Another week, another round of postponed NFL games. Plus: possible ESPN layoffs and more.
NFL postpones two more games, gives ESPN MNF doubleheader
The NFL announced Thursday that Sunday’s scheduled Broncos-Patriots and Bills-Titans games have been postponed to Monday and Tuesday respectively, marking the second straight week that the league has had to postpone a pair of games. All four postponed games thus far were originally set to air as part of a CBS doubleheader. [Related: 2020 NFL schedule.]
In a shift from this past week, when a postponed Patriots-Chiefs game on CBS competed directly with ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Broncos-Patriots would move from CBS to ESPN and form the first half of a makeshift MNF doubleheader at 5 PM ET. ESPN’s originally-scheduled Chargers-Saints game would remain at 8:15.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, ESPN plans to assign Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit — who called the network’s season-opening Steelers-Giants game last month — to Broncos-Patriots.
The Bills-Titans game would remain on CBS and begin at 7 PM, potentially overlapping with a possible Game 7 in the NBA Finals. [NFL PR 10.8, Marchand/Twitter 10.9]
Report: ESPN layoffs coming
Front Office Sports reported Wednesday that ESPN is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs in the coming weeks, with one estimate putting the number between 300 and 700. The layoffs would primarily impact behind-the-scenes staffers but some on-air talent would be affected. Awful Announcing also reported that ESPN is planning layoffs, but that the specific scale and timing remains unknown.
The layoff news comes the same week that ESPN mutually parted ways with SportsCenter anchor Keith Olbermann, who announced his departure on Tuesday, and announced contract extensions with NFL reporter Field Yates and “The Undefeated” writer Domonique Foxworth. [Front Office Sports 10.6, Awful Announcing 10.6, Olbermann/Twitter 10.6, ESPN PR 10.7, 10.8]
Plus: Southland, Bowyer, MLS
ESPN announced Thursday that it has reached a multi-year media rights extension with the Southland Conference through 2024-25 that will include more than 1,500 events on the ESPN+ subscription service. … NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer said Thursday night that he is joining Fox Sports full-time starting next season. … ABC is scheduled to carry three Major League Soccer matches in the final month of the regular season, all on Sundays at 3:30 PM ET, starting with LAFC-LA Galaxy on October 25. [ESPN PR 10.8 a, Adam Stern/Twitter 10.8, ESPN PR 10.8 b]
