The WNBA players have opted out of their CBA, TGL Golf sets its first schedule; cable simulcasts are set for first ABC SEC title game; and a quartet of former ESPN personalities have joined The Ringer.
WNBPA opts out of CBA
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) announced Monday it will opt out of its collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA. The agreement was set to expire following the 2027 season but will now only last through the end of next season. The league now faces the possibility of a work stoppage for the first time if a deal is not struck before 2026. The players are seeking improved salaries, working conditions, and other benefits in line with the league’s increased TV ratings, attendance figures, and franchise values. The WNBA recently executed media rights deals with Disney, Amazon, and Comcast worth $220 million annually that will begin in 2026.
The WNBPA also opted out of the CBA in 2018, with enough time to negotiate a new one ahead of the 2020 season (which was eventually delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic).
TGL announces inaugural schedule
TGL, the new indoor golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, has announced the schedule for its inaugural season, which begins on January 7 with Xander Schauffele‘s New York Golf Club facing Ludvig Åberg and The Bay Golf Club at 9 PM on ESPN. The 15-match regular season will be followed by four days of playoffs March 17-25. Every match will air in a two-hour window on Monday or Tuesday on ESPN or ESPN2, and simulcast on ESPN+.
The new venture is being conducted in partnership with the PGA TOUR. Although the 24 players involved may not be able to participate in the winter PGA events on the west coast, the new series will be complete by the time The Masters arrives in April and the Monday/Tuesday schedule means there is no direct viewership competition with the PGA TOUR’s traditional weekend events.
The series was set to debut in January 2024, but a power outage at the new facility damaged equipment and requires extensive repairs.
ESPN simulcast set for SEC Championship
The SEC Football Championship game on December 7 will be televised by ABC, ESPN, SEC Network, and (as with all college and NFL games on ABC) ESPN+. The ABC telecast was a key component of ESPN’s new rights deal with the SEC, but the cable simulcasts were revealed via ESPN’s advance schedule listings. It was not clear if the cable windows are direct simulcasts of ABC’s coverage or an alternate presentation. SEC Network regularly presents “Command Center” simulcasts featuring enhanced statistics and alternate camera angles for SEC games on ABC or ESPN when it does not have its own game to present.
With the Pac-12 no longer holding a championship game and The American and Mountain West moving theirs to Friday, the SEC title game will air completely unopposed by other FBS games for the first time since 2017.
As part of the new rights deal with ESPN, the SEC Championship is returning to ABC after 23 years on CBS. In 1992, the SEC was the first conference to stage a football championship game. ABC televised every edition until CBS took over in 2001.
Former ESPNers join The Ringer
Former ESPN college football and NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay, reporter Joel Anderson, basketball analyst Kirk Goldsberry, and host David Jacoby have all joined The Ringer, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. The Bill Simmons-founded publication, which is now owned by Spotify, was created after ESPN shuttered its own similar site Grantland in 2015. McShay, who was laid off by ESPN in the summer of 2023, will launch a football, scouting, and NFL draft podcast. Jacoby will replace Kevin O’Connor as host of an NBA podcast. Goldsberry and Jacoby both worked with Simmons and Grantland during their tenures at ESPN.
