On November 16, 2015, in an interview with
WSCR radio, the Cubs' president of business operations Crane Kenney stated that the team was seeking to launch its own in-house regional sports network after its current broadcast contracts with
NBC Sports Chicago,
WGN Sports, and
WLS-TV expire after the
2019 season.[2][3][4]
On December 18, 2018, it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that the team was preparing to launch its RSN, "Marquee", in 2020, and that
Sinclair Broadcast Group was a frontrunner to serve as managing partner.[5] Sinclair had previously attempted to purchase WGN's parent company
Tribune Media, and ran the national sports network
Stadium with the White Sox's investment arm
Silver Chalice, prior to selling its stake to Silver Chalice in 2023. The venture was officially announced in February 2019 to be launched in 2020 with Sinclair.[6][7]
On May 22, 2019, Michael McCarthy was named general manager of the Marquee Sports Network after being the Cubs' consultant on the channel.[8] He is the former president of the
MSG Network[8] and a former top official with the
Milwaukee Bucks (
COO) and the
St. Louis Blues (vice chairman).[9]
On August 22, 2019, a consortium of Sinclair and
Entertainment Studios acquired
Fox Sports Networks for $10.6 billion, thus making Marquee a sister to them (FSN previously operated a
Chicago network, but it became defunct when Chicago's professional teams abandoned it in favor of a joint venture with
Comcast—currently known as
NBC Sports Chicago). The divestiture was mandated as part of
Disney's acquisition of
21st Century Fox, who chose not to retain the networks under its successor
Fox Corporation.[10][11]
Early reception of Marquee was mixed by fans, culminating in fans booing Cubs chairman
Tom Ricketts during the annual Cubs Convention in 2020 after mention of the new network.[12][13]
Marquee Sports Network officially launched on February 22, 2020, at 1 p.m.
CT, with its first program being a launch special hosted by actor and Cubs fan
Bill Murray, followed by a documentary on
Ernie Banks. The channel aired its first live
spring training game against the
Oakland Athletics at
Sloan Park later in the day; the game had been postponed from the afternoon due to the threat of rain.[1][14] However, because the start of the season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, its first regular-season game was not until July 24, 2020.[15]
In October 2020, the
Chicago Bears began a partnership with the channel. As part of the agreement, the channel would air a weekly show named "Bear Essentials" as well as a replay of that week's Bears game throughout the season.[16]
Marquee's Cubs broadcasts underwent tweaks for the 2021 season. Alongside its new play-by-play voice
Jon Sciambi, the network would no longer require commentators to wear a suit and tie on-air (a mandate made during the inaugural season by executives insisting that Marquee's broadcasts have a "national network quality"), and replaced an unorthodox bottom-centered
score bar it had used during the first season with a more traditional scoreboard in the top-left of the screen (a move which also differentiated Marquee from its newly-relaunched sister networks in the
Bally Sports group, whose on-air branding was derived from that of Marquee, but with an equally-unorthodox integration of a scoreboard and
ticker).[17]
The network would use the slogan "We get it" in a marketing campaign to promote the new Cubs season and these tweaks.[18][19][20]
In July 2023, Marquee launched a standalone in-market streaming service priced at $19.99 a month. With the service's launch, Marquee also upgraded its streaming video quality to 1080p.[21] Later that year, in September, the Chicago Bears expanded their partnership with the channel and announced that Marquee would be the team's Official Postgame Show Partner, with the new program being named "The Official Bears Postgame Live". The network would also launch an additional weekly Bears program named "Bears Den".[22]
Talent
The Cubs' previous television commentators
Len Kasper (play-by-play) and
Jim "J.D." Deshaies (color) retained their roles on Marquee at the channel's launch.[23] On May 1, 2019, it was reported that
David Kaplan—NBC Sports Chicago studio host for Cubs games—had renewed his contract with the channel, dispelling rumors that he planned to join Marquee.[24] Cole Wright, formerly of
NFL Network, was to serve as studio host, and Taylor McGregor, formerly field reporter for the Colorado Rockies on
AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, was to serve as field reporter.[25] The channel also brought on Bob Vorwald, former executive producer of WGN Sports.[1]
Follow The Money, a weekday morning sports betting show by Vegas Stats & Information Network hosted by Mitch Moss and Pauly Howard[29]
Live on The Line, a weekday afternoon betting program
The Reporters, a weekly round table discussion amongst Chicago sports newspeople regarding local and national sporting news
Chicago Bears
Due to NFL rules, these programs only run within the Chicago Bears' broadcast area, with alternate programming airing on the network outside of this area.
The Official Bears Postgame Live (after every Bears game)
Bear Essentials (weekly on Tuesdays)
Bears Den (weekly on Thursdays)
Bears game replays
Chicago Sky
Most
Chicago Sky games are available on Marquee or its streaming-only channel, Marquee Plus, in a rights deal shared with
WCIU-TV. The network also airs Chicago Sky: No Limits for interviews, analysis, and other Sky information.
Chicago Hounds
In 2023, Marquee picked up the rights to broadcast
Chicago Hounds games. During the team's inaugural season, 13 of the team's 16 games were available through Marquee or Marquee Plus.[30]
Marquee Sports Network was an affiliate of the
ACC on Regional Sports Networks package, until the rights were picked up by
The CW in 2023. Likewise, the network aired a package of
Conference USA football and men’s basketball produced by Stadium until the conference ended its relationship with the network following the 2022-2023 season.
Broadcasting areas
Marquee is broadcast in five states, particularly
Illinois (with the exception of
Southern Illinois), most of
Iowa, eastern
Nebraska, all of
Indiana except areas near the Ohio River, and Kenosha County, Wisconsin. The broadcasting areas for each state are listed below.
Upon the announcement of the channel, the network's ability to gain carriage was compared to the troubled negotiations of the
Los Angeles Dodgers'
SportsNet LA.[36] Industry observer Phillip Swan thought Marquee would have a "50-50 chance of working" while commenting "How can you not look at the disaster of the SportsNet (LA) scene and not be a little skeptical?"[37] Charter has since come to terms with DirecTV to carry SportsNet LA.[38]
Industry experts predicted that Marquee would seek around $5 per subscriber placing it behind
YES Network and
ESPN.[37] Sinclair secured Marquee's first major carriage agreement with Charter Communications on July 11, 2019. As part of the multi-year carriage agreement, Marquee was bundled alongside Sinclair's owned-and-operated television stations,
Tennis Channel and the regional Fox Sports Networks that Sinclair was in the process of buying from Disney at the time.[39]
On October 17, 2019, AT&T agreed to carry Marquee on its television services (including DirecTV, the second largest provider serving the region behind Comcast) as part of a larger, multi-year carriage agreement with Sinclair.[40][41] Sinclair later reached a deal with Mediacom on November 6, 2019, to carry Marquee Sports Network.[41] On February 17, 2020, the network announced an agreement to carry the network on Hulu's live streaming service.[42] On February 27, the network announced an agreement with
WOW cable.[43]
Comcast, the largest television provider in the region (with an estimated 1.5 million subscribers),[44] reached an agreement to carry Marquee on July 24 (in time for the Cubs' opening game) as part of a larger renewal for Sinclair-owned television stations and cable networks.[45]
Until May 2022, Marquee's deal with DirecTV was for in-market coverage only. Unlike many other regional sports networks, Marquee was not included in DirecTV's Sports Pack, which carries RSNs nationwide with appropriate blackouts of professional events. That changed May 9, 2022, with the announcement that Marquee would be available nationwide with the Sports Pack, albeit with the appropriate blackouts.[46]
Dish Network and
YouTube TV (which has indicated they have no deal for Marquee's sister RSNs after February 29 and would remove them from the platform on that date) have not reached an agreement with Sinclair to carry Marquee Sports Network.[41]
Additionally, Marquee also has the rights to the games for the Cubs'
Minor League Baseball clubs, including the Iowa Cubs and the South Bend Cubs, ending deals with local broadcast subchannels to leverage Iowa and northern Indiana cable systems into carrying the network.[1] Despite airing some minor league games from the Tennessee Smokies and Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Marquee is not available in Tennessee nor South Carolina.