, from which the channel derives its name On November 16, 2015, in an interview with
WSCR radio, the Cubs' president of business operations Crane Kenney stated that the team was seeking to launch its own in-house regional sports network after its current broadcast contracts with
NBC Sports Chicago,
WGN Sports, and
WLS-TV expire after the
2019 season. On December 18, 2018, it was reported by the
Chicago Sun-Times that the team was preparing to launch its RSN, "Marquee", in 2020, and that
Sinclair Broadcast Group was a frontrunner to serve as managing partner. Sinclair had previously attempted to purchase WGN's parent company
Tribune Media, and ran the national sports network
Stadium with the White Sox's investment arm
Silver Chalice, prior to selling its stake to Silver Chalice in 2023. The venture was officially announced in February 2019 to be launched in 2020 with Sinclair. On May 22, 2019, Michael McCarthy was named general manager of the Marquee Sports Network after being the Cubs' consultant on the channel. He is the former president of the
MSG Network On August 22, 2019, a consortium of Sinclair and
Entertainment Studios acquired
Fox Sports Networks for $10.6 billion, thus making Marquee a sister to them (FSN previously operated a
Chicago network, but it became defunct when Chicago's professional teams abandoned it in favor of a joint venture with
Comcast—currently known as
NBC Sports Chicago). The divestiture was mandated as part of
Disney's acquisition of
21st Century Fox, who chose not to retain the networks under its successor
Fox Corporation. Early reception of Marquee was mixed by fans, culminating in fans booing Cubs chairman
Tom Ricketts during the annual Cubs Convention in 2020 after mention of the new network. Marquee Sports Network officially launched on February 22, 2020, at 1 p.m.
CT, with its first program being a launch special hosted by actor and Cubs fan
Bill Murray, followed by a documentary on
Ernie Banks. The channel aired its first live
spring training game against the
Oakland Athletics at
Sloan Park later in the day; the game had been postponed from the afternoon due to the threat of rain. However, because the start of the season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, its first regular-season game was not until July 24, 2020. In October 2020, the
Chicago Bears began a partnership with the channel. As part of the agreement, the channel would air a weekly show named "Bear Essentials" as well as a replay of that week's Bears game throughout the season. Marquee's Cubs broadcasts underwent tweaks for the 2021 season. Alongside its new play-by-play voice
Jon Sciambi, the network would no longer require commentators to wear a suit and tie on-air (a mandate made during the inaugural season by executives insisting that Marquee's broadcasts have a "national network quality"), and replaced an unorthodox bottom-centered
score bar it had used during the first season with a more traditional scoreboard in the top-left of the screen (a move which also differentiated Marquee from its newly relaunched sister networks in the
Bally Sports group, whose on-air branding was derived from that of Marquee, but with an equally-unorthodox integration of a scoreboard and
ticker). The network would use the slogan "We get it" in a marketing campaign to promote the new Cubs season and these tweaks. In May 2022, the
Chicago Sky announced a multi-year broadcast agreement with the network. Prior to the 2025 season, the Sky announced that
The U would be its exclusive broadcast partner, ending the team's relationship with Marquee. In July 2023, Marquee launched a standalone in-market streaming service priced at $19.99 a month. With the service's launch, Marquee also upgraded its streaming video quality to 1080p. Later that year, in September, the Chicago Bears expanded their partnership with the channel and announced that Marquee would be the team's Official Postgame Show Partner, with the new program being named "The Official Bears Postgame Live". The network would also launch an additional weekly Bears program named "Bears Den". In 2024, Marquee became the exclusive local broadcast partner of
Chicago Stars FC. The following year, the team moved its live local games to
WFLD-TV, with Marquee airing reruns and other related coverage. In December 2025, Marquee announced staff cuts and greatly pared back its non-game coverage. == Talent ==