- Sports broadcasting rights in the USA
This page refers to sports broadcasting rights in the
USA . For a list of sports broadcasting rights in other countries, seeSports television broadcast contracts .Baseball
Major League Baseball
*FOX: 26 Saturday afternoon games; All-Star Game; one League Championship Series*; World Series
*TBS: 26 Sunday afternoon games; regular-season tiebreak games, if needed; Division Series games; one League Championship Series*
*TNT: Division series games not aired on sister network TBS
*ESPN: Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday Night Games ; Opening Day games* *In 2008, FOX will air the
National League Championship Series , while TBS will air theAmerican League Championship Series . These rights will alternate years through 2013.Additionally, local or regional broadcasters contract with the MLB team in their area for the right to broadcast a number of regular season games locally. These broadcasters can be traditional over-the-air television stations as well as regional cable sports channels. The
Chicago Cubs andChicago White Sox air some of their games onWGN-TV , which has become asuperstation , so those games are available nationwide. (A similar arrangement with theAtlanta Braves and TBS expired following the 2007 season.)Source: MLB Press Release [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060711&content_id=1552548&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb]
Basketball
National Basketball Association
*ABC: Sunday Afternoon Game ; NBA Finals until 2016
*TNT: Thursday night doubleheader; All-Star Game; Eastern Conference Finals until 2016
*ESPN: Wednesday night game and Friday night doubleheader; Western Conference Finals until 2016
*NBA TV ,MOJO HD : Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday night games until 2016Additionally, local or regional broadcasters contract with the NBA team in their area for the right to broadcast a number of regular season games locally. These broadcasters can be traditional over-the-air television stations as well as regional cable sports channels. WGN, a Chicago-based superstation, broadcasts a limited number of
Chicago Bulls regular season games on their national feed, fewer than they provide locally. If ESPN chooses to opt out of airing all of the games on their night, NBA TV airs a game in its place. Games in the first two rounds of the playoffs can be aired by regional broadcasters, unless the national broadcaster has exclusive rights. Games in the first round not selected by national broadcasters are usually broadcast by NBA TV.Women's National Basketball Association
*ABC: national broadcast contract (Saturday games) until 2016
*ESPN2 : selected weeknight games, playoffs, andWNBA Finals until 2016NCAA Basketball
*CBS:
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament along with selected regular season games.
*ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN Classic : Pre-season and post-season NIT games.
*ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.
*Nationally-televised regular-season games appear on ABC, CBS,CBS College Sports Network , ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU, FSN,Fox College Sports , Versus, and others.International Basketball
*ESPN/NBA TV:FIBA World Championship
*Fox/NBA TV:FIBA World Championship for Women
*NBA TV:Euroleague Cricket
*
Cricket Plus : First ever24x7 cricket channel in US.
*Zee Sports : shows selected livecricket viaDish Network
*Direct TV andDish Network offers livecricket broadcast onPay-per-view .
*Zee Sports : is the official broadcaster ofIndian Cricket League in USA.
*Dish Network andDirect TV are the official broadcasters ofIndian Premier League in USA.Cycling
*
Tour de France : Versus/CBS
*UCI ProTour : Versus
*Tour of California : VersusFootball
National Football League
*CBS: AFC Sunday afternoon games; 1 Thanksgiving Day game; 4 AFC playoff games; Super Bowl XLIV (2010); 3 Preseason games.
*FOX: NFC Sunday afternoon games; 1 Thanksgiving Day game; 4 NFC playoff games; Super Bowl XLV (2011); 3 Preseason games.
*NBC: NFL Kickoff game; 16 Sunday night games; 2 wild-card playoff games; Super Bowls XLIII (2009) and XLVI (2012); 3 Preseason games.
*ESPN: 17 Monday night games (Doubleheader Week 1, Singleheader Weeks 2–16); 4 Preseason games
*NFL Network : 8 late-season NFL games (starting Thanksgiving) on Thursday and/or Saturday Night; 2 Preseason games.
*DirecTV :NFL Sunday Ticket - Pay-per-view rights to all CBS and FOX regular-season games (excluding Thanksgiving games).Notes:
*Sunday afternoon Interconference games air on the network of the "visiting" team's conference.
*CBS and FOX each receive 8 single games and nine doubleheaders.
*The network airing a given Super Bowl will also telecast that season's Pro Bowl the following weekend.
*NFL Sunday Ticket pay-per-view games available for out-of-market games only in any given area.College Football Bowl games
*FOX: Cotton, Orange, Fiesta, and Sugar Bowls (2007–2010), plus BCS National Championship Game (2007–2009)
*ABC: Capital One Bowl and Rose Bowl, plus BCS National Championship Game (2010)
*CBS: Sun Bowl and Gator Bowl
*NFL Network: Insight Bowl and Texas Bowl
*All other bowl games air on ESPN, ESPN2, or NFL Network.Arena football
*Arena Football League : ESPN/ABC will air 26 regular season games and nine postseason games per year through 2011. The 2007 season includes 14 Monday night games on ESPN2, while theArena Bowl will air on ABC. Select games air on regional stations.occer
Major League Soccer
*ESPN2 :MLS Primetime Thursday , MLS All-Star Game, select playoff games.
*ABC: MLS Cup Final
*Fox Soccer Channel /Fox Sports en Español : game of the week (generally Saturday).
*Univision : Spanish language broadcasts onGalavision andTelefutura (generally Sunday).
*HDNet : game of the week, select playoff games.United Soccer Leagues
*Fox Soccer Channel : game of the week (Fridays)US Open Cup
*Fox Soccer Channel : Final, other selected matchesPrimera División de México
*Univision , Galavisión,TeleFutura , andAzteca America broadcast the top Division of Mexican Soccer in the USA.2006 FIFA World Cup
*English-language: ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
*Spanish-language: Univision/TeleFutura
*German-language: Setanta Sports*2010 FIFA World Cup - CONMEBOL Qualifier:
ESPN Deportes UEFA European Soccer
*UEFA European Football Championship : ABC/ESPN /ESPN2 /ESPN Classic (English-language);ESPN Deportes (Spanish-language)
*UEFA Champions League :ESPN2 ,ESPN Classic ESPN Deportes (Spanish) andSetanta Sports North America English Club Soccer
*Premier League :Fox Soccer Channel andSetanta Sports North America
*Football League Championship :Setanta Sports North America
*FA Cup :Fox Soccer Channel
*Carling Cup :Setanta Sports North America
*Blue Square Premier :Setanta Sports North America (Playoffs only)Other Soccer
*
2007 Copa America :Univision /TeleFutura /Galavisión (Spanish-language) andGolTV (English language)
*CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2007 :Fox Soccer Channel
*2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup :Fox Soccer Channel (English-language);Univision /TeleFutura /Galavisión (Spanish-language)
*Serie A :Fox Soccer Channel (English-language) andFox Sports en Español (Spanish-language)
*Primera División Argentina :Fox Soccer Channel (English-language);Fox Sports en Español and TyC Sports (Spanish-language)
*German Bundesliga :GolTV
*Spanish Primera Liga :GolTV Football (other)
Australian rules football
*Australian Rules Football:Setanta Sports North America airs one live game per week, plus playoffs and theAFL Grand Final .Canadian football
*Canadian Football League :America One broadcasts three live games a week, plus all playoff games and theGrey Cup .Gaelic football
*All-Ireland Senior Football Championship : Setanta Sports North America airs approximately 25 games per season.Rugby league
* Setanta Sports North America airs matches from the world's two main leagues:
**National Rugby League (Australia, with one team in New Zealand)
** Super League (England, with one team in France)Rugby union
* Setanta Sports North America has rights to the following competitions:
**Rugby World Cup
** Six Nations (European national teams)
** Tri Nations (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa national teams)
**Heineken Cup (European clubs)
**Super 14 (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa franchises)
**Guinness Premiership (English clubs)
** Magners League (Ireland, Scotland, Wales franchises)
**EDF Energy Cup (knockout cup competition involving Guinness Premiership and Welsh Magners League sides)
**Currie Cup (South African provinces)
**Air New Zealand Cup (New Zealand provinces)
* Versus airs theUSA Sevens in the sevens variant of rugby union.Golf
Men-
*
The Players Championship - Golf Channel/NBC
*The Masters - ESPN/CBS
*U.S. Open - ESPN/NBC
*British Open - TNT/ABC
*PGA Championship - TNT/CBS
*Ryder Cup - ESPN/NBC
*Other PGA Tour coverage - CBS, NBC, The Golf ChannelWomen-
*
Kraft Nabisco Championship (formerly Dinah Shore): ESPN2/ABC
*LPGA Championship :Golf Channel /CBS
*U.S. Women's Open: ESPN2/NBC
*Women's British Open : TNT/ABC
*Solheim Cup and other LPGA events: Golf ChannelHockey
National Hockey League
*Versus: One to three regular-season games/week, All-Star Game, playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals (games 1–2) until 2008
*NBC: Sunday afternoon late-season games, weekend afternoon playoff games and Stanley Cup Finals (games 3–7) until 2008
*HDNet : Thursday and Saturday Night Games until 2008
*NHL Network: Wednesday, Friday and occasional Sunday gamesAdditionally, viewers near the Canadian border, especially in the
Detroit and Buffalo markets, can view CBC broadcasts ofHockey Night in Canada , playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals. CBC reaches most cable subscribers inMichigan and the Buffalo area, and CBC broadcasts of NHL playoff games often get better ratings in those markets than the simultaneous American broadcast when both are available.Local or regional broadcasters contract with the NHL team in their area for the right to broadcast a number of regular season games locally. These broadcasters can be traditional over-the-air television stations as well as regional cable sports channels. While the
Chicago Blackhawks will be broadcasting games onWGN-TV beginning in autumn 2008, these games will not be available for theWGN America feed due to league broadcast regulations.The following regional stations have playoff contracts in the United States when the corresponding team is participating, regardless of the round:
*
NESN -Boston Bruins
*MSG-New York Rangers NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship:
ESPNU (Regional Semifinals/Finals),ESPN2 (National Semifinals),ESPN (National Championship)Horse Racing
*
Kentucky Derby andPreakness Stakes : NBC
*Belmont Stakes : ABC
*Breeders' Cup : ESPN/ESPN2Other Races:
*Hambletonian & Hambletonian Oaks: NBC
*Virginia Derby : CBSLacrosse
Major League Lacrosse
*
ESPN2 : 9 Games of the Week, All-Star Game, and New Balance Championship.NCAA lacrosse
*
ESPN2 :NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship : ESPN2 (Semifinals); ESPN (Final)NCAA
*CBS College Sports Network: NCAA Men's Division II and III Finals and NCAA Women's Division I, II and III Finals
*Nationally-televised regular-season games appear on CBS College Sports Network, Fox College Sports and ESPNU.Motor sports
NASCAR
*Sprint Cup:
**FOX: races #1 (Daytona 500) through 13; Bud Shootout
**TNT: races #14–19
**ESPN: races #20–25
**ABC: races #26–36
**SPEED: Gatorade Duel and All-Star Challenge (non-points events)
*Nationwide Series : All races on ESPN2, except for two on ESPN and four on ABC
*Craftsman Truck Series : All races on SPEED, except for two on FOXOther auto racing series
*IRL IndyCar Series:
** Current (2008) contract: all races on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2
** Beginning 2009: ABC will continue to air theIndianapolis 500 and 4 other races TBA (through 2012); 13 races on Versus (through 2018)
*Formula One : SPEED broadcasts 14 live races, plus qualifying and Friday practice sessions; FOX airs 4 races (2 live, 2 on tape-delay)
*American Le Mans Series : 3 races on ABC, 2 on NBC, 7 on SPEED
*National Hot Rod Association : All Powerade and Lucas Oil Series events air on ESPN2
*MotoGP ABC/CBS/SPEED
*Supercross : CBS/SPEED
*A1 Grand Prix : SPEEDOlympic Games
NBC has broadcast rights through the 2012 Summer Games. Events also appear on NBC's sister networks
CNBC ,MSNBC , USA, Oxygen,Telemundo (in Spanish) andUniversal HD .*
IAAF World Championships in Athletics :NBC , VersusTennis
*
Australian Open :ESPN2 /The Tennis Channel
*French Open : ESPN2/The Tennis Channel /NBC
*Wimbledon: ESPN2/NBC
*US Open: USA/CBS (ESPN2 to replace USA beginning in 2009)
*United States Davis Cup Team : Versus
*Davis Cup :The Tennis Channel
*Fed Cup : The Tennis Channel
*Tennis Masters Cup : ESPN2/The Tennis Channel (Doubles matches)
*WTA Tour Championships : Versus/The Tennis Channel (Doubles matches)Miscellaneous
*
Association of Volleyball Professionals : FSN, with some events on FOX, NBC andMyNetworkTV .
*US Figure Skating Championships :NBC
*World Equestrian Games :NBC
*America's Cup : Versus
*Professional Bowlers Association : ESPN
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