The leadup to March Madness dominates this weekend’s schedule of live TV sports events as the matchups for both the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments will be set on Sunday.  

March Madness selection weekend begins Saturday with a slew of men’s final round conference tournament games in such high-profile conferences as the Big Ten (CBS) Southeastern (ESPN2), ACC (ESPN2), Big East (Fox) and Pac-12 (Fox). On Sunday, the finals of the Ivy League (ESPN2), Atlantic 10 (CBS), Southeastern (ESPN), ACC (ESPN) and Big Ten (CBS) will all air prior to the live airing of the men's tournament selection show on CBS.  The women's college basketball tournament selection show will air on ESPN. 

In pro hoops, ABC’s Saturday primetime NBA telecast features a matchup between defending league champion Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors. On Sunday, the network will televise the game between cross-town rivals New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. Also on Sunday, ESPN will air the Los Angeles Lakers-Phoenix Suns game. 

On the ice, ABC will air a Saturday afternoon NHL contest between the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Panthers, while TNT on Sunday will televise the Toronto Maple Leafs-Buffalo Sabres game.

In other sports, Fox will rev up Saturday coverage of the NHRA’s Top Fuel All-Star Callout drag racing event, while FS1 telecasts the Xfinity United Rentals 200 auto race. On Sunday Fox will air the NASCAR Cup Ruoff Mortgage 500 race. 

On Sunday, Fox will air the Pro Bowlers Association’s World Championship tournament, while NBC airs the final round of the PGA Players Championship golf tournament. Also, USA Network  will air the closing ceremonies of the Paralympics Games. 

On the soccer field, Peacock will air two Premier League games on Saturday while USA Network on Sunday will air a Premier League doubleheader. Major League Soccer games will air Saturday on Fox and Sunday on FS1. ■ 

March madness took on a whole new meaning for the sports industry this past week as major sports leagues took unprecedented moves to shut down play amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease.

With the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and PGA postponing live games and tournaments -- and the NCAA cancelling its annual March Madness college basketball tournament -- sports fans face the sobering prospect of not watching or attending live games for at least a month, and most likely well into the Spring.

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Ring sports events weren’t exempt from the upheaval caused by the coronavirus outbreak.ESPN and boxing promoter Top Rank KO’d its March 13 and March 17 boxing cards, while the WWE last night aired its live Friday Night SmackDown show with no audience. It's still unclear whether the pro wrestling outfit will make any changes to its showcase April 5 WrestleMania 36 event due to coronavirus concerns.

There are live sports events airing on cable sports networks this weekend. ESPN will distribute tonight’s (March 14) Kevin Lee-Charles Oliveria UFC mixed martial arts fight card from Brazil, albeit without any fans in the stands. FS1 on March 15 will televise the Pro Bowlers Association’s Storm World Series of Bowling XI World Championship finals, also without an audience.

“Overall, this is a difficult one for fans,” said sports analyst Lee Berke. “Nobody is playing and [the sports blackout] is potentially going to extend for weeks and months.”

Berke said the moves were necessary to ensure the health and well-being of the U.S. population and will ultimately cost the sports industry a fortune in terms of lost revenue -- Disney and AT&T are expected to lose in ad revenue about $481 million and $211 million respectively, if the rest of the season and playoffs are not played, according to reports.

Berke adds however, the leagues and sports networks will recover once the games begin again, although he would not predict when that might be.

“There's a lot of negotiations and logistics that have to take place from a distribution, scheduling, sponsorship, production standpoint, but it's all manageable," he said. "The one thing that the networks are good at is the blocking and tackling of logistics, but it’s going to be expensive and nerve racking for everybody.”

Once the games do begin, the fans will come back, particularly as the country also recovers financially from volatile stock market performances due mostly to coronavirus concerns. Berke pointed to ratings increases for national and regional cable sports networks after the financial crisis in 2008.

“When the live games come back sports viewership will come back with a vengeance,” he said. “We might be heading into an economic downturn and viewers may not have the funds to go out like they did before the [virus outbreak], but they'll be able and willing to watch sports games on TV.”

Recently named WarnerMedia news and sports chairman Jeff Zucker said Tuesday that Turner Sports is in "terrific" shape and that he views both news and sports as similar with regards to his programming approach.

“I think news and sports are very much the same in the sense that they’re both about human beings and drama and stories,” Zucker, who oversees CNN, told reporters attending CBS and Turner’s annual NCAA 'March Madness' college basketball tournament press breakfast. “I’ve personally gone back and forth between the two, and I think that’s why I’ve always tried to bring the same approach to both. It’s about telling a great story.”

Zucker, who was named to the new post last week amid the recent departures of Turner president David Levy — who previously oversaw Turner Sports — and HBO chairman Richard Plepler, said that Turner Sports is well positioned with its combination of strong linear cable network outlets such as TNT and TBS, marquee sports packages including deals with the NBA and Major League Baseball, and its digital streaming presence with Bleacher Report Live.

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“It's the combination of the three that will continue to be the strategy, and we want to make sure we’re playing in all three [areas].” he added.

Zucker also wouldn’t rule out partnering with CBS to go after more high-profile league sports packages in the future, something that CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus also endorsed.

“We partnered with Turner on the PGA championship for a number of years and that worked out really well,” McManus told reporters. “We’re open to doing partnerships if it makes sense for both partners. There’s nothing specific on the books, but I could see us teaming with Turner on other properties.”

Zucker, who said he launched his television career working as a producer on NBC’s 1988 Olympics coverage, said that he sees additional growth for Turner Sports in new, emerging sports that will require some business development. “The combination of the linear channels as well as Bleacher Report Live gives us the opportunity to foster growth there,” he said.