Three weeks into the college football season, Colorado’s Coach Prime era has delivered on the field — and might be making an even stronger impact off it.

Deion Sanders’ unbeaten start has accounted for three of the five most-watched college football games this season. 

Despite finishing after 2 a.m. ET, Week 3’s Rocky Mountain Showdown against a winless Colorado State team still delivered 9.3 million viewers on ESPN, making it the network’s most-watched late primetime college football game ever.

Before that, Colorado-Nebraska brought in 8.73 million viewers on Fox in Week 2, and Sanders’ Colorado coaching debut against TCU was Fox’s most-watched Big Noon Saturday Week 1 game ever with 7.26 million viewers.

On Saturday, No. 19 Colorado begins Pac-12 play against No. 10 Oregon at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC — the network’s first Coach Prime game of the year. Next week, No. 5 USC will travel to Boulder for another high-profile matchup that will be broadcast yet again by Fox Sports in its premier “Big Noon Saturday” slot on Sept. 30.

The Bright Lights of Boulder

The Coach Prime phenomenon has not only started a new war between ESPN and Fox, but also made Boulder the Hollywood of college football.

Meanwhile, Sanders’ Coach Prime line of sunglasses with Blenders has received at least 67,000 preorders before it goes on sale Oct. 12 — which will roughly generate $4.5 million in revenue.

The Saudi Pro League spent nearly $1 billion on player transfers this summer and signaled lofty ambitions that include playing in the UEFA Champions League — but the controversial competition has plenty of work to do to reach its goals.

A little more than a month into its season, SPL matches are averaging 8,500 fans per game, a 24% increase from last year’s attendance, but much lower than the 40,000 the Premier League averaged last season — the only competition to outspend the SPL in this summer’s transfer window.

This season, the SPL has a variety of media deals across the globe with companies like Fox Sports in the U.S., as well as a U.K. deal with DAZN reportedly worth $500,000. The EPL is bringing in more than $3 billion annually from its media rights deals.

This week, four SPL clubs began group play in the Asian Champions League — which will award its winning club $4 million. Last season, Manchester City netted $22 million for winning the UEFA Champions League.

While the SPL clubs backed by Saudi Arabia’s $700 billion-plus Public Investment Fund don’t necessarily need an influx of prize money, media rights fees, or ticket sales right now, the revenue gap between the Saudi league and its European counterparts couldn’t be clearer.

Despite its vast wealth, Saudi Arabia has still sought support for European officials in its bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg acknowledged — with some gallows humor — the long, arduous path his team took to reach Tuesday’s announcement of a new $1.3 billion deal to build a new ballpark in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“I’m here to announce a brand-new ballpark on the waterfront with a sail,” Sternberg said in jest, referencing an ill-fated plan from more than 15 years ago to develop a ballpark with a much-derided, sail-like covering. 

But now, the joking is over, the team says.

“It has not been an easy road,” Sternberg said. “While our commitment to remain in Tampa Bay has been steadfast, the journey here has been a bumpy one.”

That bumpy journey has led the MLB club to a landmark agreement to develop a new 30,000-seat ballpark as part of a larger, 86-acre mixed-use development in St. Petersburg’s Gas Plant District. 

The Rays plan to pay $700 million toward the project, as well as any cost overruns, while the public sector will contribute $600 million. The domed stadium will also include natural light, contrasting with the dark, often-depressing Tropicana Field.

Advancing well beyond several prior supposed stadium deals, the Rays agreement looks to finally answer the thorny question of the club’s future home and opens MLB up to highly anticipated expansion possibilities.

A Different Future

The stadium deal also gives the Rays a much more solid financial footing and ends years of relocation rumors.

“We’re going to be here for a very long time,” said Rays co-president Brian Auld. “For the first time since we started this we have a clear path to make sure the Rays stay in Tampa Bay for generations to come.”

Since the club’s debut in 1998, the Rays have ranked last or next-to-last in American League attendance 18 times, even with consistently competitive teams, and are typically one of MLB’s lowest-spending franchises. But club officials foresee an economic transformation with the new project.

“This region, and especially this city, are growing up around us and are better equipped to support a Major League Baseball team,” Sternberg said. 

A month after the end of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the fallout from the actions of former Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales continues to impact women’s soccer in the country.

Despite Rubiales’ resignation from both the federation and UEFA following his unsolicited kiss of star Jenni Hermoso, members of the women’s national team players repeated their refusal to play in a pair of upcoming matches without further changes within the federation. 

New team coach Montse Tomé has announced her planned squad for the first match as the boycott talk has continued. According to Spanish law, players who do not respond to the national team call “without justification” are subject to fines, and potential further FIFA punishment. 

Several players who had been part of the initial boycott of the national team did report on Tuesday for national team duty, but the issue has continued to expose deep rifts within the sport and country at large. Victor Francos, Spain’s secretary for sports, said he planned to intervene.

“We looked ridiculous as a nation,” Francos told Spanish television channel La Sexta. “It is unacceptable … and I spoke to some of the players. The impression I came away with was the most negative one possible. I did not hear resentment or anger, I heard sadness and exhaustion.”

Legal Fallout

Meanwhile, a Spanish court has dismissed a lawsuit in which Rubiales sued Javier Clemente, the former men’s national team coach. 

Separate from the WWC-related matter, Clemente called Rubiales “a dangerous and ambitious guy” seeking to “get rich,” prompting Rubiales to sue for defamation. But the court found that Clemente was exercising his “right to freely express an opinion about a person who, moreover, is a public figure.”