Wake Up the Ghosts!

Third-ranked Texas + No. 20 Texas A&M to Meet for the First Time Since 2011

November 27, 2024

Good morning! The college sports section is abuzz with breaking news

Wake Up the Ghosts! Texas, Texas A&M Rivalry That Dates to 1894 is Reborn
AP News’ Jim Vertuno and Kristie Rieken write, “Any Texas or Texas A&M player has heard the lore of the rivalry between the two schools, a grudge match that dates to 1894. But for more than a decade — two generations of college football players — that’s all it has been: Ghostly memories of great games and great plays made by heroes of the distant past.

“That changes this week when one of college football’s great rivalries is reborn. Third-ranked Texas (10-1, 6-1) and No. 20 Texas A&M (8-3, 5-2) meet Saturday night for the first time since 2011, with a berth in the Southeastern Conference championship game on the line.”
^{AP News}

UFL Had Strong Debut, Developed NFL Talent. Now it Wants to Expand.
FOS’ Eric Fisher reports: “The spring football league is planning to bring in additional franchises, building on the eight current ones. The move follows a prior merger of the United States Football League and XFL that led to a debut UFL season in 2024, and more recently, the arrival of several new front-office executives in marketing, content, and communications.”
^{Front Office Sports}

World Series Champion Dodgers’ Full Share $477,441, MLB Postseason Pool a Record $129.1 Million
According to AP News, a total postseason share for the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers came in at $477,441, down from the winner’s amount in 2022 and 2023. The pool of $129.1 million in the third year of expanded playoffs set a record, topping $107.8 million last year.
^{AP News}

MLB Players’ Union Affiliate Reaches Agreement With FanDuel After Agreeing to Dismiss Lawsuit
A commercial affiliate of the Major League Baseball Players Association reached a licensing agreement with FanDuel after agreeing to dismiss a lawsuit against the company. MLB Players Inc. said Tuesday it, along with OneTeam Partners, signed a non-exclusive product and marketing licensing agreement for FanDuel Sportsbook.

MLB Players sued FanDuel and Underdog Sports in New York Supreme Court on Sept. 16, alleging improper use of names, images and likenesses.
^{AP News}

NWSL Title Game Draws Record Viewership on CBS
The 2024 NWSL Championship drew a record 967,900 average viewers on CBS in primetime Saturday night. It became the league’s highest-viewed championship game, marking an 18% increase from 2023 (816,800) and a 6% jump from 2022 (915,000). The 2022 matchup was the first time the game was in primetime. This year’s final marked the first in the NWSL’s new media rights deal, which expanded the league’s broadcast partners from one to four.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Marlins Drop TV Voice Severino, Offer Contracts to Six Arbitration-Eligible Players
“The Miami Marlins and FanDuel Sports Network have decided to go in a new direction with our television play-by-play announcer,” the Marlins and FanDuel said in a joint statement. “Together, he will begin a search for our new TV voice ahead of the 2025 season. We thank Paul for all the hard work over his tenure and wish him and his family the best.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

North Carolina Football Coach Mack Brown Won’t Return For 2025 Season
North Carolina coach Mack Brown, a College Football Hall of Fame member who won a national championship at Texas, won’t return for the 2025 season. The school announced the move Tuesday with a statement from athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who had informed the 73-year-old Brown that there would be a coaching change. Brown will coach the regular-season finale on Saturday against rival N.C. State, though a decision hasn’t been made about whether Brown will coach a bowl game.
^{AP News}

Rice Football Hires Davidson’s Scott Abell as New Coach in Bid For Explosive FCS Offense
Rice has hired Davidson head coach Scott Abell as its new head coach. Abell went 47-28 in seven seasons at the Football Championship Subdivision school. He inherited a Davidson program in 2018 that hadn’t won more than two games in a season since 2011 and has posted seven winning seasons in seven years.
^{The Athletic}

Chicago: High Time For Growth
SBJ’s Bret McCormick writes, “For months, the team developing the 1901 Project — a proposed $7 billion, 55-acre mixed-use neighborhood that would replace parking lots surrounding Chicago’s United Center — debated how much park space to include in the development.

“In the real estate world, the park space decision has traditionally hinged on whether making a dollar today (through commercial space) or creating future value (through a park) is prioritized more. What if the 1901 Project could do both?”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Russell Westbrook Investing in OKC Stadium District Development
According to SBJ via Steve Lackmeyer of the OKLAHOMAN, “Nuggets G” Russell Westbrook is teaming up with Oklahoma City investor Christian Kanady to “develop the stadium district” south of Bricktown and will “also be an owner in Kanady’s sports and entertainment company.” The investment by Westbrook is described as an “eight-figure” deal—at least $10M—following “months of negotiations” that coincided with Kanady buying a majority interest in the USL Championship club Energy FC and announcing plans to start a women’s soccer team.
^{The Oklahoman via Sports Business Journal}

Nashville Pursuing Chance to Host CFP Championship Game at New Stadium
The CFP National Championship will be “up for bid” beyond 2025 with the Music City Bowl, equipped with a new $2.2B Nissan Stadium, "in pursuit," according to Mike Organ of the Nashville TENNESSEAN via SBJ. The Music City Bowl still has two years remaining on its current contract with the SEC, Big Ten, and ESPN. While “much remains in limbo with the future of the structure of the CFP,” one thing is sure: the national championship game will be the “ultimate prize for a bowl game and its city.”
^{The Nashville Tennessean via Sports Business Journal}

Rays Will Play 19 of Their First 22 Games at Home as MLB Switches Series to Avoid Summer Rain
Major League Baseball switched a pair of series involving the Tampa Bay Rays to the first two months of the season to avoid summer rain at open-air Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home following damage to Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay is scheduled to play 19 of its first 22 games at home and 37 of 54 through May 28, then 64 of its last 108 games on the road.
^{AP News}

What IU's Massive Financial Commitment to Curt Cignetti Means About the Football Program
The Indy Star’s Gregg Doyel reports: “According to terms of the memorandum of understanding signed between IU and Cignetti, Indiana’s coach will now make north of $8 million per year, starting in a contract year beginning Dec. 1. Cignetti will earn $500,000 in base pay, a further $6.8 million in outside, marketing and promotional income in his first year, and a $1 million retention bonus each year he remains in his job, beginning Nov. 30, 2025, bringing his total Year 1 compensation per the terms of his new deal to $8.3 million.

“Cignetti is now scheduled to receive what’s believed to be the largest annual salary for an Indiana state employee in history.”
^{The Indy Star}

Mountain West Asks Court to Dismiss Pac 12’s Lawsuit Over Poaching Penalty
Two months after the Pac-12 took the Mountain West to court over the “legality of the so-called poaching penalty” in the scheduling agreement between the conferences, the Mountain West asked the court in a filing Monday in the Northern District of California to dismiss the case. It claimed the Pac-12 failed “to allege any harm to competition or to itself,” according to Jon Wilner of the San Jose MERCURY NEWS via SBJ.
^{San Jose Mercury News via Sports Business Journal}

Temple President Reaffirms Commitment to Football
Temple President John Fry claimed that recent media coverage has “misrepresented Temple’s position,” according to Gabriela Carroll of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER via SBJ. The Philadelphia Business Journal reported Friday that Temple football will “step back and assess” the future of the football program, following the firing of coach Stan Drayton on Nov. 17. Fry said, “Football is an integral part of our identity, and we want to honor and reinvigorate our tradition and legacy.”
^{The Philadelphia Inquirer via Sports Business Journal}

Transgender Volleyball Controversy: Judge Rules San Jose State Women’s Volleyball Player Eligible to Play in Conference Tournament
According to Yahoo Sports, the NCAA allows transgender women’s athletes to compete if they meet the eligibility criteria set by that sport’s governing body. For women’s volleyball, transgender women’s athletes must submit documentation of their testosterone levels for at least the previous year to prove they do not exceed the “normal female reference range for their age group.”

“We are gratified that the Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules,” San Jose State said Monday. “Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week.”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Clemson AD Neff Says School Will Fully Fund NCAA Settlement and Fully Fund 150 Scholarships in Two Years
Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told athletic backers that the school will fully participate in revenue sharing under the NCAA’s upcoming House settlement and will add 150 scholarships across all sports for the 2025-26 academic year. According to AP News, the NCAA’s $2.8 billion settlement is a proposed resolution to three antitrust lawsuits that alleged the NCAA illegally restricted college athletes from earning money. Neff said the school would share the maximum allowable amount of $20.5 million in 2025-26 with its athletes under the House agreement.
^{AP News}

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