If you’re hoping to watch this year’s WPIAL basketball championships on television or stream them for free online, you’re out of luck.
As for the City League championships, well, that’s a much different story.
Pittsburgh Public Schools announced in a press release that Sunday’s two championship games will be broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and that the Roxamore Sports Network will provide a free live stream for the second year in a row.
The Allderdice and Obama Academy girls will meet for the title at noon, and those same schools will battle it out for the boys title at 2 p.m. Both games are at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
The City League partnered with JRM Video productions for the Sportsnet Pittsburgh broadcast. Matt Farago and Josh Taylor will have the call, and Jake Mysliwczyk will be the producer.
The television broadcast won’t be live, but instead will be available for viewing later in the week. The boys game will air Feb. 21 at 5 p.m., Feb. 22 at 9 p.m. and Feb. 23 at 9 p.m., while the girls game will be shown Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 23 at 5 p.m.
The PPS Championship Festival begins Friday with the City League wrestling championships at Carrick followed by Sunday’s basketball championships and finally the swimming championships Feb. 20-21 at Allderdice. The wrestling championships will be streamed by the NFHS Network and the swimming championships by the Roxamore Sports Network.
“We are looking forward to hosting our first Championship Festival and shining the spotlight on our student-athletes and athletics offerings in PPS,” City League athletic director Karen Arnold said. “We are additionally excited about the varying options we now have available for watching this weekend’s competitions.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.