The scheduled resumption of the Premier League season will include a number of matches on NBC’s new Peacock streaming service. Plus: news on the WNBA restart, sports media layoffs, and an ESPN programming block on race.
Peacock to carry Premier League matches
The new NBC streaming service Peacock will carry seven live English Premier League matches through July 2, NBC Sports announced Friday. Peacock, which is available only to Comcast Xfinity subscribers until its official July 15 launch, is scheduled to air Bournemouth-Crystal Palace on June 20, Newcastle-Aston Villa, Norwich-Everton and Wolverhampton-Bournemouth on June 24, Burnley-Watford on June 25, and Bournemouth-Newcastle and Arsenal-Norwich on July 1.
Each of the Peacock matches will also be available on the NBC Sports Gold over-the-top service.
The Premier League season is scheduled to resume June 17. NBCSN is set to air 27 matches through July 2, including Aston Villa-Sheffield and Manchester City-Arsenal on the first day of play. The NBC broadcast network is scheduled for just two over that same span — West Ham-Wolverhampton on June 20 and Everton-Liverpool on June 21. [NBC Sports PR 6.5]
WNBA could start regular season before NBA resumes
The WNBA has proposed holding its entire regular season and playoffs at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., with play starting July 24 and running through October, ESPN reported Thursday. Each team would play 22 games under the proposal, which is still in its early stages and would require players union approval.
The July 24 restart would be one week earlier than the NBA’s planned July 31 resumption of its season at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The WNBA season was supposed to have started May 15. [ESPN 6.4]
The Athletic, SB Nation, cutting staff
Axios reported Friday that The Athletic will lay off 46 staffers, or 8% of its employees, in a pandemic-related cost-cutting move. The Athletic is the latest sports media outlet to cut pay or positions since the majority of sporting events were called off in mid-March.
One of the other such companies, Vox-owned SB Nation, has officially parted ways with several furloughed writers — including Mike Prada and Jason Kirk. [Axios 6.5, Awful Announcing 6.5]
ESPN airing primetime specials on race featuring Hill, Champion
ESPN announced Friday that it will air a primetime block of specials on Monday devoted to racial issues, including two-previously aired specials featuring former ESPN employees Jemele Hill and Cari Champion. The Champion-hosted 2018 special “Dear Black Athlete” will air at 8 PM ET and the Hill-hosted 2016 special “Athletes, Responsibility and Violence” will air at 9:30. In between, ESPN will debut a new special called “Playing For Justice” narrated by Marc Spears. [ESPN PR 6.5]
