The Detroit Pistons will broadcast for free in Grand Rapids on The Spot Grand Rapids 17 and Fox 17 WXMI-TV, the team announced Monday, August 10.
The news arrives three months after the Pistons reached a multi-year agreement with Scripps Sports to become the official lead broadcast home of the team starting with the 2026-27 preseason and continuing through the regular season. Games will air on WYMD-TV (Channel 20) in the Detroit market. It marks the first time since 2005 the team will shift to a primarily local production and broadcast.
“This move is for our fans,” team owner Tom Gores said in a release. “They have been huge all season and throughout this playoff run. Their energy and support have lifted our team and helped fuel our resurgence. It’s a new era of Pistons basketball and we want to make sure that more people in Detroit and throughout Michigan can be part of the journey.”
The E.W. Scripps Company also owns both The Spot Grand Rapids 17 and Fox 17 WXMI-TV.
What other channels will air Pistons games?
Pistons fans looking to watch all 82 of the team’s regular season games won’t be able to rely solely on their antennas (or a streaming service that carries WMYD). In addition to locally airing games, the NBA has broadcast agreements with ESPN (which also airs games on ABC), NBC (WDIV-TV, Channel 4 in Detroit) and Amazon. The latter two feature multiple games broadcast via streaming services alone, with NBC putting games weekly through out the season on its Peacock service (and on NBC Sports Network, carried on YouTube TV and Xfinity), and Amazon showing all its games via Prime Video, its streaming arm. The NBA also airs games on its own network, NBA TV, though those are usually simulcasts of local broadcasts.
What will local coverage of Pistons have?
According to the team, the Pistons and Scripps Sports will also produce comprehensive game-day coverage, including pregame, in-game and postgame. They also will produce a a weekly half-hour Pistons show, along with other digital content.
Will George Blaha and Greg Kelser return in 2026-27?
Longtime play-by-play announcer George Blaha and analyst Greg Kelser are expected to make the transition to the new broadcast partner. Blaha completed his 50th season with the Pistons this year and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.
It continues a partnership between the Pistons and Scripps Sports that began three season seasons ago, when they reached an agreement to air five of the Pistons’ final nine regular season games on WMYD in March 2024. The Pistons also broadcast five games on WMYD in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Where did Pistons games used to air?
The Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings all had previously aired on FanDuel Sports Detroit, whose parent company, Main Street Sports Group, is winding down operations after navigating financial difficulties. The Pistons initially moved from local TV to what was then known as Fox Sports Detroit alongside the Tigers and Red Wings beginning in 2008.
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Where you can watch the Pistons for free in Grand Rapids this fall
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
