KnightTime Descends on Vegas, Signaling New Sports Media Era
A championship banner isn’t the only thing the Vegas Golden Knights are unveiling this week. After celebrating last season’s Stanley Cup victory during an opening night broadcast on ESPN Tuesday, the Golden Knights will turn toward the future Thursday when the team’s first local broadcast of the regular season will be beamed on Scripps Sports’ Vegas 34 channel, as well as streamed via the team’s new KnightTime+ service.
Vegas is one of several NHL and NBA franchises experimenting with the two-pronged approach as teams search for new strategies following long, fruitful marriages with the cable bundle and regional sports networks. Befitting Sin City, the Golden Knights’ new partnerships came together quickly.
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Serious discussions about the team’s media future began in January, when it became clear that Warner Bros. Discovery would be exiting the RSN business.
“Our approach during this whole process has been to get out in front of it,” Golden Knights CMO Eric Tosi said in an interview. “That was really important to the success in being able to go from where we were in February to where we are now.”
As executives evaluated the landscape this spring, a key priority was expanding access to the game broadcasts. AT&T SportsNet paid the team a reported $13 million annually, but could only deliver feeds to about one third of Vegas’ expansive TV territory. “Every facet of this strategy was to try to get into and reach as many of our consumers as we could,” Tosi said. Reach has been so important to the team that it had even briefly considered going over-the-air for its inaugural season in 2017-18.
With Scripps’ over-the-air option at the core of the offering (old-fashioned antennas, baby!), Golden Knights action will be pushed as far south as Arizona, as far west as California, as far north as Montana and as far east as Nebraska. The channel will also be available in cable and satellite packages. And the streaming service will give fans a digital-first way to watch, though it remains to be seen just how popular that option is.
Golden Knights leaders met with representatives from video platform tech provider ViewLift in July, kicking off a two-month sprint to launch the service before the season. In between, staffers including VP, strategy and innovation, Kristopher Knief got a crash course on what it takes to build a sports streaming service. In particular, the team navigated the various requirements and approval processes to launch on numerous platforms, from Android to Roku. It’s still pushing to expand those options.
“It’s not a project, it’s a completely new business line that we implemented in just over four weeks,” Knief said.
Following market research, the team settled on a $70-per-season price, with a $7-per-game option, and a name—KnightTime+—that diverged from simpler options.
During free preseason broadcasts, behind-the-scenes experts tweaked the streaming workflow to limit lag times and other viewer frustrations. Employees also manually updated the approved list of viewing areas at a zip code level to ensure the right people were able to watch the games.
While the team focused on launching a stable product ahead of the season, updates will continue throughout the year. Alternate broadcast feeds could be trialed. Access to on-demand content and highlights is still being sorted out. Discount offers for season ticket holders and ticket bundle packages including streaming deals will be discussed too.
Teams building their own streaming services get to offer the exact mix of content and experiences that they feel suits their fan base. But it also means, well, having to build their own streaming services.
The biggest test yet will come Thursday when Vegas travels to San Jose. Feedback will surely follow. Could fans find the game? How many opted to watch online? Will they come back two nights later?
When it comes to the long-term prospects for team-owned streaming services, your prediction is as good as mine. They could prove a short-lived folly—too operationally taxing, not worth the trouble compared to a league-wide offering. Or maybe they’ll be the future of fandom, giving franchises a better way to connect with fans and compete for attention in our digital age.
Since launching, employees have heard from peers across the sports landscape asking their own questions: How’d you do it? How’d you do it so quickly? What are the economics like?
“Yes, there are some unknowns and some landmines along the way,” Tosi said, “but there’s a need and a demand for these types of products for our fans, and it’s better to be a first mover and an early adopter to this than to be late to the party.”
For Vegas, KnightTime is now.
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