Sports viewers’ guide: AFC Championship and major events headline Sunday’s schedule

A championship Sunday with racing and hoops on the side

Sports fans in the United States on Sunday, January 25, 2026, face a dense schedule anchored by marquee events on broadcast TV and streaming platforms. The day’s signature contest is the NFL’s AFC Championship Game, while endurance racing, college basketball, and women’s gymnastics round out an all-day lineup.

The Associated Press’ TV schedule highlights the variety of programming: NBC carries the Rolex 24 at Daytona at noon Eastern, offering a long-form endurance race that often becomes a background staple for viewers through the afternoon. On the college side, men’s and women’s basketball games are spread across ESPN networks, BTN, SEC Network, FS1, CBSSN, and Peacock, reflecting how the sport’s viewing experience is now split across cable and streaming.

Women’s gymnastics also has notable placement, with network and cable windows that signal the sport’s continued growth and consistent ratings. For fans who follow multiple sports, this Sunday is built around the idea of stacking: keeping football as the central appointment while sampling racing and college games in parallel.

For NFL-focused viewers, the biggest variable is not whether the game will dominate attention, but how many viewers will watch through traditional broadcast versus bundled streaming. League distribution strategies keep expanding, and as more households shift away from cable, the path a fan takes to watch the biggest games matters almost as much as the game itself.

Regardless of platform, the theme of the day is clear: January’s sports calendar is built for long sessions, and the AFC Championship Game sits at the top of a menu designed to keep viewers engaged from midday through the evening.