The four-team version of the College Football Playoff debuted in 2014, in part as a response to perennial chaos within the sport and widespread division over how to determine a national champion. 

Nearly a decade later, that chaos has not only remained but reached a new and unprecedented level this weekend.

On Sunday, the CFP’s selection committee chose a quartet of Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama, leaving out a 13-0 Florida State team that won the ACC title and now becomes the first undefeated Power 5 conference champion to be excluded.

“I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee’s decision to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games,” said FSU head coach Mike Norvell. “What is the point of playing games? … What is the motivation to schedule challenging non-conference games? 

“What happened goes against everything that is true and right in college football.”

Beyond the chorus of recriminations coming from Norvell and other FSU administrators, sources suggested to Front Office Sports that new Florida State legislation may emerge from the situation, and state Sen. Corey Simon called for a lawsuit.

Financial Implications

Next season the CFP will begin a 12-team format that if used this year would have avoided the Florida State situation. But that is little solace to the Seminoles and the ACC given the revenue already lost due to the CFP decision.

A potential $6 million ACC payout, had the Seminoles reached the CFP, now becomes $4 million as FSU instead plays No. 6 Georgia in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. Norvell, meanwhile, will see a minimum $500,000 bonus (which could have risen to $950,000 with a CFP title) reduced to $200,000. Not making the CFP could also have long-term impacts on recruiting and business operations surrounding the Seminoles’ football program. That on top of losing any chance at the recruiting and business-operation impact of a national championship. 

Florida State already has been frustrated with the current state of revenue sharing within the ACC, and in college sports as a whole, and the school has looked to private equity as a potential aid.

Meanwhile, the SEC retained its run of having at least one team in each of the 10 iterations of the CFP.

“That’s not the real world of college football,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on ESPN’s College GameDay on the prospect of leaving out a team from his conference. “Let’s go back to ‘Sesame Street’ to make it real basic, but because one of these things is not like the other, and that is the Southeastern Conference.”

Despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding critical revenues from local media rights, MLB clubs are expected to begin another robust offseason of spending on players at this week’s Winter Meetings. 

As the sport’s key offseason event began Sunday in Nashville, clubs are likely to challenge, if not surpass, the $3.53 billion committed last offseason on free agents. 

Somewhere around $500 million to $600 million of that will be earmarked for two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, by far the biggest star on this year’s market, in what is projected to be a record-level contract for any player in North American team sports. 

But even with continued concerns about the erosion of health in regional sports networks and a relatively light pool of position player talent, many more hefty deals are anticipated.

Even the Brewers, currently playing in MLB’s smallest media market, made a big early move, reportedly signing 19-year-old prospect Jackson Chourio to an eight-year, $82 million contract that set a record for any player who has yet to make their major league debut. The deal contains escalators and options that could bring the total payout to $142.5 million.

Several factors are supporting the wide financial confidence. MLB just finished with its best attendance year since 2017, and it is eying further gains. National-level revenue continues to grow amid rising sponsorship dollars and escalators in existing media contracts. 

And even with the current disruption among RSNs, particularly those operated by bankrupt Diamond Sports Group, commissioner Rob Manfred is projecting a long-term rise in local media revenue, fueled partly by greater reach for games, after a near-term decline.

After several weeks of increased public chatter regarding the still-tenuous PGA Tour-Saudi Arabia PIF deal and potential further player defections to LIV Golf, the Tour’s policy board is now looking to calm fellow players. 

Player directors of the policy board sent a two-page memo to players, looking to convey a tone of optimism regarding the PIF negotiations and the Tour’s overall outlook.

“The player directors have been doing everything we can to ensure the PGA Tour is best positioned to thrive for decades to come,” the memo from Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Charley Hoffman, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Peter Malnati, and Adam Scott reads. “We have learned a lot, and we are encouraged by progress on multiple fronts.”

Among the specific messages within the memo:

• Negotiations with the PIF and DP World Tour continue, and parties are “working diligently toward the Dec. 31 deadline.”

• Full consensus within the board will be reached before a vote is contemplated on creating a new for-profit entity.

• Outside investors, described as increasingly likely by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, are seen as particularly additive. “These are not traditional private equity groups … but rather multi-decade-oriented strategic partners. Each group is optimistic about the growth opportunities for the Tour.”

• No major decision in the future will be made “without the prior involvement and approval of the player directors.”

Defection Talk

After defending Master champion Jon Rahm has been courted with a reported $600 million offer to join LIV, Woods also offered a more cautious tone when asked at the Hero World Challenge about the possibility of further player defections.

“Things have changed and will continue to change. Our deadline’s coming up soon, so there’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of different things are happening very quickly,” he said. ”We don’t have a lot of time. Everything is now at a time crunch. It’s 24 hours a day just trying to figure it out.”

In a 2023 MLS season dominated heavily by the exploits of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, LAFC is putting its own historic stamp on the league — and not just on the field. 

The defending league champions clinched a return trip to the MLS Cup Final, defeating the Houston Dynamo 2-0 on Saturday in the Western Conference Final. In seeking to become the league’s first repeat champion since the 2011-12 LA Galaxy, LAFC is extending what has already been a landmark season for the franchise.

In July, LAFC and the Galaxy set a single-game league attendance record, drawing 82,110 for an installment of the city’s famed El Tráfico rivalry. LAFC has now played in 52 matches this year, including competing in several non-MLS tournaments, a league record within a calendar year.

Set to face the Jimmy Haslam-owned Columbus Crew on Saturday, LAFC earlier this year became the first MLS club to reach a $1 billion valuation. The team secured a $100 million stadium naming rights deal with banking giant BMO. And the club is now reportedly in talks to acquire Switzerland’s Grasshopper Club Zurich in a bid to expand its portfolio into Europe.

The club’s prominent ownership includes Los Angeles Dodgers and Golden State Warriors co-owner Peter Guber, Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, former pro athletes Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm Garciaparra, and actor Will Farrell, among others. Johnson was present at BMO Field for the conference title win.

Banner Year

LAFC’s accomplishments help cap off a season in which MLS set league records for both attendance and revenue.

This season also marked the debut of the league’s new rights deal with Apple, driving viewership numbers that Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue said “no one expected.”