Peter Schrager will host a new 2 PM ET show on ESPN; WTGL matches to air on ESPN, Scripps Sports platforms; and Yahoo will televise alt-casts for select MLB, MLS games. Plus news on NBC Sports, DUNKMAN, Netflix and Katie Florio.
Schrager lands 2 PM ET show on ESPN
ESPN announced Wednesday that Peter Schrager will host a new 2 PM ET show on its flagship network, replacing the edition of “SportsCenter” that had been airing at that time. Titled “Big Day with Peter Schrager,” the show will air Mondays-Thursdays during the college football season, adding a Friday edition thereafter. (During the college season, the Friday timeslot will be held by “Bussin’ & Pate on Campus,” a college football show with Josh Pate, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan.)
Schrager had long been rumored as a contender to host a new show on ESPN after joining the network last year. Throughout that time, he has appeared on other programming — such as “Get Up,” “NFL Live” and “First Take” — and hosted “The Schrager Hour” podcast produced by ESPN and Omaha Productions. Schrager will continue in those roles, and serve as a sideline reporter on an NFL game for NFL Network in late December.
The 5 PM ET edition of “SportsCenter” will continue despite previous reports linking Schrager, and previously Scott Van Pelt, to the timeslot. Van Pelt said on an episode of the “SVPod” earlier this year that he met with ESPN executives and determined that it did not make sense to “mess with” his late-night edition of “SportsCenter.”
ESPN has not regularly aired an original program beyond “SportsCenter” in the 2 PM ET timeslot since “This Just In” hosted by Max Kellerman. That show came to a conclusion in June 2023, coinciding with layoffs at ESPN that were reported to have included Kellerman. Previous shows to air in the 2 PM ET timeslot have included “SportsNation” and “Highly Questionable.”
WTGL matches to air across ESPN, ION in multiyear deal
TMRW Sports has announced that it has signed multiyear media rights deals with ESPN and Scripps Sports (ION) to televise WTGL matches beginning in November, giving the first-year women’s indoor golf league a presence on two over-the-air networks in ABC and ION. The schedule for the league has yet to be revealed, along with the allocation of inventory between the two companies.
ESPN and particularly ION have steadily expanded their women’s sports portfolios over the years, with the latter owning rights to the WNBA, NWSL and PWHL. Unlike ESPN, which offers all of its programming via a direct-to-subscriber streaming option, sporting events on ION do not have this type of streaming component. The WTGL has backing from TMRW Sports and Trybe Ventures, the latter of which includes an investor group of athletes such as Abby Wambach, Aryna Sabalenka and Nneka Ogwumike.
ESPN has been broadcasting the TGL since the league debuted in 2024. The network reportedly averaged 488,000 viewers for matches last season, which featured stars such as Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Tiger Woods. The TGL media arrangement for 2027 have yet to be determined, although Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal has reported that ESPN is the favorite to retain the rights.
The WTGL will launch with five teams competing in a round-robin regular-season schedule before advancing to a single-elimination semifinals. It has not been announced which network will be airing the best-of-three WTGL Finals.
Yahoo to televise alternate broadcasts of MLB, MLS games
Yahoo Sports will stream alternate presentations of two “Friday Night Baseball” MLB games this month, but only for the first two innings, it was announced Wednesday. The streams are part of a larger deal that include two full MLS match alt-casts and will be available to view on the Yahoo Sports app and website.
Yahoo Sports senior MLB writers Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman will host two baseball alt-casts, the first of which takes place this week as the Detroit Tigers visit the Cleveland Guardians. The alternate presentation will consist of a pregame show and only the first two innings of the game itself. Users will need an Apple TV subscription to watch the remainder of the matchup, and the stream will have a link to the app. The second alternate stream will take place on Friday, Sept. 18 as the Philadelphia Phillies take on the New York Mets.
Yahoo’s MLS alternate broadcasts will feature Alexis Guerreros and Christian Polanco, co-hosts of “The Cooligans” podcast, and include pregame and full match coverage. The MLS alt-cast will contain unique camera angles and a feed with the game shot on iPhone. Both games feature Inter Miami F Lionel Messi, the first of which is the Campeones Cup against Cruz Azul on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The final game of the slate places the team against FC Cincinnati on Wednesday, Oct. 28. MLS and Apple modified their media rights deal before the season, shortening the pact to continue through 2029 and eliminating the double paywall, per a report by Eben Novy-Williams and Jacob Feldman of Sportico.
Yahoo Sports previously streamed one free MLB game per day in 2016, a venture that has shifted to different platforms in the ensuing years. Throughout the season, ESPN and Peacock have offered a free daily game for out-of-market viewers. MLB.TV had previously offered free daily broadcasts that did not require a subscription to the out-of-market platform. Yahoo Sports has not previously aired MLS matches.
Plus: NBC Sports, DUNKMAN, Netflix, Katie Florio
- NBC Sports host Jac Collinsworth will continue to host “Peacock Sunday Night Football Final” this season, despite being shifted off of the main “Football Night in America” pregame show, it was announced Wednesday. Collinsworth will work alongside Devin McCourty and Jason Garrett on the postgame show, both of whom are on the pregame and halftime shows as well. Collinsworth previously paired with Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungy on the program, who formerly starred in the on-site portion of “Football Night in America,” which is now fully on the road as of this season.
- DUNKMAN is returning for a second season next summer on TNT Sports and will add team competitions, a new junior division and a global regional qualifier series, it was announced on Wednesday. The competition this past year awarded a $500,000 grand prize to the league’s world champion Cam Hazzard and featured several former NBA players as judges. DUNKMAN founder/commissioner Shaquille O’Neal said in a statement that “dunking is a professional sport” and that the league is “going bigger” next year.
- “The Pivot” podcast featuring Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Warner will stream new episodes on Netflix every Tuesday and Friday under a multiyear deal, according to a report by Boardroom earlier this week. The deal includes “a first negotiation on new content produced by Pivot25 Productions,” a company that was co-founded by Clark and podcast EP Alicia Zubikowski. The show remains available across other platforms as well, such as iHeartMedia, YouTube and Spotify.
- Katie Florio has been named the new rinkside reporter for live game broadcasts of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey on SportsNet Pittsburgh, it was announced Monday. Florio, who is succeeding Hailey Hunter in the role, moves into the job after previously covering the Washington Capitals on radio broadcasts and Monumental Sports Network. In addition to occasional studio hosting, Florio will sometimes be on Pittsburgh Pirates broadcasts as a sideline reporter and studio host.
