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Morning Edition

December 13, 2024

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The Mets admit that the $765 million contract they offered Juan Soto pushed them out of their comfort zone. Owner Steve Cohen, however, seems pleased with his decision, saying, “If you want something that’s amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable.”

We report back from Juan Soto’s introductory Mets press conference with more on the historic contract, the team’s stance on payroll disparities across baseball, and Soto’s first comments in blue and orange.

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

Mets: Not Concerned About Lower-Revenue Clubs After Soto Signing [[link removed]]

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

QUEENS, N.Y. — The record-setting, $765 million contract between Juan Soto and the Mets pushed the club, by its own admission, beyond its comfort level. The same can likely be said for a now-reset economic order across the rest of Major League Baseball [[link removed]]. But the Mets and owner Steve Cohen happily did the deal anyway.

The Mets formally introduced Soto on Thursday afternoon during a high-profile press conference at Citi Field, and Cohen freely acknowledged both the need and desire to venture far into uncharted territory to land a “generational talent” like Soto.

“If you want something that’s amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable. It’s never going to be comfortable,” Cohen said. “So I always stretch [financially].”

By moving nearly 10% beyond the industry’s previous high-water mark—Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers from just a year ago—and doing so without any deferrals, the Mets will likely be the target of some criticism from small-market teams. That, too, is being dismissed.

“I’m focused on the Mets and trying to win a World Series with the Mets,” said David Stearns, Mets president of baseball operations, in response to a Front Office Sports question about the lower-revenue clubs. “So I’m not particularly concerned about that.”

To that end, Stearns said he thought there was a “less than 50% chance” of the Mets signing Soto in the final hours before he made his choice, and Cohen at multiple points cited the several other clubs in fervent pursuit of the 26-year-old outfielder.

“This was a competitive process with many teams involved. It was hard to know where you stood, and it was a moving target,” Cohen said. “But in the end, I got the call I wanted.”

A New-Look Mets

The 15-year contract—the longest player deal in MLB history in addition to the richest ever in sports—also aims, at least indirectly, to reset the local baseball paradigm [[link removed]] with the Mets now assuming a very different image relative to the crosstown Yankees.

It’s a sizable shift from more than 60 years of the Mets being known as often-lovable underdogs, and Cohen is eagerly embracing that.

“This [signing] puts an accent on what we’re trying to do and it accelerates our goal of winning championships,” Cohen said. “But more importantly … my goal has been to change how the Mets are viewed. I think we’re really on the path of changing that.”

No Pressure?

Soto, for his part, sought at the press conference to downplay the immense scrutiny likely to follow his unprecedented signing. More than a generation ago, star MLB shortstop Alex Rodriguez signed a similarly historic deal with the Rangers, for a then-unfathomable $252 million—and was quickly overwhelmed by the burdens that came with it.

Instead, Soto repeatedly lauded the tight relationship quickly forming between Mets leadership and his own family.

“The money is definitely going to be there, but I was really impressed with what [the Mets] showed that they can do,” Soto said.

UNC Job Brings an End to Belichick’s Short-Lived Media Career [[link removed]]

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Bill Belichick’s surprising move to UNC [[link removed]] will bring an end to the coach’s brief but busy stint in sports media.

After Belichick didn’t land another NFL job following his firing from the Patriots in January, the six-time Super Bowl–winning head coach stayed in front of football fans through a half dozen weekly media gigs [[link removed]] this past fall:

The Pat McAfee Show: Appeared each Monday for a roughly 30-minute interview on the popular, and sometimes controversial, program that airs on ESPN and YouTube ManningCast: Cohosted during the first half of all 10 regular-season editions of the alternate Monday Night Football telecast on ESPN2 with Peyton and Eli Manning The Breakdown with Peyton and Belichick: Starred in ten 30-minute episodes on ESPN+ released each Friday, previewing that week’s upcoming ManningCast matchup Inside the NFL: Has been a full-time cast member on the long-running show that now airs on The CW on Friday nights Let’s Go!: Cohosted the SiriusXM show alongside Jim Gray, Peter King, and Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby this season. Tom Brady, the show’s former cohost, made several appearances on the Monday evening program Coach with Bill Belichick: Digital show from Underdog Fantasy featuring breakdowns on various players and teams from Belichick, Michael Lombardi (who is joining him at UNC as the football GM), and former Patriots assistant coach Matt Patricia

Belichick showed a different side of himself through his various media jobs, offering more personality than he did while coaching in New England. “I learned it’s a lot of fun being in the media,” Belichick said Thursday at his introductory press conference in Chapel Hill [[link removed]]. “That’s not bad.”

What’s Next?

The ManningCast and The Breakdown have only one more program scheduled around ESPN’s wild-card weekend NFL playoff game, but The Pat McAfee Show, Inside the NFL, Let’s Go!, and Coach were all set to keep using Belichick’s expertise through the end of the NFL season.

Spokespeople for ESPN, The CW, and SiriusXM were unable to comment about Belichick’s future at their respective companies Thursday, and Front Office Sports was unable to reach a representative for Underdog Fantasy.

Belichick could keep appearing in some of his media roles like The Pat McAfee Show or Let’s Go! to drum up recruiting interest for UNC. In fact, North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham told The News and Observer [[link removed]] that Belichick would continue doing so.

However, continuing to participate in Inside the NFL and Coach, which are both heavily focused on analyzing NFL action, may be counterproductive to getting his feet under him at UNC.

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NBA Cup Year 2: Tweaks, Schedule Concerns, and Growing Pains [[link removed]]

Candice Ward-Imagn Images

The Emirates NBA Cup is still in its infancy, and it’s experiencing some growing pains. After a year that saw double-digit increases in viewership, the tournament is down 10% this year through group play [[link removed]].

But while the NBA Cup was introduced to manufacture more meaningful regular-season games, the league is also keen on making the event’s semifinals and championship game in Las Vegas a tentpole event similar to the All-Star Game.

“Our focus has really been on communicating to fans that you have to be there live,” EVP of global events Kelly Flatow told Front Office Sports.

Been There, Done That

While there may be critics of the NBA’s vision to have fans fly to Vegas for essentially three regular-season games, the league has already established precedent for its goal. The NBA Summer League, which started in 2004, has attracted thousands of fans [[link removed]] to Sin City over the past decade, even if most of the players aren’t on official NBA rosters.

But in the Summer League, there is certainty in the participating teams and players, so fans know they will get a first look at the incoming rookie class. For the NBA Cup, the four teams headed to Vegas were decided just three days before the semifinals. That presents a challenge for those attempting to book a trip.

The league’s solution is to create other events in Vegas throughout the weekend. There’s an NBA Creator Cup featuring social media stars, a red-carpet event to introduce NBA players and legends, and even a free throw contest between Stephen A. Smith and one of the members of Inside the NBA [[link removed]].

It remains to be seen whether those will be enough to sell out T-Mobile Arena for Saturday’s semifinals and Tuesday’s championship game. Last year’s final sold out, but the semis did not, a key reason the league tweaked this season’s schedule [[link removed]].

Ticket prices have dipped over the last few days [[link removed]] after the teams were finalized, according to The Sporting Tribune’s Arash Marakazi. The Rockets, Thunder, Hawks, and Bucks are headed to Vegas—but fan favorite Steph Curry and the Warriors [[link removed]], plus Luka Dončić and the Mavericks, all missed out.

Open to Change

However, the NBA is open to making changes to the Cup, big and small. It made some minor schedule changes this season [[link removed]], and it will continue to review the format in future years—particularly as Amazon comes in as the exclusive rights-holder for the tournament starting next year.

“We could certainly work with our players’ association to make tweaks if we thought they made sense,” Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president for basketball strategy and analytics, told FOS. “That will be that integrated conversation between Amazon, the league, our teams, and our players’ association to see what could be on the table to really heighten this property even further.”

Another hurdle the NBA may face down the line will be the location for the tournament finale. The event is in Vegas as it is a neutral site with no NBA team—but NBA commissioner Adam Silver has mentioned Las Vegas as a potential site for an expansion team [[link removed]]. Last week, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved key agreements to build a potential new NBA arena [[link removed]].

While the league seems enamored with Vegas for the event moving forward, Flatow said “no decision” has been made yet on the location of next year’s event.

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Sam Darnold is one of the NFL’s lowest-paid starting quarterbacks. The Vikings brought him in at a $10 million salary after Kirk Cousins left for a four-year, $180 million deal in Atlanta. Despite the perceived gap in their value, Darnold leaned on Cousins’s former receivers to coast to a 42–21 win over the Vikings’ longtime QB on Sunday.

Second-year pro Jordan Addison was a big part of that, catching three of Darnold’s five touchdown passes. Together, the two of them make $13.4 million this season. But as we often see in the NFL, there’s nothing wrong with a bargain.

Get your own [[link removed]] Winning Combo of the Week at Wendy’s [[link removed]], and try the all-new Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger with a Dr Pepper.

Conversation Starters The Yankees topped the Dodgers as the No. 1 trending sports team in the U.S. this year, according to Google searches. Check out [[link removed]] the rest of the top 10. College GameDay will have two on-campus shows for the first round of the CFP [[link removed]]: Friday at Notre Dame and Saturday at Ohio State. YouTube TV is raising its subscription price to $82.99 per month [[link removed]], a $10 increase and 137% more than its launch price in February 2017. Editors’ Picks New Sixers Arena Clears Key Philadelphia City Council Vote [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The team still needs one more vote to move ahead. Wander Franco Trial Delayed Despite Lawyers’ Request to Beat Spring Training Deadline [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]He is accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking of a minor. Florida State, Still Suing ACC, Claims It Never Wanted to Leave [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]In court documents last December, the Seminoles said they planned to withdraw. Question of the Day

Will Bill Belichick appear on media platforms during his time as UNC coach to promote the program and appeal to recruits?

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

Thursday’s result: 33% of respondents think they could make a 33-yard field-goal attempt on live TV for a big cash prize.

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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