The CW Sports

For the new Wikipedia article, see The CW Sports
The CW Sports, is the sports programming division for the broadcast network, The CW.
The division was formed in 2023 with The CW's acquisition of broadcast rights to LIV Golf. In subsequent months, The CW will televise Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college football and basketball games (2023-present), and the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) (2025-present).
==History==
===Establishment===
In January 2023, The CW agreed to a multi-year broadcast deal with LIV Golf, the upstart professional golf tour financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, marking the first-ever national sports broadcasting contract for the network (not including its previous relationships with WWE for sports entertainment programming). Weekday rounds will be available on The CW's streaming apps, while weekend rounds will air on the broadcast network. The network and main owner Nexstar were criticized by the National Press Club for participating in what it considers an attempt by the Saudi government to rehabilitate its image following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
With a sports division now established, The CW decided to strike broadcast rights with other sports leagues. On July 13, 2023, it was announced that The CW had acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to 50 Atlantic Coast Conference college football and basketball games each season through 2026–27, with Raycom Sports, who previously produced syndicated ACC broadcasts, most recently producing ACC broadcasts on Bally Sports, now producing for The CW.
On July 28, 2023, The CW was awarded exclusive broadcast rights to NASCAR Xfinity Series races in a seven-year deal starting in 2025 and going through the 2031 season.
===Possible contracts in the future===
After seeing how the NFL television rights and affiliation deals firmly established Fox as the nation's fourth major network, The CW started looking for an opportunity to establish a NFL television contract on their network. With already picking up the studio show Inside the NFL, The CW sought after Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football package. In 2024, The CW obtained the broadcast rights to the Thursday Night Football games, successfully replacing Amazon Prime. (Amazon Prime chose to sublease the rest of their package to The CW, due to the backlash of out of market games being streaming exclusive).
In that same year, The CW was awarded rights to WWE Friday Night Smackdown, and for the first time since September 26, 2008, Smackdown aired on The CW.
==Channels==
In addition to the broadcast division, The CW Sports owns other national cable sports channels in the United States, which include;
* CW Sports Network - a national general sports network, which presents some NASCAR Xfinity races, LIV Golf weekday rounds, and some sports shows and other sports programming.
* CW Deportes - a Spanish-language network, which airs Spanish-language coverage of The CW Sports properties.
==Programs throughout the years==
===Current broadcast rights===
LIV Golf on The CW (2023-present)
* All weekday rounds air on The CW app, and later CWSN
* All weekend rounds air on The CW
ACC on The CW (2023-future)
* 50 college football and basketball games per year
NFL on The CW (2023-future)
* Weekly show: Inside the NFL (2023-present)
* Pre-game show: The NFL Tonight (2024-future)*
* Thursday Night Football package (2024-future)*
* One exclusive game on Black Friday (2024-future)*
NASCAR on The CW (2025-future)
* NASCAR Xfinity Series: 2025-future (exclusive through 2031)
Other
* WWE SmackDown (2024-future)*
Whenever there is an asterisk, represents fictional content, which most likely won't air on The CW.
==Other media==
"The CW Sports" name has been used in other sports media assets.
* Thecwsports.com, a website operated by Nexstar Media Group, provides sports news online.
==See also==
Main competitors
* CBS Sports
* ESPN
* Fox Sports
* NBC Sports
* Warner Bros. Discovery Sports
==Notes and references==
# "The CW". en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
# "The CW Sports" twitter.com. Retrieved August 9, 2023.