CHSN to air seven White Sox games on The U

Door could open for a few Blackhawks, Bulls games in the future

The Chicago Sports Network announced Wednesday it has agreed to simulcast seven Chicago White Sox games this season on Weigel Broadcasting’s WCIU, branded as The U. 

Chicago Sports Network and Weigel Broadcasting Co.’s WCIU, The U, have announced a new partnership to simulcast seven Chicago White Sox games this season, beginning with this weekend’s Crosstown Series against the Chicago Cubs. pic.twitter.com/q69jxZXcI6

— Chicago Sports Network PR (@CHSN_Media) July 23, 2025

This includes all three Crosstown Classic games this weekend as the White Sox play the Cubs at Rate Field on the South Side. The other four are also home games: August 8 against the Cleveland Guardians; August 22 against the Minnesota Twins; August 29 against the New York Yankees; and September 19 against the San Diego Padres.

CHSN produces all games and all Friday Night All Access presentations, including players mic’d up, in-game interviews, and more. 

“This partnership is a great opportunity to showcase the quality of our game broadcasts, especially our Friday Night All Access coverage to an even wider audience,” said Jason Coyle, who is CHSN President. “We’re proud of what we’ve built at CHSN, and there’s no better stage than Crosstown weekend to team up with WCIU.”

“Weigel looks forward to broadcasting the White Sox on over-the-air television, expanding the opportunities for Chicago fans to watch CHSN’s excellent coverage,” said Steve Farber, senior vice president of Weigel.

The move is designed to attract cord-cutters who don’t subscribe to cable or can’t afford the app. CHSN became the new home of the White Sox, Chicago Blackhawks, and Chicago Bulls in October 2024, replacing NBC Sports Chicago. CHSN couldn’t reach a deal with Comcast, so they decided to clear the entire network on the dot-two and dot-three digital channels of the religious independent station WJYS-TV. The channels were removed from WJYS a few weeks ago when they finally struck a deal with Chicago’s largest cable provider. 

On April 8, CHSN broadcast a Blackhawks game on WCIU against the Pittsburgh Penguins, where they lost 5-0. 

This arrangement is better; despite a small number of games, the White Sox would reach more viewers than they ever did on WJYS, whose signal isn’t as strong as other stations in the market. A few weeks ago, Nexstar’s WGNH-TV expressed interest in carrying games from the three teams produced by CHSN, but The CW’s expanding sports schedule (the network signed a deal to carry PBR Bull Riding Wednesday) would leave no room for such fare. 

CHSN is following the lead of several MLB, NBA, and NHL teams with existing deals who’ve added a few over-the-air games. For example, Fox-owned KMSP added a few Minnesota Twins games this season, simulcast on FanDuel North. WPIX has aired several Mets games from SNY, and the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves’ FanDuel Sports hooked up with Gray Media to air fifteen games this season over their network of stations in their respective footprints. 

It’s possible this could also open the door for a few Bulls and Blackhawks to air on The U this coming season. The station has aired games from all three teams and the Cubs in the past through WGN-TV when they were rights holders. 

Adding White Sox games is the latest effort by The U to expand sports on its schedule. The station became the exclusive local home to the Chicago Sky this year, and also airs IHSA football and basketball games. The U was a CW affiliate from 2019-24 (branded as CW 26) as the network moved back to WGN last August.