Joe Buck will reportedly work with Ron Darling and Orel Hershiser on ESPN for Mets-Dodgers next month; NFL owners reportedly approve a change to the league’s policy around short weeks; and the NFL is partnering with TMRW Sports for a new professional flag football league. Plus news on Prime Video, NBC Sports, ESPN and NFL Films.
Darling, Hershiser to reportedly work MLB game with Buck
ESPN has chosen SNY and TBS analyst Ron Darling and SportsNet LA Dodgers analyst Orel Hershiser as the analysts for its Mets-Dodgers MLB season debut next month, working alongside “Monday Night Football” voice Joe Buck, according to a report by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Buck, who confirmed the role on the “SI Media” podcast last December, is working his second MLB assignment for ESPN in as many seasons after regularly calling games during his time with Fox Sports.
Darling has been a member of the SNY Mets broadcast team with Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez since the trio debuted in 2006, and he has also worked games for TBS since 2008. Hershiser, who worked for ESPN from 2000 to 2001 and then again from 2006 to 2014, has already called a national game this season for NBC Sports on Opening Day alongside play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti and analyst Luis Gonzalez.
The configuration resembles Buck’s previous MLB assignment with ESPN, Brewers-Yankees on Opening Day of last season. Buck worked in the booth with Yankees on YES Network analyst Joe Girardi and Brewers TV analyst Bill Schroeder. NBC Sports has taken the approach of having local analysts for both “Sunday Leadoff” and “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasts this season as the company begins its three-year media rights deal.
During his tenure with Fox Sports, Buck called the World Series a record 24 times and also broadcast the national package of games with partners Tim McCarver and John Smoltz. Since focusing on the NFL full time with ESPN as the voice of “Monday Night Football,” he has returned to the diamond on occasion, including on a local St. Louis Cardinals broadcast in 2024. Buck was named the recipient of the 2026 Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and will receive the honor this summer.
NFL owners reportedly approve change to short week policy
NFL owners approved exempting Friday games from the league’s policy limiting the number of short weeks teams play during the season, according to a report by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal was first to report the possibility of a change. As a result, Black Friday and Christmas Day — which falls on a Friday this season — will reportedly not count towards the two-game limit on short weeks.
During the 2025 NFL season, 25 out of the league’s 32 teams had at least one short week in which they played on Sunday and then Thursday night. Out of those 25 teams, just over half (13) had more than one short week. The Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles were the only teams to play on a Friday last season, but neither franchise played on a Thursday after Week 1.
Removing Fridays from the current restriction hypothetically opens potential new windows for games. While the league is limited by the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 in scheduling Friday games, it is reportedly interested in adding a second window on Black Friday. Christmas also falls on a Friday this year, meaning that teams could play on that day without impacting their availability for short week Thursday games.
Under the SBA, the NFL is prohibited from scheduling Friday night or Saturday games from the second Friday in September until the third Saturday of December. The NFL has not held a non-holiday Friday game in that window since Chiefs-Dolphins in October 2005, which was moved up from a Sunday afternoon due to Hurricane Wilma. The game aired locally only on CBS affiliates in Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Kansas City and Topeka, combining “to make up 3.47% of the country’s viewership,” per a report at the time by Broadcasting & Cable.
NFL to launch flag football league with TMRW Sports
The NFL is partnering with TMRW Sports to create a professional flag football league for women and men with backing from a consortium of former and current athletes, the league announced Monday. Some of the backers include Tom Brady, Billie Jean King, Peyton Manning and Serena Williams.
The companies aim to debut of the new league ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which will feature flag football for the first time. “As the flag football movement continues its explosive global growth, a professional flag league completes the pathway for elite athletes to compete at every level of the game, from youth to high school and college, to the Olympic stage, and now professionally,” Troy Vincent Sr., NFL EVP/football operations, said in a statement.
TMRW Sports was selected following what the league called “a competitive evaluation process that generated strong interest from multiple potential operators.” The league’s strategic investment arm, 32 Equity, is permitted to make an initial investment of up to $32 million in the league. NFL teams had voted to “support the development of a professional flag football league” through 32 Equity last December.
TMRW Sports was involved in developing TGL, the indoor golf league that recently completed its second season. The structure and sale of media rights for the new flag football league remain unknown at this time.
Plus: Prime Video, NBC Sports, ESPN, NFL Films
- Terry Gannon will host coverage of the Masters Tournament on Amazon’s Prime Video as the streamer airs portions of the first two rounds for the first time, it was announced Monday. Coverage will begin from Butler Cabin at Augusta National on the Thursday and Friday of the tournament, and he will also interview six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus. While the CBS Sports broadcast team will provide on-course commentary, Prime Video has assembled its own “Inside Amen Corner” team featuring host Justin Kutcher, pro golfers Geoff Ogilvy and Smylie Kaufman, and caddie John Wood, plus vignettes from instructor Michael Breed.
- The upcoming edition of “Sunday Night Baseball” between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers on Peacock and NBC Sports Network will feature Brad Thompson and Andy Dirks in the broadcast booth alongside play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, Sports Media Watch has confirmed. Benetti, who revealed the broadcast crew on Sunday, regularly works with Dirks for Tigers broadcasts on Detroit SportsNet, while Thompson is the primary analyst on Cardinals.TV regional broadcasts.
- Baseball analyst and former MLB 1B Xavier Scruggs is no longer working at ESPN after his contract was not renewed, Sports Media Watch has confirmed. Scruggs, who first joined the company in 2020, appeared on “Baseball Tonight” and game broadcasts at various levels of competition, including the College World Series. In addition, ESPN NHL analyst John Tortorella was named the new head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, cutting short his first season back with the network in three years. Lastly, longtime ESPN NBA writer Kevin Pelton has reportedly been hired as the assistant GM/VP of analytics for the WNBA’s Houston Comets, per a report by Alexa Philippou of ESPN.
- The next two training camp editions of “Hard Knocks” will feature the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, respectively, both of whom competed in Super Bowl LX this past February. The Seahawks’ edition of the HBO and NFL Films series will premiere on Tuesday, Aug. 11 and mark the first time the franchise is featured on the series. Liev Schreiber is returning as the narrator of the Seahawks’ edition of the show.
