Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Network | USA Network (2007–2025) |
|---|---|
| Launched | April 8, 2007 |
| Closed | November 12, 2025 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | |
| Key people | Richard Cordella (Chairman, NBC Sports Group) Mark Lazarus (CEO, Versant) |
| Headquarters | 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City |
| Major broadcasting contracts | |
| Sister network | NBC Sports |
| Format | Sports |
| Official website | nbcsports.com |
Following the dissolution of USA Sports into NBC Sports after the 2007 Masters, USA Network began deemphasizing sports. During this time NBC Sports properties generally only aired on USA in special cases, such as during the Olympics, Stanley Cup Playoffs (until 2021) or the final week of the English Premier League season.
On January 22, 2021, an internal memo sent by NBC Sports president Pete Bevacqua announced that NBCSN would cease operations by the end of the year, and that USA Network would begin "carrying and/or simulcasting certain NBC Sports programming," including the Stanley Cup Playoffs (until 2021), and NASCAR races, before NBCSN's shutdown.[1][2] The move was cited by industry analysts as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sports and television industries, the acceleration of cord-cutting, as well as formidable competition from rival sports networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports 1, noting the company saw an overall revenue drop by 19% to $6.72 billion.[2][3]
On November 20, 2024, Comcast announced that it would spin off most of its cable networks and select digital properties into a new publicly traded company, Versant, a move that will see USA Network split from NBC Sports. Despite the announcement, NBC Sports produced programming such as the 2026 Winter Olympics will continue to air on USA Network even after the spin-off.
In 2003, General Electric (GE) agreed to merge NBC and its sibling companies with Vivendi Universal's North American-based filmed entertainment assets, including Universal Pictures and Universal Television Group in a multibillion-dollar purchase, renaming the merged company NBC Universal. GE retained an 80% ownership stake in NBC Universal, while Vivendi retained a 20% stake. NBC Universal officially took over as owner of USA and its sibling cable channels (except for Newsworld International) in 2004. USA Sports continued to be used as the branding for coverage of the PGA Tour, The Masters, the Ryder Cup, and the US Open tennis tournament.
In early 2006, it was announced that USA was outbid by Golf Channel for its early-round PGA Tour rights, with USA's final season being 2006. NBC Universal traded away USA's Friday Ryder Cup coverage through 2012 to ESPN for the rights to sign Al Michaels for its new Sunday Night Football. However, USA did renew its Masters contract for an additional year. USA would televise the 2007 Masters before being outbid by ESPN for future coverage. Also in 2006, USA carried some coverage of top level hockey by cooperating with NBC's coverage of ice hockey at the Winter Olympics.
After USA Sports was dissolved into NBC Sports after the 2007 Masters, USA Network began deemphasizing sports. During this time NBC Sports properties generally only aired on USA in special cases, such as during the Olympics, Stanley Cup Playoffs or the final week of the English Premier League season.
USA Network offered daily coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics through NBC Sports. This would be the USA Network's last Summer Olympics until 2020 because in 2011, Comcast acquired majority control of NBC's parent company NBC Universal from General Electric. This included to rebranding of Versus as NBC Sports Network, which would replace USA Network's summer Olympic coverage.[4]
The Ryder Cup contract, which stipulated cable coverage air on USA, was still controlled by NBC even after it granted ESPN the rights to Friday cable coverage (normally the only day of the event covered on cable). However, in 2010, rain on Friday pushed the singles matches to Monday, necessitating that they air on cable. With NBC having granted only Friday rights to ESPN, the singles matches aired on USA. Four months later, NBC merged with Golf Channel, making Golf Channel NBC's primary cable outlet for golf.
USA Network returned to NBC Sports' Winter Olympics coverage in 2010, which has continued every year since. In 2010, USA aired 41 hours of coverage;[5] in 2014, it aired 43 hours of coverage;[6] in 2018, it aired 40.5 hours of coverage.[7]
As part of a 2011 contract renewal, Comcast's properties earned exclusive national rights for all Stanley Cup playoffs through 2021. Because NBC and NBC Sports Network cannot carry all of the games on those two outlets alone in the first two rounds, other Comcast properties would need to be used; USA was initially not used, due to the risk of preempting its popular prime time lineup, and Comcast instead used CNBC and NHL Network as the overflow channels for the first four years of the contract. In 2015, Comcast announced that USA would carry some games in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, mainly on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, returning the NHL to USA for the first time in 30 years since 1985.[8]
USA also aired a limited number of Premier League matches during this time. In 2014, due to NBCSN's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics, an English Premier League match between Arsenal and Sunderland aired on USA Network. In the 2015–16 season, USA Network aired 40 matches from the English Premier League, most during the 10AM ET window. These matches moved to CNBC for the 2016–17 season.[9] In 2017, during the final day of the Premier League season on May 21, USA aired a match between Watford and Manchester City. In 2018, USA would air the same match for the final day of the season on May 10. In 2019, during the final day of the Premier League season on May 12, USA aired a match between Manchester United and Cardiff City. In 2020, during the final day of the Premier League season on July 26, USA aired a match between Chelsea and Wolverhampton. In 2021, during the final day of the Premier League season on May 23, USA aired a match between Aston Villa and Chelsea.[10] Later in 2021, USA Network aired Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United on September 11 when Manchester United took on Newcastle.
On January 26, 2016, NASCAR announced that the Cheez-It 355 at the Glen from Watkins Glen International would air on USA Network due to NBC and NBCSN's commitments to the Summer Olympics.[11]
USA Network returned to NBC Sports' Summer Olympics coverage in 2021. That year, USA Network had 388.5 hours of coverage. The main sports featured were swimming, track and field, diving, beach volleyball, volleyball, cycling, triathlon, team sports basketball, soccer and water polo.[12]
USA Network aired a limited number of NBC Sports's Notre Dame college football coverage in 2020. USA carried the September 19 college football game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and University of South Florida Bulls.[13] It was the first Notre Dame football game broadcast on USA; sister network NBC had owned the rights to every Fighting Irish home game since 1991. It was also the first American football game broadcast on the network since World Bowl '92. Notre Dame's double-overtime win against Clemson on November 7, 2020, was moved temporarily to USA Network, due to coverage of Joe Biden's acceptance speech after being declared consensus winner of the 2020 presidential election.[14]
Following the closure of NBCSN in January 2022, Atlantic 10 men and women college basketball games were moved to USA, along with weekend lead-in coverage of the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open, British Open and AIG Women's Open,[15] the cable portion of NBC Sports' NASCAR contract,[16] the cable portion of NBC Sports' NTT IndyCar Series contract, the cable portion of NBC Sports' IMSA contract,[17] select AMA Supercross Championship races (split with CNBC),[18] and regular Premier League matches, as well as Premier League Mornings.[19]
For the 2022 Winter Olympics, USA Network gained the de facto cable rights to the games, also inherited from the defunct NBCSN. The network featured 400 hours of Olympic programming, broadcasting all Olympic sports.[20]
In April 2022, USA Network became NBC Sports' cable home for United States Football League (USFL) coverage,[21] which it announced it would not continue after the 2023 season.[22] In 2023, NBC Sports produced overnight coverage of Day 1, while Day 2 of the Ryder Cup returned to USA for the first time since 2010.[23]
On July 25, 2024, NBC Sports announced an 11-year deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) beginning in 2025 and 2026 respectively. USA Network would air select games from the WNBA and serve as an overflow outlet for the NBA, as regularly scheduled NBA games have been assigned only to NBC and Peacock. USA Network also acquired the rights to the college basketball NBA HBCU Classic.[24][25] NBC Sports also announced an 11-year deal with USA Basketball. The agreement included the rights to the USA Basketball Showcase and the Nike Hoop Summit, both of which were slated to air on USA Network.[26]
On November 20, 2024, Comcast announced that it would spin off most of its cable networks and select digital properties into a new publicly traded company, Versant, a move that will see USA Network split from NBC Sports.[27][28] When asked about the impact of the spin-off, NBC Sports president Rick Cordell stated that the division would "fulfill every obligation" it has with networks that are part of the spin-off (such as USA Network and Golf Channel), implicating they will still carry NBC Sports programming covered under current contracts (such as the Olympic Games, PGA Tour and WNBA).[29][30][31][32]
On August 12, 2025, Versant announced a broadcasting agreement with United States Golf Association, a first for the company, through 2032. Through the agreement, USA Network will hold the rights to 35 hours of coverage from the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open.[33]
Later in August, Versant announced that sports programming on USA Network and Golf Channel would merge under the returning USA Sports brand when the spinoff completes.[34]
In September, Versant announced a new agreement with the WNBA for 50 regular season games, along with select playoff games. The new deal essentially replaces USA's portion of the previously announced deal between the WNBA and NBC.[35] Also in September, Versant announced an agreement with League One Volleyball to broadcast a "match of the week" on USA Network on Wednesday nights beginning in January 2026. USA Network will also air prime-time coverage of the league's playoffs, including the 2026 LOVB Championship Match.[36]
Despite the separation, which officially began in 2025 with Versant situated as a subsidiary of Comcast until the spin-off to shareholders takes place, USA Network continued to air NBC Sports produced programming that year, including United States qualifiers for the 2026 Winter Olympics.[37] In November 2025, USA Network and NBC Sports confirmed an agreement was in place to allow NBC Sports produced coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics to air on USA.[38]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Following the dissolution of USA Sports into NBC Sports after the 2007 Masters, USA Network began deemphasizing sports. During this time NBC Sports properties generally only aired on USA in special cases, such as during the Olympics, Stanley Cup Playoffs (until 2021) or the final week of the English Premier League season. On January 22, 2021, an internal memo sent by NBC Sports president Pete Bevacqua announced that NBCSN would cease operations by the end of the year, and that USA Network would begin "carrying and/or simulcasting certain NBC Sports programming," including the Stanley Cup Playoffs (until 2021), and NASCAR races, before NBCSN's shutdown. The move was cited by industry analysts as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sports and television industries, the acceleration of cord-cutting, as well as formidable competition from rival sports networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports 1, noting the company saw an overall revenue drop by 19% to $6.72 billion. On November 20, 2024, Comcast announced that it would spin off most of its cable networks and select digital properties into a new publicly traded company, Versant, a move that will see USA Network split from NBC Sports. Despite the announcement, NBC Sports produced programming such as the 2026 Winter Olympics will continue to air on USA Network even after the spin-off.
College Football on NBC Sports is the de facto title used for broadcasts of NCAA college football games produced by NBC Sports for NBC, NBCSN and Peacock. Via its experimental station W2XBS, NBC presented the first television broadcast of American football at any level on September 30, 1939, between the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets. NBC held rights to the NCAA's regular-season game of the week package from 1952–53, 1955–59, and 1964–65. From 1952 to 1988, NBC was the broadcaster of the Rose Bowl Game. In 1990, NBC first acquired the rights to Notre Dame Fighting Irish home games, as well as the Bayou Classic—agreements that have continued to this day, and have most recently been renewed through 2029 and 2025 respectively. After Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, Versus—later renamed NBC Sports Network (NBCSN)—was merged into the NBC Sports division in 2011. By then, the network's coverage of Division I FBS football (billed as College Football on NBC Sports Network) was limited to a contract with the Mountain West that ended in 2012, and a package of Pac-10 games that had been sub-licensed by the Fox Sports Networks. NBCSN subsequently acquired packages of Division I FCS games from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Ivy League; both contracts ended in 2017. From 2015 to 2020, NBCSN broadcast selected Notre Dame home games not televised by NBC. Since 2020, NBC Sports has preferred using Peacock or other NBCUniversal channels (such as USA Network and CNBC) to carry college football games not aired by the main network. The Bayou Classic moved from the NBC broadcast network to NBCSN in 2015, but moved back to NBC in 2022 following the closure of NBCSN in December 2021. In August 2022, NBC Sports announced that it had acquired a share of the Big Ten's football rights beginning in the 2023 season, which will include Big Ten Saturday Night games in primetime on NBC throughout the season, and a package of games on Peacock branded as Big Ten Saturday. The Big Ten Saturday branding also includes games from the Big Ten Saturday Night package that air in an afternoon window to accommodate Notre Dame primetime games.
College Basketball on NBC Sports is the de facto branding used for broadcasts of NCAA Division I men's college basketball games produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. The NBC network broadcast college basketball games in some shape or form between 1969 and 1998. From 1969 to 1981, NBC covered the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. It became the first major network to broadcast the championship game, at a cost of more than US$500,000 in 1969. In 2011, Comcast's sports channel Versus became part of NBC Sports after the company's acquisition of NBC Universal, and was relaunched as NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) in 2012. During the 2010s, NBCSN primarily carried coverage of basketball from the Atlantic 10 Conference, Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), and Ivy League. NBCSN would lose the CAA and Ivy League, but retained its A-10 package. It was renewed in 2021 under a multi-year deal, and moved to USA Network in January 2022 after the shutdown of NBCSN. In August 2022, NBC Sports announced that it had acquired rights to Big Ten basketball as part of a larger agreement with the conference, with a package of games airing on Peacock beginning in the 2023–24 season. On November 12, 2022, college basketball returned to the main NBC network when the Notre Dame women's college basketball team took on the California women's college basketball team as part of the inaugural Citi Shamrock Classic. It was the first women's college basketball game to ever air on NBC, and the first college basketball game of any kind since 1998. Men's college basketball returned to the main NBC network during the 2024–25 season.
NBCSN (also known as NBC Sports Network) is an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 31, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France but eventually began covering more "mainstream" sporting events, resulting in its relaunch as Versus on September 25, 2006. In 2011, Comcast, the original owner of the network, acquired a majority stake in NBCUniversal. As a result, Comcast merged the operations of its pay channels with those of NBC. In particular, it aligned the operation of its sports channels with NBC's sports division, NBC Sports. On January 1, 2012, Versus was rebranded as the NBC Sports Network. The branding was later shortened to NBCSN. By September 15, 2014, most of NBC Sports' operations, including NBCSN, had moved to facilities in Stamford, Connecticut. As of February 2020, NBCSN was distributed to 79.879 million homes and was the second most watched cable sports network besides ESPN (though some sources included ESPN2 as a separate network in those figures). On January 22, 2021, after its rights to the NHL were transferred to ESPN/ABC and TNT, NBCUniversal announced that the network would shut down by the end of the year. NBCSN closed on December 31, 2021, with its sports properties moved to Peacock, USA Network and other NBCUniversal networks. On October 2, 2025, as part of a new carriage agreement with YouTube TV, NBCUniversal announced that it would launch a second incarnation of NBCSN, with its launch date later confirmed for November 17, 2025. The new iteration of the channel is designed to be a linear television outlet for NBC Sports after the upcoming spin-off of NBCUniversal's other cable networks (including USA Network) as Versant, primarily carrying content that was previously exclusive to Peacock (although certain sports properties will remain exclusive to the streaming platform).
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.
