After 37 years on the air, one of Seattle’s many television mainstays is going off the air. No longer will you be able to throw on a Mariners game on ROOT Sports, a cable network that also runs a direct-to-consumer streaming service, which is shutting down at the end of the year, according to the Seattle Mariners, the owners of the network. 

Root Sports started all the way back in 1988 when it launched as Northwest Cable Sports. It first started broadcasting primarily Washington State University athletics events. It is also worth mentioning that a rebrand in 1989 changed the name of the new network to Prime Sports Northwest. But in 1993, the network would start a partnership that would last over 30 years with the Seattle Mariners. 

Over the next few years, Prime Sports Northwest, which would eventually rebrand again into Fox Sports Northwest before finally becoming ROOT Sports Northwest. Over time, it would acquire the rights to the Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Supersonics, Seattle Storm, Seattle Kraken, and many more. This also coincided with the peak of cable television, leading to lucrative cable contracts that helped ROOT Sports keep good monetary gains.

But in the past 10 years, ROOT Sports has been on a decline. Following cord-cutting trends and losing the rights to many teams, Root Sports has seen a fall in subscribers and, therefore, revenue. This is impactful because of the fact that, as of 2023, ROOT Sports is 100% Mariners-owned, leading to the network’s performance being detrimental to the team. 

In November 2024, MLB partnered with the Mariners, supporting the production of Mariners games. This came with some changes during the 2025 season, especially with the introduction of a direct-to-consumer streaming service that will shut down along with the ROOT Sports closure. 

Over the years, many moments have occurred on ROOT: Ichiro’s 256th hit, Felix Herndaez’s perfect game, The Kraken’s first franchise goal, and Cal breaking the playoff drought are only some of the many moments broadcast on ROOT over the years. Also, players such as Damian Lillard, Ken Griffey Jr., and Sue Bird have all played on ROOT television.

From 2026 onward, Mariners broadcasting will be completely taken over by Major League Baseball.*

MLB currently holds broadcasting deals with seven MLB teams, with the Mariners becoming the eighth. It is most likely that Mariners games will be available with a subscription service that could be a monthly or season-long subscription. It is also worth noting that the future of the current broadcasters and anchors of ROOT Sports is unclear. The closing of ROOT Sports shows the overall decline of standalone sports cable networks and the collapse of the cable market as a whole.

*Reader’s Note: As of November 19th, 2025, A deal was announced to transfer the broadcasting rights of MLB-owned television networks to ESPN. This includes the Seattle Mariners.