The NHL has set the dates for its planned season restart, including every qualification and round robin game of the expanded Stanley Cup Playoffs. Plus: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has apologized for cursing a senator; HBO and ESPN have announced new multi-part sports documentaries; and more.
NHL announces dates for restart of season
The NHL on Friday officially announced that it plans to resume its season August 1 with Edmonton and Toronto hosting the expanded 24-team Stanley Cup Playoffs. Qualification and round robin games would take place from August 1-9 [schedule here], followed by round one of the playoffs August 11, round two August 25, the conference finals September 8 and the Stanley Cup Final September 22-October 4.
Edmonton would host both conference finals and the Stanley Cup Final.
The schedule announcement came after the NHL and the NHL Players Association ratified both the league’s return-to-play plan and a four-year extension of the current collective bargaining agreement to 2026. As part of the new CBA — the first of the Gary Bettman era to be ratified without the owners first canceling games — NHL players would return to the Olympics starting in 2022. [NHL 7.10]
Wojnarowski apologizes for cursing out senator in e-mail
ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski apologized Friday after responding to a U.S. senator’s e-mail with an expletive. Wojnarowski was among the recipients of a press release from the senator’s office accusing the NBA of limiting what messages players can wear on their jerseys during the league’s planned resumption of play this month. The NBA will permit players to wear messages on their jerseys in support of racial equality, such as “Black Lives Matter,” “I Can’t Breathe” and “Peace.”
The press release suggested that the NBA would not allow messages in support of the police or military, or messages that criticized China.
After the senator leaked the reply on social media, ESPN released a statement calling Wojnarowski’s behavior “completely unacceptable” and “inexcusable for anyone working for ESPN.” [ESPN PR/Twitter 7.10]
HBO, ESPN, announce multi-part sports docs
HBO announced Thursday that it will debut a two-part documentary about Tiger Woods this December. Titled “Tiger,” the documentary will address Woods’ life both on and off the golf course, even including an interview with one of the women with whom he had an extramarital affair.
Also Thursday, ESPN announced that it is planning a multi-part 30 For 30 about the 1986 World Series champion Mets. ESPN already has a nine-part docuseries about Tom Brady on tap for next year. [WarnerMedia 7.9; ESPN PR 7.9]
Plus: Nielsen, college sports, crowd noise, Peacock
Nielsen has reversed course and will no longer delay the addition of out-of-home data to its final national ratings. Sports Business Journal reported earlier this week that Nielsen planned to push the rollout from September to January. … The Big Ten and Pac-12 have announced that their teams will only play conference opponents during the fall, meaning that a number of marquee non-conference football games have been canceled. … Fox Sports plans to use artificial crowd noise on its MLS is Back Tournament broadcasts, though viewers watching through the Fox Sports app will be able to choose a natural sound option. … All English Premier League content on NBC Sports Gold, including games, will shift to the premium version of NBC’s new Peacock streaming service starting next season. [Hollywood Reporter 7.10; ESPN.com 7.10; Fox Sports PR 7.10; NBC Sports PR 7.9]
