Bally Sports Midwest. FanDuel Sports Midwest. Joe鈥檚 Pizza Joint Midwest.
Play-by-play announcer John Kelly, left, and analyst Jamie Rivers call a game from Pittsburgh on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, for Bally Sports Midwest.
Whatever the entity that has been the longtime Blues and Cardinals telecaster ends up being named, multiple sources told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday that the core Blues broadcast team is returning.
The club鈥檚 regular-season schedule begins on Tuesday, but as of Thursday afternoon 鈥 five days before the puck drops in a game that counts 鈥 there has been no official announcement about the team鈥檚 local television plans. That鈥檚 despite a federal bankruptcy judge in Houston last month approving a plan by Diamond Sports Group, parent company of Blues telecaster Bally Sports Midwest, that keeps its deal in place to televise the Note plus eight other NHL teams.
鈥淲e look forward to returning to Bally Sports for our regular season and first-round playoff broadcasts in 2024-25,鈥 Blues CEO Chris Zimmerman recently said, adding that the club is 鈥減rogressing towards being able to share full local broadcast details with our fans in advance of the regular season.鈥
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That information still has not been announced, but multiple sources said the lineup again will feature John Kelly on play-by-play and Jamie Rivers providing commentary, with Bernie Federko, Andy Strickland, Scott Warmann, Alexa Datt as well as Joey Vitale in key support roles.
The long wait in announcing the TV lineup is highly unusual. But so is the situation with BSM owner Diamond, which has created a maze of bankruptcy uncertainty for the NHL, MLB and NBA teams in its portfolio for more than a year 鈥 including the surprise announcement this week that it could drop its Cardinals telecasts next season.
Name game
The reason for the delay with the Blues鈥 TV announcement, sources said, is because of uncertainty over what the network will be called. It switched from Fox Sports Midwest to Bally Sports Midwest about 3陆 years ago, selling the name to casino operator Bally鈥檚 Corp. with the idea to cash in on the growing sports-betting market.
But that deal is ending, and multiple reports say that sports betting behemoth FanDuel is poised to pay to have the Diamond regionals rebranded in that company鈥檚 name.
What now is BSM also retains the Blues鈥 streaming rights, which will be available without an extra fee to those who subscribe to a service that carries the network. The package also can be purchased 脿 la carte by those who do not, .
Many of the team鈥檚 exhibition games are being streamed by Victory+, a free direct-to-consumer service that the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks plan to use extensively this season. A source said the Blues鈥 foray with it has been experimental, with positive results.
- There also is no change to the Blues鈥 radio lineup, with Chris Kerber (play-by-play), Vitale (analysis) and Alex Ferrario (studio host) back. All games again will be carried on WXOS (101.1 FM).
Getting started
The Blues鈥 first two games will be national network exclusives, so it鈥檚 still a while until the first locally produced telecast 鈥 Friday, Oct. 11 from Las Vegas.
The club plays in the league鈥檚 first game of the regular season, on Tuesday in Seattle, at the unconventional weekday start time of 3:30 p.m. (最新杏吧原创 time). It鈥檚 part of an opening day tripleheader to be shown on ESPN, a game to be followed by Boston-Florida at 6 p.m. and Chicago-Utah at 9. The nightcap will be the regular-season debut of the Utah Hockey Club, formerly the Arizona Coyotes.
It should be a busy day for Ray Ferraro, who finished his 18-season NHL playing career by being in 15 games for the Blues in the 2001-02 campaign. He鈥檚 set to serve as ESPN鈥檚 analyst for the game in Seattle, then fly to Salt Lake City to fill the same role for the network there that night.
The Blues鈥 second game, on Thursday in San Jose, is to be exclusively streamed by ESPN+ and Hulu. After their local-TV debut the next night in Vegas, they return to ESPN for their home opener 鈥 at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, against Minnesota. That ends a run of national exclusives for more than a month.
Here are the broadcaster assignments for the first three national productions:
Tuesday vs. Seattle, ESPN: Mike Monaco (play-by-play), Ray Ferraro (analyst), Stormy Buonantony (reporter), Dave Jackson (rules analyst).
Thursday vs. San Jose, ESPN+, Hulu: Monaco (play-by-play), Cassie Campbell-Pascall (analyst), Jackson (rules analyst).
Oct. 15 vs. Minnesota, ESPN: Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), AJ Mlezcko (analyst), Emily Kaplan (reporter), Jackson (rules analyst).
