{"id":489211,"date":"2026-02-25T08:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/489211\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:04:12","slug":"wnba-nwsl-ink-deals-with-fox-12-plus-in-portland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/489211\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA, NWSL Ink Deals With \u2018FOX 12 Plus\u2019 In Portland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/rbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/iTunespics-169-2-e1548956152451.jpg\" data-caption=\"Tilikum Crossing in Portland, Ore.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/iTunespics-169-2-696x522.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"TILIKUM\"\/><\/a>Tilikum Crossing in Portland, Ore.            <\/p>\n<p>The WNBA\u2019s Portland Fire and NWSL\u2019s Portland Thorns have entered into a joint multi-year media partnership with a broadcast TV station serving Oregon\u2019s largest market branded as \u201cFOX 12 Plus\u201d \u2014 a score for\u00a0Gray Media.<\/p>\n<p>The new pact puts each team\u2019s games on\u00a0KPDX-TV in Portland, Ore., making the over-the-air station the regional broadcast home for the two professional women\u2019s sports teams in the market.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Portland Fire will add a direct-to-consumer opportunity through a new partnership with streaming platform provider Kiswe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe partnerships with Gray and Kiswe represent an important step in continuing to cement Portland as the global epicenter of women\u2019s sports,\u201d said Michael Whitehead, Managing Director of RAJ Sports, which owns the Fire and Thorns. \u201cThese partnerships are designed to put fans and accessibility first and will set a new standard for how women\u2019s sports can be enjoyed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RAJ Sports is owned by Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to ensure all fans have the opportunity to view free over-the-air games and support our local professional athletes,\u201d said Corey Hanson, Gray Local Media\u2019s Portland, Ore. Regional VP\/GM. \u201cFOX 12 Plus is honored to provide the space to highlight women\u2019s sports, giving them the visibility they\u2019ve earned and inspiring the next generation of athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A handful of Portland Fire games will also air on Gray-owned KPTV-12.<\/p>\n<p>Both KPDX and KPTV were acquired by Gray Media in its acquisition of Meredith Local Media.<\/p>\n<p> Lee H. Berke, President\/CEO of LHB Sports, advised RAJ Sports on the agreements with Gray Media.<\/p>\n<p>The Portland Fire\u2019s local TV broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tilikum Crossing in Portland, Ore. The WNBA\u2019s Portland Fire and NWSL\u2019s Portland Thorns have entered into a joint&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[40496,99,224592,224591,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-489211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-gray-media","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tv-cable-news","11":"tag-tv4","12":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}