Sports fans and sports bettors are in for a treat Monday Oct. 30 with the annual Sports Equinox holiday. Often occurring only one time a year, the rare sports holiday comes as several major North American sports leagues are kicking off their 2023-2024 seasons.
What is Sports Equinox: On Monday, all professional North American sports leagues will have games taking place, marking the only time this happens in the 2023 calendar year.
Sports reporter Joe Pompliano tweeted that this this is the 29th time this has happened. The Pompliano tweet, which left out Major League Soccer and only included Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League and National Hockey League contests, ruffled some feathers.
"Uhhh…@MLS playoffs are tonight and the league is coming off a record attendance season that surpassed hockey. It's 5 major sports, but if you're going with 4, we can drop hockey," soccer analyst and former player Stu Holden tweeted.
Some were quick to point out to Holden that MLS got a large attendance boost due to Lionel Messi joining the league this season.
Major League Soccer shared that Monday is the third-straight year that all five sports leagues play on the same day and the first time it has occurred since Oct. 23, 2022.
According to CBS Sports, the first Sports Equinox happened on Oct. 17, 1971. On that day, 12 NFL games were played, alongside three NBA games, six NHL games and one MLB game.
A Super Sports Equinox happened on Oct. 28, 2018 when the city of Los Angeles hosted games for all five sports leagues on the same day. The Los Angeles teams went 3-2 that day.
On Sept. 10, 2020, there were games from MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, WNBA, MLS and tennis matches on the same day, which came as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting multiple sports leagues.
From 1985 to 2001, there were no Sports Equinox dates. The debut of Thursday Night Football in 2006 helped boost the chance of the sports holiday happening more often.
On Monday, there will be one MLB game, 11 NBA games, one NFL game, 9 NHL games and 2 MLS games. Here's a look at those contests, the betting odds and the media companies who could benefit from increased interest.
Major League Baseball: Monday features game three of the 2023 World Series best-of-seven match between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks. The series is tied at one game each after Texas took Game 1 with a 6-5 score and the Diamondbacks took Game 2 with a 9-1 score.
The Rangers are slight favorites in Game 3 with odds of -112 compared to -108 for the home Diamondbacks. Odds at DraftKings Inc DKNG show the Rangers as favorites to win the series at -135 compared to +115 for the Diamondbacks.
Game three will air on Fox, a unit of Fox Corporation FOXFOXA, at 8:03 p.m. ET.
National Basketball Association: The NBA season recently kicked off and Monday marks a busy night with 11 games taking place beginning at 7 p.m. ET and the last game tipping off at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Here are the current betting odds:
- Boston Celtics – 10 at Washington Wizards
- Chicago Bulls at Indiana Pacers -3
- Brooklyn Nets -1 at Charlotte Hornets
- Portland Trail Blazers at Toronto Raptors -8.5
- Minnesota Timberwolves -2.5 at Atlanta Hawks
- Dallas Mavericks -2.5 at Memphis Grizzlies
- Detroit Pistons at Oklahoma City Thunder -6
- Miami Heat at Milwaukee Bucks -6.5
- Golden State Warriors at New Orleans Pelicans -4
- Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets -8
- Orlando Magic at Los Angeles Lakers -1.5
Several of the games can be watched on local sports channels. The two national games are the Warriors at Pelicans and Magic at Lakers, which air on NBATV.
National Football League: The lone National Football game is the Monday Night Football contest between the Las Vegas Raiders (3-4) and Detroit Lions (5-2). The game will air on ESPN and ABC, units of The Walt Disney Company DIS, at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The Lions are favored by seven points at DraftKings with the over/under listed at 46.5 points.
National Hockey League: The NHL slate for Monday totals nine games beginning with start times of 7:08 p.m. ET and the last game starting at 10:08 p.m. ET. The contests can be watched on local sports networks or with ESPN+, a unit of Disney.
Here are the games and betting odds:
- Florida Panthers +140 at Boston Bruins -166
- Anaheim Ducks +200 at Pittsburgh Penguins -245
- Carolina Hurricanes -192 at Philadelphia Flyers +160
- Seattle Kraken +124 at Tampa Bay Lightning -148
- New York Rangers -125 at Winnipeg Jets +102
- Detroit Red Wings +136 at New York Islanders -162
- Columbus Blue Jackets +230 at Dallas Stars -285
- Montreal Canadiens +200 at Vegas Golden Knights -245
- Chicago Blackhawks +160 at Arizona Coyotes -192
Major League Soccer: Monday features two MLS Playoffs matchups, with the first round featuring the two seeds and seven seeds on both sides of the bracket.
Orlando City SC takes on Nashville SC at 7 p.m. ET. Orlando is the favorite in the match at odds of +100, compared to +255 for Nashville and +240 for a regulation draw.
The Seattle Sounders take on FC Dallas at 9 p.m. ET. Seattle is the favorite in the match at -155 compared to odds of +425 for FC Callas, and +265 for a regulation draw.
Both games can be viewed for free on AppleTV, a unit of Apple Inc AAPL and on FS1 and Fox Deportes, units of Fox Corp.
Sports Crossover Parlays: Several sportsbooks are celebrating the holiday, including DraftKings, who is offering a no sweat same game parlay. The sportsbook also has several pre-crafted parlays that include selections from MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL games, or combinations that span multiple leagues.
For example, a parlay called "The Wild West" includes the Nuggets (NBA) winning, the Diamondbacks (MLB) winning, the Raiders (NFL) winning and the Golden Knights (NHL) winning. The bet pays out +1186 if all four legs are successful.
Photo: Shutterstock
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