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Breaking News from the Bench to the Bleachers
Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions have announced the broadcast team for Saturday’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, and it is a lineup built around familiar combat sports voices. Netflix’s Elle Duncan anchors the main desk alongside MMA champion Tyron Woodley and journalist Ariel Helwani, with Jon Jones, Cain Velasquez,…
The NFL revealed its 2026 international schedule on Wednesday, a day ahead of the full schedule release on Thursday. Nine games are on the slate this season across seven countries, the most in league history and the contractual maximum under a 2023 resolution that allows the league to play up to eight overseas games in…
The latest chapter in the long, messy story of Lane Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss came this week in the form of a controversial quote about the difficulties he faced recruiting Black players to the school. The comments, which were part of a larger profile of Kiffin by Vanity Fair magazine, suggested that young Black athletes’…
Netflix is adding one more NFL event to its calendar, but it isn’t a game. The streamer will reportedly air the NFL Honors ceremony next season as part of an expected expansion to its NFL package, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. Per prior reports, Netflix is slated to add three more games…
In March, a federal judge tossed Mark Gastineau’s $25 million lawsuit against ESPN and NFL Films, saying that the New York Jets legend consented to have his likeness used in the New York Sack Exchange 30 for 30 documentary. Ever tenascious in his NFL career and after it, Gastineau isn’t giving up. According to Ben Horney…
Anyone paying close attention to the NFL’s recent public relations blitz about its TV deals, a direct response to multiple federal investigations into the league’s practices, now knows that approximately 87% of NFL games are broadcast on free, over-the-air networks such as Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC. That statistic is true, to a point. Left unaccounted for…
Brian Rolapp did not come to the PGA Tour to do things the way it has always done them. The former NFL chief media officer, now PGA Tour CEO, appeared on The Rich Eisen Show last week and said the Tour’s new social media policy was built directly on what he saw work at the…
René Cárdenas, the first Spanish-language broadcaster in Major League Baseball history, has died. He was 96. Cárdenas, who was born in Nicaragua, began his MLB broadcasting career in 1958 by calling Los Angeles Dodgers games on the radio after the team relocated from Brooklyn. While there, he trained fellow legendary broadcaster Jaime Jarrín. In 1961,…
College GameDay has found its Week 1 destination, and it is a pretty obvious one. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, ESPN’s traveling pregame show is set for Baton Rouge on Sept. 5 for LSU-Clemson, which marks Lane Kiffin’s first game as head coach of the Tigers. Broadcast details have not been confirmed, but it’s difficult…
Netflix wants to make one thing very clear: it is not interested in season-long sports packages. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos reiterated the streamer’s events-based strategy during an appearance on Fox Business Network on Tuesday morning, telling anchor Maria Bartiromo, “We’re not bidding on whole season of sports, including the NFL.” Netflix has long said it is…
Lane Kiffin sat across from Vanity Fair writer Chris Smith for four hours last week and said a lot of things. One of them he spent Monday and Tuesday trying to clean up. Smith was asking about the ceiling, why LSU made more sense than staying at Ole Miss, whether the money and the history…
Spanish-language options for Super Bowl LXI next February are expanding. On Tuesday, it was reported that Disney will sublicense the Spanish-language rights for Super Bowl LXI to TelevisaUnivision’s Univision broadcast network, allowing the channel to produce its own telecast for the Big Game, according to Variety’s Brian Steinberg. Super Bowl LXI will now have Spanish-language broadcasts…
The Muppets of Sesame Street are all gearing up for the World Cup. Fox Sports announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with the iconic children’s show Sesame Street for a collaboration that will integrate the show’s characters into Fox’s coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer. “We couldn’t be more excited to be…
A year after College GameDay and a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC, Oklahoma and Michigan are getting the Big Noon treatment. Fox announced Monday that the rematch of last year’s Week 2 game — a 24-13 Oklahoma win in Norman — will kick off at noon ET on Sept. 12 in Ann Arbor, almost certainly…
This originally appeared in Tuesday morning’s edition of The A Block, Awful Announcing’s daily newsletter with the latest sports media news, commentary, and analysis. Sign up here and be the first to know everything going on in the sports media world. The NFL’s media rights negotiations produced a flurry of news over the past week or…
As it turns out, the most viral moment from Skip Bayless returning to ESPN’s First Take last week might actually belong to Shannon Sharpe. Forget about the recycled LeBron James or Tim Tebow arguments between Bayless and Stephen A. Smith last Friday on First Take. It was Bayless unveiling his “Playoff Pee” nickname for Philadelphia…
Aaron Gleeman is as Minnesota as they come. He grew up in St. Paul, attended the University of Minnesota, and now lives in Minneapolis. He began writing about the Minnesota Twins while in college. When the longtime Twins writer for The Athletic was told by his bosses to stop covering the Twins, he chose what…
With Fox and NBCUniversal, it was the tale of two Upfronts on Monday, at least as it came to sports. The annual carnival of media companies pitching their content to ad buyers has long been a major event on the Madison Avenue calendar, and increasingly on the sports one too (NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is…
Here is a useful way to think about the Alabama football brand: It doesn’t need you to like it. It doesn’t particularly need you to root for it. It just needs you to watch — and, on that front, it has never had a problem. For decades, Alabama’s grip on the national consciousness was maintained…
Victor Wembanyama’s controversial ejection may have been a bad moment for the NBA, but it was a moment where Mike Tirico was able to shine for NBC. Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves was on NBC Sunday night with Tirico, Reggie Miller, and Jamal Crawford on…
After Disney told investors last week that ESPN and the NFL had not entered any discussions regarding an early media rights renewal, it appears Fox is on the same page. During an earnings call on Monday morning, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors the network has not yet engaged the NFL in media rights negotiations,…
TNT Sports is giving John Isner and Venus Williams significantly more to do at this year’s Roland-Garros, the network announced Thursday. Isner and Williams are both taking on expanded roles for the 2026 tournament, which kicks off May 24 across TNT, truTV, and HBO Max. Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion who spent years…
Fox is in line to acquire two additional NFL games this season, the company’s CEO Lachlan Murdoch said during an investor call on Monday morning, per Brian Steinberg of Variety. Fox CEO: Co. acquired rights to two more NFL games for this coming season….🚨🚨 — Brian Steinberg (@bristei) May 11, 2026 The announcement from Murdoch…
The first coordinated schedule leak of the week promotes a big time matchup between two of the NFL’s most iconic brands. On Monday morning, the NFL announced the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will face off during the first Sunday Night Football game of the year on NBC. The game will kickoff at the standard…
