ESPN has acquired exclusive rights to the new XFL. Plus: ESPN has extended its Australian Open deal; Florida-FSU will get a primetime slot on ABC Black Friday; and more.
ESPN acquires rights to second XFL reboot
ESPN announced Tuesday that it has acquired exclusive rights to the new version of the XFL that is scheduled to launch next year. Unlike the previous iteration of the XFL two years ago, in which games were split between ESPN/ABC and Fox Sports, the ESPN networks will carry all 40 regular season games, two semifinals and the championship.
Notably, the list of ESPN networks will include FX — the former Fox-owned cable network that was sold to Disney in 2018. FX and FXX, which carried occasional Fox Sports programs under their previous ownership, have not aired any sportscasts since the Disney deal. [ESPN PR]
ESPN extends Australian Open deal through 2031
ESPN has reached a nine-year media rights extension to continue airing tennis’ Australian Open through 2031, it was announced Tuesday. Under the extension, ESPN and ESPN2 will continue to provide nightly primetime windows, the semifinals and singles finals, while ESPN+ will carry all matches not carried on linear television — including the 3 AM ET match windows that coincide with Australian primetime. The provisions largely went into place during this past year’s Australian Open. [ESPN PR]
ABC to carry UF-FSU in primetime on Black Friday
ABC will carry the annual Florida-Florida State college football rivalry game in primetime on Black Friday, marking the first time the network has carried a primetime game on the day after Thanksgiving. The network also has Florida State on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in primetime against LSU.
Other ABC games announced Tuesday include Notre Dame-Ohio State and Georgia-Oregon on the first Saturday of the season September 3 as well as the annual Texas-Oklahoma “Red River Rivalry” on October 8.
In other college football scheduling news, Fox said Monday that it will carry the Alabama-Texas game on September 10. [ESPN PR, Fox Sports PR]
Plus: NFL conference affiliations, Buck debut, NBA in-season tournament
As previously noted when the deals were announced last year, the NFL is discontinuing conference designations for CBS and FOX starting next season, per The Athletic. While it is fairly common for the NFL to “cross-flex” games between FOX and CBS, the networks still primarily air games from the conferences with which they are affiliated. … New Monday Night Football voice Joe Buck will make his ESPN debut this week on an alternate presentation of the PGA Championship that will air on all four days of the tournament, co-hosting alongside Michael Collins. The alternate broadcast will air across ESPN and ESPN2 on Thursday and Friday and ESPN and ESPN+ on Saturday and Sunday. [Full PGA Championship schedule here.] … Discussions are underway for an NBA in-season tournament that would begin as soon as the 2023-24 season, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Tuesday. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has long been a supporter of the in-season tournament idea. [The Athletic 5.16, ESPN PR, Charania/Twitter 5.17]
