CW Sports is the sports programming division of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried on the network. The division was formed in 2023 with The CW's acquisition of broadcast rights to

LIV Golf LIV Golf ( ) is a professional men's golf tour. The name "LIV" refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the number of holes played at LIV events. The first LIV Golf Invitational Series event started on 9 June 2022, at the Centurion Club near St Alba ...

. The CW also airs college football and basketball games from the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

, the

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a Undercard, support ...

, and formerly, from

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

to the end of the 2024 NFL season, the ''

Inside the NFL ''Inside the NFL'' is an American weekly television sports show that focuses on the National Football League (NFL). Each NFL season, the program airs from Week 1 of the regular season until the week after the Super Bowl. The show principally fe ...

'' studio program. Unlike the sports divisions of the other major networks, CW Sports does not currently produce any of its own programming; its current properties are produced via partnerships with third-parties or a respective league's media department (such as NASCAR Productions and

Raycom Sports Raycom Sports is a Charlotte, North Carolina–based producer of sports television programs owned by Gray Media. It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom Sports established a prominent joint venture wi ...

History

Launch

In August 2022,

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

acquired a majority stake in The CW network. Nexstar focused on broadening the network's programming, including adding sports. In January 2023, The CW agreed to a three-year broadcast deal with

, the upstart professional golf tour financed by

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Public Investment Fund The Public Investment Fund (PIF; ) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of billion. It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on be ...

, marking the first-ever national sports broadcasting contract for the network. Weekday rounds will be available on The CW's streaming apps, while weekend rounds will air on the broadcast network. The announcement led to the launch of the CW Sports division. 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 Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of journalist

Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi (13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, Saudi dissidents, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab New ...

. On February 14, 2023, the network said its LIV Golf coverage would be carried in 100% of U.S. media markets. However, as existing contracts at the time only obligated CW affiliates to air prime time and Saturday morning E/I programming, some of them declined to carry LIV coverage. Among the refraining stations were the eight CW stations owned by

CBS News and Stations CBS News and Stations is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global that owns and operates a group of United States, American television stations along with CBS News. , the division owns 28 stations: 15 are the core stati ...

, ostensibly due to

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

' longstanding

partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...

with the competing

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. In many of the affected markets, LIV coverage would air on a Nexstar-owned station, a subchannel carrying a digital multicast network, or on another station not connected with The CW or Nexstar under a secondary affiliation agreement. The CW declined to renew their rights to LIV Golf beyond the 2024 season, with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

becoming the new home for the golf tour. On February 17, 2023, The CW announced it had picked up the rights to '' 100 Days to Indy'', a documentary series following the leadup to the

2023 Indianapolis 500 The 2023 Indianapolis 500, branded as the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for sponsorship reasons, was a 500-mile (804.7 km, 200 lap) race in the 2023 IndyCar Series, held on Sunday, May 28, at the Indianapol ...

produced by Penske Entertainment and

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

Expansion

Throughout summer 2023, The CW announced the acquisition of several sports properties. On June 7, The CW announced it acquired the rights to ''

'', which was previously cable-exclusive to

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

and then Showtime, and streamed on

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

, for its 47th season, bringing the series to broadcast television for the first time.

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...

continues to produce, with former Steelers safety Ryan Clark as the new host, and Channing Crowder,

Jay Cutler Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A member of the Chicago Bears for most of his career, he is ...

, Chad Johnson and Chris Long as analysts. On July 13, 2023, it was announced that The CW had acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to 50

college football and basketball games each season through 2026–27; the broadcasts would be produced by

division, who previously produced syndicated ACC broadcasts. The package had been with

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

before transitioning to

Bally Sports FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) is a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group). The networks carry regional broadcasts of sporting events from variou ...

in the 2021 season with the network's ownership transfer. On July 28, 2023, the network and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

announced a rights deal for the

, rights previously spread among several cable and broadcast networks. The deal will encompass the 2025–2031 racing seasons. On April 11, 2024, It was announced that the deal was moved up to September 2024, with coverage beginning with the Food City 300 regular season finale race at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

, with

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

producing the broadcasts using its ''

NASCAR on NBC ''NASCAR on NBC'' (visually branded as ''NBC NASCAR'' in logos shown within on-air graphics and network promotions) is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on several NBCUniversal-owned ...

'' staff. In January 2024, the division's name was amended to simply "CW Sports" as part of The CW's new brand identity. The rebranding had notably removed the article "The" from the network's logo and certain use cases (while maintaining "The CW" as its verbal branding); chief marketing officer Chris Spadaccini specifically cited the sports division as a context where "CW" worked better than "The CW". On May 14, 2024, The CW announced an agreement to carry 11 football games involving

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

and

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

, the two remaining members of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. After simulcasting the 2023 edition as part of an agreement with the game's then-sponsor

Barstool Sports Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that publishes sports journalism and pop culture-related content. It is owned by Dave Portnoy, who founded the company in 2003 in Milton, Massa ...

, CW Sports also acquired rights to the 2024 Arizona Bowl. On July 22, 2024, CW Sports announced that it would rebrand its football coverage as ''CW Football Saturday'' for the upcoming season, adding an eponymous studio show hosted by Mike Yam. The program, as well as the OSU/WSU games, are produced by Pac-12 Enterprises, which consists of the remaining staff of the Pac-12 Conference's former cable channel

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N), sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks, was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities were headquartere ...

. The CW continued its sports expansion in late 2024 and early 2025. In September 2024, The CW aired the finals of the Chicago Open

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

tournament as part of a one-off deal with the

Association of Volleyball Professionals Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

. On December 2024, CW added two new ACC women’s basketball games to its 2025 sports schedule, creating a pair of Sunday doubleheaders. In the first quarter of 2025, CW Sports announced media rights agreements with Grand Slam Track and the

, and acquired the HBCU All-Star Basketball game. In April 2025, CW Sports renewed its agreement to air Pac-12 football games in the 2025 season, airing nine games featuring OSU and WSU. It also announced a media rights agreement with

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for tenpin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Reg ...

bowling. In June 2025, The CW announced an agreement with the Savannah Bananas to air one Banana Ball game in July.

Programs

Current live events

College football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

(2023–present) ***13 games per-season **

(2024–present) ***Various games involving

and

. ** Arizona Bowl (2023–present) *

College basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

(2023–present) ***28 men's basketball games per-season ***11 women's basketball games per-season **HBCU All-Star Basketball Game (2025–present) *

(2024–present) * AVP Volleyball (2024; 2025–present) * Grand Slam Track (2025–present)

Upcoming events

*One Savannah Bananas baseball game (2025) *

(from 2026)

Studio programming

*'' CW Football Saturday'' (2024–present) *'' NASCAR Countdown Live'' (2024–present)

Past programming

(2023–24) *'' 100 Days to Indy'' (2023–24) *''

'' (2023–25)

Sports on local CW affiliates

Outside of network programming, several CW affiliates have carried telecasts of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and in some cases, other collegiate sporting events (such as

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

) that are produced by syndicators, while a few carry games from local teams of major professional sports leagues such as

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City, serving as the ''de facto'' flagship of The CW Television Network. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, the station is operated by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group under a local market ...

) and the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

Affiliate preemptions

Seventeen affiliates of The CW, eight of which were owned by

, declined to carry the network's sports coverage of

, which as weekend afternoon programming was not specified, nor mandated, under the network's affiliation contracts as of LIV Golf's debut on The CW. In all of the affected markets, the network has made secondary affiliation arrangements with other stations. Seven additional stations agreed to carry LIV Golf and subsequently affiliated with the CW on September 1, 2023: Nexstar-owned

WPHL-TV WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. The station also maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. Owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, ...

KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's outlet for The CW. Owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV has studios ...

and

WTTA WTTA (channel 38) is a television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, serving as the Tampa Bay area's local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, alongside Tampa-l ...

; Hearst-owned

KQCA KQCA (channel 58) is a television station licensed to Stockton, California, United States, serving the Sacramento area as a dual affiliate of The CW and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside NBC affiliate KCRA-TV (channel 3). ...

;

Gray Television Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...

-owned

WPCH-TV WPCH-TV (channel 17), branded as Peachtree TV, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by locally based Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF (channel 46), and l ...

; and Sinclair-owned

WPNT WPNT (channel 22) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with The CW and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fox affiliate WPGH-TV (channel 53). The two stations share studios ...

and

KUNS-TV KUNS-TV (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Bellevue, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate KOM ...

. Several affiliates have also preempted coverage of the Xfinity Series in favor of local sports.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:CW Sports The CW Nexstar Media Group Paramount Global Warner Bros. Discovery Television syndication packages Sports television in the United States Companies based in Los Angeles 2023 establishments in California American companies established in 2023 Mass media companies established in 2023