ESPN sports live event bonanza for the holidays and beyond

Kentucky’s Isaiah Briscoe (dribbling ball) will lead his Wildcats against Louisville tonight on ESPN. (Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)

The Christmas Day meeting of the Cavs and the Warriors on ABC will be a rematch of the classic 2016 NBA Finals. (Allen Kee/ESPN Images)

Rookie QB Dak Prescott (4) will lead the Dallas Cowboys into an ESPN Monday Night Football showdown with the Detroit Lions on Dec. 26. (Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)

UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma has a national showcase on ESPN2 when his Huskies visit Maryland on Dec. 29. (Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)

Head coach Nick Saban leads Alabama’s quest to defend its College Football Playoff National Championship in the SemiFinals on Dec. 31. (Allen Kee/ESPN Images)

There is nothing quite like sports event programming in all of entertainment. It is live, in the moment, socially and culturally relevant, and consistently gathers large passionate audiences.

Our programming strategy has long centered on acquiring the broadest and most valuable collection of long-term rights, and utilizing them strategically across ESPN’s platforms to aggressively serve fans.

Over the next couple weeks, ESPN’s stretch of programming offers a great snapshot of that strategy at work. We have some of the biggest sporting events on the calendar, and many of the best teams going head-to-head, which makes for appointment viewing for sports fans.

Consider tonight’s in-state rivalry matchup on ESPN between men’s college basketball heavyweights – Kentucky and Louisville – both led by Hall of Fame coaches (John Calipari and Rick Pitino) and both ranked in the top 10.

Speaking of Hall of Fame coaches, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma will lead his No.1-ranked Huskies at No. 4 Maryland in a tough road test on Dec. 29 on ESPN2. UConn potentially could be going for its 87th consecutive win that night.

The NBA on Christmas annually has featured some of the season’s most anticipated matchups and this year’s lineup does not disappoint. An NBA Finals rematch between Golden State and Cleveland on ABC highlights our five-game schedule.

College football is front and center at this time of year and the scope and quality of ESPN’s offerings are exceptional. We are in the midst of a 38-game bowl schedule, which anchors what annually has become ESPN’s highest-rated weeks of the year.

The third year of the College Football Playoff is exclusively on ESPN once again. The exciting matchups in the College Football Playoff Semifinals lead a strong collection of New Year’s Six Bowl Games and the season culminates with ESPN’s Megacast coverage of the College Football Playoff National Championship Jan. 9.

Another football champion will be crowned on our networks earlier that week when ESPN2 presents the NCAA FCS Football Championship between Youngstown State and James Madison Jan. 7.

By the way, if you are like me and count the days until the start of the next college football season, the day after the CFP title game, we will help you shift gears with another elite men’s basketball tilt – No. 4 Baylor at No. 11 West Virginia on ESPN2.

For those seeking a lighter form of competition, we offer the live Rose Parade on ABC (Jan. 2), a beloved companion to our coverage of the “Granddaddy of the Them All” – the Rose Bowl Game. Additionally, the next generation of college stars will be on full display Jan. 1 as part of the high school Under Armour All-America Game on ESPN.

Our Monday Night Football season is punctuated by Detroit at Dallas – a gem of a matchup featuring division leaders vying for playoff positioning (Dec. 26). Two weeks later, we are once again extremely proud to offer an NFL Wildcard Playoff Game (date, time and teams TBD).

As always, we supplement our extraordinary event schedule with the most in-depth coverage from multiple ESPN studio programming franchises before, during and after each game. Among those, SportsCenter will have a consistent on-site presence at many of these big events to provide breaking news, highlights, analysis and perspective. Also, don’t forget that the numerous topics related to these events will be debated on a new network starting Jan. 3 when First Take moves to ESPN.

All of the games can be streamed on numerous devices via the WatchESPN app, providing the flexibility and portability many of us need, particularly around the holidays.

It’s a wonderful time to be a sports fan. Thanks to an unrivaled collection of top events, ESPN has you covered. Happy Holidays!

Upcoming Event Programming Highlights On ESPN Platforms