Football fans hoping to catch Saturday’s Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers matchup will have to pay up in the form of a Peacock Premium subscription that costs $5.99 per month. In exchange, viewers will get what is being called the NFL’s first-ever commercial-free fourth quarter.

After a “branded moment” at the top of the quarter to acknowledge the ad-free move (which Walmart, Hyundai, and Capital One are sponsoring), the league and NBCUniversal are promising at least a 40% reduction in ads and 12 minutes of additional game-related content. That sounds great, right? 

Here’s the catch: While the fourth quarter won’t feature commercials, it will have content takeovers and game features with information and analysis coming from the broadcast booth and NBC Sports’ studio. That means standard breaks between timeouts, change of possessions, and scores will likely still take place. But on Saturday, instead of getting bombarded with Whopper jingles and pushes for a new cell phone, viewers will be treated to whatever NBC has up its sleeve—which could theoretically range from game highlights to a special preview of an upcoming TV show.

NBC confirmed to Front Office Sports that Peacock’s exclusive broadcast of an NFL wild-card playoff game in January will also have a commercial-free fourth quarter, and that any overtime period for either game would be ad-free, too.

Following the Trend?

In 2020, TNT aired the fourth quarter of the NBA All-Star Game ad-free as it paid tribute to Kobe Bryant weeks after his death. 

The commercial-free finish is also common to professional golf, as sponsors routinely pay networks to present an ad-less final hour of major championships like the U.S. Open on NBC.

College football heads into the heart of bowl season this weekend as postseason matchups attract tens of millions of eyeballs during the holiday break. Looking back on the 2023 season, a few teams and games brought fans to the television more than the rest.

With most major viewership metrics now available (largely thanks to data from Sports Media Watch), the results confirm that fans continue to want to watch blue-blood programs and rivalries the most.

While Michigan’s 30-24 victory over Ohio State was the most-watched game of the season, Alabama was actually the most-watched team. The Crimson Tide averaged 7.12 million viewers per game, according to a list tallied by the Action Network. The Top 10 teams included three from the SEC, two each from the Big Ten and Pac-12, one each from the ACC and Big 12, and Notre Dame:

• Alabama 7.12M (11 games)
• Ohio State 6.05M (11)
• Colorado 6M (9)
• Georgia 5.9M (11)
• Michigan 5.61M (12)
• Tennessee 4.57M (7)
• Oregon 4.43M (10)
• Texas 4.26M (12)
• Florida State 4.16M (12)
• Notre Dame 4.15M (10)

The outlier here is Colorado, which was thrust into the national spotlight thanks to first-year head coach Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes had the third- and seventh-most-watched games of the season, according to Football Scoop:

• Ohio State-Michigan: 19.07M (Fox)
• Georgia-Alabama (SEC Championship): 17.52M (CBS)
• Colorado-Oregon: 10.03M (ABC)
• Michigan-Iowa (Big Ten Championship): 10.02 million (Fox)
• Ohio State-Notre Dame: 9.98M (NBC)
• Penn State-Ohio State: 9.96M (Fox)
• Colorado State-Colorado: 9.3M (ESPN)
• Oregon-Washington (Pac-12 Championship): 9.25M (ABC)
• LSU-Florida State: 9.17M (ABC)
• Michigan-Penn State: 9.16M (Fox)

Last year, non-College Football Playoff bowl games averaged just over 3 million viewers. Both CFP semifinal games drew more than 20 million, while the national championship garnered 17 million.

The Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority are saving state taxpayers $226 million in interest costs due to the early retirement of bonds that helped build U.S. Bank Stadium. Less than seven months after that deal, the stadium authority is looking for $62 million in public money to improve the facility.

The MSFA is set to ask the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz for that sum to construct an enhanced security perimeter around the stadium. The latest request isn’t directly connected to the bond retirement but shows how public financing of sports facilities can remain a fluid concept, even years after a stadium or arena is built. U.S. Bank Stadium opened in 2016.

Designed in part to comply with antiterrorism standards set by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the initiative will include enhanced fencing and a remade entrance to the western side of the building facing downtown Minneapolis and a light-rail station. The work is the second phase of a larger project; an initial phase costing $15.7 million was already funded earlier this year with public money.

Phase 2 completes “the vision for an inviting outdoor public space that is now the front door for U.S. Bank Stadium,” Tyler Robertson, an architect for Populous, said at a MSFA meeting. 

New Turf

Separately, the MSFA also approved a $1.3 million bid to replace the artificial turf at U.S. Bank Stadium. The new field will be a monofilament turf, one that rates better on NFL/NFL Players Association injury data than the facility’s current slit-film turf.

Slit-film turf has been associated with higher non-contact injuries, particularly among lower extremities, and both Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce suffered such injuries earlier this season at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Indianapolis Colts are making a similar replacement of its slit-film turf field, also in time for the 2024 season.

The new U.S. Bank Stadium field will be paid for by an existing MSFA capital account for routine stadium maintenance funded by both the state and the Vikings. 

One of the NBA’s best players is parting ways with Nike—and he’s not alone.

Denver Nuggets center and 2023 NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić has left the sports footwear and apparel giant in favor of a multiyear deal with Chinese brand 361 Degrees. Jokić, who is expected to serve as a global face of the upstart brand, took the court Wednesday night for a game against the Toronto Raptors wearing 361 Degrees’ Big3 Future High shoes. 

Jokić’s teammate, Aaron Gordon, is already aligned with 361 Degrees. The move also parallels the rise of fellow Chinese brand Anta Sports, which in recent months has signed NBA stars such as Kyrie Irving and Donte DiVincenzo, who join other endorsers such as Klay Thompson. Irving and Thompson are also former Nike endorsers.

The Jokić-Nike split isn’t altogether surprising, as the brand never gave him a signature shoe despite his winning two league MVP awards, the Finals MVP, and an NBA title.

Nike Earnings

Despite the various basketball defections, Nike reported a 1% increase in fiscal second-quarter revenues to $13.4 billion and a 19% rise in net income to $1.58 billion. Given the larger sales and earnings challenges in the category and Nike missing Wall Street’s projections in the prior quarter, the latest results represent something of a win for the company.

“Our Q2 results demonstrated how we are getting back on our front foot in our key areas of innovation and growth,” said Nike president and CEO John Donahoe. 

But Nike’s road ahead is likely to still be rocky. The company said in its earnings report that it is looking to reduce $2 billion in costs over the next three years, with staff cuts and a simplified product mix among the targeted areas. To that end, Nike is already projecting pre-tax restructuring charges of $400 million to $450 million in next quarter, largely associated with employee severance costs. 

Nike shares dropped nearly 5% in after-hours trading, wiping out the stock’s gain for the year to date.