BET's 'The Game' to End After Season Nine

Is it game over for The Game? It's certainly looking that way, although it's a bit of a good news/bad news situation.

The bad news first: BET has confirmed that The Game will be coming to an end after season nine. The show, which aired on The CW for its first three seasons before finding a second life on BET, is a spinoff of the popular UPN sitcom Girlfriends, and centered on a group of women and their oftentimes tumultuous relationships with professional football players. The Game has been a steady performer in the ratings, securing an eighth season renewal earlier this year.

That renewal is where the "good news" comes in...

Season 8 is currently filming for premiere in 2015. Presumably, this means Season 9 would premiere in 2016. In essence, although The Game is ending, we still have two years left to enjoy.

“All good things must come to an end, and after celebrating four successful seasons of The Game on BET, the network has announced production is underway on the show’s final two seasons,” according to BET’s official statement. BET states it is announcing the series' end early in order to give “Sabers fans a chance to bid farewell to their favorite players on and off the field.”

So while the show will be ending soon, fans will apparently have plenty of time to come to terms with the farewell. That's far more consideration than a lot of networks give for the fanbases of its shows, so kudos to BET on that.

Credit: BET