If there was any remaining doubt that ESPN is losing “Sunday Night Baseball” after this season, the network’s months-in-advance schedule announcements are making it increasingly clear.
ESPN announced its 2025-26 NHL regular season schedule on Wednesday, with the network set to carry a Sunday night NHL doubleheader on April 5 (Capitals-Rangers at 7 PM ET and Blues-Avalanche at 9:30). That would be one week before ESPN carries a Sunday night NBA doubleheader on the final night of that season (games to be determined at 6 and 8:30 PM ET).
Even as ESPN is expected to remain an MLB rights partner — reportedly striking a deal to acquire MLB.tv, rights to five local clubs, and a night of exclusive games — it is at this point a fait accompli that the network will lose the “Sunday Night Baseball” package it has carried since 1990. NBCUniversal is expected to acquire the Sunday night games.
The loss of “Sunday Night Baseball” would force ESPN to reprogram half of its Sunday nights. April 5 and April 12 are the second and third Sundays of the new MLB season. Additional Sundays could be filled in by NCAA women’s basketball tournament games, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the baseball and softball College World Series and summer properties like the WNBA.
(The April 5 NHL doubleheader also seemingly confirms that the NCAA women’s basketball national championship will again be scheduled for an afternoon slot. ESPN aired an alternate presentation of last year’s game, and it is hard to imagine that the network would program an NHL doubleheader opposite a primetime edition this year.)
The NHL schedule also signaled change at TNT, which after the loss of its NBA package will air games on 14 Tuesday nights and even one Thursday — the two nights per week the network previously carried NBA games. The Tuesday slate includes a rare tripleheader on December 23, the last NHL date before Christmas (Penguins-Maple Leafs at 4 PM ET, Stars-Red Wings at 6:30 and Flyers-Blackhawks at 9:00), while the Thursday slate consists of a single October 30 game (Stars-Lightning at 7 PM).
TNT will also carry a Martin Luther King Day NHL doubleheader as the Sabres face the Hurricanes at 1:30 and the Capitals take on the Avalanche at 4:00. TNT annually aired at least two MLK Day games per year during its NBA tenure.
The network will still primarily carry games on Wednesday nights. In addition to the new windows, its schedule includes a return to the traditional Black Friday NHL matinee, as the Rangers face the Bruins at 1 PM ET. The network had been carrying late afternoon doubleheaders on the day after Thanksgiving.
This coming season is the fifth of the NHL’s seven-year U.S. media rights deal.
