College Football Bowls, Saturday NFL Games, Showtime Boxing Card: What’s on This Weekend in TV Sports (Dec. 16-17)

Broncos tight end Adam Trautman celebrates catching his touchdown pass in the fourth quarter during the Broncos 24-7 win over the Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023
Adam Trautman and the Denver Broncos will take on the Detroit Lions on Saturday. (Image credit: Getty Images)

This weekend’s live TV sports offerings kick off with the college football bowl season and a slate of Saturday NFL games.

Seven college football bowl games are scheduled for Saturday, including the Myrtle Beach Bowl (Georgia Southern-Ohio) on ESPN, the Cricket Celebration Bowl (Howard-Florida A&M) on ABC, R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (Jacksonville State-Louisiana) on ESPN, Avocados From Mexico Cure Bowl (Miami (Ohio)-Appalachian State) on ABC, Isleta New Mexico Bowl (New Mexico State-Fresno State) on ESPN, LA Bowl (UCLA-Boise State) on ABC, and Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl (Cal-Texas Tech) on ESPN.

On the pro football field, NFL Network will air three Saturday games, including the Minnesota Vikings-Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers-Indianapolis Colts, and Denver Broncos-Detroit Lions contests. On Sunday, CBS and Fox will air regional NFL games, while NBC airs its Sunday Night Football game between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Also Read: Showtime Sports To Shut Down at End of Year

On the hardcourt, college basketball’s top 10-rated teams in action on Saturday include top-ranked Arizona against third-ranked Purdue on Peacock, second-ranked Kansas against Indiana on CBS, and fourth-ranked Houston-Texas A&M on ESPN2. Also in play are No. 6 Baylor-Michigan State (Fox) and No. 9 North Carolina-Kentucky (CBS).

In the ring, Showtime will air a “regular” super middleweight title match between champion David Morrell Jr. and Sena Agbeko. In the octagon, ESPN Plus will distribute the UFC 296 pay-per-view event highlighted by a welterweight championship main event fight between champion Leon Edwards and Colby Covington. 

On the links, NBC will televise weekend coverage of the PNC Championship pro golf event. On the soccer pitch, NBC, Peacock and USA Network will air weekend Premier League action. 

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.