The new FS1 Barstool morning show now has a name and a start date. Plus: YouTube unveils monthly plans for NFL Sunday Ticket; ESPN makes a change to its college football studio; and more, including a NASCAR Substack.
Fox announces name, launch date, of Barstool morning show
Fox Sports officially announced Tuesday the name and launch date of its new Barstool Sports-produced FS1 morning show. Titled “Wake Up Barstool,” the two-hour show will air live from 8-10 AM ET each day starting next Tuesday (September 2), with an encore presentation airing immediately afterward from 10 AM-Noon. The show will feature Barstool founder Dave Portnoy on Mondays and various other Barstool personalities throughout the week.
The new Barstool show will constitute the entirety of an FS1 morning lineup that once included various debate shows, most notably the Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless vehicle “Undisputed.” FS1 canceled the entirety of its morning lineup, which included months-old shows “Breakfast Ball” and “The Facility,” in July.
The full daily FS1 lineup will now consist of three shows total over the course of ten hours (8 AM-6 PM ET), with “Wake Up Barstool” taking up four hours, “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” airing for three, and the expanded “First Things First” airing for three more. By comparison, ESPN will typically air seven different shows over that same period (“Get Up,” “First Take,” “The Pat McAfee Show,” “SportsCenter,” “NBA Today,” “NFL Live,” and “Pardon the Interruption.”)
YouTube unveils monthly Sunday Ticket plans
Google-owned YouTube said Tuesday that it is launching a new monthly plan for NFL Sunday Ticket, which will allow users to cancel at any time during the season. Sunday Ticket would cost as little as $85/mo for new users, with returning users paying either $115/mo through YouTube TV or $145/mo through regular YouTube.
The monthly fee would add up to considerably more than the usual annual price. For new users, a monthly subscription over the full, five-month NFL season would run up to $425 — compared to $276 annually ($34.50/mo). For returning users, the monthly price over a full season would rise as high as $575 with YouTube TV or $725 through regular YouTube, compared to annual pricing of $378 and $480 respectively.
YouTube, entering its third season as the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, also said Tuesday that its multiview options this season will allow users to pair local and out-of-market games.
Manuel joining ESPN’s Saturday studio
ESPN announced Tuesday that ACC Network college football analyst E.J. Manuel is moving up to ESPN this season as a part of the network’s Saturday studio team of Matt Barrie and Joey Galloway, where he will handle halftime and shoulder programming as well as “College Football Final.” He replaces Dan Mullen, who departed in the offseason to become head coach of UNLV.
Manuel, who joined ESPN in 2019, will continue to appear on the ACC Network Football Podcast.
Mullen’s departure will also necessitate a change to ESPN’s Thursday night game broadcast team, with Tom Luginbill replacing him alongside Barrie and Harry Lyles (Jr.).
The rest of ESPN’s studio teams are intact from last season, with Kevin Neghandhi and Booger McFarland on ABC and Kevin Connors and Trevor Matich on ESPN2. The primary game broadcast teams also return intact: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe; Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy and Molly McGrath; Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer and Katie George; Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Taylor McGregor; Mark Jones, Roddy White and Quint Kessenich; Bob Wiscusen, Louis Riddick and Kris Budden; and Dave Flemming, Brock Osweilier and Stormy Buonantony.
Plus: NASCAR-Substack, WNBA Finals schedule, WBC TV rights
- NASCAR is launching a Substack newsletter, Sara Fischer of Axios reported Tuesday, marking what is said to be the first time a major sports league has partnered with the website. The NASCAR Substack will consist of one newsletter published multiple times per week and written by the league’s in-house editorial team. NASCAR, per Fischer, was also the first league to launch a Discord channel.
- The WNBA last week announced its 2025 playoff schedule, with the first best-of-seven WNBA Finals set to run from Friday, October 3 through Friday, October 17. Five of the seven games are set for ESPN in primetime, with Games 2 and 5 scheduled to air in Sunday afternoon windows on ABC. This year is the last of the current WNBA media rights deal, and starting next year, the WNBA Finals will rotate between ESPN, NBC and Amazon. Next year’s finals is set for NBC.
- U.S. television rights to next year’s World Baseball Classic have yet to be announced, but Major League Baseball on Monday said that Netflix has acquired Japanese rights to the event. The last time the tournament was held in 2023, the Shohei Ohtani-led Japan squad generated massive audiences in the country. The 2023 tournament aired on Fox Sports in the United States.
- DIRECTV STREAM, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and Fubo have all dropped Miami affiliate WPLG since it lost its ABC affiliation earlier this month, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. WPLG had been an ABC affiliate for nearly 70 years. ABC is now on a subchannel of WSVN, Miami’s FOX affiliate.
