Fox Sports (United States)
Fox Sports, also referred to as Fox Sports Media Group and stylized in all caps, is the sports programming division of the Fox Corporation that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Fox Sports 2 (FS2), and the Fox Sports Radio network.[1][2]
This article is about the U.S.-based sports division. For branded assets outside of the U.S., see Fox Sports. For the Australian broadcast channels, see Fox Sports (Australia).Launched
August 12, 1994
Mark Silverman
(president and COO, Fox Sports Media Group)
Eric Shanks
(CEO and Executive Producer, Fox Sports Media Group)
Fox Network Center (Fox Studio Lot Building 101), 10201 W Pico Blvd, Century City, Los Angeles, California
The division was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League (NFL) games. In subsequent years, Fox has televised the National Hockey League (NHL) (1994–1999), Major League Baseball (MLB) (1996–present), NASCAR (2001–present), the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) (2007–2010), Major League Soccer (MLS) (2003–2011, 2015–present), the U.S. Open golf tournament (2015–2019), the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) (2016–present), WWE programming (2019–present), the XFL (2020), the United States Football League (USFL) (2022–present), and the World Baseball Classic (WBC) (2023–present).
On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire then-parent company 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion, which included key assets such as the regional Fox Sports Networks (which were later sold by Disney to the Sinclair Broadcast Group), FX Networks, and Fox Sports International. Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, and other assets were spun off into the division's current parent company, which is independently owned by 21st Century Fox's current shareholders.[3][4]
History[edit]
Establishment[edit]
When the Fox Broadcasting Company launched in October 1986, the network's management, having seen how sports programming (in particular, soccer events) played a critical role in the growth of the British satellite service BSkyB, determined that sports would be the type of programming that would ascend Fox to a major network status the quickest; as a result, Fox tried to attract a professional football package to the network. In 1987, after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract with the National Football League (NFL) for the television rights to Monday Night Football, Fox made an offer for the package at the same price that ABC had been paying at the time – about $13 million per game. However, partly due to the fact that Fox had yet to establish itself as a major network, the NFL decided to resume negotiations with ABC, with the two parties eventually agreeing to a new contract, keeping what was the crown jewel of the league's television broadcasts on that network (where it remained until 2006, when MNF moved to sister network ESPN as part of a contract that also saw NBC gain the Sunday Night Football package).
Six years later, as the league's television contracts for both the National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC) divisions, and for the Sunday and Monday primetime football packages were up for renewal, Fox placed a bid for $1.58 billion to obtain the broadcast rights to the NFC. On December 17, 1993, the NFL selected Fox's bid and signed a four-year contract with the network to award it the rights to televise regular season and playoff (as well as select preseason) games from the NFC, beginning with the 1994 season; the initial contract also included the exclusive U.S. television rights to broadcast Super Bowl XXXI in 1997.[5] The deal stripped CBS of football telecasts for the first time since 1955.
Technical evolution[edit]
High-definition coverage[edit]
For Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, Fox Sports produced its first telecast in a 16:9, 480p enhanced-definition format marketed as "Fox Widescreen"; while promoted as having better quality than standard definition, and being the first U.S. sporting event produced completely in a widescreen format, it was not true high definition, but still matched the aspect ratio of HDTV sets.[68][69]
Fox Sports began producing selected events in 720p high definition, starting on July 3, 2004, with the Pepsi 400, select NFL games, the 2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and that year's postseason.
During the following years, Fox would produce more sports telecasts in HD, but still fell back on using 480p widescreen for events not televised in HD.[69][70]
As of late July 2010, all sports programming broadcast by Fox-owned networks began transitioning to a format optimized for 16:9 widescreen displays, with graphics framed within a widescreen safe area rather than the 4:3 safe area, intended to be shown in a letterboxed format on standard definition feeds.[71]
Virtual reality[edit]
From 2016 until selling its virtual reality division FoxNext to Disney in 2019,[72] Fox Sports produced a limited number of game telecasts in 360-degree virtual reality, mostly college football. A TV Everywhere login was required to access the broadcast.[73]
4K coverage[edit]
In 2017, Fox Sports began to produce selected telecasts in 4K ultra-high-definition television, beginning with selected NASCAR and college basketball events, and for the 2017 season, a college football game per-week. They are primarily available via DirecTV and other supported providers.[74][75]
Fox began televising its Thursday Night Football games in 1080p upconverted to 4K with HLG HDR on September 26, 2019.[76]
Gambling[edit]
In May 2019, amid the state-by-state legalization of sports betting in the United States following the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, Fox Corporation entered into a joint venture with The Stars Group to develop gaming products under the brand Fox Bet. They included free-to-play games such as Fox Bet Super 6, and a real-money mobile sportsbook operating in several states where they are legal. The services and games were co-promoted on Fox Sports properties, including the Fox Sports 1 studio program Fox Bet Live (formerly Lock it In).[95] As part of the agreement, Fox Corporation acquired a 4.99% stake in The Stars Group,[96][97][98] which was later acquired by Flutter Entertainment. Fox holds a 2.6% minority stake in Flutter, and was given an option to acquire up to 18.5% of its U.S. division FanDuel in 2021.[99][100][101]
On July 30, 2023, it was announced that Fox Corporation and Flutter would close down their Fox Bet platform in a phased closure, starting the next day and ending on August 31. As part of the deal, Fox Corporation retained future use of the Fox Bet brand and will be relaunching Fox Bet Super 6 under a different guise later in the year.[102] Although not exactly confirmed, it was likely that Fox Corporation didn't exercise a right to acquire up to 50% of The Stars Group on the condition it was licensed, allowing themselves and Flutter to shut down Fox Bet in August 2023.[103]
Programming issues[edit]
Although the amount of sports content on the network has gradually expanded since Fox Sports was founded in 1994 (particularly since 2013), Fox's sports schedule on weekend afternoons has remained very inconsistent to this day as the majority of its sports contracts are with professional leagues and collegiate conferences associated with more widely known sporting events, with very limited supplementary coverage of amateur, extreme or winter sports (unlike NBC or CBS) that can be aired during the daytime even when major events are not broadcast – leaving absences in daytime sports coverage on either a Saturday, a Sunday or both on certain weeks. Syndicated programming (either in the form of feature films, series or both) and/or infomercials scheduled by the network's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates, as well as occasional Fox Sports-produced specials and Fox-supplied preview specials for upcoming primetime shows fill Fox stations' weekend afternoon schedules on days with limited to no sports programming.
Some of the network's sports telecasts (most frequently, college football and Sunday afternoon NFL games, and the World Series) delay or outright pre-empt regularly scheduled local evening newscasts on Fox stations due to typical overruns past a set time block or pre-determined later start times; a few Fox affiliates that maintain news departments (such as WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama and WVUE-DT in New Orleans) have opted not to air or have cancelled early evening newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays due to frequent sports preemptions in that daypart, while others (such as WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Missouri) instead reschedule their weekend early evening news programs to an earlier timeslot if possible when Fox is scheduled to air an evening game or race.
Conversely, some Fox Sports programming (though never major sports, NASCAR, or college football) is delayed for later airing for several reasons. WSVN in Miami traditionally delays Fox Sports' Sunday lower-tier racing programming to late night in order to maintain their revenue on Sunday afternoons for paid programming, while several stations often disregarded the pregame shows for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to reduce schedule disruption. In November 2018, WITI in Milwaukee opted to move the final of that year's Las Vegas Invitational college basketball tournament on that year's Black Friday to their secondary Antenna TV subchannel in order to avert disruption to their news schedule before a primetime airing of that year's Apple Cup football game. Fox's NFL Kickoff, preceding Fox NFL Sunday, is often aired on a secondary subchannel in several markets due to both official team programming and E/I programming burdens needing to be satisfied by Fox affiliates.
As is done with CBS, Fox offers a flex schedule for its NFL and Major League Baseball telecasts, featuring a selection of up to four games that vary on a regional basis, allowing either one or (often) two consecutive telecasts to air on a given day depending on the Fox station's designated market.
The "Fox Sports" name has been used in other sports media assets.
Media related to Fox Sports (United States) at Wikimedia Commons