George Walker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: North Dakota State.
The NFL season is over. Now, what do we do as sports bettors?
Fear not, there are plenty of options on the betting menu in the coming weeks before we get to March Madness. There are daily NBA and NHL games, of course, and soccer has a plentiful slate during the week.
How do we fill those weekends? We’ve got a lot coming up. Maybe more than you’d expect.
Let’s look ahead at the next five weeks until Selection Sunday to see what’s available to bet on and replace that football fix.
Weekend of February 12
In golf, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am began Thursday, but matchups and live outrights are still available over the weekend.
But I’m burying the lede.
Football is actually back!
That’s right. Each weekend, we have FCS college football to bet on, starting Saturday, Feb. 13, with McNeese State at Tarleton State at 6 p.m. ET.
That serves as a nice lead-in for UFC 258 on pay-per-view, featuring a championship matchup between Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns.
If you haven’t seen, the Australian Open is underway, and it’s not too late to get in on the action.
The main event of the weekend, at least in the eyes of The Action Network’s P.J. Walsh, is the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Week of February 15-21
We have Premier League action all week if betting soccer is your thing.
In addition, the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 begins on Tuesday. The first of two legs features four games across Tuesday and Wednesday. If that’s not enough, the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 brings us 16 games on Thursday.
Thursday also begins the Genesis Open on the PGA Tour.
The FCS football schedule expands to 22 games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. One of the featured games is North Dakota State vs. Youngstown State.
UFC Fight Night is on Saturday with a main event between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis.
NASCAR stays in Daytona for a road course race on Sunday.
Week of February 22-28
The second leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 has 16 games, 15 of which are on Thursday. Four more UEFA Champions League games are on Wednesday and Thursday for the Round of 16.
The PGA Tour treats us to two tournaments this week: WGC-Mexico and the Puerto Rico Open.
There are 32 more FCS football games, and by this point, we’ll all be experts and showing off our picks in the Action App to our friends.
Another UFC Fight Night is on Saturday with a main event of Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Ciryl Gane.
NASCAR completes the weekend with the Dixie Vodka 400 on Sunday.
Week of March 1-7
This will be a fun one.
Soccer and hockey are daily options, but the Arnold Palmer Invitational will be a big event in the golf world one week ahead of The Players.
We have 34 FCS football games.
Saturday’s UFC 259 will be a massive card, headlined by the heavyweight championship bout between Israel Adesanya and Jan Blachowicz.
The Pennzoil 400 is NASCAR’s Sunday event.
The week ends with the NBA All-Star Game, which is still figuring out how the dunk contest and 3-point contest will work.
Week of March 8-14
The PGA Tour will have The Players, which should have most of golf’s biggest names in the field.
The FCS weekend is the busiest thus far with 38 games scheduled.
A UFC Fight Night is on for Saturday, although the main event is up in the air.
NASCAR heads to Phoenix on Sunday.
