NBC Sports has acquired the broadcasting rights to an additional regular season NFL game to be broadcast on Saturday, Dec. 21 across NBC, Peacock and Telemundo. The additional Week 16 matchup will mark the first time NBCUniversal will broadcast Saturday and Sunday games during that week since the 1997 season. For NBC, this follows last season when the network’s Sunday Night Football property attained a total audience delivery averaging 21.4 million viewers during the regular season. The metric rendered the property the No. 1 show in prime-time television for the 13th consecutive year, extending its streak that began in the 2011-12 campaign.

“We’re excited to work with our partners at the NFL to acquire an additional game for NBCUniversal platforms at a crucial point in the playing season,” Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, said in a statement. “With two NFL games in exclusive windows on the last December weekend before the holidays, we continue to deliver for our owned-stations, affiliates and partners.”

NBCUniversal presented three games during Wild Card Weekend last season, including a matchup exclusively on Peacock that averaged 23 million viewers across platforms, making it the most-streamed event in U.S. history. Although NBCUniversal is not expected to have a Peacock exclusive playoff game this season, it will broadcast the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles opening game from São Paulo, Brazil exclusively on the Peacock streaming platform. This marks the NFL’s first opening weekend game on a Friday since 1970 and the first time the league will ever play a game in Brazil.

NBC will also open the 2024 regular season with the NFL Kickoff game between the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens, a rematch of the AFC Championship. The NFL will reveal the full 272-game regular season schedule this Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on NFL Network, NFL.com, the NFL app and NFL+. Mike Tirico, lead Sunday Night Football broadcaster, will make a guest appearance on the program where the property’s slate of games is expected to be revealed. The property falls under flex scheduling jurisdiction that can be used up to two times between Weeks 5 and 10 and at the discretion of the league between Weeks 11 and 17.

NBCUniversal is currently entering the second season of an 11-year media rights deal with the National Football League that enables the company to present Sunday Night Football games in prime time television. The company is also reportedly trying to acquire a package of National Basketball Association games that, if successful, would bring the league back to its airwaves for the first time since 2002. NBCUniversal will broadcast the Olympic Games Paris 2024 this summer and provide a multifaceted array of viewership options as part of its media rights deal with the International Olympic Committee that runs through 2032.

NASCAR revealed plans for a new element in the upcoming season of races. In partnership with TNT Sports, the 2025 Cup Series schedule will include an in-season tournament using a bracket-style format.

The previous three races, streamed on Prime Video, will determine the rankings for the tournament as the governing body experiments with the new format during the first season of its groundbreaking seven-year media contract.

“With the launch of our new media rights partnerships in 2025, we were excited to partner with Prime Video and TNT Sports to collaborate on fan engagement concepts that drive story lines in our sport and innovation from a production perspective,” said Brian Herbst, NASCAR SVP, media and productions, in a press release. “Having head-to-head driver matchups for each one of TNT’s NASCAR Cup Series races will add a compelling fan engagement element across media platforms like TNT, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and NASCAR digital platforms.”

All drivers are allowed to participate in the seeding races, and out of those events, the top 32 drivers will be chosen to compete in the in-season tournament. Seeding for this tournament will be determined by the driver’s best finish in the three races, with tiebreakers being decided by their next-best finishes and then their season points position. During the in-season tournament on TNT Sports and Max, drivers will go head-to-head, and the one with the higher finishing position will advance to the next round. After five rounds, the winner of the tournament will be awarded a grand prize of $1 million.

“It’s never been a better time to be a fan of motorsports, and this new first-ever in-season tournament will bring a new competitive dynamic to NASCAR’s summer race weekends,” said Craig Barry, executive vice president and chief content officer, TNT Sports. “TNT Sports has always been at the forefront of creativity and innovation, and NASCAR is a perfect partner to bring this vision to life across our networks and platforms.”

“We’re excited to be part of NASCAR’s first in-season tournament next season,” said Charlie Neiman, head of sports partnerships, Prime Video. “This tournament will showcase the league’s ability to drive innovation and engage fans with increased competition during a key part of the NASCAR schedule.”

The NBA playoffs continued this weekend and Sunday saw the Denver Nuggets even their series with the Minnesota Timberwolves at two games apiece as they won their second straight road game. During the game, the team continued celebrating its 35th season by honoring their first television announcer, Kevin Harlan. Harlan was calling the game for TNT along with Reggie Miller, Jamal Crawford and Allie LaForce.

As they came out of a break, LaForce said, “Moments ago, fans celebrated 35 years of Timberwolves basketball and they took us back to 1989 when it all began. That happens to be the year that Kevin Harlan became the voice of the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first nine years of the team’s existence. He left his mark on this city with his iconic calls.

“It’s hard to imagine the NBA without hearing Kevin’s voice and it all started here. During that time, he called Kevin Garnett’s first three seasons, he also called the ‘Wolves first two playoff appearances in 1997 and 1998. The NBA would not be the same without you partner, and as much as you inspire the audience, you inspire Jamal, Reggie and I as well.”

“You are so sweet Ali, thank you, thank you guys and thanks to the Timberwolves organization,” Harlan responded after video footage was shown of Harlan receiving a Timberwolves jersey with his name and the number 35 on it. “It was my privilege to do their first nine seasons here in Minneapolis.”

Harlan had called NBA games for the Kansas City Kings (now the Sacramento Kings) in 1982, when he was 22 years old and right out of college. He then called a season of games for the University of Kansas before going on to call games for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1985-1993. Harlan joined Turner sports in 1996.