Last year we had high hopes that ABC/TNT would upgrade for this year. But after emailing our contacts at ABC and TNT both stations have confirmed that it will be an SD up-conversion. The golf coverage may still be good but it is disappointing to see that no steps were taken to get the British Open in HD this year.

Versus is offering over 250 hours of HD coverage this year, but we compiled the schedule below of all the stages that are live and in HDTV.

We will post the regional maps as soon as we get them. Here is an example post from last year.

Most of the national games are going to be announced about a week or two before the games are played, so the schedule will continuously be updated as announcements are made.

ESPN will be running reverse mirrors on Saturday afternoons again. Which means for the games that are of regional significance will be on ABC in High Definition. Then the other games that are not on ABC will be on ESPN or ESPN2 depending on the week. As more information comes each week we will post articles. All games will be posted in the schedule as ABC, but may be on ESPN or ESPN2 depending on the region.

When talking with our contact at the Big 10 Network they said almost every game will be in HD. So if in fact there are some games that are not in HD they will be posted below.

Also the Big 10 Network will be running their overflow channels again this year. On Saturdays in the big 10 footprint (and some other places) there will be multiple channels so they can show more than one game at a time.

The Pac-10 will have 20 home games on ESPN/ABC 13 on FSN with 5 on Versus. Although a lot of those games have not been decided as they are 6 to 12 day picks we assume all of them will be in HD.

The Mountain West Conference has already released television schedules for all their home games. As of right now there has been no announcement about which games on the Mtn will be in HD. So we will assume that none of them will be because last year they were not. Rant For having the first network wholly dedicated to one conference they have done a terrible job of capitalizing on the great idea whereas the Big 10 network has done a great job. First the Big 10 Network was released directly on DirecTV while it took the Mtn. a year to get on DirecTV. Second there have been a total of two high definition games on the Mtn whereas the Big Ten Network has been in HD from the beginning. Craig Thompson (commissioner of the MWC) has some great ideas especially this and his playoff plan. It is just too bad he works for a non-BCS conference so he is not able to fully capitalize on his ideas.

LSUFootball.net releases a printable schedule for all games that will be broadcast on DirecTV each Thursday night.

For those of you who follow the twitter feed and saw my comment about a 7-0 loss to Spain may now gloat in the comments (although I highly doubt anyone expected that outcome). The USA pulled one of the most unexpected upsets I have had the pleasure of watching. Jozy Altidore appears to have arrived on an international stage after that great goal in the first half. The United States have made the final of the Confederations Cup for the first time. Also, this is probably the biggest splash the United States have made in the international game.

It has been a great tournament with all the games being shown in HD. The final will be this Sunday at 2:25 PM on ESPN2. The USA will face either defending champ Brazil or South Africa (the host nation). I got some There are two schools of thought about what channel the game will be on. One is that ESPN did not think the United States would be in the final and will probably move that game to ESPN. The other thought would be that Wimbledon is contractually obligated to be on ESPN which starts at 4:00 PM on ESPN so there would be an overlap. We have sent an email to our contact at ESPN and post the answer when he responds.

A few more notes on the game since it is confirmed that the USA will face Brazil. This is the first time the USA has ever made it to the final of a major FIFA tournament. Brazil has won five world cups, and on a side note I was living in Brazil during the last world cup and I dare you to find a more rabid group of fans. After every goal there were fireworks. After each goal children would shoot off fireworks in the streets. All the markets would close for every game that involved Brazil. Everywhere I went for the few weeks during the world cup I was ridiculed for being an American because our soccer team was not as good as theirs. So I will be cheering extra loud for the USA so I can send some taunting emails to my friends down there.

1. Forming a selection committee similar to the way the NCAA tournament works.
2. Including or excluding automatic qualifying conferences based on a understandable format (as of right now the commissioners do not release their format)
3. Creating an eight team playoff.

A link to the entire proposal is here.

Here is some reaction to the BCS rejection of that proposal in the very bottom paragraph.

This does have programming implications. If the series ends in two games the Yankees vs. Braves game will be moved from ESPN2 to ESPN.

With the new deal that ESPN just signed they will present at least 95 hours of High Definition coverage

Other interesting facts:

DirecTV will aslo be giving their Mix coverage like they have done for previous sporting events. Channel 701 is their mix channel with channels 702-707 will include extra coverage (all in HD) until June 27.

Also their press release said, “On June 29 – July 1, ESPN2 will provide alternate programming in the Pacific Time Zone from 1 – 4 p.m. ET (10 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT).”

Here is the coverage as it stands right now.

The details for this weekends games are below.

For a full national schedule click here.

NBC will take the coverage from 11:30 a.m., ET until the end of the tournament, unless there is a playoff, then they will take the the coverage of the playoff after the second hour of the playoff.

NBC and ESPN will be covering the US Open this year with nine hours of HD coverage on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday NBC will have exclusive coverage on the weekend with six hours on Saturday and five and a half hours on Sunday. With at least 29 and a half hours of coverage it will still be second to last year’s US open as far as total HD coverage (unless it goes into another 18 hole playoff).

**Play has been suspended until Friday. Play will begin at 7:30 AM Friday morning. Our ESPN Golf contact said that their coverage will begin at 10:00 AM as planned, but they may have cut ins during SportsCenter before their coverage begins.

Below is the High Definition Schedule for the 2009 US Open updated to reflect the times from Friday on.