There will be no NCAA Tournament TeamCasts to confuse viewers this year. In other news, ESPN has lost a spring training special from the Naval Academy and Sinclair Broadcasting’s American Sports Network is reportedly closing down.
No NCAA TeamCasts This Year
- CBS and Turner Sports will not produce team-specific coverage of this year’s NCAA Tournament Final Four, which is airing exclusively on CBS for the first time since 2014, Sports Illustrated reported Sunday. CBS Sports president Sean McManus explained that the network operates under a “slightly different model” than does Turner “and exclusivity for our stations is important to us.” Turner will bring back the TeamCast coverage when it airs the Final Four again next year. (SI.com 3.12)
ESPN Loses MLB Naval Academy Game
- ESPN will no longer televise the April 1 Nationals-Red Sox spring training game from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, as it should “should have been designated for local TV, not national,” Major League Baseball announced Friday. The game will now be televised by MASN and NESN. To compensate for the loss of the game, ESPN has been granted an extra regular season telecast. (MLB PR/Twitter 3.10; ESPN PR/Twitter 3/10)
Sinclair Sports Network to Close Down (UPDATED)
- FTV Live reported Friday that the Sinclair Broadcasting venture American Sports Network will close down at the end of the month, but a report in the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Sunday indicated that the outlet may remain alive under new management. ASN launched in 2014 and its programming is syndicated across a mix of local affliates and regional sports networks. Sinclair, best known for its political advocacy, remains active in the sports realm. It purchased Tennis Channel last year and more recently bought the parent company of Tennis magazine and Tennis.com. (FTV Live 3.10 via Sports Business Daily 3.10; Charleston Gazette-Mail 3.12 via Sports Business Daily 3.13)
