With the official release of the NFL schedule set for Wednesday May 15 at 8 p.m. ET news is starting to leak out on some of the marquee early season matchups. ESPN announced their first Monday Night Football game, which will feature Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets traveling to San Francisco to take on the defending NFC Champion 49ers.

Other games which have been announced include a week one AFC Championship rematch between the Ravens and the Chiefs, which will be carried on Thursday night by NBC. The next day, on Friday, the Eagles and Packers will battle in Sao Paulo, Brazil in a game which will be exclusively streamed by Peacock.

Sunday of Week 1 will see the Dallas Cowboys travel to take on the Cleveland Browns. This game will be carried by FOX and will feature the debut of Tom Brady as an analyst alongside Kevin Burkhardt.

One other game has been announced, which is a Week 2 game that will feature Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals traveling to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the 2-time defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs. That game will be carried by CBS.

Amazon’s Prime Video has announced that it will be renewing the third season of Coach Prime, which will premiere exclusively on the Prime Video platform. The series will give fans access to the locker room and action on the field of the University of Colorado Boulder football program within the upcoming season. The Emmy-nominated docufollow series is produced by Constance Schwartz-Morini, Michael Strahan, FredAnthony Smith and Jamie Elias of SMAC Productions, a division of SMAC Entertainment. In addition to the renewal of Coach Prime, the company also announced four new sports documentaries at the inaugural Amazon Upfront presentation from Pier 36 in New York City.

A four-part documentary centered on legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. has been greenlit by Prime Video. For two decades, Earnhardt soared to mainstream notoriety, earning lucrative endorsement deals and appearing in daytime and late-night television. The documentary will grant viewers an account of a historic American family and how it conquered what was not always a facile path.

The documentary will be produced by Imagine Documentaries, NASCAR Studios and Everyone Else, in association with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media. Earnhardt Jr. will also serve as an analyst for NASCAR races on Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports starting in 2025. Brian Glazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes of Imagine Entertainment will serve as executive producers for the documentary, along with Matt Summers and Tim Clark of NASCAR Studios and TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Tony Mayhoff.

Prime Video has also greenlit a four-part documentary about the story behind the Madden NFL video game franchise. The untitled documentary reveals how the iconic video game was created, including revealing never-before-seen footage and allowing cameras to follow them as they complete the next iteration of the game. The project is presented by Prime Video and A+E Factual Studio Groups, the latter of which is also producing the series with SMAC Productions, Misher Films and MTP.

Executive producers on the series include Kevin Misher and Andy Berman of Misher Films; Michael Strahan, Constance Schwartz-Morini and FredAnthony Smith of SMAC Entertainment and Mike Tollin of MTP. Sandy Montag of The Montag Group; Steve Ascher, Kristy Sabat and Jessica Conway of A+E Factual Studios; Daryl Holt, Seann Graddy and Julie Foster of EA Sports; and Nathan Caswell, Jeremiah Zagar and Jeremy Yaches of Public Record will also executive produce the venture.

A new five-part anthology series will showcase teams that attained thrilling Game 7 victories during the playoffs, facing immense pressure and intensity in an effort to attain the ultimate glory. The Chicago Cubs, who snapped a 108-year championship drought when the team won the World Series title in 2016, will be featured as part of the series. Additionally, the 1994 New York Rangers will also be highlighted and how the team won back-to-back seventh games to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years.

Titled Game 7, the docuseries is produced by Words + Pictures and directed by Daniel Amigone. Executive producers on the project include Connor Schell, Aaron Cohen and Anneka Jones of Words + Pictures; Mark Messier, Mat Vlasic and Isaac Chera of Game 7; and Danny DeVito, Jake DeVito and Lucy DeVito of Jersey Films 2nd Avenue.

Prime Video has also greenlit a true-crime documentary about Kansas City Chiefs superfan and serial bank robber Xaviar Babudar. Known as the “ChiefsAHolic” and recognized for his wolf costume and presence on social media, Babudar gained notoriety as a loyal and dedicated fan to the team. Yet he was arrested in Bixby, Okla. in December 2022 after police discovered a string of bank robberies and pleaded guilty to three charges in connection with those robberies or attempted robberies in federal court this past February.

The documentary, titled ChiefsAholic: A Wolf in Chiefs Clothing and directed by Dylan Sires, contains interviews granted by Babudar himself and looks at his journey. Canadian hip-hop artist Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham of DreamCrew Entertainment is an executive producer on the project, along with Andrew Renzi of North of Now and Douglas Banner of Five All in the Fifth Entertainment.

During the 2024 FOX Upfront, the company showcased its offerings across its portfolio of sports, news and entertainment. Coming off an NFL on FOX season in which the “America’s Game of the Week” broadcast window finished No. 1 among adults 18-49 for the 15th consecutive year, along with the NFL playoffs averaging 44.7 million viewers, the network is looking to build off of that momentum. Towards the back end of the event, the network introduced its new lead NFL analyst Tom Brady, who is starting his first season with the network as part of a reported 10-year deal worth $375 million. The seven-time Super Bowl champion came out on the stage after he was introduced by FOX NFL Sunday analyst Michael Strahan complete with smoke effects and a round of applause.

“Walking out of my first meeting with FOX, it reminded me so much of the amazing teammates that I had over a long period of time,” Brady said, “and life is always about who you’re spending time with and the great positive things you’re doing, so to be a part of the game that I love with the league that I love, and obviously to be a part of the greatest telecast in football every single week is ultimately what made my decision. It wasn’t that amazing robot that spikes the ball on the ground that reminded me of Gronk all the time as we go in and out of breaks… but just the tremendous team that we have here made it a no-brainer for me.”

Strahan revealed that Brady’s inaugural game broadcast will feature the Dallas Cowboys, making it the first time the team will be featured to open the season on the network since the 2019 season. The Cowboys will take on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 4:25 p.m. EST for Brady’s broadcast debut. Strahan later reminded attendees that Brady’s first championship came in Super Bowl XXXVI, which took place in New Orleans, La., the home of this year’s Super Bowl LIX. FOX Sports will broadcast the contest to conclude its second season under an 11-year media rights deal with the National Football League worth a reported $2.2 billion annually.

“I had the great Coach Madden on the call and Pat Summerall,” Brady recalled of his first Super Bowl. “Being in New Orleans and get to that game and when I see highlights of that game, I get goosebumps. The fact that it’s on FOX in New Orleans is a lot of nostalgia, it is.”

Joining Brady on the forthcoming Super Bowl LIX broadcast and throughout the year on NFL on FOX games includes play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi. All of his colleagues were present for the FOX Upfront event and expressed their excitement and anticipation about being able to work with Brady, highlighting what he brings to the table.

“We’re excited. How can you not be excited?” Burkhardt said. “We’re talking about the most clutch player in the history of the NFL that I get to stand next to every week; that’s pretty good. I think about this – two minutes left in a big game, tie game, who better to analyze it than Tom Brady? No pressure, TB, none at all.”

“A lot of people may not know this about TB,” Andrews said. “He is one of the best storytellers out there. I’ve had an opportunity away from the field to listen to some of these stories. My knee starts bouncing; I get so excited. I cannot wait for our millions of viewers to get an inside look at some of those stories when [he is] talking about the Dallas Cowboys.”

“EA talks about her excitement,” Rinadli added. “Can you imagine the excitement that players and coaches are going to feel when Tom goes into a production meeting and they’re sharing their stories and their strategies with him. We know they’re going to bring their absolute best on Sunday because TB’s in that booth.”

FOX Sports will bring fans complete coverage of Super Bowl LIX from New Orleans including its portfolio of daily FS1 studio shows, along with a new Tubi purple carpet that will provide behind-the-scenes content before the championship game hosted by Olivia Culpo. The FOX NFL Sunday pregame show will also continue its tradition from broadcasting at a different military installation around the world when it visits the U.S. Navy Seals in Coronado, Calif. Studio analyst Rob Gronkowski skydove out of an airplane last year, and while the team struggles to think about how they will top the on-site show each year, they ultimately find a way to do so.

“The Seals do not mess around, and Seals and every one of our heroes in uniform – they inspire us with their dedication, determination and of course, with their courage,” Strahan said. “They go towards danger, and they stand strong on the frontline to keep us free.”

Outside of the network’s NFL property, FOX Sports will continue bringing viewers marquee college football matchups on Big Noon Saturday. The network has announced that it will broadcast the second game of the year for the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines as they face the Texas Longhorns in Ann Arbor, Mich. Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders joined Big Noon Saturday play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson at the FOX Upfront where he previewed the upcoming season and stated that the team intends to be part of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

“When Deion has a game, everybody watches,” Johnson said. “We called the TCU-Colorado game; we had no idea. Nine million people…. [and] it got better and better. How did you like coaching at Colorado?”

“I loved it,” Sanders said, “but just the atmosphere; just the Power Five atmosphere and what you all bring to the table, I absolutely love it.”

Derek Jeter and Álex Rodríguez were also present at the FOX Upfront where they discussed the forthcoming broadcast of “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues,” taking place on Thursday, June 20. The oldest professional ballpark in the United States will host a matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants that will be broadcast live on FOX and feature the network’s MLB on FOX Pregame show.

“Let me start off by saying I couldn’t be prouder of the fact that FOX has this game,” Jeter said. “We get a chance to pay tribute to the Negro Leagues…. Me personally, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the sacrifices and courage of these men that played in the Negro Leagues.”

Earlier in the Upfront event, Erin Andrews revealed that FOX Sports will broadcast a college basketball matchup between the USC Trojans and UConn Huskies on Saturday, Dec. 21. The game will feature some of the biggest stars in the college game with USC guard JuJu Watkins and UConn guard Paige Bueckers, representing a rematch of the regional final that took place in March. The Huskies will aim to extend a three-game winning streak against the Trojans as they look to attain another National Championship.

“We’ve been the leader in women’s sports for the past 10 years, and this year, we got another huge W,” Andrews said. “We featured 14 women’s NCAA matchups this season, a record on any broadcast network, and it paid off big time. Viewership more than doubled.”

Jeff Collins, the president of advertising sales, marketing and brand partnerships for the FOX Corporation, explained within the presentation that FOX is looking to create impact for media brands. Advertisers on the network reached more consumers than any other media company in the fourth company with nearly one-third less frequency. Collins also stated that the network is the only major media company to grow its ad-supported audience since the Upfront presentations in 2020. With a presidential election, Super Bowl and World Cup all taking place down the road, FOX is able to invest into fully ad-supported content with its growing audiences.

“As we all look ahead, we know the Upfronts – it’s a futures market – and you’ll all decide which future to invest in,” Collins said, addressing the attendees. “Together with FOX, the future is clear. By relentlessly focusing our resources into the areas that are most important to you, we will all thrive and we will all grow for the long term. Now let’s go create some of those opportunities together.”