The Dallas Mavericks are coming to WFAA – free of charge.
The Mavericks and WFAA parent company TEGNA announced today a multi-year broadcast rights agreement that makes WFAA the team’s official local broadcast partner.
Under the new deal, all non-nationally televised Mavericks games – 70 or more this upcoming season – will be broadcast for free over-the-air on either WFAA (Ch. 8) or the TEGNA-owned KMPX (Ch. 29).
A full schedule will be announced soon, but the coverage begins Oct. 26 with the Mavericks’ game against the Phoenix Suns.
The new deal also brings Mavericks games to TEGNA’s Texas stations in Waco (KCEN and KAGS), Tyler (KYTX), Midland-Odessa (KWES), Abilene (KXVA) and San Angelo (KIDY).
After several seasons of fan frustration regarding local broadcasting rights, the Mavericks opted out of their agreement with Bally Sports last month. With this new agreement in place, the bulk of the Mavericks’ games will now be available to approximately 10 million Texans – nearly tripling the number of households the team’s games can reach across the state.
Fans will be able to watch the WFAA and KMPX games through their streaming provider, or through an HD antenna. (Head here for instructions on how to set up an antenna to watch WFAA and KMPX.
Oh, and WFAA’s coverage of the Mavericks won’t stop at the final buzzer, either. Led by lead sports anchor Joe Trahan, WFAA’s award-winning sports department will regularly take fans behind the scenes with extensive Mavericks coverage all season long.
“We are looking forward to giving Dallas Mavericks fans every opportunity possible to watch our exciting team build on the momentum of its incredible run to the NBA Finals last season,” said Patrick Dumont, governor of the Mavericks. “Our new agreement with TEGNA helps meaningfully deliver on that goal by broadcasting more games to more local homes than in any period in franchise history. Through our new partnership with TEGNA and our expanded relationship with WFAA, more Mavs fans than ever before will be able to watch the team they love.”
WFAA viewers are no strangers to live Mavericks coverage. Last season, WFAA aired a select number of non-national Mavericks games as well as a slate of nationally aired ABC games as the team built toward its thrilling an NBA Finals playoff run. And when the Mavericks did eventually reach the Finals, WFAA was all over that too, providing team coverage of the matchup from the Mavs’ home court at the American Airlines Center, on the road in Boston and even overseas in Luka Doncic’s native Slovenia.
“We are excited to tip off the new season by bringing our games to more MFFLs across Texas,” Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall said. “It was a pleasure working with TEGNA last season to deliver additional viewing experiences for ten games. Building on the overwhelmingly positive feedback received, we look forward to providing millions more Mavs fans access to watch our games throughout the entire season. Stay tuned, and let’s go Mavs!”
Brad Ramsey – WFAA general manager and senior vice president of media operations at TEGNA – called the move “an incredible day for Mavs fans and our partners across Texas.”
“Mavericks fans, our audience and our advertising partners had an unbelievable reaction to the 10 games we made available last season, and we are thrilled to build off of that momentum and make every game, home or away, available to more fans, in more homes,” Ramsey said.
The 15 or more games in the 2024-2025 season that will be simulcast on WFAA in addition to KMPX should be revealed in the coming weeks.
“Our team is passionate about giving our audience great local stories, and this further cements WFAA as the go-to place for live, local sports,” said Carolyn Mungo, WFAA vice president and station manager. “Our team could not be more excited to help take the Mavericks viewership to new heights.”
As part of the agreement, WFAA and TEGNA will lead local and regional advertising and sponsorship sales for all local games. TEGNA will also work with partner broadcast companies to announce additional Texas markets for Mavericks games in the coming days.