ESPN, NHL announce comprehensive 7-year agreement
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)The National Hockey League and ESPN are together again: The two sides announced a seven-year agreement Wednesday beginning next season that includes four Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL All-Star game and comprehensive streaming rights. It had the national NHL rights from 1985-88 and 1992-2004. The ABC games would likely air on Saturdays beginning around the All-Star game with the ESPN top game being on Thursday. ESPN will also produce 75 national games per season that will streamed exclusively on both ESPN+ and Hulu. Fox had NHL rights from 1995-99.
Longtime ESPN baseball correspondent Pedro Gomez dies at 58
Spencer Green, File)Pedro Gomez, a longtime baseball correspondent for ESPN who covered more than 25 World Series, has died. He was a Dad, loving husband, loyal friend, coach and mentor,โ the Gomez family added. He was a correspondent on ESPN's โSportsCenter,โ โBaseball Tonightโ and additional shows, including the network's โWednesday Night Baseballโ package. โWe are shocked and saddened to learn that our friend and colleague Pedro Gomez has passed away,โ ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement on Twitter and the network's public relations page. โMore than an elite journalist, Pedro Gomez was a good and decent man, so proud of his family, and his heritage,โ said former โSportsCenterโ anchor Bob Ley.
SEC on ABC: ESPN to be exclusive TV home, starting 2024
The deal makes ESPN the exclusive media rights holder of SEC football and men's basketball, and will end the conference's relationship with CBS after three decades. โSo thatโs a point of consistency.โThe SEC football championship game will also air on ABC. The SEC and ESPN are already in the midst of a 20-year deal that includes a partnership on the SEC Network. For the first time, SEC games will be available to be slotted into ABC's Saturday Night prime-time slot, too. "So Saturday night, prime time on ABC is the highest profile window, the biggest stage in terms of college football.
ESPN announces 300 layoffs, citing 'disruption' amid virus
FILE This Aug. 13, 2020 file photo shows a logo for ESPN on a remote control, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, FIle)ESPN announced Thursday it is eliminating about 500 jobs worldwide, including about 300 through layoffs. โWe have, however, reached an inflection point.โIn addition to the layoffs, the company is planning to leave about 200 vacant positions unfilled. The company said it has more than 5,000 employees, including about 4,000 in Bristol. The Disney subsidiary has recently been moving toward more direct-to-consumer offerings, including its ESPN+, a streaming service that has grown to about 8.5 million subscribers.
Par 3 Contest out, 'College GameDay' in at different Masters
ESPN's College GameDay is in. Augusta National announced Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, more changes to a Masters tournament that will be unlike any of the previous 83. ESPN's โCollege GameDayโ is in. Augusta National announced Tuesday more changes to a Masters tournament that will be unlike any of the previous 83. The most notable was in 2017 when โCollege GameDayโ was held in Times Square.
Former athletes, sports shows take lead on social justice
Former athletes have a pipeline to advance into sports media as commentators, and many popular shows feature a Black man or woman as a host. Instead, it turned into a forum for players to express their feelings about racial and social issues after practice was canceled. Brown added that athletes who speak out need to be articulate, informed and mindful that their words have staying power. For Rose, the era of athletes sticking to sports is over in part because President Donald Trump hasnt been shy about criticizing NBA and NFL players who disagree with him. If hes acknowledging NFL players who are kneeling and he says, They deserve to be fired, that now becomes a sports topic.