The Portland Trail Blazers have released their full 2024 schedule and, unsurprisingly, the NBA gave them one primetime game on the networks of ESPN and TNT: the Tuesday, Jan. 28 contest against Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Combine that with three NBA TV games (Dec. 26 vs. Utah, Mar. 2 @ Cleveland, Mar. 30 @ New York), and barring a run through the NBA Cup, you’re left with 78 games that will be broadcast by the Blazers’ local broadcast partner.
As of Wednesday, however, reported by Danny Marang on the Jacked Ramsays podcast, the Blazers announced that they will no longer air games on ROOT Sports, ending their partnership one year before the original end of their contract. They still thanked ROOT for their years of partnership, and stated that “an exciting announcement on the future television home of Blazers basketball will be made soon.”
Good Riddance to ROOT
This news comes overall as an excitement to Blazer fans.
ROOT Sports had been largely inaccessible to many fans in the Pacific Northwest. It has largely been a service that prioritized all of its Seattle teams more than the Blazers ever since the two began their partnership in 2021.
Three months ago, the Seattle Kraken announced their official departure from ROOT. Replies in all forms of posts, including on Reddit, were clamoring for the Blazers to follow suit.
The Kraken are one of a handful of teams leading the charge to switch to “over-the-air” streaming options. Over-the-air streaming incorporates games into free television networks that, while sacrificing guaranteed rights fees as a bottom-dollar option, brings in many more fans, generating more team interest and overall customers.
The Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz are two NBA teams who went with this model last season. The Suns’ local TV ratings nearly doubled from the previous year. The thinking is that the Blazers will also move to over-the-air streaming, and the decision couldn’t come at a better time.
While this upcoming season will more likely than not still be one of rebuilding, fans and management should be aligned in the fact that this is the last season where either will be content with tanking. As the Blazers get ready for a push towards relevancy and, hopefully, eventual legitimate title aspirations, rounding up as many fans — particularly younger ones — as possible should be a goal at the forefront of their long-term plans.
2024-25 Schedule Breakdown
Ideally, the 78 local games of the 2024-25 Blazers season should be free and easy to access for anyone living in the PNW next year. Those games include:
- Five ‘baseball series’ spots where the Blazers play the same team in back-to-back games
- These occur against New Orleans (Oct. 25-27), Minnesota (Nov. 12-13 with a third game against the Timberwolves four days prior), Houston (Nov. 22-23), Phoenix (Feb. 1-3) and Denver (Feb. 10-12)
- A seven-game road trip that ends with games against Philadelphia, Boston and Oklahoma City
- The home opener against Golden State on Oct. 23
- 17 of the first 18 games coming against Western Conference teams
The Blazers’ NBA Cup games in Group A fall on the following dates:
- Nov. 12 vs. Minnesota
- Nov. 22 vs. Houston
- Nov. 29 vs. Sacramento
- Dec. 3 vs. LA Clippers
The beginning of Portland’s season will be telling of where they stand in the West. With so many games against their conference foes, if the Blazers can hold their own through November, then maybe they’ll be able to make something of the upcoming campaign.
But most importantly, local fans moving forward will have a much easier time watching them play, win or lose. The next generation of Blazer players is shaping up quite nicely, so it’s fitting that the next generation of Blazer fans follow suit.
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