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Morning Edition

December 10, 2024

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The Mets have spent six decades as the Yankees’ proverbial little brothers in MLB’s biggest market, but having the league’s wealthiest owner comes with certain advantages. After signing Juan Soto to the largest contract in sports history, the Mets are nobody’s underdog. They’re trying to alter the balance of power in New York.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Have Mets Upended New York’s Baseball Hierarchy With Soto Deal? [[link removed]]

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

There’s a potentially major shift happening in the New York baseball pecking order, or at least how the Mets are perceived after more than six decades as an often-lovable underdog.

Since the Mets’ 1962 arrival as an expansion team, the team has generally held a lesser stature compared to the crosstown Yankees, owners of the most championships in major North American men’s pro sports. Head-to-head, the dichotomy is even more stark, with the Yankees’ 27 titles far outdistancing the Mets’ two, including a victory in their only head-to-head World Series matchup in 2000.

The Mets’ 15-year, $765 million deal for Juan Soto, though, resets the dynamic in many respects. The pact not only set a new record for the largest player deal in sports history but also beat out the Yankees’ top offer of $760 million over 16 years.

No longer can the Mets be seen as a scrappy upstart. They are backed by MLB’s richest team owner in Steve Cohen [[link removed]], who in his four-year ownership tenure already had made the Mets a top-spending club across the league. To that end, industry sources said it was Cohen who was a key driver in completing the Soto deal, along with president of baseball operations David Stearns.

“The goal actually wasn’t to beat the Yankees, even if that happens,” said a source close to the Soto negotiations. “It was to get past the Dodgers [[link removed]].”

Even before the historic pact with Soto, there was already change in the air surrounding the Mets as they advanced this year to the National League Championship Series [[link removed]]. During the regular season and subsequent playoff run, the team largely shed a more downcast and fatalistic vibe that had infected the franchise—particularly during the often-embattled ownership reign of Fred Wilpon—and embraced a distinct sense of joy, in part through numerous viral intersections with pop culture [[link removed]].

With the Soto deal, the Mets are poised to lose money for the foreseeable future, sources said. But the signing is expected to elevate the entire franchise, both on and off the field, and advance the Mets’ pursuit of their first title since 1986.

“This deal certainly isn’t going to change his lifestyle, or his philanthropy,” a source said of Cohen, referring to the more than $1.2 billion donated through the owner’s personal foundation.

Money for Wilpon

The Mets’ former owner is also poised to reap sizable rewards from the Soto agreement. Sterling Equities, the company controlled by Wilpon and brother-in-law Saul Katz, has retained a majority equity stake in SportsNet New York, the club’s regional sports network, and it was not included in Cohen’s 2020 deal to buy the club for more than $2.4 billion.

Even in a significantly challenged environment for all regional sports networks, SNY is likely to see a substantial uptick in viewership and advertising in 2025 due to Soto’s arrival, and perhaps in carriage deals, too.

College Football Playoff Teams Paid $27M for Non-Conference Schedules [[link removed]]

Austin American-Statesman

One of the biggest talking points surrounding teams that did (and didn’t) make the first 12-team College Football Playoff field was their respective strength of schedules.

After Alabama was left out in favor of SMU [[link removed]], Crimson Tide AD Greg Byrne posted on X [[link removed]] that he “will need to assess” how many Power 4 non-conference games “make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP.”

Alabama finished the regular season 9–3, but all of its losses came against SEC opponents. The Crimson Tide played at Wisconsin but also paid a total of $2.9 million for home games against Group of 5 programs [[link removed]] USF and Western Kentucky, as well as Mercer, an FCS school.

That payout for non-conference games is higher than all but four teams that did make the CFP. The SEC and ACC play eight conference games and four non-conference matchups annually, while the Big Ten and Big 12 each play nine and three, respectively.

In total, this year’s 12 Playoff teams paid at least $26.9 million for matchups with Group of 5 and FCS teams, according to Front Office Sports research:

Texas: $4.9 million Ohio State: $4 million Tennessee: $3.5 million Penn State: $3.1 million Notre Dame: $2.65 million Georgia: $2.45 million Oregon: $1.95 million Indiana: $1.75 million Clemson: $1.73 million SMU: $450,000 Boise State: $425,000 Arizona State: $0 By the Numbers

Notre Dame was the lone CFP team to lose a game in which it paid its opponent—a 16–14 shocker at home against Northern Illinois, which received $1.4 million to hand the Fighting Irish their only loss [[link removed]] of the season. As an independent school, Notre Dame doesn’t have a conference schedule but does have a partnership with the ACC and traditional matchups like those against Stanford and USC.

SMU’s tally accounts for a $450,000 payment the Mustangs made to Nevada— for a road game in a unique twist [[link removed]]—but any potential payment made to Houston Christian is unavailable, as it is private, like SMU. Houston Christian received a $350,000 payment to play at UTSA this season.

While Texas paid the most for its non-conference games, which also included a trip to Michigan, the Longhorns only earned the No. 5 CFP seed after losing to Georgia in the SEC championship game [[link removed]]. Arizona State, which didn’t pay anything for its non-conference schedule, won the Big 12 [[link removed]] and was awarded the No. 4 seed (and a bye). The Sun Devils did host Wyoming (Mountain West) to open the season, but FOS did not find any record of a payment.

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As Wizards Hit Historic Low, Leonsis Calls Season ‘Very Productive’ [[link removed]]

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

As the buzzer sounded in Capital One Arena on Saturday, Wizards rookie Bub Carrington bowed his head and pumped his fists [[link removed]]. Washington overcame a career-high 56 points from three-time MVP Nikola Jokić to beat the 2022 NBA champions.

Carrington’s celebration showed more relief than triumph. The win snapped a 16-game losing streak for the Wizards, which teased at the record 28 straight losses the Pistons established last year.

But the Wizards are still exhibiting historic levels of futility. The following night, Washington lost by 28 points to the Grizzlies, bringing their average point differential to -16.2, the worst in NBA history [[link removed]]. Their 3–19 record translates to a .136 win percentage on pace for the seventh-worst record [[link removed]]. This follows a season in which the team won just 15 of 82 games.

However, the losses appear to align with the strategy laid out by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the Wizards’ parent company. In a new in-studio interview [[link removed]] with Front Office Sports, Zach Leonsis, president of media and new enterprises—and son of owner Ted Leonsis—emphasized his trust in the direction of the team’s front office.

“I’m very confident in our front office’s plan,” Leonsis told FOS. “They presented a 200-slide presentation at one point about a multiyear process. … I think we’re making the most of it.”

Tanking, which is essentially deliberately losing, is not new in the NBA. The purpose is to manufacture a better shot at winning the NBA draft lottery to select a young building block to escape from the cellar. The 2025 draft is expected to be chock-full of franchise-altering talent at the top [[link removed]].

Teams don’t admit to tanking—though there are signs, like playing very young players to expedite their development. At one point earlier this season, four of the five Wizards starters were under 21. (One of their three wins came with that starting lineup.)

So while a tanking team isn’t compiling wins, the organization can believe it’s still taking positive steps.

“While our win-loss numbers aren’t particularly great this season, I actually think we’re having a very, very productive season elsewhere,” Leonsis said.

There’s merit to Leonsis’s comments. Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger and Wizards GM Will Dawkins both spent time in the front office of the Thunder, who used a long-term approach through the NBA draft and some shrewd trades to build their last two successful eras: one led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and the current one anchored by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren.

There is also precedent in D.C. for drastic change. The Wizards were swimming in the NBA’s pool of mediocrity for half a decade, battling for play-in berths and eighth seeds. They signed John Wall and Bradley Beal to massive supermax deals that stifled their future flexibility.

However, a plan centered on tanking does not guarantee long-term success. Just ask the Sixers, the leaders of the “Trust the Process” movement. They have yet to make a conference final since their infamous tanking run in the early- to mid-2010s.

A multiyear tank also tests the commitment of a team’s fan base—and the Wizards already hold the longest conference finals drought in the league. Washington is 27th in attendance [[link removed]], the same as last year, and even guard Jordan Poole admitted after Saturday’s win that he’s been trying to get fans “more engaged.” [[link removed]]

It doesn’t help that late last year, Monumental threatened to move its teams [[link removed]]—which include the NHL’s Capitals and WNBA’s Mystics—to Virginia following funding disagreements with D.C. officials. That seems to be settled [[link removed]], and Leonsis told FOS the organization takes “a lot of pride in being part of downtown D.C.’s comeback.”

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Conversation Starters Juan Soto’s $765 million contract is higher than LeBron James’s all-time NBA earnings and the valuation of the average MLS franchise. Here’s [[link removed]] what else the deal is larger than. Netflix will have Kay Adams, Robert Griffin III, Mina Kimes, Drew Brees, and Manti Te’o on the studio show for its inaugural NFL Christmas Day doubleheader [[link removed]]. MLS looks to be in good shape to continue growing once Lionel Messi hangs up his cleats. Learn more [[link removed]] about the future of the U.S. soccer league. Editors’ Picks Netflix’s Full Talent Lineup for Both Christmas NFL Games [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]The final list included quite a few big names—and some surprises. Linda McMahon’s Sexual Abuse Lawsuit on Pause Over Maryland Constitutionality Questions [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The 2023 law allowing the lawsuit is being challenged. McLaren F1 Team Nearly Folded in 2020. An American Exec Just Led It to the Top [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]An investment from MSP Sports Capital in 2020 saved McLaren. Question of the Day

Will Juan Soto spend the entirety of his next 15 seasons as a Met?

YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]]

Monday’s result: 83% of respondents agree with the CFP committee’s decision to select SMU rather than Alabama.

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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