Dish Network, Sling TV to drop NBC Regional Sports Networks
How’s this for a sports fan’s nightmare: Imagine being told that in a month you’ll no longer be able to watch Giants, Warriors, A’s or Sharks games on your television or devices.
For Dish Network and Sling TV viewers, no imagination is needed — their reality is the plug will be pulled on almost all of those games April 1.
Because of a breakdown in negotiations between those services and NBC Sports Regional Networks, subscribers of Dish and Sling TV were notified Tuesday that NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California won’t be available to them.
Coincidentally, the Dish and Sling TV blackout begins on Opening Night for both the Giants and A’s.
A spokesperson for Sling TV released a statement saying the company could no longer justify carrying the Regional Sports Networks on its platforms because of the rising carriage fees NBC
now requires.
NFL
ROETHLISBERGER RETURNING TO STEELERS >> Ben Roethlisberger is returning for an 18th season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is taking a pay cut to do it.
The team and the twotime Super Bowl winner announced on Thursday they have agreed on a new contract that assures the 39-year-old will be back in 2021.
Financial details were not immediately available, though the Steelers made no secret of the need for Roethlisberger to take a pay cut to ease some of the burden of his NFL-high $41.25-million salary-cap hit scheduled for 2021.
Women’s basketball
STANFORD ROUTS USC >> Ashten Prechtel had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 4 Stanford to a 9253 victory over Southern California in a Pac-12 quarterfinal.
Haley Jones and Hannah Jump each had 14 points, and Lacie Hull added 10 points for the Cardinal (23-2, 19-2), who improved to 48-6 all-time in the Pac-12 tournament and 18-1 in the quarterfinals.
Alissa Pili led USC (11-12, 8-10) with nine points.
The Cardinal tied a Pac-12 tournament record by making 15 3-pointers and shot 45.5% from beyond the arc.
NHL
WALTER GRETZKY, FATHER OF
NHL STAR WAYNE GRETZKY, DIES AT 82 >> Walter Gretzky, the father of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has died. He was 82.
Wayne Gretzky said in a statement Thursday night that his father battled Parkinson’s disease and other health issues the past few years.
In his younger days, Walter Gretzky became a name himself, appearing with his famous son in commercials and emerging as a bluecollar symbol of a devoted hockey parent.
Golf
MCILROY, DECHAMBEAU PUT
ON A SHOW AT BAY HILL >> Bay Hill was bustling Thursday, just like golf before the pandemic. The fans were limited in numbers but they all wanted the same dose of entertainment provided by Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau.
First it was McIlroy, slowly feeling better about his game, and with good reason. Starting with a 55foot putt on the par-3 second hole, he ran off five straight birdies for a share of the lead with Corey Conners in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at 6-under 66.
In the group behind McIlroy was DeChambeau, who has been contemplating a shot across the water to cut the 528-yard sixth hole down to size by going for the green. This was not the day with a slight breeze into his face, so the U.S. Open champion had some fun. He took out an iron, and then hit a conservative tee shot (309 yards) to the middle of the fairway.
It was a boring birdie, his third in a row, and he opened with a 67.