Monday is the lone sports equinox of 2025, but the continued fragmentation of sports on TV makes the “holiday” more difficult to enjoy than in years past.
Traditionally, a sports equinox happens when the top four U.S. professional sports leagues—the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL—are in action on the same day. On Monday, MLS is playing playoff games, too.
To watch the seven national broadcasts available for those 17 games, one would need subscriptions to either two or three streaming services and access to either three or four different linear TV channels. Good luck crafting that multiview screen.
Here’s Monday’s lineup:
- NFL: Commanders-Chiefs (ABC/ESPN)
- NBA: 11 games (two on Peacock, nine others on local channels or NBA League Pass)
- MLB: Blue Jays–Dodgers (Fox)
- NHL: Two games (NHL Network and ESPN+)
- MLS: Two games (FS1 or Apple TV)
The biggest change in the sports media landscape since the last sports equinox on Oct. 28, 2024, is the NBA’s new $77 billion deals that came with a large streaming component with Amazon Prime Video and Peacock.
Apple TV has global media rights for all MLS matches, but like last year, select postseason contests are being made available on linear Fox Sports channels.
Ever-Changing
The sports TV landscape will be different during any sports equinox that happens next year, too.
MLB is close to finalizing new media-rights deals that will go into effect next season, as NBC will join ESPN and TNT Sports, and many of the league’s major assets will shift around.
The NFL is also exploring renegotiating with its media-rights partners as soon as next year, as opposed to waiting until after the 2029 season to start opting out of its current 11-year, $110 billion deals that were originally set to run through 2033.
