The Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks on Friday announced their broadcast teams for Chicago Sports Network, the new home they’ll share with the White Sox under a partnership with Standard Media Group.
CHSN is scheduled to launch Oct. 1 with a Hawks preseason game at the Minnesota Wild, which also will be streamed on the Hawks website.
The Hawks open the regular season Oct. 8 on the road in the Utah Hockey Club’s debut, which will be televised nationally on ESPN. Their next game, Oct. 11 against the Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba, will air on CHSN.
The network is still hammering out its carriage partners and other broadcast platforms, so how many fans in the Chicago are will find Hawks games — the Bulls’ season starts later — remains up in the air.
But several familiar faces from the Hawks’ and Bulls’ pre- and postgame shows will transition from NBC Sports Chicago, which will cease operations when its contract with the teams expires Sept. 30.
The Bulls’ pre-, halftime and postgame shows will include host Jason Goff, analyst Kendall Gill and sideline reporter and insider K.C. Johnson, a former Bulls beat reporter for the Tribune. Former Bull Will Perdue, who served as studio analyst for NBC Sports Chicago, won’t resume in that role for CHSN.
For the Hawks, Pat Boyle, a Chicago sportscaster for two decades, will be joined by analyst Tony Granato, a former NHL player and coach, and studio contributor and backup analyst Caley Chelios, daughter of Hawks legend Chris Chelios.
“While fans can expect the game call and coverage to stay authentic and honest, CHSN and the Blackhawks will partner to bring behind-the-scenes content and a more cohesive and seamless brand experience between what fans see in arena to what they see at home on the broadcast,” Jerry Ferguson, Hawks executive vice president of marketing, told the Tribune via email.
“Additionally, with today’s news, in one really great way it will also be the same — which is that the incredible broadcast talent that Blackhawks fans have come to know and love will continue to bring Blackhawks games into their homes.”
Boyle added in an emailed statement to the Tribune: “I’m thrilled to be joining CHSN and continuing my role as Blackhawks pre- and postgame host. I get to launch a new network as Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks continue their ascension back to Cup prominence.”
Charlie Roumeliotis, the NBC Sports Chicago Hawks reporter/analyst who served double duty online and on the air, won’t be joining the TV broadcast.
The Hawks will use the relaunch to incorporate more of their prerecorded content, such as “Every Shift.” According to Ferguson, the “Hard Knocks”-style docuseries “has risen to No. 1 (most viewed) in the NHL.”
The Bulls have similar plans to integrate their content.
The teams will share a studio based in the United Center’s East Atrium in the space that had been used by Stadium for shows such as “The Rally.” The Hawks and Bulls will have a host and analyst as the centerpiece of their pre-, halftime and postgame shows.
“Obviously changing stations is a little bit of a hiccup on trying to get everything in order,” Granato told the Tribune. “But I think the new opportunity to go to a new station and have everything inside the United Center is exciting.
“It’s exciting for me to be back with Pat and Caley, which was fun last year all the way through, and I think we’ve got a great working relationship.”
The shows occasionally will invite a special guest as third panelist. Ferguson mentioned celebrity fans, coaches and players as potentially joining the mix.
“That’s a new model that really I haven’t done before,” Gill said of the Bulls show, “but I’m excited to see what it’s like. … Maybe a celebrity with local ties, or if (Bears quarterback) Caleb Williams perhaps came to the game, maybe he sits in the third seat for a segment or two, things like that.
“So you get a different perspective from people from different sports.”
The former Bull and Rich Central High School alumnus has been part of the broadcast team for about 16 years and is grateful to keep his role in his hometown market.
“I just wanted to continue because it’s something that I love to do,” Gill, 56, said. “I’m a huge Chicago Bulls fan, have been ever since I was a kid, and just glad to still be working with the same people.”
Gill and Johnson said they waited anxiously while plans for the new network — and who would be part of the telecasts — were solidified.
“I’ve never once taken for granted the opportunity to cover one team for as long as I have,” said Johnson, who covered the Bulls for 21 years at the Tribune before NBC Sports Chicago recruited him to be one of its team insiders.
“I still love being around the NBA, and everyone kept telling me, ‘Oh, it’s going to work out. It’s going to be fine.’ Well, I don’t take that stuff for granted. So until it was fine, it wasn’t fine. And now that it’s fine, I’m obviously thrilled to be joining the new network.
“I had exactly five years at NBC, five great years. I mean, you’ve seen the people on Twitter that have been saying goodbye to NBC (Sports Chicago). It was a great place to work, and I’m sure this next place will be a great place to work too.”
Granato, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma around Thanksgiving, said he appreciates that the Hawks and NBC Sports Chicago kept the door open to his return. He said after finishing chemotherapy and radiation, doctors confirmed he is in remission and clear to resume “full activities.”
“I feel really good,” Granato said. “Obviously last year was really difficult, but what I appreciate from everybody, at NBC Sports in particular, was that they allowed me to continue to work so I could set the studio up in my basement, still could watch all the games.
“I still felt part of the broadcast team, even though I probably did 20-some games (via Zoom) from Madison, Wisconsin, which really helped me through the treatment and stayed involved and did what I love to do, and that’s be part of the hockey world in some way, shape or form.”
Granato said he’ll still work for the NHL Network and other outlets on occasion, but his schedule on that front is still to be determined.
As for the Hawks, Granato noted “there’s been a lot of changes over the summer” with upgrades to the roster, so he’s looking forward to diving in with his analysis.
“There’s an opportunity here for the organization to take another step in the right direction,” he said. “And to be able to watch it, cheer for it, and be an analyst and be a part of it, it’s going to be exciting.”
