Let’s do a notebook for this Thursday.
NEWS
NBC held a big press conference on Wednesday at its World Headquarters in Rockefeller Plaza in New York. It announced a multi-year agreement with Haymon Boxing to air the Premier Boxing Champions series starting with 20 events this year, 14 of which will be in primetime on NBC and NBCSN.
The first event will air in primetime on Saturday, March 7 with Al Michaels as host. This will feature Keith Thurman vs. Robert Guerrero and Adrien Broner vs. John Molina, Jr.
Here’s how the 20 “PBC on NBC” events will break down in 2015:
- 5 Saturday primetime events on NBC
- 6 Saturday afternoon cards on NBC
- 9 Saturday primetime shows on NBCSN
Michaels has a history with boxing having called the Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns fight with Al Bernstein in 1985. While the fight was produced by HBO, Michaels’ call was seen by a closed circuit audience in sports arenas, movie theaters and on pay per view.
Now to some linkage.
LINKAGE
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with NFL on Fox analyst Troy Aikman about a whole bunch of issues.
R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says Discovery has made two appointments for its international sports divisions.
At the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman writes that after setting a cable viewership record, the College Football Playoff is playing with fire by having next season’s semifinals scheduled for New Year’s Eve rather having them played on New Year’s Day.
Michelle Castillo of Adweek says a furniture store chain’s pledge to refund purchases made if Ohio State won the College Football Playoff National Championship actually paid off in national promotion.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes that NFL Divisional Playoff Weekend was big for the league’s TV partners.
Jake O’Donnell at SportsGrid notes that Dan Patrick will be on Late Show With David Letterman tonight.
Also from SportsGrid, Rick Chandler tells us that the first Super Bowl XLIX ad has been released.
The Fearless Leader of Awful Announcing, Matt Yoder, writes that ESPN now has the Top 20 cable programs of all-time.
One more from Awful Announcing, Joe Lucia reviews the ESPN Voices portion of the College Football Playoff Megacast.
Laken Litman of USA Today’s For the Win went behind-the-scenes inside the ESPN broadcast booth for the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Newsday’s Neil Best has NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus poo-pooing the idea that he and the NFL dictated Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth to make a statement on behalf of the league.
Brendan Prunty of the New York Times says college basketball programs are finding fewer radio stations willing to pick up their games.
Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes that the New York Yankees dominate the early 2015 Sunday Night Baseball schedule.
David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says ESPN has revised ABC’s NBA schedule to include two more Rockets games.
Paulsen at Sports Media Watch wraps up the college football postseason with a look at the final ratings of all the bowl and playoff games.
Ryan Glasspiegel of The Big Lead notes that a London tabloid mistook Dikembe Mutombo for Carmelo Anthony????
NEWS YOU CAN USE
As mentioned in the linkage, ESPN has released the first five weeks of its 2015 Sunday Night Baseball schedule and the Yankees dominate the schedule with three appearances, the Boston Red Sox twice (both against said Yankees) and the St. Louis Cardinals twice. No appearances by the defending World Series Champions San Francisco Giants or American League Champions Kansas City Royals.
Early-season Sunday Night Baseball schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Telecast | Network (s) |
| Sun, Apr. 5 | 8 p.m. | St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs Opening Night | ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN |
| Sun, Apr. 12 | 8 p.m. | Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN |
| Sun, Apr. 19 | 8 p.m. | Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN |
| Sun, Apr. 26 | 8 p.m. | New York Mets at New York Yankees | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN |
| Sun, May 3 | 8 p.m. | New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN |
CBS Sports Network has announced the addition of six Ivy League basketball games to its schedule.
CBS SPORTS NETWORK IVY LEAGUE SCHEDULE
(All Times Eastern)
| Fri, Feb. 6 | Dartmouth at Yale Payne Whitney Gymnasium, New Haven, CT |
7:00 PM |
| Fri, Feb. 13 | Columbia at Harvard Lavietes Pavilion, Boston, MA |
6:00 PM |
| Fri, Feb. 27 | Harvard at Cornell Newman Arena, Ithaca, N.Y. |
6:30 PM |
| Sat, March 7 | Brown at Harvard Lavietes Pavilion, Boston, MA |
6:00 PM |
| Tues, March 10 | Princeton at Penn (Women’s) Princeton at Penn The Palestra, Philadelphia, PA |
5:00 PM 7:30 PM |
Also mentioned in the linkage was the revision to ABC’s NBA schedule. It was done to flex the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks from the lineup. Here are the new games:
ABC NBA Showcase schedule updates
| Date | Time (ET) | New Selection | Previous Selection | Note |
| Sun, Mar. 1 | 3:30 p.m. | Cleveland Cavaliers at Houston Rockets | Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers | |
| Sun, Mar. 29 | 12:30 p.m. | Houston Rockets at Washington Wizards | Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks on Sun, Feb. 22 | *The Mar. 29 ABC window replaces the Feb. 22 ABC window |
So here’s the ABC schedule in full:
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network(s) |
| Sun, Jan. 25 | 1 p.m. | Miami Heat at Chicago Bulls | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Oklahoma City Thunder at Cleveland Cavaliers | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 | |
| Sun, Feb. 8 | 1 p.m. | Los Angeles Clippers at Oklahoma City Thunder | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland Cavaliers | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 | |
| Sun, Mar. 1 | 1 p.m. | Los Angeles Clippers at Chicago Bulls | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Cleveland Cavaliers at Houston Rockets | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 | |
| Sun, Mar. 8 | 1 p.m. | Chicago Bulls at San Antonio Spurs | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Los Angeles Clippers at Golden State Warriors | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 | |
| Sun, Mar. 15 | 1 p.m. | Chicago Bulls at Oklahoma City Thunder | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Clippers | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 | |
| Sun, Mar. 29 | 12:30 p.m. | Houston Rockets at Washington Wizards | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| Sun, Apr. 5 | 1 p.m. | Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers | ABC, ESPN Radio, ESPN3 |
And that will close the notebook for today.
