The network that airs Thursday Night Football will air Thursday night baseball in September. Also: ESPN could include ABC in its next bid for NFL rights, and ESPN has canceled plans to send College Gameday to Syracuse this weekend.
FOX will air primetime MLB on Thursdays in September
The FOX broadcast network will carry a pair of Thursday night Major League Baseball games in September, just the fourth and fifth time since FOX acquired rights that it has aired a regular season game on a weeknight. The network carried Alex Rodriguez‘ final game on a Friday night in 2016, Yankees-Red Sox on a Friday night in 2004, and Mark McGwire‘s then-record 62nd home run on a Thursday night in 1998.
Game selections for the regionalized windows are to be determined. The games are scheduled for September 12 and 19, coinciding with Weeks 2 and 3 of the NFL season. It goes without saying that Thursday Night Football will air exclusively on NFL Network in those weeks.
With the addition of the Thursday night windows, FOX will largely do away with the Saturday afternoon telecasts that typically ran into its college football coverage. FOX is set to carry only one Saturday window in September, on the final weekend of the season. [Fox Sports]
SBJ: ESPN could include ABC in next NFL rights bid
Sports Business Journal reported this week that ESPN is open to including ABC in future bids for NFL media rights, a move the network believes would ensure a place in the NFL’s Super Bowl broadcasting rotation. The New York Post previously reported that discussions involving ABC centered on one of the league’s Sunday afternoon packages, but sources told SBJ that it was unlikely ESPN would bid on those rights. Instead, ESPN is said to be considering any of the primetime packages, including “Monday night with a better schedule.”
ABC was briefly mentioned as a bidder for Thursday Night Football rights the last time they were available. [SBJ 2.18]
ESPN will not send Gameday to Syracuse
ESPN has canceled plans to send its College Gameday studio show to Syracuse this weekend, citing the fatal Wednesday car accident involving Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim, the network told the Syracuse Post-Standard Thursday. ESPN indicated that the “celebratory nature” of Gameday would be inappropriate given the situation.
Gameday will instead originate from ESPN’s Bristol, CT, studios. [Syracuse.com 2.21 via Awful Announcing 2.21]
