1. The NFL will leak and release its 2025 schedule throughout this week.
Things kicked off Monday morning with Mike Tirico going on the Today show to announce that the Cowboys and Eagles would play in the season opener on Thursday, Sept. 4.
NBC also announced that Peacock will air an exclusive game in Week 17, on Saturday, Dec. 27.
This comes on the heels of The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reporting that YouTube will air the second game of the season on Friday, Sept. 5, when the Chargers play the Chiefs in Brazil.
So here’s where we’re at with the NFL making you pay for a slew of subscription services if you’d like to watch all the games in the 2025 season. These are all the networks you need to have:
CBS
Fox
NBC
ABC/ESPN
YouTube
Peacock
Netflix
Amazon Prime Video
ESPN+
NFL Network
And this, of course doesn’t even count the $480 it costs to have NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube (or $378 if you’re a YouTubeTV subscriber).
Pay, pay, pay.
2. Speaking of Tirico, he is not one to throw out inflammatory comments, so when he says something spicy, it’s notable.
While appearing on The Orange Zone podcast, as transcribed by Barrett Media, Tirico voiced his displeasure for those in sports television who openly discuss their fandom during broadcasts.
“You can’t have fandom seep in,” Tirico noted. “Now, people do now, and it bothers me. I don’t like watching SportsCenter or other shows on ESPN where the anchors are talking about who they’re fans of. Like, who cares? I don’t care.”
Tirico added, “Stephen A. Smith is great, and he’s a friend, and he’s done a wonderful job. I don’t want time wasted during the NBA halftime telling me your feelings as a Knicks fan. I want to hear about the game, and what I missed, and what I need to look forward to. But, again, that’s just a personal way of consuming sports, and I’m a little bit old school when it comes to that.”
3. This was quite a retort from ESPN’s Richard Jefferson to Bill Simmons. I don’t remember if the ABC crew talked about Payton Pritchard enough, but “Pritch Please” is very creative.
1. Pritch Please
— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) May 11, 2025
2. Let me fix your post “I’m a huge Boston supporter and I wish they spoke MORE about Pritchard”
3. I personally did a highlight package for Pritchard during the game.
4. So to say we didn’t mention it for 2 hours is an actually lie or maybe a bias opinion.… https://t.co/HMbdufxDgW
4. Surely, you will see headlines today that say, “Rich Eisen Returns to ESPN.” If you just read headlines and skip the story, you’ll be a little misled.
Eisen’s daily radio show will air on ESPN’s not-yet-released, direct-to-consumer product, as reported by Andrew Marchand. It will not air on the actual television network. So you will need to be a subscriber to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offering in order to watch Eisen’s show.
5. Pat McAfee could just sit back, host his daily show that is simulcast on ESPN, work College GameDay and call Monday Night Raw.
But that’s not enough for McAfee, who actually got in the ring Saturday for a match against Gunther. This is how McAfee looked in the aftermath of taking a bunch of chops.
My chest… is ahhh… burning pic.twitter.com/RVrhRkRYuf
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 11, 2025
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with John Tesh, the composer of NBC’s NBA theme song “Roundball Rock.”
Tesh talks about the recent announcement from NBC that “Roundball Rock” will return as the network’s theme song for the NBA for the next 11 years, what the negotiations were like with NBC, the popularity of the song, how the song got created and landed on NBC, getting spoofed on Saturday Night Live and why people weren’t satisfied with Fox using the song on its college basketball coverage.
Tesh also discusses what it was like to host Entertainment Tonight for 10 years, becoming a reporter at CBS’s New York affiliate at just 22 years old, what it was like to date Oprah Winfrey in the ‘70s and much more.
Following Tesh, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss Sal’s Mother’s Day dilemma, the NBA playoffs, another wrestler going off on Hulk Hogan and Roku airing MLB games. We also read Apple reviews from April for SI Media With Jimmy Traina.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today would’ve been George Carlin’s 88th birthday. One can only imagine the commentary on what our world has become.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Schedule Release Means One Thing for Fans: Pay, Pay, Pay.
