The second weekend in December will see NBA pre-season games join a very busy lineup of televised sports events.
The NBA will launch a shortened pre-season schedule this weekend with six games beginning with tonight's Houston-Chicago matchup on NBATV and Sacramento-Portland game on ESPN. The NBA's 2020-21 regular season launches Dec. 22, less than three months after the end of the 2019-20 season that was delayed due to the pandemic.
Week 14 of the NFL season will include several nationally televised matchups featuring potential playoff teams including Kansas City-Miami (CBS) and Minnesota-Tampa Bay (Fox). NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast will feature the Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills contest.
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Both college football and college basketball will continue to forge ahead even as the pandemic continues to force cancellations of high-profile games. Top-rated Alabama will visit Arkansas in a Saturday afternoon game on ESPN, but games featuring fourth-ranked Ohio State against Big Ten rival Michigan, fifth-ranked Texas A&M versus Old Miss, and eighth-ranked Cincinnati against Tulsa were canceled or postponed due to the pandemic.
Other top 10-ranked teams in action this weekend include ninth-ranked Georgia at 25th-ranked Missouri (SEC Network) and sixth-ranked Florida at home against LSU (ESPN).
The MLS will conclude its pandemic-delayed 2020 season Saturday night when the Seattle Sounders meet the Columbus Crew SC in the MLS Cup on Fox.
The UFC and ESPN Plus step into the PPV octagon for the last time in 2020 with its UFC 256 event featuring a flyweight championship main event bout between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.
On the college basketball court, ninth-ranked Villanova plays Georgetown Friday on FS1, 12th-ranked Tennessee plays Cincinnati in a Saturday afternoon contest on the SEC Network, and 11th-ranked West Virginia plays at home against 19th-ranked Richmond on Sunday (ESPN).
