MIAMI, Jan. 28 (UPI) — The final four of the NFL playoffs and the men’s and women’s finals of the 2022 Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament are the main sporting events this weekend.
Dozens of regular-season NBA, NHL and men’s and women’s college basketball games, a World Cup qualifier involving the United States Men’s National Team and a PGA Tour golf tournament in San Diego also fill the Friday through Sunday schedule.
The AFC and NFC title games are the main events of the weekend. The winners from those games will go to Super Bowl LVI.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams are favored in their respective weekend matchups.
NFL championship weekend
All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game at 3 p.m. EST Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
The Rams follow with an NFC Championship game matchup with the San Francisco 49ers at 6:30 p.m. EST Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
The AFC title game airs on CBS. The NFC finale airs on Fox.
The second-seeded Chiefs (12-5) are the top-remaining seed in the playoffs. They crushed the No. 7 Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7-1) in the first round and survived with a shootout win over the No. 3 Buffalo Bills (11-6) in the divisional round.
The No. 4 Bengals (10-7) look to continue their Cinderella run this postseason, which they started by ending a 31-year drought without a playoff win. They followed that wild-card round victory over the No. 5 Las Vegas Raiders (10-7) with a divisional-round upset of the top-seeded Tennessee Titans (11-5).
The No. 5 49ers (10-7) are the lowest-remaining seed to make the championship weekend cut. They edged the No. 3 Dallas Cowboys (12-5) and top-seeded Green Bay Packers (13-4) to earn a spot in the NFC title game.
The No. 4 Rams (12-5) beat the No. 5 Arizona Cardinals (11-6) and No. 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13-4) en route to the conference championship meeting with the 49ers.
Super Bowl LVI is set for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13 in Inglewood.
Australian Open
The first Grand Slam tournament on the annual tennis calendar wraps up with the respective men’s and women’s singles finals of the 2022 Australian Open this weekend in Melbourne.
The women’s singles final features an American against the No. 1 player in the world. Top-ranked Australian Ash Barty takes on 27 seed Danielle Collins for the women’s title at 3:30 a.m. EST Saturday on ESPN.
Barty is a heavy favorite to win her third major title and first in Melbourne. Collins will make her Grand Slam final debut.
The men’s singles final airs at 3:30 a.m. EST Sunday on ESPN. That matchup will feature No. 6 Rafael Nadal against No. 2 Daniil Medvedev.
Weekend schedule (all times EST)
Friday
Tennis
Australian Open semifinal: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Daniil Medvedev at 3:30 a.m. on ESPN
Golf
Farmers Insurance Open: Third round from 3 to 5 p.m. on Golf Channel; from 5 to 8 p.m. on CBS
College basketball
Men’s
Rhode Island at Dayton at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
Women’s
UCLA at Oregon at 11 p.m. on Pac 12 Network
NHL
Red Wings at Penguins at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Wild at Rangers at 8 p.m. on NHL Network
Avalanche at Blackhawks at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN+
Capitals at Stars at 9 p.m. on ESPN+
Bruins at Coyotes at 9 p.m. on ESPN+
NBA
Lakers at Hornets at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Knicks at Bucks at 10 p.m. on ESPN
Saturday
Tennis
Australian Open women’s final: Ash Barty vs. Danielle Collins at 3:30 a.m. on ESPN
College basketball
Men’s
Duke at Louisville at noon on ESPN
LSU at TCU at noon on ESPN2
La Salle at Davidson at noon on USA
Georgetown at Butler at noon on FS1
Michigan at Michigan State at 12:30 p.m. on CBS
Oklahoma at Auburn at 2 p.m. on ESPN
Xavier at Creighton at 2 p.m. on FS1
Missouri at Iowa State at 2 p.m. on ESPNU
West Virginia at Arkansas at 2 p.m. on ESPN2
Arizona State at Arizona at 2:30 p.m. on CBS
Indiana at Maryland at 2:30 p.m. on Fox
Virginia Tech at Florida State at 3 p.m. on ABC
Baylor at Alabama at 4 p.m. on ESPN
Oklahoma State at Florida at 4 p.m. on ESPN2
St. John’s at Villanova at 4:30 p.m. on Fox
Marquette at Providence at 4:30 p.m. on FS1
Illinois at Northwestern at 4:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network
Kentucky at Kansas at 6 p.m. on ESPN
Mississippi State at Texas Tech at 6 p.m. on ESPN2
UConn at DePaul at 6:30 p.m. on FS1
California at USC at 7 p.m. on Pac 12 Network
Houston at UCF at 8 p.m. on ESPN2
Tennessee at Texas at 8 p.m. on ESPN
Stanford at UCLA at 9:30 p.m. on Pac 12 Network
Oregon State at Oregon at 10 p.m. on ESPN2
Women’s
Iowa State at Texas Tech at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+
Baylor at West Virginia at 2 p.m. on ESPN+
TCU at Kansas State at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+
NHL
Ducks at Senators at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN+
Kings at Flyers at 1 p.m. on ESPN+
Kraken at Islanders at 2 p.m. on ESPN+
Jets at Blues at 3 p.m. on ESPN+
Sharks at Panthers at 6 p.m. on ESPN+
Oilers at Canadiens at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Maple Leafs at Red Wings at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Golden Knights at Lightning at 7 p.m. on NHL Network
Devils at Hurricanes at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Sabres at Coyotes at 9 p.m. on ESPN+
Canucks at Flames at 10 p.m. on ESPN+
Golf
Farmers Insurance Open: Final round from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Golf Channel; from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on CBS
NBA
Nets at Warriors at 8:30 p.m. on ABC
Sunday
Tennis
Australian Open men’s final: Rafael Nadal vs. Daniil Medvedev at 3:30 a.m. on ESPN
College basketball
Men’s
Ohio State at Purdue at noon on CBS
Minnesota at Wisconsin at 1 p.m. on Big Ten Network
Loyola Chicago at Drake at 2 p.m. on ESPN2
Women’s
South Carolina at Florida at noon on SEC Network
Kentucky at LSU at 2 p.m. on SEC Network
Duke at Louisville at 3 p.m. on ESPN
Georgia at Ole Miss at 3 p.m. on SEC Network
USC at Oregon at 3 p.m. on Pac 12 Network
Arizona at Stanford at 4 p.m. on ESPN2
NC State at North Carolin at 4 p.m. on ACC Network
Georgia Tech at Clemson at 6 p.m. on ACC Network
NHL
Kraken at Rangers at 1 p.m. on NHL Network
Kings at Penguins at 1 p.m. on ESPN+
Sharks at Hurricanes at 5 p.m. on ESPN+
Blue Jackets at Canadiens at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Bruins at Stars at 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Wild at Islanders at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+
Sabres at Avalanche at 8 p.m. on ESPN+
NFL
Bengals at Chiefs at 3 p.m. on CBS
49ers at Rams at 6:30 p.m. on Fox
Soccer
World Cup qualifier: USMNT vs. Canada at 3:05 p.m. on Paramount+
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