There has been no break in the bitter Disney-Charter Spectrum standoff, and now ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” coverage will undoubtedly be affected.

After impacting ESPN coverage of two weekends of college football and the U.S. Open, the ongoing blackout of 19-owned Disney channels — including ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU — is set to extend to the Buffalo Bills-New York Jets “Monday Football Game.” 

ABC is also airing the game, with the expanded coverage plans first solidified in the spring. However, since WABC-TV in New York is also owned by Disney, that broadcast presentation will not be available to Charter subscribers in that market. Charter also has a significant presence in Buffalo, but the ABC affiliate there, WKBW-TV, will be available to subscribers there due to Scripps’ ownership of that station.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said the company intends to forge a new paradigm with major video programmers like Disney.

“We always thought about the video business as being an asset to our broadband connectivity business,” Winfrey said last week at a Goldman Sachs conference. “I think it’s on the verge of flipping, where it’s becoming a liability.”

To that end, Charter’s latest move over the weekend was offering a free trial of Fubo, which carries ESPN and other Disney-owned channels. Charter described Fubo as its “preferred streaming TV partner,” and the company’s strategy is to retain customers with its broadband access.

With the NFL continuing to outdistance anything else on American TV, regardless of genre, the football games represent the foremost impact of the carriage dispute. Viewing the game in the affected areas would require obtaining a digital antenna or selecting an alternate television provider – something Disney has been advocating.

Charter is the country’s second-largest cable carrier, with 14.7 million subscribers.

The 2023 U.S. Open concluded with another record-level attendance total, further solidifying the tournament as tennis’ most lucrative major and one of the foremost sports events.

The tournament finished with a main draw total of 799,402, up 3% from last year’s 776,120. The event concluded with Coco Gauff’s victory Saturday in the women’s singles final and Novak Djokovic’s title win Sunday in men’s singles.

The new attendance record became largely inevitable very early in the tournament, as three single-day records were set in the tournament’s first four days. After that, fan interest remained high and, even as unseasonably hot and humid weather in the New York area impacted nearly all of the two weeks of play, more individual records were established.

The U.S. Open is also specifically designed to boost tennis’ accessibility to mass audiences, with a 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, the sport’s largest facility in the world, and notoriously long-running night sessions.

All 25 sessions at the stadium sold out for the second year in a row, while both the men’s (28,804) and women’s (28,143) championship matches were the most-attended in U.S. Open history.

With the additional attendance from Fan Week that preceded the main draw, the overall U.S. Open event drew 957,387, up by nearly 8% from a year ago and marking the first Grand Slam to exceed 950,000 spectators over three weeks. 

This year’s U.S. Open featured a $65 million prize pool that is the largest of tennis’ four majors, and Gauff and Djokovic each earned $3 million for their titles. 

Embattled Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has resigned, finally bringing some closure to several weeks of controversy that had capped the 2023 Women’s World Cup. 

Rubiales on Sunday tendered his resignation from both the federation and a position as UEFA vice president, three weeks after he kissed Spanish star player Jenni Hermoso on the lips without consent following Spain’s triumph over England in the WWC final. 

FIFA had already suspended him, and Hermoso pressed charges of sexual assault and coercion, which led to prosecutors filing a case with Spain’s top court against Rubiales.

“After the rapid suspension by FIFA, plus the rest of the proceedings opened against me, it is clear that I will not be able to return to my position,” Rubiales said in a statement. 

The dispute marked an ugly coda to a highly successful WWC event. Before this resignation, Rubiales had been defiant against Hermoso’s claims, claiming the kiss was mutual and consensual, and he had ignored widespread calls to resign and condemnations from around the world, including from his federation. 

As the various charges against him began to mount, Rubiales pivoted without remorse as he vowed to “defend my honorability” and “defend my innocence.”

“Insisting on waiting and clinging … is not going to contribute anything positive, neither to the federation nor to Spanish football,” Rubiales said. “Among other things, because there are de facto powers that will prevent my return.”

Beyond the basic premise of fighting, the UFC and WWE don’t have all that much in common.

One is a brutal, no-holds-barred sport featuring some of the most fearless humans in the world. The other is one of the most successful scripted operations in sports entertainment powered by personalities with global star power.

But this week, the two will become one. On Tuesday, UFC — by way of parent company Endeavor, and WWE — expect to close their merger to combine the two entities into TKO Holdings. 

The new company, which will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange, will be valued at $21 billion. Endeavor will control 51% of TKO, with WWE controlling the other 49%.

What Does The Merger Mean?

At the outset, not much will change. Dana White will keep running the UFC, and WWE president Nick Khan will continue in his role. 

But looking ahead, both properties have major events and key media deals to negotiate.

Last month, tickets for WrestleMania 40 in April 2024 broke the all-time WWE gate record of $21.5 million less than 24 hours after going on sale. Meanwhile, speculation is mounting about who could fight at UFC 300 next spring — in what will be a monumental and lucrative event for the fighting promotion.

Further ahead, the UFC’s deal with ESPN+ expires in 2025, and the WWE’s respective media deals for SmackDown and Raw with Fox and USA Network are set to end in 2024.
There has been speculation the new TKO could create a singular streaming service to house some or all UFC/WWE content.