Groundbreaking deal makes over-the-air stations 3TV and Arizona’s Family 44
the Mercury’s over-the-air TV home
PHOENIX Following a league-best 10th consecutive playoff appearance, the three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury today announced the team’s 2023 local broadcast schedule. Last week, the Mercury announced a transformative partnership with Gray Television, Inc. and Kiswe to deliver 100 percent of the team’s non-nationally televised games via over-the-air television and streaming. Under the new deal, Mercury games will be available to nearly 2.8 million households in Arizona, more than tripling the number of homes the Mercury can reach.
Gray Television’s local networks, KTVK (Arizona’s Family 3TV) and the statewide KPHE (AZ Family Sports Network 44), will provide coverage for all 28 regular season games eligible for local broadcast. The remaining 12 games will be on ESPN (4), CBS (2) and ION (6). In April, the WNBA and Scripps signed a multiyear deal to televise all Friday night regular season games on ION.
With the new Kiswe partnership, fans can access all Mercury games through a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming option alongside the over-the-air broadcast product through a Mercury-branded app on their smartphones or Smart TVs. The app, which will be available for free this season, will launch in the coming weeks.
Basketball legend and Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale returns as analyst for all Mercury broadcasts alongside the team’s second-year play-by-play voice Cindy Brunson.
The Mercury’s first two games of the season, the return and home debut of Brittney Griner, will be broadcast to a national audience on ESPN, first on Friday, May 19 against the Sparks in Los Angeles, and hosting the Chicago Sky on Sunday, May 21 at Footprint Center for the Fry’s Food Stores Welcome Home Opener. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The 2023 regular season slate will see the Mercury play 40 games in 115 days, 20 at home and 20 on the road, with no back-to-back games. The WNBA’s balanced schedule has Phoenix playing seven teams four times (Dallas, Indiana, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Seattle and Washington) and four teams three times (Atlanta, Chicago, Connecticut and New York).
Tickets for the Fry’s Food Stores Welcome Home Opener are available now at PhoenixMercury.com/Tickets.
Note: Dates, times and programming are subject to change.