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College Football Playoff Will Expand to 12 Teams

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College Football Playoff Will Expand to 12 Teams

The School Soccer Playoff, already a monetary gusher for the nation’s strongest conferences, will triple in measurement to 12 groups no later than the 2026 season, a transfer meant to capitalize on the nation’s huge urge for food for the game, in response to two folks acquainted with the association.

The expanded system may very well be in place as quickly as 2024, however executives should nonetheless negotiate the logistics and nuances that include a bigger discipline and a sudden surge of video games with national-title implications. The folks spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of the association and its particulars had not been publicly introduced.

Whether or not or not the redesigned format begins that quickly, Friday’s resolution set the playoff on a clearer course towards the largest tv contract in faculty sports activities historical past, one which analysts have mentioned may fetch near $2 billion a yr.

The settlement on Friday represented a big turnabout from the skid that enlargement ambitions had entered, together with an announcement in February that the match would “proceed the present four-team playoff for the subsequent 4 years.” By then, desires for enlargement, which some faculty sports activities executives had judged final summer season as a fait accompli, had sputtered as leagues jostled over members, distrust boomed and issues over ESPN’s position because the playoff’s lone tv accomplice bubbled.

A lot of these questions and points stay. However Friday’s vote by 11 college presidents and chancellors mirrored the broadly held view contained in the richest reaches of the faculty sports activities business that the playoff ought to develop sooner slightly than later.

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If the playoff expands for the 2024 season, its tv rights will swell to about $695 million, from roughly $470 million a yr, for every of the present contract’s final two seasons.

Far bigger paydays beckon as soon as the present take care of ESPN expires on the finish of the 2025 season. With an expanded playoff now deliberate for no later than 2026, some executives and consultants imagine that the subsequent deal, which could embrace an array of broadcast companions, may yield almost $2 billion in annual tv income.

If these forecasts show correct, the playoff would have the most important annual tv rights deal in faculty sports activities. The N.C.A.A.’s Division I males’s basketball match, a 67-game showcase that underpins the bonanza often called March Insanity, is anticipated to common $1.1 billion in tv cash a yr beginning later this decade.

The soccer enlargement effort is unfolding at a time of sustained tumult in faculty sports activities, particularly for the business powers — the ten Soccer Bowl Subdivision conferences, in addition to Notre Dame — that collectively run the playoff and distribute shares of its revenue to universities throughout the nation. As tv cash is more and more raining down on leagues such because the Massive Ten Convention, which final month introduced a record-setting suite of media contracts that may pay it not less than $1 billion a yr, and the Southeastern Convention, different leagues worry being left behind, in notion or actuality.

Past enterprise rivalries, the leagues and the business that dominate within the public creativeness have confronted authorized and political setbacks, notably across the guidelines that restricted unpaid faculty athletes for generations. Nonetheless, for a lot of followers, antitrust regulation issues far lower than easy methods to crown a soccer champion.

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The playoff is the successor to the Bowl Championship Sequence, which used a posh formulation to assist decide matchups for elite video games, together with the title contest, for 16 seasons. The four-team playoff system debuted with the 2014 season and supplied soccer devotees a brand new method to develop into baffled and infuriated by rankings.

There can be ritualized gripes concerning the conclusions of the committee charged with rating groups, in fact, however the match’s small measurement additionally left it weak to complaints concerning the restricted variety of groups in a position to compete. (Though the N.C.A.A. manages the postseason for Soccer Championship Subdivision universities, which regularly have loyal native followings however little nationwide renown, it has no management over the playoff that attracts powerhouse manufacturers akin to Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma.)

Alabama has received three nationwide championships within the playoff period, and Clemson has received two. Georgia, Louisiana State and Ohio State have one playoff title apiece. Deepening the sense of exclusion, simply 13 of the 131 F.B.S. faculties have made appearances in semifinal video games, and not less than one Energy 5 league is at present assured to be omitted in any given season.

The Atlantic Coast, Massive 12 and Pac-12 conferences all missed the playoff final season, with the Pac-12 enduring its fifth straight yr of not receiving an invite.

Alabama, Cincinnati, Georgia and Michigan reached the playoff in 2021; Alabama and Georgia superior to the title recreation for an all-SEC matchup, which Georgia received.

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Travis Kelce spotted dancing in star-studded group at Taylor Swift's Paris show

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Travis Kelce spotted dancing in star-studded group at Taylor Swift's Paris show

The “City of Love” was the latest sighting of Travis Kelce at a Taylor Swift concert, and he had some A-list celebrities dancing alongside him to his significant other’s chart-topping hits. 

The Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end was seen at Paris La Défense Arena in Paris where Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid were next to him to enjoy Swift’s 87th Eras Tour show. 

Coincidence on the number, anyone?

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are shown at Coachella. (Gilbert Flores)

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Videos have circulated on social media of Kelce dancing to Swift songs, including “… Ready for It?” “Lover” and the classic “You Belong with Me.”

It’s significant that Kelce has been spotted at this show as he hasn’t been seen since she went back on tour. Swift has been in Paris for three nights prior to this fourth and final show, where Kelce was spotted.

TRAVIS KELCE HOSTING ‘SNL’ MADE CAST MEMBER FEEL ‘VERY PROTECTIVE’ OF HIM

Of course, this isn’t the first time Kelce has reciprocated the love and support Swift showed during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning season last year. During the Chiefs’ bye week, Kelce was seen in Buenos Aires for one of Swift’s Eras Tour dates. 

They will clearly go the extra mile to support each other; Swift famously flew from Japan to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl after a tour date across the Pacific.

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And fans, whether it was of Kelce first or Swift, have fallen in love with the couple throughout the process as they continue to be one of the world’s power couples.

Taylor Swift looks lovingly up at Travis Kelce in his red Chiefs uniform after the Super Bowl

Taylor Swift celebrated with Travis Kelce on the field after his Super Bowl win. (AP Photo/John Locher)

While love isn’t something to rush, many are clamoring to know if Kelce has any thoughts of proposing to Swift to take their relationship to the next level. 

Recently, Chiefs long snapper James Winchester said on the “Like a Farmer” podcast that he thinks his teammate will be engaged at some point because he sees “they’re very similar in a lot of ways.”

“Being around Trav for the last nine years, I mean, I think they’re more similar than you would think. I wish the best for them,” he added.

Other than supporting Swift, Kelce has had a great offseason thus far. The Chiefs made him the highest-paid tight end in the game with a new contract extension that’s worth $34.25 million over two years, with $17 million fully guaranteed for the upcoming 2024 campaign. 

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Travis Kelce smiles

Travis Kelce attends American Express Presents CARBONE BEACH on May 5, 2024, in Miami Beach, Florida. (Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for American Express Presents CARBONE BEACH)

So, personally and professionally, Kelce had a lot of things to dance about in Paris with some of his friends while watching Swift kill it onstage.

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Column: Dave Roberts does his job: Protecting Shohei Ohtani from himself

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Column: Dave Roberts does his job: Protecting Shohei Ohtani from himself

Shohei Ohtani thought he could have played on Sunday. He was looking forward to facing Japanese compatriot Yu Darvish.

Dave Roberts didn’t let him.

Ohtani was never able to plead his case. On the morning of the Dodgers’ series finale against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, Roberts told interpreter Will Ireton that Ohtani wouldn’t be in the lineup, and that was that.

A day after he was forced out of a game early by a stiff back, Ohtani didn’t play in the 4-0 loss to the Padres.

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Ohtani is expected to return on Monday for the start of a three-game series in San Francisco, Roberts said.

The way Roberts managed Ohtani marked a promising start to one of the most important relationships in the organization — a relationship that figures to grow in importance when Ohtani resumes pitching next season.

The manager was the manager. The player was the player.

This simple division of labor can be complicated when a player of Ohtani’s caliber is involved, but the Dodgers were able to do what the Angels often failed to do last year: They protected Ohtani from himself.

“I think he understands that it’s for his benefit and the team’s benefit,” Roberts said.

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When Ohtani played for the Angels last year, what was most beneficial to the team was for him to play almost every game.

So he did.

The Angels were in no position to stop him, or even persuade him to undergo a MRI examination after he was removed from a start after only four innings because of a finger cramp.

The result?

A torn ulnar collateral ligament and a second Tommy John surgery.

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The Angels couldn’t ask Ohtani to look at the bigger picture because there was none. October wasn’t guaranteed for them, as it is for the Dodgers, who entered Sunday with a 6½-game lead in the National League West.

The Dodgers have a talented roster.

They have a track record.

They have realistic championship ambitions.

Asked if the promise of playing in October made it easier for him to accept Roberts’ decision, Ohtani wouldn’t say.

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“Regardless” of the condition of his back, Ohtani said in Japanese, “there was thought of a day off.”

The Dodgers just started a 13-day stretch in which they will play 13 games. Ohtani described the injury as minor — he said he initially felt discomfort in his back working out before the game on Saturday — but Roberts wasn’t inclined to take any chances at this stage of the season, even for a game against a division rival.

“He obviously knows his body really well,” Robert said. “Right now, with the 13 in a row, I just wanted to make sure we were a little more cautious.”

Taking the decision out of Ohtani’s hands was a small but critical move by Roberts. As the Angels learned last year, once the terms of a relationship are established, they are difficult to undo.

How Dodgers management communicates with their star player will be more consequential later in the season and even more so next year when Ohtani makes his anticipated return to the mound. Ohtani will be coming back from a second elbow reconstruction.

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Of course, the team entered its relationship with Ohtani with more leverage than the Angels ever had.

In retrospect, it looks as if Ohtani chose to break into the major leagues with the Angels because of how powerless they were. As a non-contending club, they didn’t have any competitive reasons to deny him the opportunity to be a two-way player.

That’s not to say the Dodgers aren’t being rewarded for having Ohtani on their team. Of course they are. As a one-way player this season, he’s still the best player in the game. He sells merchandise.

Yet Ohtani needs the Dodgers as much as they need him. They’re offering him something he desperately wants that few other organizations can: A legitimate chance to win.

Roberts said he will ask Ohtani for input in the future when figuring out his playing schedule. Roberts should. Ohtani deserves that much. However, the Dodgers can’t afford for their relationship with Ohtani to be as lopsided as that of the Angels. Sunday was a sign that it might not be.

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Deontay Wilder scared for Mike Tyson's well-being in Jake Paul fight: 'He’s too old for this'

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Deontay Wilder scared for Mike Tyson's well-being in Jake Paul fight: 'He’s too old for this'

From one former heavyweight title winner to another, Deontay Wilder fears 57-year-old Mike Tyson might end up in a coma after fighting Jake Paul. 

Tyson shocked everyone when he agreed to fight Paul, which was commissioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations as a professional fight, on July 20. 

What was initially an exhibition match has turned into a highly anticipated bout, but Wilder doesn’t think anyone truly cares about Tyson’s well-being. 

Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul in Texas this summer has been sanctioned as a competitive boxing match, making the rounds shorter and the gloves heavier. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

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“I think it’s bad the commission has licensed Mike Tyson because he hasn’t been active in 20 years, so they should not just license him because of who he is, that’s how people get hurt – God forbid he gets hurt,” Wilder said to Sportsbook Review. 

“People can get hit in the wrong place and at the wrong time, there’s lots of examples where guys have been hit into a coma. It’s easy to do. He’s too old for this.

“At the end of the day, no one gives a f— about Mike.”

MIKE TYSON VS. JAKE PAUL BOXING MATCH OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED, WILL COUNT FOR PROFESSIONAL RECORDS

Wilder continued by saying he doesn’t care that Tyson underwent tests to deem this a professional fight. 

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“As long as you’re willing to suffer the consequences if something bad goes wrong,” Wilder said. 

Deontay Wilder shadowboxes

Heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder shadowboxes during a media workout at UFC APEX on Sept. 22, 2022 in Las Vegas.   (Steve Marcus/Getty Images)

After the fight was sanctioned, Paul recently said he is “super respectful” of Tyson, but “All is fair in love and war.”

“I love the guy, but as soon as it turned into a pro fight, one of us has to die,” the YouTube star-turned-boxer said. 

Videos of Tyson working out for the fight have shocked many with how fast and powerful he still looks at his age. But Wilder, again, doesn’t care what videos show or what Tyson even says about his well-being. 

“His power may not have left completely, but you still need to set it up, your stamina needs to be a certain way, or it’s going to look like a clown show. I don’t want to see it to be honest,” he explained.

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Jake Paul, Deontay Wilder, and Mike Tyson side by side

Former heavyweight belt holder Deontay Wilder is genuinely scared for Mike Tyson in his fight with Jake Paul. (Getty Images)

“I don’t want the last thing I remember of him is him getting knocked out by a YouTuber. The last thing you do, that’s what people remember you by.”

While Paul and Tyson prepare for their fight, Wilder will be fighting Zhilei Zhang on June 1. 

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