Clemson Coach: Earn Your Pay

“It’s more than just a scholarship. Revenue-share is based on performance, right? These aren’t lifetime contracts. It’s no different than the next level. You’ve got to perform.” - Dabo Swinney

September 19, 2025

Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney Says High Player Pay Comes With High Responsibility Amid Team’s Struggles
“I mean, you can’t have it both ways,” Swinney said this week, according to The Post and Courier. “It’s more than just a scholarship. Revenue-share is based on performance, right? These aren’t lifetime contracts. It’s no different than the next level. You’ve got to perform.”

Swinney’s comments come as he faces pressure from the Tigers’ 1-2 start. This is the first season where athletic departments are sharing revenue with players, up to a $20.5 million ceiling per school over the school year. Athletes remain able to secure third-party name, image and likeness agreements alongside school revenue shares.

Most of Clemson’s direct revenue sharing is going to football, as is the case for most top programs.
^{AP News}

Sphere’s Wizard of Oz Spurs Wicked Stock Surge for Dolan’s Company
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen writes, “Last month, Sphere Entertainment released a reimagined, AI-fueled version of The Wizard of Oz. Fans have flocked to see the latest take on the 1939 film classic at The Sphere in Las Vegas, paving a yellow brick road for James Dolan and other Sphere shareholders. Sphere Entertainment stock is up 50% over the last month and 155% from its lows in April, when leisure stocks were dragged down by an escalating trade war that created economic uncertainty, and Sphere faced potential bankruptcy…”
^Sportico

F1 Movie Sequel in Discussion, Says Apple Boss Tim Cook
ESPN’S Nate Saunders writes, “The 'F1' film, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski, was given unprecedented access to the sport over the past three years and benefitted from input from seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who doubled up as an executive producer with his new company Dawn Apollo Films.

“The movie surpassed $600 million worldwide in August, making it the highest-grossing Apple film of all time and the highest-grossing sports movie ever made. Apple CEO Tim Cook said another instalment is already a talking point.”
^ESPN

NFL Off to Best Viewership Ever Through Week 2
SBJ’s Austin Karp reports: “The NFL heads into Week 3 tonight averaging 20.7 million viewers per game across all national media partners (excluding the YouTube Brazil game). That marks the best figure on record for the league through two weeks, which coincides with the introduction of Nielsen Big Data and full out-of-home viewing for the first time (although sources tell SBJ that the intro of Big Data has not yet had the level of increase on NFL game data that many thought it might).

“The average of 20.7 million viewers is up 4% from the start to last season, and up 17% from two seasons ago. Week 2 was buoyed by a Chiefs-Eagles game on Fox that not only was Fox’s biggest Sunday regular-season audience on record with 33.8 million viewers, but the second-best Sunday regular-season game all-time…”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Stan Verrett Joining FanDuel Sports Network in Multiple Roles
Verrett will be the pregame and postgame studio host for the Los Angeles Clippers and will also have a weekday show on the collection of regional sports networks starting this fall, a source told Front Office Sports. A spokesperson for FanDuel Sports Network declined to comment. 
^{Front Office Sports}

Valkyries Debut Season Sets Stage for Free-Agent Buzz
FOS’ Colin Salao writes, “There was an audible sigh from the crowd at the SAP Center in San Jose on Wednesday after Cecilia Zandalasini’s elbow jumper clanked off the back of the rim as time expired. The Golden State Valkyries were officially eliminated from the playoffs, swept by the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the first round, despite holding a double-digit lead entering the fourth quarter. But it took only a few seconds before the Valkyries crowd changed its tune.”
^{Front Office Sports}

New Orleans Misses 2031 Super Bowl Bid Deadline, Jeopardizing Hosting Chance
New Orleans has “missed a key NFL deadline” in its bid to host Super Bowl LXV at the Caesars Superdome in 2031 due to the ongoing lease talks, “jeopardizing the city’s chance to secure the game,” according to McAuley, Bridges & Duncan of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. The Saints had “planned to submit New Orleans’ bid for the 2031 game.” But team spokesperson Greg Bensel said that they were “unable to do so because a lease extension with the state of Louisiana,” which owns the stadium, has “not yet been finalized beyond 2030.”
^{New Orleans Times-Picayune via Sports Business Journal}

Eyeing Fresh Vision, RFK Racing Brings in Sports Business Veteran Bowers to Replace Newmark
SBJ’s Adam Stern writes, “NASCAR team RFK Racing has found its new president in well-known sports business executive Chip Bowers, giving the outfit co-owned by Fenway Sports Group an experienced commercial operator with his first full-time role in motorsports. The hire will be made official Thursday morning and results in Bowers replacing Steve Newmark, who announced in early July that he would leave the team to become Exec Associate AD at the Univ. of North Carolina. Bowers officially starts on Monday.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

ESPN Says ‘First Take’ Will Have 30 to 45-Day Tryout for New Host to Replace Molly Qerim
ESPN president of content Burke Magnus told The Athletic on Thursday that the company will take 30 to 45 days to try out a variety of people for the “First Take” hosting role that had been filled by Molly Qerim since 2015. He praised Qerim as “an awesome person” and expanded on why the “First Take” host was leaving ESPN’s morning show after 10 years.
^{The Athletic}

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NCAA Eliminates Spring Transfer Portal Window
The NCAA is taking steps to rein in “unrestricted free agency” in college football. On Wednesday, the NCAA announced it had approved the elimination of the spring transfer portal window for football—leaving players just one window to transfer at the conclusion of football season.

Players don’t have to decide which school to attend during the transfer portal window. Instead, the window is simply an allotted amount of time for them to declare that they intend to transfer for the following season.
^{Front Office Sports}

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