With the Portland Trail Blazers negotiating a new television contract, speculation that the team will move away from current partner Comcast SportsNet Northwest has been swirling. Sources for The Seattle Times now claim that ROOT Sports Northwest will be the new Blazers TV home. In an article about incoming Trail Blazers television announcer Kevin Calabro, Geoff Baker of the Times drops the following:
Sources say the team will announce within a week or two they'll join Mariners-owned ROOT Sports Northwest on a partnership with enhanced distribution of Blazers games.
The attractive part of ROOT Sports, which the Mariners own 71 percent of, is that DirecTV is a 29 percent minority partner.