March Madness Final Four; Baseball's Opening Weekend: What’s On This Weekend in TV Sports (April 1-2)

Miami Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack #24 drives against Texas Longhorns guard Tyrese Hunter #4 during the Elite Eight round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Miami Hurricanes guard Nijel Pack #24 drives against Texas Longhorns guard Tyrese Hunter #4 during the Elite Eight round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. (Image credit: Andy Hancock/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

The live sports lineup for April’s first weekend starts on the basketball court as March Madness — the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments — continues with the Final Four.

CBS on Saturday will televise the men’s national semifinal matchups, featuring Atlantic-San Diego State and Miami-UConn games. CBS will also televise the men’s championship game on Monday night from Houston.

In the women’s bracket, the Final Four gets underway in Dallas Friday evening with the LSU-Virginia Tech and Iowa-South Carolina semifinals on ESPN. The women’s national championship will air Sunday afternoon on ABC. 

Also this weekend, Major League Baseball opens the first weekend of its 2023 regular season with a Saturday afternoon Fox telecast between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees and an FS1 Saturday night airing of the Cleveland Indians-Seattle Mariners game. ESPN will open its Sunday Night Baseball season with Philadelphia Phillies-Texas Rangers. 

On the racetrack, NBC will feature the PPG 375 IndyCar series event, while ESPN will offer the Australian Grand Prix Formula One race.

Fox on Sunday will televise the Pro Bowlers Association USBC Masters event, while CBS will air the Premier Bankcard Invitational Professional Bull Riders event. 

On the soccer field, CBS on Saturday will televise the Portland-Kansas City NWSL game. USA, NBC and Peacock will offer a total of eight Premier League games throughout the weekend. 

On the ice, ABC on Saturday will televise the St. Louis Blues-Nashville Predators game, while on Sunday TNT will air the N.Y. Rangers-Washington Capitals contest. ■ 

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.