The men’s national championship game will start a few minutes earlier; the Texas Rangers have created a new network; and ESPN+ is launching golf-betting streams for PGA events.
NCAA moves up men’s hoops final
The championship game of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, which has tipped off at 9:20 PM ET for decades, will move up 30 minutes to 8:50 PM, the NCAA announced Tuesday. Pregame coverage from San Antonio on April 7 will presumably begin at 8 PM ET on CBS and Paramount+. The late start to the national championship had been an annual subject of complaint from fans on social media for years.
The 9:20 tip is a relic of an era in which CBS would have preferred to not preempt its primetime entertainment programming for the game. The network would air its usual fare in the 8 PM hour, then come on the air at 9:00 for the game. Even in 2023, CBS aired a rerun of “The Neighborhood” at 8:00 to 3.7 million viewers before beginning pregame coverage at 8:30. In the current era of television, the national championship is CBS’s most-watched Monday night program every year it has the game, with its entertainment programming far less important.
Rangers announce new RSN
The Texas Rangers have created a new regional sports network to televise games beginning with the upcoming season. The “Rangers Sports Network” will be carried by cable systems in the region to be announced. The Rangers already announced Victory+ will provide direct-to-consumer streaming at a price of $100/season. Game talent for the new network was not disclosed. The team’s games had been carried by Bally Sports Southwest (now FanDuel Sports Network Southwest) for decades prior to the company’s bankruptcy and subsequent reorganization.
The new network is the fourth unique platform currently carrying the Dallas market’s major pro teams. The Mavericks have moved to over-the-air stations owned by Tegna, the Stars stream for free on Victory+, and the Wings remain on FanDuel Sports Network Southwest.
ESPN+ launching betting streams for PGA events
The PGA Tour has announced a new partnership with ESPN BET which will add additional sports betting-related coverage to the ESPN+ streams of select Tour events this season. The alternate coverage, titled “ESPN BET on PGA Tour Live”, will debut with the WM Phoenix Open on February 6. The coverage will feature be hosted by Jonathan Coachman, with on-course reporter Michael Collins and analysts Matt Every and Graham DeLaet.
The agreement will also result in co-marketing opportunities for ESPN BET via the Tour’s digital properties and designates ESPN BET as an Official Betting Operator of the PGA TOUR.
