Happy Friday, everyone. We've made it.

Get ready to say goodbye to Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Ohio and any other Fox Sports fill-in-the-blank channel you may have enjoyed over the years.

They may not be retired permanently, but they can't stay where they are.

The big financial news Thursday was that Disney had reached a multibillion-dollar deal to acquire assets of 21st Century Fox.

And those assets are expected to include 22 regional Fox sports networks that reportedly will be given to ESPN, which was already a prominent member of the Disney family.

This is potentially a major shift for sports viewing, and it is spawning a lot of questions about how it will impact televised sports coverage moving forward.

Fox Sports' regional channels are well-known for many sports fans and have been for years. They routinely televise a ton of professional regular-season games, including the Cincinnati Reds on Fox Sports Ohio, for example.

From a college perspective, the University of Louisville has been regularly shown on Fox Sports regional outlets too.

Two of the Cardinals' men's basketball games this season have already been televised on Fox Sports South locally, and six were on there last season. The U of L women's team has four scheduled this season, and the U of L football team played at least twice this past season on Fox regional stations.

So it'll be interesting to see how this develops now with ESPN in charge. First off, it doesn't sound like the networks are going to be eliminated.

While it's no secret that things haven't been great for ESPN lately, this Fox infusion has a chance to be an interesting addition and an opportune time.

Writes Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Finance:

Disney paying for these TV assets is a sign that Disney CEO Bob Iger is doubling down on live sports television, rather than back away from it, as some analysts have suggested or predicted Disney might. And the local channels are a potential boon to ESPN. ... ESPN did not have RSNs before now. It’s about to get 22 of them. So while some analysts say this dumps too much of a burden on Disney—air time it will have to fill with programming—clearly Iger sees the value and has a plan for them. Many of these channels still get very high ratings, from fans that watch a high number of games per year of their local hometown team. Expect Disney to swiftly rebrand the Fox RSNs as ESPN channels. ESPN can use the RSNs to bring new life to the SportsCenter franchise, which it has sought to reinvent with digital-first “SportsCenter Right Now” segments, a Snapchat version of SportsCenter, and a new anchor lineup at a time when many sports fans no longer see the need to sit down and watch a full episode of SportsCenter when they can get news and scores on social media as it happens. Imagine regional versions of SportsCenter, like a SportsCenter Tennessee that airs on the ESPN Tennessee channel, covering only news about the Titans, Grizzlies, Predators, Volunteers, and Commodores. And vice-versa: Disney can pull some of the local content from RSNs into national ESPN broadcasts.

There's also the in-the-works ACC Network to consider, which — with ESPN's backing — has still been expected to debut in August 2019.

Social Hour

Took longer than I would have expected, actually ...

(Don't be too encouraged. It's still gonna bereaaaaaal expensive to grab tickets for this game.)

What We're Reading

► Jeff Greer was on hand for Wednesday's U of L NCAA appeal hearing in Atlanta.

► Meanwhile, it's a unique challenge for Louisville coach David Padgett to have to recruit with no certainty on who'll be coaching the Cards after this season.

► WKU basketball dropped a heartbreaker on Wednesday night at Wisconsin, losing on a controversial foul call.

► Paul George came back to Indy and got booed — a lot. Strong read here from the Indy Star's Gregg Doyel.

► Remember former NBA player Mark Price? He was fired as the college coach for Charlotte on Thursday in a surprising move.

► And the NBA is exploring new ways for fans to be able to vote for All-Star selections.

For The Road