College Football is Mini-NFL?

SI’s Michael Rosenberg: “Talent is Becoming More Distributed, Like in the NFL”

December 20, 2024

Why Coaching Matters More in 12-Team College Football Playoff Era
SI’s Michael Rosenberg writes, “This month, we will see another similarity between the college postseason and the pros: Coaching will matter more than ever before. 

“Talent is becoming more evenly distributed, like in the NFL. Teams must beat a minimum of three postseason opponents to win a championship, like in the NFL. The cumulative effect will mean a lot of close games that require agile coaching minds, like in the NFL.”
^{Sports Illustrated}

NFL 2025 Pro Bowl Games Adding Trivia to Traditional Slate of Dodgeball, Tug-of-War
And now, for a bit of levity—along with some of the more traditional events like dodgeball and tug-of-war, the NFL will “sprinkle in a trivia element into some of the skills competitions for the 2025 NFL Pro Games,” according to The Athletic’s Larry Holder. Each quarterback answers five trivia questions about other Pro Bowlers from the 2024 season. Correct answers will allow passers more time to attempt to hit targets.
^{The Athletic}

Friedkin Group Completes Purchase of Everton and Becomes 10th US Owner in Premier League
AP News’ Steve Douglas reports: “Half of the Premier League is under majority American ownership after Texas-based Friedkin Group completed its 98.8% purchase of Everton on Thursday.

“The takeover ended Farhad Moshiri’s turbulent eight-year tenure at the storied English club, which joins the Friedkins’ wide-ranging portfolio of investments that includes Italian team Roma. The size of the deal was undisclosed but the BBC and other British media valued it in excess of 400 million pounds ($500 million).
^{AP News}

First Horizon Bank Lands Naming-Rights Deal With NWSL's Courage
NWSL club North Carolina Courage has signed a naming-rights deal with Memphis-based First Horizon Bank, which earlier this year became the club's first official banking partner, according to Omer Yusuf of the MEMPHIS BUSINESS JOURNAL via SBJ. The 10,000-seat stadium, which also hosts USL Championship club NCFC, will be known as First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.
^{Sports Business Journal}

New NBA Broadcasters Looking at Carmelo Anthony for Analyst Role
According to SI, multiple NBA legends have popped up as new analysts for the networks—including Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade—and a new name has appeared for consideration: Carmelo Anthony. As of now, Anthony is being considered for the league's NBC and Prime coverage, per Front Office Sports, but ESPN could also be interested.
^{Sports Illustrated}

F1 Wraps Season With Momentum to Carry Into 2025
While TV ratings growth in America remained elusive for Formula 1 in 2024, several other positive developments for the global racing series have largely left the sports business and Wall Street feeling good. F1 averaged 1.1 million viewers a race in the United States across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, according to ESPN. ESPN wants to renew its deal, which runs through 2025, and believes it is getting a good return.
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBC Sports Enters Madden Video Game Universe With Alternate Broadcast on Peacock
NBC Sports makes its foray into doing an NFL alternate broadcast on Saturday when it puts the matchup between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs into the realm of the Madden video game universe. The Madden altcast will be streamed on Peacock with the main broadcast airing on NBC, beginning at 1 p.m. EST. It is the first time NBC has done an alternate broadcast of an NFL game.
^{AP News}

IOC Publishes Manifestos of 7 Candidates Running to Be President and Lead Olympics
According to the AP, the seven candidates running for International Olympic Committee president had their manifestos published on Thursday, and one is offering to take just half of the eight-year mandate on offer and stand again in 2029. Sebastian Coe, the World Athletics president pledged to embed “transformative change over the next four years” then seek re-election ahead of schedule.

Coe was among several candidates offering to give back to IOC members — who elect their president at a March 18-21 meeting near the site of Ancient Olympia in Greece.
^{AP News}

Anheuser-Busch Elevates Matt Davis, Kerry Scalora
Kerry Scalora has been named Head of U.S. Sports Marketing, reporting directly to Group VP/Connections Spencer Gordon. With the top domestic sports role, Scalora—a five-year A-B vet and SBJ New Voices Under 30 honoree in 2020—is replacing Matt Davis, now elevated to VP/Media & Entertainment.   
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBPA Taps Morgan Cato as EVP/Player Operations
The NBPA is hiring Morgan Cato as EVP/Player Operations at the NBPA, a role that will see her lead joint NBPA-NBA programming, oversee the union’s mental wellness team and resources and revitalize the Education Trust to expand its reach and benefit. Cato was most recently Assistant GM & VP/Basketball Operations for the Suns.
^{Sports Business Journal}

DC Mayor Corrects Misinformation Over RFK Stadium Land After Celebrating Start of Arena Renovations
AP News’ Stephen Whyno reports: “Incorrect reports on Musk-owned X were reposted by Musk claiming that Congress’ spending bill includes $3 billion for a new football stadium. The resolution, which has been roundly criticized by Musk and President-Elect Donald Trump, includes a provision to transfer control of the land including the husk of old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District for 99 years.

“‘It was stated that the CR contains $3 billion for a stadium,” Bowser said. “All wrong. There are no federal dollars related to the transfer of RFK, and in fact the legislation does not require or link at all to a stadium.’”
^{AP News}

Opposition in Boston Over Plan to Renovate Historic Public Stadium for Women’s Professional Soccer (Video)
Tension in Boston as city officials propose to renovate the historic White Stadium and let a new professional women’s soccer team share the venue with public school athletes.
^{AP News}

Measuring the Value of College Athletic Departments
SBJ’s Ben Portnoy writes, “College athletics departments are trying to understand their value more than ever -- and one group has an idea on how to measure it. Student Athlete NIL founder Jason Belzer, in collaboration with CNBC’s Mike Ozanian, released a ranking of the top 75 most valuable college athletic programs that are eligible for the College Football Playoff.

“Ohio State came in at No. 1 on the list with a valuation of $1.32B, followed by Texas ($1.28B), Texas A&M ($1.26B), Michigan ($1.06B), Alabama ($978M). The rest of the top 10 included Notre Dame ($969M), Georgia ($950M), Nebraska ($943M), Tennessee ($940M) and Oklahoma ($928M).”
^{Sports Business Journal}

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