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🏈 A second-team shakeup. ESPN’s No. 2 NFL booth will look different next season as the network trades its Monday Night Football doubleheaders for what is likely to be an international-heavy package on NFL Network, a channel it now owns and operates as of Wednesday. Dave Pasch and Mike Monaco are among the contenders to replace play-by-play voice Chris Fowler, while Jason Kelce and Kurt Warner are said to be candidates for analyst positions previously filled by Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick.

🎤 A Marty Party. ESPN veteran Marty Smith has signed a long-term contract extension to stay with the Worldwide Leader. The versatile reporter joined ESPN in 2006 and has consistently grown his presence throughout the years. Smith’s core responsibilities will remain the same, as he will continue as a College GameDay contributor, co-host of Marty & McGee alongside Ryan McGee, and a presence at major golf events.

🖐️ A Fab Five reunion. The iconic Fab Five of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson are reuniting for an alternate telecast of Michigan’s upcoming Final Four contest against Arizona this Saturday. The altcast will air on truTV and feature “real-time reactions, unique perspectives on the game, and untold stories and candid reflections from their historic run at Michigan.”

Read more of today’s top stories at Awful Announcing.

The terminal decline of regional sports networks has been something close to an accepted fact within the industry for quite some time. Opinions can differ on the timeline, but evidence of the sinking ship isn’t hard to come by.

This month, operations at Main Street Sports Group, owners of the FanDuel-branded regional sports networks, will wind down as the NBA and NHL regular seasons come to a close (aside from a handful of first-round Stanley Cup Playoff games). And Main Street is far from alone. Just in the last few years, Seattle’s Root Sports Northwest, NBC Sports regional networks in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland, AT&T-branded channels in Houston, Pittsburgh, and Denver, and surely others I’ve forgotten to list, have all gone kaput.

We all know why. Cord-cutting has slashed the number of households subscribing to pay TV bundles from over 100 million a dozen years ago, to about 60-65 million now, a figure that includes virtual alternatives like YouTube TV that are less likely to carry regional sports networks. At the same time, cable and satellite distributors are forcing regional sports networks to higher, more expensive tiers, rather than the basic carriage they once enjoyed. It all spells less money for the regional sports networks, and in turn, less revenue for the teams they air.

To address this, both MLB and the NBA have publicly discussed completely reforming how local broadcasts are distributed to fans. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred would like to centralize local media rights under the league’s purview by the time it negotiates new national rights deals to begin after the 2028 season. The idea is that by bundling local rights for all 30 teams (or close to it) together, MLB can entice deep-pocketed tech companies to pay a premium to control in-market broadcasts, which still accounts for the vast majority of MLB consumption each season. The NBA could begin a similar effort even sooner, perhaps as early as next season, though the 2027-28 season is seen as more likely inside the league.

Such a model would render the vast majority of regional sports networks obsolete, save for a few large-market exceptions like YES Network, which carries the Yankees.

It’s interesting then, in the face of gale-force headwinds, that there are still people who are bullish on the future of regional sports networks. Meet Boston Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs as Exhibit A. Bruins games air on Boston-based channel NESN, perhaps one of the few remaining viable regional sports networks, thanks to the fervor of New England sports fans.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, Jacobs painted a surprisingly rosy picture for the future of NESN, and regional sports networks writ large. “Certainly, cord-cutting is happening, but I’m not sure RSNs are going away,” Jacobs told The Athletic. “In fact, I feel very different about that.”

The reason? Streaming.

“You are getting DTC numbers that are growing substantially, like a hockey stick almost, in particular in our market. As an example here for Boston, we’re up 92 percent in DTC subscribers from last year alone, and that’s a year-round subscriber,” Jacobs said.

Now, part of that surge in subscriptions might be because NESN slashed prices for its streaming service, NESN 360, from $330 to $240 per year right before the 2025 MLB season, putting it more in line with similar offerings in other markets across the country. In that way, a 92% increase might be misleading, especially if it’s coming from a low baseline.

It’s well documented that direct-to-consumer streaming has not come close to replicating the economics of the pay-TV bundle. Just last month, Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said the team expects to lose about $20 million in local broadcast revenue after transitioning from FanDuel Sports Network to MLB’s own media arm. Sports media consultant Bob Thompson indicates $20 million might be on the low end of local broadcast revenue declines, suggesting some teams are short “3 to 4 times that amount.”

Some of the optimism about NESN seems more based on whimsy than on dollars and cents.

“Nothing compares to local, at least as of today, right? National networks still can’t do the 24/7 marketing campaign that local broadcasters and regional sports networks can do. They don’t have the connective tissue that we’ve built over 40 years, for example, and that’s hard to replicate,” NESN president David Wisnia told The Athletic.

While it’s true that fans still enjoy the product being offered by local broadcasts, it’s never been about the fans who watch. It’s about losing the millions of people nationwide who at one point paid for regional sports networks via a pay TV bundle but never tuned in for a game. That’s money you’re never getting back. Those people have long left the bundle. And no matter how much more you charge fans, or how much you’re able to drive down costs, it won’t make up for losing paying subscribers that were never sports fans to begin with.

The Final Four is upon us, and we want to hear YOUR opinions on which NCAA Tournament broadcast teams had the best March!

It’s your last chance to make your voice heard, so vote now! We’ll publish the results next week.

We had some late-breaking news last night from our friend John Ourand at Puck.

CBS Sports and TNT Sports are expecting to merge by the third quarter of 2026 “if all goes according to plan,” paving the way for a major industry shakeup.

Of course, there are still many hurdles for Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to clear before a combination becomes official. Not only does the transaction still need federal regulatory approval, but a number of state attorneys general have already thrown the flag on a merger. Not to mention, there will be additional challenges abroad, particularly in Europe, in moving the deal forward.

However, we’ve already seen a willingness for expediency from the current administration when it comes to media mergers. Earlier this year, the equity deal between ESPN and the NFL was approved nearly a year ahead of schedule. So while the third quarter of 2026 might seem quick on paper, there might be reason for Paramount’s and Warner Bros. Discovery’s optimism.

For now, CBS Sports and TNT Sports are operating as independent entities. In the report, TNT Sports CEO Luis Silberwasser told Ourand, “When we talk about the transaction, it’s important to note that we are operating as two separate companies until the transaction is completed. In the meantime, there’s no discussion of the future or what will happen. All those things are being decided later. We have the ability to continue to do the deals we’re doing now, and to operate this company as an independent company and a separate company from Paramount.”

If a merger is completed in Q3 2026, it would open the possibility for CBS to broadcast TNT Sports properties, such as postseason MLB games, as early as this season. It’s unclear exactly how the combined entity will choose to divvy up its inventory; after all, it will still have to honor the obligations of its distribution agreements, which could force properties like postseason baseball to stay on TNT Sports’ cable networks. Nevertheless, the possibility is there.

Realistically, it’ll take at least a full calendar year for a combined CBS Sports-TNT Sports to figure out what inventory it should put where to maximize the value of its live sports rights. But the start of that process could be right around the corner.