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ESPN reveals 2026 bowl schedule with more games on ABC

ABC will air six non-College Football Playoff bowl games in 2026, one more than last season, as ESPN unveiled its bowl schedule for 2026-27. ABC will air bowl game tripleheaders on Saturday, Dec. 26, and Saturday, Jan. 2. The increase comes as ABC is also airing more College Football Playoff games, including one quarterfinal, a semifinal, and…

John Kincade announces he’s leaving 97.5 The Fanatic

John Kincade is leaving 97.5 The Fanatic at the end of July. The morning drive host announced on Wednesday’s show that his last day on Kincade and Salciunas will be July 31, citing health reasons for the decision. Kincade said he’s in good health, but that his doctors raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of…

SNL’s Marcello Hernández to host 2026 ESPYS

Marcello Hernández is heading to the ESPYS. ESPN announced Wednesday that the 28-year-old Saturday Night Live star will host the 2026 ESPYS on July 15, with the show airing live on ABC from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. It’s the first time the show has been held in New York City since…

Stephen A. Smith takes credit for Knicks getting to the NBA Finals

You probably think it’s Jalen Brunson, Leon Rose or Mike Brown who deserves credit for getting the New York Knicks back to the NBA Finals. Well, you would be wrong. Stephen A. Smith is here to tell you, he’s the one who deserves credit for pushing the Knicks to where they are right now. That’s…

Jeremy Lin gets his ‘full circle’ moment as NBA Finals analyst for ESPN

After his first breakout game during Linsanity, Jeremy Lin went home and did what he had done almost every day since childhood: he opened ESPN.com. Only this time, he was the story. For years, Lin had been the kid consuming sports through a screen, dreaming about the athletes who occupied the homepage. Suddenly, after one…

NBA

Bob Costas: Mike Tirico ‘aced’ being the face of NBC Sports

Bob Costas was once the face of NBC Sports, but Mike Tirico has thrived in the role since receiving the baton. Costas recently joined SiriusXM NBA Radio host David Shepard for an interview discussing the NBA Finals, the NBA on NBC, and his own media career among other topics. With the reboot season of the…

NBA

ESPN’s Week 0 NC State-Virginia game from Brazil moved to U.S.

The first college football game to be played in Brazil is no longer in the cards. On Wednesday, North Carolina State University and the University of Virginia announced their Week 0 game, initially scheduled for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. NEWS: The Brazil game between NC State and Virginia in…

ESPN’s Burke Magnus wants more ‘Inside the NBA’ episodes early in the season

For the first time ever, Inside the NBA will be the studio programming surrounding the NBA Finals. The beloved show made the transition from TNT to ESPN this season as part of a licensing deal struck between the two networks following TNT’s failure to renew NBA rights during the league’s latest set of broadcast agreements. So…

Stephen A. Smith expects cameras to find him during the NBA Finals

Stephen A. Smith might not be the best basketball player at the NBA Finals, but he’ll be the best dressed person in attendance, according to him. While pregame tunnel walks are usually reserved for players as they arrive to NBA games, ESPN has similarly captured Smith strutting through the arena on occasion. Smith no longer…

Gary Bettman gives update on NHL media rights negotiations with ESPN, TNT

Earlier this year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly approached the league’s current media rights partners, ESPN and TNT, about negotiating new agreements early. The league’s current deals run through the 2027-28 season, but the threat of the NFL taking its rights to market early, and extracting even more capital out of the market for sports…

NHL

Roger Goodell to ‘politely decline’ invitation to testify before Congress

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is saying “no thank you” to an invitation by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to testify at a hearing regarding the league’s broadcast model. According to a report by Puck’s John Ourand, Goodell plans to “politely decline” the invitation to appear on Capitol Hill next week,…

NFL

SEC, Big Ten oppose Protect College Sports Act

The latest attempt to fix college athletics is already running into roadblocks thanks to the Power 2 duopoly of the Big Ten and the SEC. Last week, Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell introduced the Protect College Sports Act, the latest congressional effort to enact a framework for the modern age of college athletics following…

New NBA rights deals are Adam Silver’s biggest win

There has been no major professional sports commissioner as beleaguered as the NBA’s Adam Silver. Tanking, flopping, ratings, rule changes, expansion, refereeing, gambling, player health, load management. The list of inquiries lobbed towards Silver and the NBA as a whole seems to have grown exponentially in the last couple of years. The NBA commissioner was…

NBA

‘First Things First’ moving timeslots for World Cup

First Things First, starring Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes, has become the flagship daily show on FS1, both in the ratings and with critics. The program earned its first Emmy nomination this year, validating its years of growth. And in many ways, Wright has become the face of the cable sports network, given his…

NFL

NOTUS hires 3 former ‘WaPo’ sports journos, former ESPN feature writer Martenzie Johnson

The arms race for Capitol-area sports coverage continues in the aftermath of the Washington Post‘s decision to axe its sports desk, with NOTUS announcing the hire of four prominent sports journalists from the area this week. NOTUS, which launched in 2024 as an arm of the nonprofit Allbritton Journalism Institute and is set to expand and…

Draymond Green’s new media revolution needs help

Athletes have taken back the power to tell their stories. Listen to any podcast about sports media, and you’re bound to hear hand-wringing about players cutting out the middlemen so their story comes out exactly the way they want it told. It’s part of what Dan Le Batard was alluding to when he declared that…

Andy Roddick takes issue with Fabrice Santoro asking Aryna Sabalenka to dance during French Open interview: ‘Lose-lose situation’

This week, after world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka took care of business in a high-profile match against Naomi Osaka, former tennis player-turned-broadcaster Fabrice Santoro made a strange request. During his on-court interview with Sabalenka after the match, Santoro referenced the Belarusian star’s viral dances in the warmup zone. Santoro then queued music and suggested Sabalenka…

Draymond Green returning to ‘Inside the NBA’ for NBA Finals Games 3 and 4 following spat with Charles Barkley

Draymond Green certainly knows how to make his presence felt. Last month, while once again filling in for Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA, Green offered several memorable opinions, none more potent than his jab at the final chapter of Inside star Charles Barkley’s playing career. While parrying Barkley’s assertion that the Golden State Warriors’ run…