News: NBA schedule, NFL streams, "Stanford Steve"

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 07: A view of the NBA official basketball during a NBA game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Clippers on November 7, 2022 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

The Celtics-Lakers rivalry will reportedly highlight the NBA’s Christmas Day schedule. Also: NFL Network is heading direct-to-subscriber via NFL+ and “Stanford Steve” is joining College Gameday.

Celtics, Lakers, set for first Christmas meeting since 2008

The Celtics and Lakers are scheduled to play each other on Christmas Day for the first time since 2008, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Warriors-Nuggets, Mavericks-Suns, Bucks-Knicks and Sixers-Heat make up the remainder of the traditional five-game Christmas schedule. Timeslots for the games were not immediately available.

Last season, all five Christmas Day games aired on both ABC and ESPN. There will be no repeat of that this year, as ABC has a primetime NFL game.

The 2023-24 regular season is set to begin with a rare all-Western Conference Opening Night doubleheader of Lakers-Nuggets and Suns-Warriors, per Charania.

In other schedule-related news, #1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama is set to begin his career in a home game against Dallas on October 25, per reporter Marc Stein. (Charania 8.10 a, b; Stein 8.10)

NFL Network going direct-to-subscriber via NFL+

The NFL+ subscription service will now include NFL Network, marking the first time that the league-owned channel has been available direct-to-subscriber. NFL Network will be available to watch across all devices — including television — as part of the now-$7/mo base subscription. The price was previously $5/mo.

A new $15/mo “NFL+ Premium” subscription also includes NFL RedZone, again across all devices. The league had sold RedZone direct-to-subscriber in the past, but only on tablets and phones.

NFL+ will continue to provide live coverage of all local and primetime games, but only on phones. (NFL PR)

“Stanford Steve” joining College Gameday

“SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” producer and contributor “Stanford Steve” Coughlin is joining ESPN’s College Gameday as a betting analyst, replacing Chris “The Bear” Fallica. Coughlin, who joined ESPN as a production assistant in 2004, will also serves as a betting analyst on the ESPN show “Daily Wager.” (ESPN PR)

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (10) hands off to running back Bo Jackson (25) during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

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Comments 6

Nate Johnson says:

3 years ago

Seems like the league isn’t giving the defending Champs Nuggets the same coverage and timeslots like the Lakers, Warriors, Suns, and Celtics at the given moment gauging it off the Opening Day/Christmas games leaks. I’m not sure how to react to that. After the Bubble, they was getting more TNT games in the 2nd half DHers. Then they came back to earth which was check them out whenever you can on National TV. So I assume they will have more slots, but the 4 teams mentioned will be treated like royals than the actual defending champion who I believe is a best team of them all.

I really love the Christmas games. The fact that Mavs/Suns is highly likely going to be the final game (10:30 Eastern tip) is fascinating. That game is an ABC Saturday Night type match-up and yet ESPN or maybe TNT will get that match-up to close out a full-day Christmas match-up. NBA FTW!

Final point, I am rooting for the 76ers/Heat match-up to kick off the Christmas games, but have a weird feeling that they’ll stick to tradition and maintain that as the Knicks slot (vs. Bucks). Maybe the 76ers/Heat match-up is meant to oppose MNF and not start off the tripleheader on ABC, but in a non-NFL competition year would that really be an 8 Eastern tip time given how the team rosters are, franchise appeal, and their recent postseason finish?
esl says:

3 years ago

I am really curious to see how ABC/ESPN handles the “feature” game at 5pm (which will be Lakers-Celtics). With the MNF game scheduled for 8pm on ABC, will the 5pm NBA game remain on ABC? Or with a risk of a long overtime game bleeding into MNF, do they move the 5pm game to ESPN.
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  3 years ago
  
  I imagine it will go like the Rose Bowl — stays on its network until conclusion. Of course MNF is not being simulcast this time around, but starting it on ESPN (and pushing the 8 PM NBA game to ESPN2, assuming ESPN airs all five games) seems doable to me.
  - Matt Galvin says:
    
    3 years ago
    
    Also have ESPNNEWS,NBATV and if CBS/CBSSPORTSLINE had Games
Samuel says:

3 years ago

Looks like another season of Knicks, Celtics, Lakers, and Warriors. Each team will get 25+ national games and all of the big events. Meanwhile the Nuggets who actually won the title will get half the exposure. Some things never change. I don’t even see any of those four teams coming close to winning a title this season. Same stale stuff over and over.
- Mn_ace says:
  
  3 years ago
  
  This is why NBC had the best coverage and should be back as a tv partner because even though NBC did all the marquee teams they still had the mid tier teams on the schedule many times as well where as ABC/ESPN has the same ol 5 teams playing each other all year long

SMW Podcast

Bomani Jones joins the pod, plus thoughts on Ernie Johnson's exit, World Series ratings and more

0:000:00

Nielsen has reprocessed the viewership for NBC’s four NFL games from Week 1-3 of the season. The Patriots-Seahawks Kickoff Game has been updated to 25.2 million, up from an originally-reported 25.1 million. The Week 1 Cowboys-Giants “Sunday Night Football” game has been updated to 25.82 million, up from 25.66 million. Colts-Chiefs the following week has been updated to 24.43 million, up from 24.29 million. Finally, Rams-Broncos in Week 3 has been updated to 20.96 million, up from 20.77 million.