Cleveland minor league sports teams will get their moment in the spotlight with the launch of the Rock Entertainment Sports Network, a partnership between Gray Media, owner of WOIO (Channel 19) and WUAB (Channel 43) and the Rock Entertainment Group .
REG owns the American Hockey League Lake Erie Monsters and the NBA G-League Cleveland Charge. The network, which will air 24 hours daily in the Cleveland and Cincinnati metro areas, will be the over-the-air home to those teams and will eventually include streaming.
Cincinnati will receive the base feed and have the ability to substitute local programming when available, said David Hughes, vice president and general manager for WUAB.
The channel will also feature games from the Frontier League’s Laker Erie Crushers and games from St. Edward High School. It will air on sub-channel 22.1 with the intent to eventually land on cable systems throughout the area.
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“Our fans are the lifeblood of Rock Entertainment Group. We are constantly looking for ways to evolve the opportunities our fans have to engage with all sports across our region and state. From our dynamic college and professional teams to our semiprofessional and high school sports, passion, pride and our commitment to delivering world class experiences via these sports is deeply ingrained in our culture,” said Nic Barlage, Rock Entertainment Group and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse CEO.
Additional programming will include programming from other local college, high school and pro teams.
Is this is a potential backup for Cleveland Cavaliers broadcasts?
That last item could represent nothing or something significant in the future.
With the fate of the Diamond Sports Group, which operates the two Bally Sports regional sports networks in Northeast Ohio, still up in the air due to bankruptcy proceedings in a federal courthouse in Houston, the fate of local broadcasts could hang in the balance.
Although Diamond is reportedly on the cusp of deals with the NBA and NHL that will allow them to emerge from bankruptcy as a viable home for those league’s teams.
This move from Rock could allow the establishment of the infrastructure needed to transition to creating programming for a team like the Cavs along with game broadcasts.
"All I can tell you on that is that they currently are under contract and their rights are not available," Hughes said. "And what I can tell you from my standpoint is that it is my goal and it's great Media's goal for this network to be the place for sports and the state of Ohio. And we've started out with four different teams and we are excited about aggressively expanding that. And this is just the beginning of this network is going to be, at least that's what we hope."
Gray Media already airs games of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. They also produced some Cavs games this past season.
The Peachtree Network serves as a model
They established the model for what they could do with the Peachtree Sports Network in Georgia, which has live games and programming surrounding a number of Alanta’s pro and high school teams, including the Atlanta Hawks and the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. They established the channel last fall.
Where this is different, Hughes said, is the partnership with Rock Entertainment. Gray is the principal with the Peachtree Network.
The passion for sports from Nic Barlage, CEO for Rock Entertainmen t, the Cavs and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, led to it.
“And we said, ‘Hey, is there a unique partnership that we can form where we will use both of our assets?’ This was the idea that we came up with and I think there's the potential of us together doing something very special.”
More Northeast Ohio high school football is possible
The appearance of St. Edward in initial programming does not mean that their programs will be the only source of high school programming.
In that realm, Hughes senses a significant opportunity simply because of the nature of high school football fandom in Northeast Ohio.
“People love their football in this community and a part of the reason is because we have some amazing talent that comes out of this area,” Hughes said. “And I think that that's why we see the success of our high school teams. I think that's why we see the success of universities like Ohio State and it starts with the passion of the fans.”
He said he prefers that programming in that area go beyond just game-of-the-week coverage.
“We are starting with 10 games from St Ed's, but I hope that we will have many more games outside of that,” he said, “and we are going to be actively talking to athletics, directors, coaches and boosters over the next several weeks to see what we can line up.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Rock Entertainment, Gray Media partner for regional sports network. Could it replace Bally?
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