The NFL has officially expanded Wild Card weekend to Monday night. Plus: news on Sunday Ticket negotiations, Al Michaels’ future and more, including a new role for Holly Rowe and a second woman being named the lead voice of an NBA team.
NFL expands Wild Card weekend to Monday night
The NFL announced Friday that Wild Card weekend will now include a Monday night game. Instead of three games on Saturday and three on Sunday, the new schedule will consist of a Saturday doubleheader (4:35 and 8:15 PM ET), three games on Sunday (1:05, 4:40 and 8:15) and the Monday game (8:15). Because the NFL playoffs will be pushed back a week by the new Week 18, the Monday playoff game is set for Martin Luther King Day.
Network assignments have not been divulged, though it would seemingly make sense for the Monday night game to air on the network that carries Monday Night Football, ESPN/ABC.
The NFL’s plans to expand Wild Card weekend to Monday night were something of an open secret, having first been reported by NBC Sports months ago. The league’s intentions were also discernible if one looked at this year’s NBA TV schedule, which did not include a primetime game on MLK Day — historically one of the league’s marquee dates. [NFL PR 9.24]
The Athletic: NFL prefers Apple for Sunday Ticket
The Athletic reported Thursday that the NFL prefers that Apple win the rights to its out-of-market Sunday Ticket package. The league’s rationale seems to be that it already has deep preexisting relationships with fellow contenders Amazon and Disney and would be entering for the first time a relationship with Apple, a colossus in its own right.
CNBC reported earlier this month that Amazon is viewed by the other Sunday Ticket contenders as the favorite to acquire the rights. [The Athletic 9.23 via Front Office Sports 9.24]
NYP: Chances of Michaels going to TNF are at 90 percent
The New York Post reported Monday that Al Michaels is widely expected to join Amazon as the voice of Thursday Night Football next season, with one source telling the publication that the probability is at “95 percent.” The Post says it has spoken to multiple sources about Michaels’ future and none have been “pessimistic about Amazon Al becoming a reality.”
Under a deal with Amazon, Michaels would still contribute to NBC in a limited capacity. He would also work alongside longtime producer Fred Gaudelli, with whom he has worked the entirety of NBC’s Sunday Night Football package and ABC’s Monday Night Football previously.
Per the Post, the top candidates on the game analyst side are the current analyst Troy Aikman, Michaels’ current partner Cris Collinsworth and NBC newcomer Drew Brees. [NYP 9.20]
Holly Rowe, Kate Scott, PTI doc, Jefferson
ESPN reporter Holly Rowe is joining the Utah Jazz as a game analyst, it was announced Friday, though the new role will not affect her ESPN duties. … Pac-12 Network broadcaster Kate Scott has been named the new play-by-play voice for 76ers games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, replacing the retired Marc Zumoff. She is the second woman to ever be named an NBA team’s lead play-by-play voice, her hiring coming within days of Lisa Byington getting the Milwaukee Bucks job. … ESPN on Tuesday will premiere a one-hour documentary commemorating the coming 20-year anniversary of its daily talk show Pardon the Interruption. In addition to the documentary, ESPN also plans a four-part ESPN Daily podcast series about the show starting October 2. Both the documentary and podcast series will be hosted by regular PTI guest host Pablo Torre. … ESPN NBA analyst Richard Jefferson reached an extension to remain with the network, per Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. [Jazz 9.24 via Awful Announcing 9.24; NBC Sports 9.23, ESPN PR, Marchand/Twitter 9.23]
