Lots of things happening in sports media this week. The NFL returns in the next seven days. College Football goes into its second week. Baseball heads into its final month of the regular season. Soccer goes into World Cup qualifying. The PGA Tour takes the week off and we bid adieu to Fox Soccer.
TELEVISION
With the NFL season coming in, some new shows premiere on Sunday and some new features are unveiled on existing shows. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Farewell to Fox Soccer
First, Fox Soccer which had originally been known as Fox Sports World when it launched in 1997 and gave American fans their first taste of live English Premier League games is leaving on Monday, changing to FXX as of 7 a.m. ET. Fox Soccer aired sports that normally didn’t get shown in the United States including Australian Rules Football, rugby, and soccer of course. In 2006, the network rebranded as Fox Soccer Channel and focused on the beautiful game as it continued to show EPL games, the FA Cup, MLS and eventually obtained the rights to the UEFA Champions League. And when Setanta Sports collapsed in the US, Fox made that subscription channel into Fox Soccer Plus.
However, the loss of MLS in 2011 and then EPL this year made Fox Soccer obsolete. Without live soccer inventory, the network could not sustain a schedule with repeats of “Being: Liverpool” and re-airs of “Fox Soccer News.”
So Fox will convert Fox Soccer into an entertainment channel, FXX as a companion to FX. FXX will air comedy series including “The League,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Archer,” and other shows previously seen on FX. FXX begins with a marathon of “Parks and Recreation” on Labor Day.
Fox Soccer Plus will remain so the programming there including the Scottish Premier League, Russian Premier League, Australian Rules Football, NRL Rugby and UEFA Champions League will continue to be seen there.
NFL
Now let’s move to the NFL programming starting this week.
NFL Network
Monday, September 2
NFL Network’s dependence on preseason games ends at 6 a.m. Monday. Among the original programs on the network, the premiere of America’s Game: 2012 Baltimore Ravens on Monday at 9 p.m. ET. Before that, NFL Fantasy Live comes back at 5 p.m. and Around the League Live returns at 6 p.m. ET.
Tuesday, September 3
The new season of the acclaimed “A Football Life” premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET with a focus on LaDanian Tomlinson. At 10 p.m., it’s “A Football Life: Backstory” with a deeper look into LaDanian Tomlinson’s life. The Rich Eisen Kickoff Special premieres featuring interviews with Larry David, Kevin Costner and Matt Damon.
Wednesday, September 4
The NFL GameDay gang returns with the NFL GameDay Season Preview at 9 p.m. ET. More on NFL GameDay later.
Thursday, September 5
At 5 p.m., NFL GameDay Kickoff previews the season opener that night between the defending Super Bowl champions Baltimore Ravens visiting the Denver Broncos. And then at 7:30 p.m., it’s 2013 NFL Kickoff which will be the concert performances in Baltimore by Keith Urban, as long as it’s not Nickelback or Miley Cyrus or Maroon 5.
Friday, September 6
Playbook NFC and Playbook AFC return on Friday at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively. The two shows preview the weekend’s matchups with coach’s films and using the NFL Films facilities in New Jersey, the shows are done very well.
Now let’s look at the NFL pregame shows on the various networks. We’re going to go in alphabetical order.
CBS/CBS Sports Network
CBS Sports Network enters the Sunday NFL pregame fray with a four-hour show! Yes! It’s going to be different in that it will be called “That Other Pregame Show” and will be hosted by Adam Schein. He’ll be joined by former New York Jet Bart Scott, former Oakland Raiders executive Amy Trask (becoming the first female analyst on an NFL studio show), CBS Sports Radio’s Brandon Tierney and CBSSports.com fantasy expert Nathan Zegura. Lead Off’s Allie LaForce joins the cast reporting from a selected game site. Expect see the cast of CBS’ NFL Today and the NFL on CBS game announcers to appear on “That Other Pregame Show.”
No changes to The NFL Today. James Brown returns as host as do analysts Boomer Esiason, Bill Cowher, Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe. Jason La Canfora is back as the show’s insider.
ESPN
Lots of Sunday changes for ESPN during football season.
First, NFL Matchup returns with Sal Paolantonio, Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge. The first airing is at 4 a.m. Sunday, but it repeats at 6:30 a.m. DVR it if you don’t want to wake up early. But the show is very good and should be supported by your viewership.
At 9 a.m., the ultimate Troll’s troll, Colon Cowhack is back on ESPN2 with “Colin’s New Football Show.” I quote directly from the press release, it “will focus on NFL and some college. Weekly guests will include ESPN the Magazine editor in chief Chad Millman, ESPN Radio Chicago host (and former Bears WR) Tom Waddle, and Matthew Berry. It will be a very non-traditional pre-game show in its setting and approach.” This is booting Outside the Lines and The Sports Reporters to 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. respectively. Why this could not be aired on ESPNews or ESPNU is beyond me. Taking the place of Outside the Lines and Sports Reporters is a bad move.
Sunday NFL Countdown is back at 10 a.m. on ESPN with host Chris Berman and analysts Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson. Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker and the polarizing Ray Lewis will join the set although he won’t be in Bristol, CT every week. Lewis has a deal with ESPN that allows him to see his son play at the University of Miami and giving him the opportunity to be on the show part-time. Lewis will be on Monday Night Countdown full-time, but I’ll write about that next week. Continuing on Sunday NFL Countdown, insiders Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter are back. Suzy Kolber will report from the site of the biggest 1 p.m. ET game and be joined either by Merril Hoge or Ron Jaworski. Also returning as reporters will be Josina Anderson, Bob Holtzman, Sal Pal and Ed Werder. Frank Caliendo and his impressions will be seen, but not every week. At 11:45 a.m. ET, fantasy expert Matthew Berry will appear to discuss the impact of the inactives on fantasy teams.
And at 11:30 a.m., ESPN2 airs “Fantasy Football Now” which garnered a loyal audience last year. Robert Flores will be the main anchor. Sara Walsh will host various segments. Berry will be on this show as will analyst Tim Hasselbeck and injury expert Stefania Bell. ESPN’s NFL team reporters will contribute as will Chris Mortensen.
Fox/Fox Sports 1
You would expect Fox Sports 1 to have a Sunday pregame show of its own considering it already has Fox Football Daily. Fox NFL Kickoff will have the cast of Fox Football Daily with Joel Klatt hosting with Ronde Barber, Scott Fujita, Randy Moss and Brian Urlacher as the analysts with Mike Pereira as rules analyst and Jay Glazer with late breaking information. This Sunday, Fox NFL Kickoff premieres at 10:30 a.m. and then will settle into an 11-noon ET timeslot in Week 2.
Fox NFL Sunday returns this Sunday at a special time, 11:30 a.m. for an expanded 90 minute edition and will broadcast live from Times Square in New York. If you guessed this is a tie-in for Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII later this year from the New Meadowlands in New Jersey, then you would be correct. Curt Menefee is back as host. Terry Bradshaw returns as co-host and highlight master. Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan are back to provide analysis. Jay Glazer is also back as the show’s insider. And it will be back in Week 2 in Los Angeles at its regular noon ET timeslot.
NBC
The only NFL TV partner that isn’t debuting a Sunday NFL pregame show on cable this season (the English Premier League has something to do with that), NBC is staying the course with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. Bob Costas continues his role as main host from each week’s game site. There will be some weeks where he’ll be joined by new analyst, former New England and Kansas City executive Scott Pioli. Other weeks, Pioli will be in New York joining co-host Dan Patrick, analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison plus insiders Peter King and Mike Florio. Hines Ward will also be on FNIA at game sites. FNIA moves from its old digs to NBC’s Studio 8H which is also home to the fabled Saturday Night Live.
NFL Network
Back to NFL Network. It will air two Sunday pregame shows just like last year. The renamed NFL GameDay First (formerly NFL GameDay First on the Field) is back with host Melissa Stark and the abrasive Sterling Sharpe. Shaun O’Hara replaces LaDanian Tomlinson. And like First on the Field, the show will hit the air at 7 a.m. ET.
The NFL GameDay Morning which was the original four-hour Sunday NFL pregame show is back once again with Rich Eisen at the helm. Rich will guide the show which will brings back its core of analysts — Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin (why?), Steve Mariucci, Warren Sapp and Kurt Warner. On-site reporters will be Michelle Beisner, Albert Breer, Steve Cyphers, Stacey Dales, Jeff Darlington, Kim Jones, Aditi Kinkhabwala and Ian “Beat the Rap” Rapoport.
To wrap up the day, NFL GameDay Final returns for its 90 minute highlight show at midnight following Sunday Night Football on NBC. Chris Rose will do the highlights and he’ll have Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders talking over him as if they’re watching the show from their living room.
DirecTV
Andrew Siciliano returns as the host of the original NFL Red Zone Channel. Every week, he’ll host the studio which will hopscotch in between games to show scoring chances and update on every INT. Andrew is going into his 9th season as host of DirecTV’s version of RZC. He’s very good.
NFL RedZone
For those who have the NFL Network’s version of RedZone, Scott Hanson returns to host his 5th season in the studio where he doesn’t get a bathroom break for 7 hours.
So that is your very long preview of what’s on tap on television this week. Now to the various sports.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Labor Day has its usual ESPN game and that will be Florida State at Pittsburgh in the Panthers’ first ACC matchup. That’s at 8 ET tonight.
Fox is back with a Big 12/Pac-12 primetime schedule and its first game of the season will be West Virginia at Oklahoma. Now to the other key national games this week.
Friday, September 6
Wake Forest at Boston College — ESPN2, 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 7
Florida at Miami (FL) — ESPN, noon
Cincinnati at Illinois — ESPN2, noon
South Florida at Michigan State — ESPNU, noon
Oregon at Virginia or San Diego State at Ohio State — ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.
Utah State at Air Force — CBS Sports Network, 3:30 p.m.
South Carolina at Georgia — ESPN, 4:30 p.m.
Texas at BYU — ESPN2/Longhorn Network, 7 p.m.
West Virginia at Oklahoma — Fox, 7:30 p.m.
Notre Dame at Michigan — ESPN, 8 p.m.
Arizona at UNLV — CBS Sports Network, 10:30 p.m.
Washington State at USC — Fox Sports 1, 10:30 p.m.
San Jose State at Stanford — Pac-12 Network, 10:30 p.m.
GOLF
The PGA Tour takes a week off and resumes next week with the BMW Championship. Golf Channel will focus its time with the European PGA Tour’s European Masters in Switzerland and the Web.com Tour’s Chiquita Classic in Davidson, NC. The Champions Tour remains in Canada for the Montreal Championship from Quebec.
In addition, the amateur Walker Cup will be held at the National Golf Links of America course on Long Island in New York over the weekend and Golf Channel will carry the team competition which pits a combined team from Great Britain and Ireland against the United States. Great Britain and Ireland won the last time the Walker Cup was held two years ago.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Fox Sports 1 has the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter which will have female captains for the first time in the history of the series. Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate are the captains and will lead co-ed teams. The series premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
Before that, Fox Sports 1 airs another Fight Night, this time live from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Prelims air at 5 p.m. and then the main event of Glover Texeira vs. Ryan Bader hits the air at 7 p.m. ET.
MLB
MLB Network will have a Labor Day tripleheader with games at 1, 4 and 9 p.m. ET. The network will then have games on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights. ESPN has a rare Wednesday night doubleheader with Detroit-Boston and Tampa Bay-Anaheim Angels on its docket. And between Thursday and Sunday, the Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees will be aired nationally divided among MLB Network, Fox and TBS over the four days. You’ll notice the Red Sox are featured on national TV this week quite often.
Fox’s games air at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday so they won’t run into college football.
Here’s the national schedule.
Monday, September 2
Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees or St. Louis at Cincinnati — MLB Network, 1 p.m.
Miami at Chicago Cubs — WGN America, 2 p.m.
Baltimore at Cleveland or Texas at Oakland — MLB Network, 4 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Anaheim Angels — MLB Network, 9 p.m.
Tuesday, September 3
Detroit at Boston or St. Louis at Cincinnati — MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees — WGN America, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, September 4
Detroit at Boston — ESPN, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Anaheim Angels — ESPN, 10 p.m.
Thursday, September 5
Boston at New York Yankees or Chicago White Sox at Baltimore — MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Friday, September 6
Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs — WGN America, 2:20 p.m.
Boston at New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati — MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Saturday, September 7
Boston at New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati or Chicago White Sox at Baltimore — Fox, 1 p.m.
Detroit at Kansas City or Pittsburgh at St. Louis — MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Sunday, September 8
Boston at New York Yankees — TBS, 1 p.m.
Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs — WGN America, 2:20 p.m.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati — ESPN, 8 p.m.
MOTORSPORTS
Formula 1
NBCSN and Univision Deportes air the Grand Prix of Italy on Sunday morning at 8 Eastern.
NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series
Sunday, September 8
Fan Appreciation 200, Newton, IA — Fox Sports 1, 2 p.m.
Nationwide Series
Friday, September 6
A Sponsor Name That’s Confusing and Too Long 250 — ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.
Sprint Cup Series
See Nationwide Series About the Sponsor 400 — ABC, 7:30 p.m.
NFL
Yes, the National Football League is back. Scroll above if you need a reminder of the Sunday pregame programming on all of the league’s TV partners. But if you’ve already engrained that into your memory, let’s go over the games.
NBC has the season opener in Denver on Thursday night as the defending Super Bowl Champions Baltimore Ravens take on the Broncos. Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya are your announcing crew.
On Sunday, Fox has the doubleheader while CBS has regional action at 1 p.m. ET. NBC’s Sunday night game has the New York Giants taking on Dallas.
Here’s the schedule of national games for Week 1 in The League Where They Play for Pay.
Thursday, September 5
Baltimore at Denver — NBC, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 8
Green Bay at San Francisco — Fox, 4:25 p.m.
New York Giants at Dallas — NBC, 8:30 p.m.
One note, I’ll have the NFL Viewing Picks complete with the announcing assignments for all networks on Thursdays this season instead of Fridays.
Also, don’t forget about the NFL on Fox Announcing Assignments Fantasy Game that will be played throughout the season.
SOCCER
World Cup Qualifying
Friday, there’s World Cup Qualifying games in Europe and in the Americas. beIN Sport carries four games on its English channel including the United States taking on Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Here are the games for Friday, September 6.
Colombia vs. Ecuador — beIN Sport, 4:20 p.m.
Paraguay vs. Bolivia — beIN Sport, 6:25 p.m.
England vs. Moldova — Fox Soccer Plus, 8 p.m. (same day coverage)
Mexico vs. Honduras — ESPNews, 9:15 p.m.
Costa Rica vs. United States — beIN Sport, 10 p.m.
Chile vs. Venezuela — beIN Sport, 12:30 a.m. (Saturday, delayed)
MLS
Saturday, September 7
Seattle vs. Chicago — NBCSN, 10 p.m.
Sunday, September 8
Houston vs. New York — UniMás, 5 p.m.
TENNIS
The U.S. Open goes into its second week. CBS and CBS Sports Network have coverage on Labor Day. ESPN and Tennis Channel combine for coverage between Tuesday and Thursday. CBS will have the Women’s Semifinals on Friday, Men’s Semis on Saturday and the Women’s Final on Sunday.
Here’s the schedule for you.
Monday, September 2
Men’s and Women’s Round of 16 — CBS/CBS Sports Network, 11 a.m./ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, September 3
Men’s Round of 16/Women’s Quarterfinals — ESPN2/Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.
Wednesday, September 4
Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals — Tennis Channel, 11 a.m./ESPN2, noon/ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Thursday, September 5
Men’s Quarterfinals — Tennis Channel, 11 a.m./ESPN2, noon
Friday, September 6
Mixed Doubles Final and Women’s Semifinals — CBS, 12:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 7
Men’s Semifinals — CBS, noon
Women’s Doubles Final — Tennis Channel, 6 p.m.
Sunday, September 8
Men’s Doubles Final — ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.
Women’s Final — CBS, 4 p.m.
TRACK & FIELD
The IAAF Diamond League Finals will be held in Brussels, Belgium. Universal Sports airs them live at 2 p.m. on Friday. NBC has them on tape delay on Sunday.
OTHER SPORTS
America’s Cup
NBC has Races 1 and 2 of the America’s Cup Final from San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. ET
CFL
Friday, September 6
Calgary at Edmonton — NBCSN, 9 p.m.
Saturday, September 7
B.C. at Hamilton — ESPN3, 4 p.m.
Sunday, September 8
Toronto at Montreal — ESPN3, 1 p.m.
Saskatchewan at Winnipeg — ESPN3, 4 p.m.
Cycling
Universal Sports has the Vuelta a España all week with live coverage of the stages. NBC has a compilation of the coverage on Sunday.
WNBA
Four games on NBA TV with three involving the Los Angeles Sparks on the road. There isn’t another WNBA team that NBA TV could showcase? Anyway, here’s how the schedule shakes out for this week.
Monday, September 2
Los Angeles Sparks at Atlanta Dream — NBA TV, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, September 4
Los Angeles Sparks at Minnesota Lynx — NBA TV, 8 p.m.
Friday, September 6
Los Angeles Sparks at Tulsa Shock — NBA TV, 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 7
Connecticut Sun at Indiana Fever — NBA TV, 7 p.m.
And that is a look at The Week Ahead in Sports Media. Pretty busy don’t you think? Next week, it’s the Monday Night Football Week 1 doubleheader plus the season premiere of Thursday Night Football on NFL Network.
