NFL viewership is still a positive story to tell heading into Week 6, despite the league taking its first notable hit of the season.

The good news is NFL broadcasts (not including the Week 1 Peacock exclusive) are averaging 17.5 million viewers per game—up 1% from 2023 and still the highest mark since 2015. 

The bad news is that, after the NFL’s best September in nine years, most broadcast windows in Week 5 had smaller TV audiences than they did in 2023, according to Sports Media Watch. A variety of factors led to the Week 5 dip, particularly in prime time.

A Cowboys-Steelers matchup would normally draw huge TV numbers, but a 90-minute weather delay to kickoff meant the 20–17 Dallas victory wasn’t over until nearly 1 a.m. ET. The 20.3 million people who tuned in to NBC was the lowest Sunday Night Football audience of the season, and down 23% from Cowboys-49ers in Week 5 last year.

ESPN got the ratings juggernaut Chiefs on Monday Night Football for the first time this season, but the audience of 15.91 million for Kansas City’s 26–13 win over the Saints was down from 17.38 million viewers in Week 5 last year for Packers-Raiders, which had the benefit of being simulcast on ABC.

The 49ers visit the Seahawks to kick off Week 6 on Thursday Night Football, which is averaging 14.17 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video, up 5% from the same point in the 2023 season. 

Staying Flexible

Flex scheduling is now in play for NFL games. Up to two games can be moved to SNF between Weeks 5 and 10. This week, NBC has the Bengals (1–4) at the Giants (2–3), after reportedly getting blocked by CBS from taking the Commanders (4–1) at Ravens (3–2) game, which will air at 1 p.m. ET.

This season, for the first time, MNF has flex scheduling, beginning in Week 12. ESPN’s lead NFL analyst Troy Aikman thinks that will be in play for Week 13’s Browns-Broncos game. “Cleveland at Denver, that may end up being a flex, is what it’s looking like,” Aikman said on Wednesday’s episode of Pardon My Take.

Major League Baseball is once again pressing Diamond Sports Group to make decisions sooner rather than later about which teams it will carry.

A week after the bankrupt regional sports network operator said it intends to shed nearly all of its MLB rights agreements—a move that could have significant ripple effects across baseball—the league again is pushing DSG and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to get full and immediate clarity for the 2025 season.

“We have been in conversation [with DSG counsel] about those clubs that will not be going forward … to find a way to terminate, end, or reject [their contracts], as appropriate, prior to the [Nov. 14] confirmation hearing, so that we can open up the opportunity for those clubs to make alternative arrangements,” James Bromley, an attorney for MLB, told the court Wednesday during a status conference. 

Bromley’s comments echo many made by MLB last fall and winter, during earlier stages of DSG’s bankruptcy case, when the league similarly sought rapid answers on the company’s broadcast plans for 2024. 

The latest situation, however, carries far higher stakes, as DSG is finally planning to hold that hearing next month before the court to seek confirmation of its bankruptcy reorganization plan. Additionally, DSG could be left with just the Braves among its baseball rights once the 2025 season starts, as the company intends to renegotiate any other MLB agreement it would keep. 

More Decision-Making

While MLB and several of its individual clubs are waiting for more substantive answers, three have already taken matters into their own hands. The Brewers, Guardians, and Twins—each previously with DSG contracts that expired at the end of the 2024 regular season—will have the league produce and distribute their local games.

There are two other sets of clubs at risk as the DSG situation evolves. The Tigers and Rays are set to be dropped by DSG, absent revised rights deals. But five other clubs—the Angels, Cardinals, Marlins, Reds, and Royals—are not technically connected to the bankruptcy due to joint ventures surrounding some of the individual RSNs. Nonetheless, MLB would like answers on DSG’s ultimate plans for each of those clubs, too. 

Bromley, meanwhile, hinted a formal objection from MLB regarding DSG’s bankruptcy reorganization plan could be soon forthcoming, something that has been suggested multiple times before.

“We’ll be putting together a schedule with respect to discovery, objections, and the like,” he said. 

Wednesday’s status conference arrived two days after a court filing disclosed DSG is nearing a new naming-rights deal for the RSNs to replace Bally. Sportsbook giant FanDuel is expected to take over those naming rights. 

The WNBA Finals tip off Thursday night between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx—two organizations that have reached the mountaintop in different ways.

Liberty’s Rise Fueled by Investment

The top-seeded Liberty, the only one of the W’s original eight teams that is active but without a title, have capitalized on the New York market and investments from owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, who bought the team in 2019.

In a league where funding has been scarce for some teams, the Liberty’s new billionaire owners invested in new facilities, lucked into Sabrina Ionescu in the 2020 draft, and recruited the likes of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Courtney Vandersloot. The organization even violated the league’s charter flight rules and was penalized half a million dollars in 2022.

The Tsais had the deep pockets to pay the fine, and they did, while showing how far they were willing to go to invest in the team.

“From the earliest days, what I remember is that no one wanted to buy the team,” Wu Tsai told CNN. “The first feeling out there was we thought that the fundamentals were actually very good … of course New York and the tri-state area is this country’s largest media market.”

The Liberty have built a juggernaut on the court. They finished with a league-best 32–8 record in the regular season, won the Commissioner’s Cup, and are nearly 3-to-1 favorites to win the title.

Off the court, the team also thrived, securing the second-highest attendance this season, behind the Indiana Fever, with an average of 12,729 fans, a 64% increase over last year. They also have perhaps the most popular non–Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese figure in the league this season: their mascot, Ellie the Elephant.

Lynx’ Legacy Built on Loyalty

On the other side, the Lynx play in one of the league’s smallest markets and have a murky ownership situation given the ongoing dispute for the Lynx and NBA’s Timberwolves between longtime owner Glen Taylor and prospective buyers Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore.

But the Lynx have built a culture of winning—which includes four championships between 2011 and 2017 and playoff appearances in all but one season since that first title. The success helped them build a loyal fan base that has mostly been in the upper half of the league in attendance since 2011.

The one time the Lynx missed the playoffs was in 2022, when star forward Napheesa Collier missed all but four games after taking parental leave. Collier informed the Lynx immediately after she found out she was pregnant—and the two sides agreed to let their best player take time off.

The decision mirrors what happened with Lynx great Maya Moore. The 2014 MVP sat out the 2019 season as she dedicated her time to work on freeing her now-husband from prison. Moore was 29 at the time, and never returned to action, retired in 2023, and had her jersey retired by the team in August.

The Lynx’ player-friendly decisions come as the Las Vegas Aces deal with a lawsuit filed in August by Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, who alleged the Aces discriminated against her when she informed them of her pregnancy. Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon has denied any mistreatment of Hamby.