Comcast SportsNet goes all out for IHSA Championships

Phil Bedella

Phil Bedella

In an historic long-term deal announced Tuesday, Comcast SportsNet Chicago landed the rights to all 59 state championship events encompassing Illinois High School Association football, basketball and other preps sports.

Starting with the current school year, Comcast SportsNet will be the exclusive home for more than 160 hours of IHSA Championship events, to be produced by PlayOn! Sports. Terms were not disclosed, but it marks the first time the football and basketball championships have both been on a regional sports network since the days of Fox Sports Net.

Comcast SportsNet outbid Weigel Broadcasting for rights to the basketball championship series, which most recently aired on Weigel’s The U Too digital station.

Phil Bedella, vice president and general manager of Comcast SportsNet Chicago, called the partnership with the IHSA and PlayOn! Sports “a significant moment for not only our network, but also for our viewers.”

“Our state has a multitude of gifted student-athletes that the majority of our viewers may not be aware of at this time and that will certainly change going forward,” he said in a statement. “This agreement will now enable us to showcase these standout athletes with over 160 hours of local preps championship coverage per scholastic year, which is a perfect complement to our already dedicated in-depth on-air/online coverage of the Illinois preps scene.”

In addition to live coverage of all football and basketball championships, the deal includes boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball, individual wrestling as well as dance and cheerleading competitions.

Despite the loss, Weigel Broadcasting will continue to broadcast Chicago area regular season high school football and basketball, according to executive producer Fred Weintraub.

"The U Too is committed to high school sports as we have been for many years,” Weintraub said. “You can expect a full season of the best in Catholic League Blue football and the premier high school basketball games from around Chicagoland.”