Tacoma Stars soccer games. By 1989, it affiliated with the newly formed

Prime Sports Network Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, ope ...

and was rebranded Prime Sports Northwest. In 1996,

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

, which formed a sports division for the Fox network two years earlier after it obtained the broadcast rights to the National Football Conference and sought to create a group of regional sports networks, acquired a 50% interest in the Prime Network from Liberty. Later that year on November 1, News Corporation and Liberty Media relaunched the Prime Network affiliates as part of the new

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

group, with the Seattle-based network officially rebranding as Fox Sports Northwest. The channel was rebranded as Fox Sports Net Northwest in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner. Subsequently, in 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN Northwest, through the networks' de-emphasis of the "Fox Sports Net" brand. On December 22, 2006, News Corporation sold its interest in FSN Northwest and sister networks

FSN Utah Root Sports Utah was an American regional sports network that was owned by the AT&T Sports Networks subsidiary of AT&T Inc., as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks and is an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. Headquartered in Salt Lake ...

, FSN Pittsburgh and FSN Rocky Mountain to Liberty Media, in an asset trade in which News Corporation also 16.3% traded its 38.5% ownership stake in satellite provider

for $550 million in cash and stock, in exchange for Liberty Media's stake in the company. On May 4, 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced it would become a part of Liberty's entertainment unit, part of which would then be spun off into the separate company under the DirecTV name, in a deal in which Liberty would increase its share in DirecTV from 48% to 54%, with Liberty owner

John Malone John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, landowner and philanthropist. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, for twenty-four years from 1973 to 1996. ...

and his family owning a 24% interest. DirecTV would operate its newly acquired FSN-affiliated networks through DirecTV Sports Networks, a new division formed when the split off from Liberty Media was completed on November 19, 2009. On December 17, 2010, DirecTV Sports Networks announced that its four Fox Sports Networks-affiliated regional outlets would be relaunched under the " Root Sports" brand. The network officially rebranded as ''Root Sports Northwest'' on April 1, 2011, with ''

The Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and indepe ...

'' as the first program under the new Root Sports branding. For nominal purposes, the Root Sports networks continued to carry programming distributed mainly to the Fox Sports regional networks to provide supplementary sports and entertainment programming. In April 2013, the Seattle Mariners announced that they would acquire controlling interest in Root Sports Northwest, as part of a long-term extension of its contract with the team through the 2030 season. DirecTV remained a minority stakeholder and controlling partner, and the network continued to operate under the Root Sports brand. DirecTV was subsequently acquired by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

; on July 14, 2017, its sister networks were re-branded as AT&T SportsNet. Root Sports Northwest did not adopt the AT&T SportsNet brand, likely because AT&T is not the majority owner of the service. Nonetheless, Root Sports still introduced a rebranded version of AT&T SportsNet's new on-air graphics. Ahead of their 2021–22 seasons, Root Sports Northwest acquired the regional rights to both the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

of the NBA, and the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

–a new NHL expansion franchise which began play that season. In October 2021, Root Sports added an overflow channel, known as Root Sports Plus, to avoid scheduling conflicts with the Mariners, Kraken, and Blazers. Also that month, Root Sports, along with sister networks AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, and AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, was removed from Dish Network satellite and Sling streaming TV services.

Programming

Seattle Mariners

Root Sports holds the regional television rights to the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, producing and televising over 150 live regular season games (out of 162 total), along with 30+ minute pregame and post-game shows that air before and after all telecasts produced by the network. Other Mariners programming on the network includes live Spring Training games, ''Mariners All Access'', which includes both weekly editions during the regular season and several other in-season and off-season specials each year, and ''Mariners Mondays'', a three-hour weekly program that airs during the winter months that highlights memorable games and moments from the past season. Prime Sports Network began Mariners' broadcasts in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, with sixteen of the scheduled 88 televised games; the remainder were on

KSTW KSTW (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area as an affiliate of The CW. Owned by the CBS News and Stations group, the station maintains studios on East Madison Street in Seat ...

. A players' strike eliminated the last quarter of the season and the first several weeks of the season.

Seattle Kraken

Root Sports holds the regional television rights to the

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. Root Sports was announced as the team's inaugural regional television partner on January 26, 2021.

Portland Trail Blazers

The

of the NBA reached an agreement to carry games on Fox Sports Net Northwest beginning in the 2002-03 season, replacing the unpopular BlazerVision pay-per-views and team-run Action Sports Cable Network. This lasted until 2007, when the team signed with Comcast SportsNet Northwest (now NBC Sports Northwest). When the Trail Blazers' contract was up for renewal in 2016, Root Sports outbid NBC Sports Northwest for the rights through the 2020–21 season. However, the team declined and renewed with NBC Sports Northwest instead, as Root Sports could not guarantee a carriage agreement with Comcast (NBCSNW's parent company). In June 2021, it was announced that Root Sports had acquired the regional television rights to the Trail Blazers beginning in the 2021–22 season; the network's wider carriage, especially on streaming services and satellite, in comparison to NBCSNW was a factor in the acquisition. The timing of the deal was bad as Dish Network dropped all AT&T Sports Networks, including Root Sports, just before the start of the season on September 30. All Trail Blazers telecasts are produced in-house by the team.

Seattle Seahawks

ROOT SPORTS carries shoulder programming for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, airing head coach

Pete Carroll Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American football coach who is the head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head football coach at USC from ...

's weekly press conference, branded as ''Seahawks Press Pass'', and the team's weekly magazine program, ''Seahawks All Access.''

Utah Jazz and Vegas Golden Knights

In Idaho and Montana only, ROOT SPORTS carries

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

and

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expa ...

games and related programming produced by sister-network

AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain is an American regional sports network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks, and is an affiliate of Bally Sports. Headquartered in Denver, Colorad ...

on cable providers. DirecTV and streaming providers have access to those games by tuning to AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain. Due to territory rights, neither Portland Trail Blazers nor Seattle Kraken games will air in these areas of Idaho and Montana.

Teams by media market

Collegiate programming

In the winter, the network home to West Coast Conference basketball. Local WCC coverage is primarily focused on the Gonzaga Bulldogs and

Portland Pilots The Portland Pilots is the nickname for athletics at the University of Portland. The Pilots compete in the West Coast Conference (WCC) at the NCAA Division I level. History The Pilots started to gain attention when Clive Charles began coachi ...

, and includes both live games and ''The

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines through ...

Show'', a weekly coaches' show for Gonzaga men's basketball. The network also airs ''Talkin' Ducks'' and ''Talkin' Beavers'', insider programs featuring the teams of

and

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, respectively.

Former programming

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

basketball until the NBA franchise relocated to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

(as the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

) in 2008 * WNBA games from the Seattle Storm, before those games moved over-the-air to former sister television station KING-TV (on its 5.2 digital subchannel) and

KONG-TV KONG (channel 16) is an independent television station licensed to Everett, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate KING-TV (channel 5). Both stations share studios at the Home Pla ...

* Athletic events from the Pac-12 conference (most often featuring

, Oregon, or Oregon State) until those were moved to the Pac-12 Network in 2012 and

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

in 2013. * Seattle Seahawks preseason football games * Seattle University Redhawks men's basketball *

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

football and basketball * The

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(2008-2015) * Seattle Sounders FC and Portland Timbers soccer matches, full game replays, studio and insider programming (currently airs on Apple TV) *

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

football (now aired by Scripps TV affiliates) * Seattle Redhawks men's basketball *

Great Northwest Athletic Conference The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It has historically operated in the northwestern United States, but al ...

men's and women's basketball *

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

football and men's basketball *

Washington Interscholastic Activities Association The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) is the governing body of athletics and activities for secondary education schools in the state of Washington. As of February 2011, the private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization consists ...

football and basketball, including championship games *

Oregon School Activities Association The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) is a non-profit, board-governed organization that regulates high school athletics and competitive activities via athletic conferences in the U.S. state of Oregon, providing equitable competition amo ...

high school football championships

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball/WCC basketball

* Greg Heister – Gonzaga and WCC basketball play-by-play * Dan Dickau – Gonzaga and WCC basketball color commentator * Richard Fox – Gonzaga and WCC basketball color commentator * Francis Williams – college basketball color commentator and studio analyst

Portland Trail Blazers

Kevin Calabro Kevin Paul Calabro (born June 27, 1956) is an American sportscaster based in Seattle, Washington. The longtime voice of the former Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise, Calabro has primarily called NBA basketball but has also announced collegiate fo ...

– Trail Blazers play-by-play *Lamar Hurd – Trail Blazers color commentator * Brooke Olzendam – Trail Blazers sideline reporter

Seattle Kraken

* John Forslund – Kraken play-by-play * J. T. Brown – Kraken color commentator * Eddie Olczyk – Kraken color commentator * Jen Mueller – Kraken ice-level reporter * Piper Shaw – Kraken fill-in ice level reporter * Ross Fletcher - Kraken studio host *

Alison Lukan Alison Lukan is an American ice hockey broadcaster and sportswriter. She is currently an analyst on Root Sports Northwest for the Seattle Kraken. Lukan has previously written for ''The Athletic'' about the Columbus Blue Jackets and about Ohio Stat ...

– Kraken studio analyst * Nick Olczyk – Kraken studio analyst

Seattle Mariners

* Brad Adam – Mariners pre-game and post-game host, basketball play-by-play, studio host and sideline reporter (2000–present) * Aaron Goldsmith – Mariners play-by-play announcer (2016–present) (currently he is the secondary Mariners Radio play-by-play announcer for Mariners Radio Network since 2013) * Rick Rizzs – Mariners play-by-play announcer (currently he is the lead Mariners Radio play-by-play announcer for Mariners Radio Network since 2011) * Dave Sims – Mariners baseball play-by-play (2007–present) * Mike Blowers – Mariners baseball analyst (2007–present) * Dave Valle – Mariners baseball analyst (2010–present) * Ryan Rowland-Smith – Mariners studio analyst * Jen Mueller – host of ''Mariners All Access'' and sideline reporter (2007–present) * Bill Krueger – senior baseball analyst (2000–present)

Others

* Angie Mentink – host of many of the network's magazine show and a sideline reporter (1999–present) *

Warren Moon Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played professionally for 23 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Houston Oilers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Edmonton ...

– host of ''Seahawks All Access'' (2003–present) * Tom Glasgow – football and basketball play-by-play (2008–present) * Jason Stiles – football analyst (2006–present) * Taylor Barton – college football color commentator and studio analyst

Former on-air staff

Shaun Alexander Shaun Edward Alexander (born August 30, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the ...

– host of ''The Shaun Alexander Show'' (2002–2004) * Cara Capuano – anchor/reporter (2004–2008) * Brian Davis – NBA host (2004–2008, now Oklahoma City Thunder play-by-play announcer for

Fox Sports Oklahoma Bally Sports Oklahoma is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel provides statewide ...

) * Jason Gesser – football analyst and contributor for ''Cougars All Access'' (2009–2011) *

Dave Niehaus David Arnold Niehaus (February 19, 1935 – November 10, 2010) was an American sportscaster. He was the lead play-by-play announcer for the American League's Seattle Mariners from their inaugural season in until his death after the 2010 season. I ...

– Mariners play-by-play announcer (died on November 10, 2010) * Don Poier – play-by-play announcer (died on January 21, 2005) * Kerry Sayers – anchor/reporter (2002–2004, now at

WSCR WSCR (670 AM) – branded as 670 The Score – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, servicing the Chicago metropolitan area and much of surrounding Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and parts of the Milwa ...

and

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) * John Strong – Portland Timbers play-by-play (2007–2013) *

Mack Strong Mack Carlington Strong (born September 11, 1971) is a former American football player who was a fullback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. After playing college football for the University of Georgia, ...

– college football analyst and host of ''Mack Strong: Seahawks Insider'' (2008–2011) * Sonny Sixkiller – college football analyst *

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...

– NBA expert and college basketball analyst (2006–2013) * Nicole Zaloumis – sideline reporter (2008–2010, now with

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

) * Vinnie Richichi – Mariners sideline reporter

Portland Timbers

* Jake Zivin – Timbers play-by-play, host of ''Timbers in 30'' * Ross Smith – Timbers color commentator * Nat Borchers – Timbers color commentator * Samantha Yarock – Timbers sideline reporter

Seattle Sounders

* Keith Costigan – Sounders FC play-by-play * Matt Johnson – Sounders FC play-by-play *

Kasey Keller Kasey C. Keller (born November 29, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played in Europe and the United States, as well as being the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. national team. He is a four-time FIFA World Cup partici ...

– Sounders FC color commentator * Steve Spanish – Sounders FC color commentator

Carriage

On September 30, 2021, Dish Network's carriage agreements for Root Sports Northwest, and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh and Rocky Mountain expired.

References

External links

* {{U.S. regional sports networks Cable television in the United States AT&T SportsNet Fox Sports Prime Sports Fox Sports Networks Television channels and stations established in 1988 1988 establishments in Washington (state) Bally Sports Turner Sports