The NHL is reportedly set to expand its regular season schedule to 84 games per team as part of its new CBA; the NCAA is weighing whether to expand its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to 76 teams. Plus, more sports media news.
NHL to extend regular season to 84 games per team in new CBA
The NHL and NHL Players Association announced Friday that they have reached a new four-year collective bargaining agreement, marking just the second time in Gary Bettman’s tenure that a CBA has been reached without the owners first locking out the players.
According to multiple reports, the NHL will expand its regular season from 82 to 84 games per team in the new CBA, returning to the number of games the league played from 1992-94. That is the first expansion of any of the four major pro sports regular season schedules since the NFL added a 17th game in 2021.
The expansion to 84 games is an unusual step in an era where most leagues are being encouraged to reduce their schedules.
NCAA weighs expansion of men’s, women’s, basketball tournaments
The NCAA is weighing whether to expand its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to as many as 76 teams beginning next season, with a decision expected within weeks, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported this week. The NCAA has for months discussed potential expansion with its media partners — CBS and TNT Sports for the men’s tournament and ESPN for the women’s.
The NCAA last expanded the men’s basketball tournament — to the current 68 teams — in 2011, coinciding with the start of the CBS-TNT Sports deal. The women’s tournament expanded in kind a decade later.
Disney, Charter, reach deal with no drama
Nearly two years after a protracted dispute, Disney and Charter announced a new carriage agreement this week that will give subscribers of Charter’s Spectrum TV service free access to the ad-supported version of Hulu and restore eight channels that were dropped in the prior negotiation two years ago — including FXX (once Fox Soccer Channel), Freeform (formerly ABC Family) and DisneyXD (which annually simulcasts the NFL Pro Bowl).
The agreement comes nearly two years after a dispute between Charter and Disney in which the carrier dropped Disney’s various channels — including ESPN and ABC — at the start of the football season and even threatened to abandon its cable distribution business.
Baseball writer Miller dies
The baseball writer Scott Miller, who in the course of a three-decade career worked for The New York Times, St. Paul Pioneer Press, CBS Sports and Bleacher Report, died last week at 62. The cause was cancer. Miller — who also worked for the Los Angeles Times, but not primarily covering baseball — covered every World Series from 1991 until he was diagnosed in 2023.
In addition to his written work, which included two baseball-related books, Miller served as an analyst on Padres postgame shows for Fox Sports San Diego and for MLB Network Radio.
