TNT is going big with the 10th installment of The Match.
TNT is going big with the 10th installment of The Match.
This time around, it’ll be a two-night event in prime time with no pro golfers but eight big-time celebrities as well as a star-studded announcing crew.
Dubbed “The Match: Superstars,” the competition will be televised on Thursday, Nov. 21, and Friday, Nov. 22, with coverage simulcast on TNT and Max. The event was filmed at The Breakers Rees Jones Golf Course at Breakers West Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Check out the celebrity lineup: Bill Murray, Mark Wahlberg, Charles Barkley, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Phelps, Nate Bargatze, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Blake Griffin.
The initial matches will pit Murray and Gretzky against Barkley and Griffey as well as Wahlberg and Phelps vs. Bargatze and Griffin.
There will then be semifinals and a final match. Those will be individual match play contests with the eventual winner banking $1 million.
Thursday Nov. 21
Wahlberg/Phelps vs. Bargatze/Griffin, 7:30 p.m.
Barkley/Griffey Jr. vs. Gretzky/Murray, 9 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 22
Semifinals, 7:30 p.m.
Final match, 9 p.m.
Calling the action is TNT’s Ernie Johnson, back at the Match for a fifth time. He’s joined by Charles Barkley, who will be making his ninth appearance at The Match as either a player or commentator. Also, a pair of Masters champs – Trevor Immelman and Bubba Watson – will provide analysis. Kathryn Tappen returns as the on-course reporter.
In September, Golfweek reported on a Match featuring Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. That PGA Tour vs. LIV event is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 17 in Las Vegas.
The NBA season tips off on Tuesday, and fans watching on TNT will be probably be quick to notice a nostalgic tone in both the pregame show and broadcast.
TNT’s award-winning studio show, Inside the NBA, is heading into its 35th season. But rather than celebrating the successful run and looking forward to the future, it’s going to be a goodbye for Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.
After a lengthy bidding process, the NBA opted to reach an 11-year agreement with Amazon, Disney and NBC Universal starting in the 2025-26 season. That meant that Warner Bros. Discovery — formerly Turner Sports — lost out on its bid to retain the NBA rights.
While Warner Bros. Discovery is in a Hail Mary lawsuit with the NBA to retain the rights, the expectation is that this will be the final season for NBA basketball on TNT and Inside the NBA as a studio show.
And despite the lack of NBA basketball, Charles Barkley is remaining with Warner Bros. Discovery to commentate on its other properties like March Madness, NHL, MLB, golf and maybe we’ll even see Chuck talk about some U.S. soccer. They’ll keep him busy.
Still, it’s the end of an era for NBA fans, and Inside the NBA is almost definitely done after this season.
The opening of the 2024-25 NBA season will certainly be a bittersweet evening across the Turner studios in Atlanta on Tuesday. With the award-winning studio show Inside the NBA heading into its 35th season, it will also be the last season we’ll get to see Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal together behind the desk.
Despite some litigation in an attempt to retain the NBA television rights, Warner Bros. Discovery (formerly Turner Sports) is all but certain to lose NBA broadcasting privileges after this season. It will be the end of an era for NBA fans, and team Inside the NBA team put together such a good tribute to the show on Tuesday.
Representatives of all four players confirmed their involvement to Golfweek.
Golf’s long-simmering civil war is about to become prime-time entertainment.
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will face Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in a made-for-TV match later this year, Golfweek has learned.
The contest pits the two biggest stars on the PGA Tour against the most high-profile figures on LIV Golf, and will be widely interpreted as indicating a potential thaw in relations between the once warring camps.
The event will be held mid-December in Las Vegas and will air on TNT, which is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery. TNT previously broadcast nine editions of The Match, the series of exhibitions that launched in 2018 with Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson. McIlroy, Koepka and DeChambeau have all appeared in versions of The Match, but it’s unclear if this latest battle will be a continuation of that series. Four previous Matches were held in Las Vegas, three at Wynn Golf Club and one at Shadow Creek.
McIlroy confirmed his participation after an inquiry from Golfweek.
“I’m thrilled to partner with Scottie in what promises to be an exciting duel against Bryson and Brooks in Vegas this December,” he wrote in a text message. “This isn’t just a contest between some of golf’s major champions; it’s an event designed to energize the fans. We’re all here to put on a great show and contribute to a goodwill event that brings the best together again.”
Representatives of the other three players also confirmed their involvement to Golfweek.
“Brooks and Scottie are very excited to be a part of this unique event and look forward to sharing more soon,” said Blake Smith, who represents both Koepka and Scheffler.
Brett Falkoff, the agent for DeChambeau, said: “Bryson looks forward to competing in Las Vegas this December in an event that is sure to provide great entertainment for the fans.”
The prime-time special is being produced by Bryan Zuriff’s BZ Entertainment — which developed The Match series — and EverWonder Studio, which was founded last year by Ian Orefice, is run by former CNN chief Jeff Zucker and is funded by RedBird IMI. Two sources say the players will receive an appearance fee but will not compete for prize money.
The PGA Tour declined to comment on the event. The Tour has been engaged in negotiations with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund — which bankrolls LIV — since signing the controversial Framework Agreement 15 months ago. Earlier this summer, the Tour appointed a committee to handle those talks directly. McIlroy is among a number of players who sit on that committee.
Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy fist bump on the 18th green during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports
In response to a later question about how the Tour and PIF have prioritized talks, Monahan said the sides were “really starting to talk about the future, future product vision and where we can take our sport.”
The Vegas match features a lineup of stars who share layered rivalries. McIlroy and Koepka were tied at four major victories each until Koepka won a fifth at the 2023 PGA Championship, while DeChambeau narrowly edged McIlroy in a heartbreaking finish to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in June.
Meanwhile, Scheffler has established himself as the undisputed world No. 1, with seven PGA Tour wins this season, culminating in the FedEx Cup title last weekend, which came with a bonus of $25 million.
(Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify Jeff Zucker’s involvement in the project.)
When Warner Bros. Discovery lost the NBA broadcasting rights to NBC and Amazon, the news effectively meant that the game’s best studio show, Inside the NBA, will end after the upcoming season. And it also meant that Charles Barkley could have been among the most sought after sports media free agents ever.
That made his decision to stay with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (formerly Turner Sports) and TNT all the more shocking. Instead of retiring or moving to ESPN/NBC/Amazon, Barkley decided to remain loyal to the team he’s worked with for decades in sports media. And he was well aware of just how much money he was potentially leaving on the table by doing so.
The reason behind that, though, was pure class from Barkley.
In an interview with Dan Le Batard, Barkley said that he left a minimum $100 million on the table by staying with WBD Sports.
How much did Charles Barkley lose by returning to TNT?
"A minimum of $100 million. A minimum."
Barkley explains why he chose to return to Turner Sports as a broadcasting free agent.
"The number-one thing for me is that my people at Turner get to keep their jobs another year." pic.twitter.com/lGLZgg4nFZ
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 13, 2024
But for him, his top priority was keeping all the people employed whom he has worked with at TNT. He said:
“As long as I got my people safe at TNT, man, I feel really good.”
He joked that he would actually have to do work had he gone to one of the other networks, so he was more than thrilled to stay at WBD (which still has March Madness, NHL and MLB playoff rights). TNT will have options for Barkley going forward.
This is an idea meant to get to those who have unbundled from cable, giving customers who want all their live sports most of it one place. It seems smart given the sports cable and streaming landscape.
Well, we now have a name for this behemoth. It’s called Venu Sports. And now, as of Thursday, we have a price for what you’ll pay every month if you want to grab the trio of broadcasters to watch so much sports.
It’ll cost you $42.99 every month, per a release.
Here’s more from that release:
Anyone signing up for Venu’s launch price will be able to receive the service for that same price for 12-months from time of sign-up, with the ability to cancel at any time. Targeted at sports fans outside the traditional pay TV bundle, Venu is planning a launch in the U.S. in the fall and will offer thousands of live sports events from all the major professional sports leagues and top college conferences. The streaming service will provide access to 14 live sports channels and an expansive library of on-demand content from the collective companies’ portfolios of sports networks and ESPN+.
For months, we’ve all been wondering about the future of the relationship between TNT and the NBA. Things aren’t exactly clear now, but at least there seems to be a path forward with some direction.
TNT has reportedly decided to match Amazon’s bid to the NBA, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. The company also released a statement stating its intention to match the bid and retain the NBA.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched on of them. This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our 40-year commitment for many more years,” the statement read.
Though TNT has evoked its matching rights, it still isn’t a done deal that the NBA will return to the network after next season. Remember, TNT still retains the rights for the 2024-25 NBA season. The league’s new broadcast deal doesn’t kick in until the 2025-26 season.
The NBA reportedly intends to move forward with the Amazon deal, according to Marchand’s reporting. The agreed upon deal between the NBA and Amazon features things TNT wouldn’t be able to offer.
The league’s agreement with Prime Video will stream six conference finals and a full playoff slate on the streamer. The package also includes the Play-In games and the NBA’s In-Season tournament as the highlight of the regular season. It also would bring on Thursday night basketball following the NFL’s Thursday Night Football stint.
Now, Marchand says, the NBA has to negotiate with TNT. That could get messy.
“As a way to compromise, the two sides could try to reach an agreement that keeps TNT in the NBA business or gives it some sort of financial settlement to go away.
If the entities can’t agree, ultimately, they could land in court with TNT suing to stay in business with the league, which would set up the unique possibility of the courts forcing the NBA to remain with a partner it wants to divorce.”
We’re far away from a resolution now. There also seems to be a very real possibility this may go to court as it unfolds.
But as of now, there’s still a chance that the Inside the NBA show may still have some life beyond next season—even if the NBA doesn’t want that to happen.
The schedule for the 2025 College Football Playoff is out along with the TV networks covering each game. One thing you’ll immediately notice is that TNT is one of those networks, getting two first-round games. It’s surprising obviously, but the network having these games in the future would soften the blow of potentially losing its longtime NBA coverage in 2025.
Kevin Harlan is one of the biggest names associated with TNT, and that wasn’t lost on Pete Sampson, Notre Dame’s beat reporter for The Athletic, when he tweeted the following:
1. Well, turns out a night game in December *IS* the idea of a good time for a lot of you. I guess they say there's no bad weather, only bad gear.
2. However, the idea of Kevin Harlan calling a Notre Dame game on TNT sounds delightful. https://t.co/O9lFxDvnr1
It goes without saying, but Harlan is a national treasure. The fact that we even can think about him calling a game at Notre Dame Stadium is enough to make one giddy.
Just think about Harlan describing an iconic moment in Irish history as the South Bend faithful go absolutely nuts in the cold December air. If there is any justice in this world, this will happen.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.
The world of college sports, and the entire landscape continues to change drastically. Who would have thought when the College Football season gets underway, the UCLA Bruins would be in the Big 10 Conference?
Now, TV deals are changing as well. Starting this coming College Football Playoff season, TNT will be broadcasting a couple of the first round games.
“We’re delighted to reach this agreement with ESPN, providing TNT Sports the opportunity to showcase these College Football Playoff games on our platforms for years to come. TNT Sports aims to delight fans and drive maximum reach and engagement for these marquee games.”
These will be the first College Football games televised on TNT. As of late, the channel has gotten into more Major League Baseball and even the National Hockey League.
From the ESPN side, they indicated growing the game, and of course the financial impacts were large as well. Rosalyn Durant, ESPN’s executive Vice President of programming and acquisitions had this to say:
“ESPN is pleased to sublicense to TNT Sports a select number of early round games of the College Football Playoff, an event we’ve helped to grow — alongside the CFP — into one of the preeminent championships. We’re confident in the reach and promotion that this new agreement will provide as we enter the new, expanded playoff era.”
No financial agreements were disclosed at the time of the announcement.
With the College Football Playoff expansion, there is now a need for more options for viewing. ESPN has reached an agreement with TNT which will allow the latter the rights to air two first-round games. ESPN holds the rights to the CFP games.
The deal is for five years and will expand in the years to come. TNT will add two quarterfinal games each year, beginning with the 2026 season through the 2028 season ESPN reported. ESPN will continue to be the network for all other CFP games including the annual national championship game.
ESPN will still get the pick of the litter when it comes to selecting which games it wants to show. In all likelihood, ESPN will have a hard time passing up on Ohio State when it makes the 12-team playoff considering the numbers the Buckeyes draw in ratings. But still, if Ohio State were to get a lesser-name opponent, fans may be forced to tune into TNT to see the Bucks play.
ESPN and TNT Sports have reached a five-year agreement for TNT Sports to sublicense select College Football Playoff (CFP) games from ESPN, beginning with the upcoming college football season. TNT will present two first-round CFP games during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The first round of the College Football Playoff will take place on December 20-21 with the higher seed hosting the lower seeded team. After that, the quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31 in the Fiesta Bowl, and on Jan. 1 in the Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. The semifinals will take place on Jan. 9 in the Orange Bowl and Jan. 10 in the Cotton Bowl with the championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion.
