Sports
The top NFL media stories of 2024: Tom Brady debuts, Netflix steps in and more
If you want some long-term relationship advice, I offer you this: Find someone who loves you as much as news outlets love end-of-the-year content.
The New Yorker did a piece 11 years ago on why our brains love lists, and it holds up today. Among other reasons: It spatially organizes information and promises a story that’s finite.
The NFL story will, of course, continue in 2025 and beyond, but in the space below, we offer eight NFL media stories that captured our interest in 2024.
1. Tom Brady begins his NFL broadcasting journey
Fox has the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl this year, which means Brady will call the league’s most important game in his rookie season as a TV analyst. He is 15 games into a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox, a journey that has prompted plenty of commentary on his performance, including multiple pieces from this author.
Brady’s broadcasting work has improved during the season — not to the point of being an elite TV analyst, but the progress is noticeable. Still, the long-term prediction here is that Brady’s juggling act as Las Vegas Raiders owner and TV analyst, and the restrictions that come with that, feels unsustainable for Fox and Brady.
Tom Brady has improved as a game broadcaster, but February’s Super Bowl looms as the ultimate test of his progress. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
2. Netflix lands an NFL package of games
Netflix and the NFL announced in May a three-season deal for Christmas Day games through 2026. That deal becomes even more magnified given Netflix securing the exclusive broadcast rights in the United States for the 2027 and 2031 editions of the Women’s World Cup. These are significant signals to the marketplace (along with its WWE rights deal, given its live element) that Netflix has shifted from being interested in sports-adjacent properties to being a legitimate sports rights holder.
The streaming giant aired the Kansas City Chiefs–Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens–Houston Texans games on Christmas Day and largely succeeded in avoiding a glitch-filled rerun of its Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight event.
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3. Peacock airs a regular-season game from São Paulo
The Philadelphia Eagles–Green Bay Packers game on Sept. 6 was the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in South America and aired exclusively on Peacock, the streaming network’s third exclusive NFL game following the Buffalo Bills–Los Angeles Chargers regular-season game in December 2023 and the Miami Dolphins-Chiefs AFC wild-card playoff game last January.
The result was a significant viewership win for the league and the streamer. Peacock delivered 14.2 million viewers for Eagles-Packers, well above the 7.3 million for Bills-Chargers and Peacock’s second-best NFL streaming audience ever only behind the Chiefs-Dolphins game (23 million viewers). The numbers include figures from the over-the-air markets in which the games ran.
The NFL will play eight international games in 2025, including in Madrid, as Spain will be the sixth country to host an NFL regular-season game. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt have talked openly about playing 16 games overseas annually in the near term, per this report from SBJ’s Ben Fischer. It’s clear we will soon see a Sunday morning window with a new international media-rights package.
4. Super Bowl LVIII sets TV ratings record
We live in an apples-to-pomegranates world when it comes to comparing the sports viewership of today versus yesteryear, due to factors including new out-of-home viewership data and cord-cutters and cord-nevers. Using today’s metrics, via Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in February’s Super Bowl averaged 123.7 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That makes it the most-viewed program in history, shattering the previous mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City’s last-minute win over Philadelphia in the previous Super Bowl.
Fans watch Super Bowl LVIII outside Chase Center in San Francisco. The game was the highest-rated program in television history. (Loren Elliott / Getty Images)
5. The rise of alt-broadcasts
The alternate broadcasts of NFL games launched into a new stratosphere in 2024 with a “Simpsons” animated alt-cast of “Monday Night Football” airing on ESPN+ and Disney+, and NBC Sports making its NFL alternate broadcast debut on Peacock with last week’s Texans-Chiefs game. It follows alt-broadcasts on Nickelodeon and ESPN’s now long-standing Manning Brothers broadcasts and one using “Toy Story.”
6. The ‘New Heights’ podcast blows up
The popular podcast — hosted by brothers Jason Kelce, the Eagles’ center from 2011-2023, and Travis Kelce, the current Chiefs tight end — inked a deal with Amazon’s podcast network, Wondery, in 2024 to be the program’s new home.
The show has found itself on measurement lists of the biggest podcasts in the United States and has nearly 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. One of the interesting notes in the deal is Wondery’s plans to translate the podcast to different languages to increase its global audience, including in NFL-strong markets such as the United Kingdom and Mexico. That’s a blank space for NFL fans.
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The Kelce brothers and the ‘Heights’ of podcast popularity
7. New broadcast rules for increased access
It was not an accident that you saw more in-game interviews during NFL games this season. Last May, the NFL broadcasting department outlined access changes for the NFL’s television partners after a review between the league and its media rights holders. The shared goal? To enhance the game content that we see as NFL viewers. The new rules included in-game coach interviews for all games, pregame player interviews for all games, network pregame locker room coverage, preseason player interviews, and coaches’ booth network cameras. Look for it to continue.
8. NFL ordered to pay $4.7 billion in “Sunday Ticket” antitrust trial … only to see it overturned
In August, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles overturned a $4.7 billion verdict against the NFL for colluding to raise prices for its “NFL Sunday Ticket” television package. The judge disqualified expert testimony used by the jury to determine damages. (The jury’s verdict had threatened to upend the league’s strategy of selling exclusive television packages to broadcasters.) Next up: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Per Sportico’s legal writer and sports law professor, Michael McMann, a decision is likely many months, if not longer, away.
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Imagining NFL on TV in the year 2030: Tom Brady out, Travis Kelce in?
(Top photo of a Netflix “Christmas Gameday” banner at Wednesday’s Chiefs-Steelers game: Mark Alberti / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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