MLB’s broadcasting will look different in 2026 as the league’s full media deal with ESPN ended after last season. One of the biggest changes will be the elimination of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN after 35 years, as the network will now showcase 30 weeknight games in the season instead of exclusively every Sunday night.
ESPN has officially decided how it will replace Sunday Night Baseball’s slot on the weekend. The network will dedicate the whole day to women’s sports, cleverly calling it Women’s Sports Sundays, per Variety. ESPN plans to showcase the WNBA, NWSL, women’s college basketball, softball and any other primetime women’s sports happening on Sundays.
“Sunday is a day of the week when we see a ton of our best women’s sports programming, and we will have events outside of our primetime window,” Susie Piotrkowski, vice president of women’s sports programming and espnW, told Variety. “We saw an opportunity to have access in what I would call women’s sports season, the summer months. This was an opportunity to be intentional and make sure our most premium women’s sports properties [were shown regularly].”
The network will announce the schedule, commentators and information about Women’s Sports Sundays in the coming weeks.
More WNBA on Sports Illustrated