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Afternoon Edition

January 7, 2025

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NFL teams rarely look to their rivals’ current head coaches, but this hiring cycle might buck that trend. The Bears have shown interest in the Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy, while teams are reportedly eyeing the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell—raising the stakes for bold moves.

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

Is NFL Coach Poaching Back? McCarthy, O’Connell Draw Interest [[link removed]]

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

As the NFL’s next hiring cycle keeps heating up [[link removed]], a new, fairly unique trend has emerged: Teams are targeting their competitors’ head coaches.

Most notably so far, the Bears have requested permission to interview Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy [[link removed]], sources told ESPN. McCarthy’s contract, a five-year deal he signed in 2020, expires Wednesday, but the Cowboys hold exclusive negotiating rights through Jan. 14, per ESPN, before the coach would be free to pursue another opportunity.

On Sunday night, Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones told reporters he didn’t have immediate plans to make a coaching change, but also welcomed McCarthy testing the market, if he wanted to. “I would say, ‘Go talk.’ I really would,” Jones said. However, as of Tuesday afternoon, the Cowboys have not responded to Chicago’s request [[link removed]], according to ESPN.

Multiple teams have shown interest in trading for Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell [[link removed]], Fox Sports reported Sunday. O’Connell has one year remaining on the four-year contract that he signed in 2022. However, O’Connell threw cold water on that idea Monday. “This is where I want to be,” he said when he met with local media.

One more team that will be looking to fill a vacancy is Las Vegas. The Raiders fired head coach Antonio Pierce [[link removed]] on Tuesday after one season, according to ESPN. That makes six teams looking for head coaches, including the Bears, Jaguars, Jets, Patriots, and Saints.

History Lesson

Sean Payton is the most recent NFL coach to be traded. The Broncos acquired his rights from the Saints in 2023, sending over a first- and second-round draft pick while receiving a third-round selection. Payton retired after the 2021 season, and took the 2022 season off, but was still under contract with New Orleans.

The Buccaneers sent a sixth-round pick to the Cardinals for the rights to Bruce Arians, who was retired, in 2019, and the Chiefs gave the Jets a fourth-round selection for Herm Edwards, who had two years remaining on his contract.

In 2002, the Bucs famously sent two first-round and two second-round picks, plus $8 million, to the Raiders for Jon Gruden, who led Tampa Bay to a Lombardi Trophy in his first season. In 2000, the Patriots gave the Jets three draft picks for Bill Belichick, who never coached a game for New York.

Rays Reverse Course on Tropicana Field Repairs, Aim for 2026 Return [[link removed]]

Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Rays have dramatically reversed their position on repairing the hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field, and they now intend for the ballpark to be ready for the 2026 season.

Just weeks after Rays co-president Brian Auld publicly questioned the restoration [[link removed]] of the 35-year-old, publicly owned ballpark, the club sent a letter to the city of St. Petersburg, Fla., instead saying it “supports and expects” the work to be done in time for Opening Day of 2026.

“A partial 2026 season in Tropicana Field would present massive logistical and revenue challenges for the team,” Rays co-president Matt Silverman wrote in an email to St. Petersburg city administrator Rob Gerdes. “It is therefore critical that the rebuild start in earnest as soon as possible.”

Tropicana Field was badly damaged due to Hurricane Milton in early October, including the fabric roof being shredded. Initial estimates pointed to ballpark repairs costing $55.7 million and requiring about a year to complete [[link removed]]. Soon after that projection, Auld said it was “next to impossible” for the team to get back into the ballpark for the 2026 season.

Now, the club is conveying a very different sentiment.

“We are empathetic to the business interruption faced by the Tampa Bay Rays due to the impacts of the hurricanes, and we appreciate the Rays indicating their preference for the future of Tropicana Field,” the city said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with the Rays—through participation in a collaborative working group—and with [the] city council to return Major League Baseball games to St. Petersburg.”

While the repair situation plays out, the Rays will play 2025 home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa [[link removed]], the Yankees’ spring training home.

Bigger Discussions

The Rays, meanwhile, are still evaluating their situation regarding the planned $1.3 billion new ballpark in St. Petersburg. Both St. Petersburg and Pinellas County recently approved bond measures [[link removed]] for the stadium development.

The club, however, has said ballpark costs have “increased significantly, and we cannot absorb this increase alone”—likely setting the stage for further back-and-forth to come between the Rays and area officials.

Amid that, there are again calls from local leaders for Rays owner Stu Sternberg to sell the franchise.

“Looks like a long road trip to start the ’26 season is in order,” Pinellas County Commission member Chris Latvala tweeted in response [[link removed]] to the planned return to Tropicana Field. “Also—sell the team, Stu.”

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The NBA Can Compete With the NFL—If Social Video Views Count [[link removed]]

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The NFL has successfully started to take over Christmas from the NBA [[link removed]]—and overwhelming television and streaming viewership numbers show that it has happened.

Despite the NBA recording an 87% year-over-year increase in viewers on Christmas this year [[link removed]], its 5.25 million viewership average on ABC and ESPN was still trounced by the 26.5 million U.S. viewership for the NFL on its Netflix debut.

But the viewership gap wasn’t exactly a shock. The NFL draws tens of millions of viewers every week even during the regular season, while, nowadays, the NBA draws those figures only during the NBA Finals.

However, given the NBA’s 82-game regular season, it does provide significantly more content than the NFL. Lengthy seasons can be detrimental for leagues—not just the NBA, but NHL and MLB as well—as they devalue each game. But the volume allows the NBA to maintain a level of cultural relevancy and drive more social content, and that showed on Christmas.

Data provided by Videocites, a social media tracking and analytics company, shows a much smaller gap between the NFL and NBA compared to TV and streaming viewership.

The data shows that from Dec. 25 to Dec. 27, the NFL drew 921 million video views, about 14% more than the 811 million views the NBA delivered. The NFL was able to do this despite streaming two games during about a seven-hour run time compared to the NBA, which had its first game tip-off at noon ET with the final game ending around 1 a.m. ET.

However, a deeper look into the Videocites numbers shows slightly more than half of the video views generated by the NFL were based on the 12-minute halftime performance of Beyoncé (464 million). The games themselves generated 457 million video views.

The NBA’s run time also allowed for significantly more uploads than the NFL (12,654 vs. 6,112, including the NFL halftime show).

The numbers show the NFL has cemented its place on Christmas, but the NBA remains a cultural fixture during the holiday as well. However, it does showcase how the NBA must continue creating ways to build and monetize its strong social media content.

In the meantime, despite the viewership gaps, the volume of content likely explains why the NBA was able to sign an 11-year media-rights deal worth $77 billion [[link removed]] last year, not too far off from the 11-year, $110 billion deal the NFL signed in 2020.

STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Down

The Tennessean

Ran Carthon ⬇ The Titans fired their GM on Tuesday, after two seasons in charge of the team’s front office. Head coach Brian Callahan, whom Carthon hired last offseason, will be retained. Tennessee, which has the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, is now the second GM opening in the league, alongside the Jets. There are still five head coach vacancies [[link removed]].

Netflix ⬆ There were few complaints about buffering during the streaming debut of WWE Raw on Monday night, a positive start for the 10-year, $5 billion partnership between the two sides. Netflix’s livestream of the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson in November was marred with latency issues [[link removed]], though the NFL Christmas Day doubleheader [[link removed]] did not give fans a similar headache.

They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce ⬇ The debut episode of the ESPN talk show drew just 290,000 viewers in the 1 a.m. ET time slot, according to Puck’s John Ourand [[link removed]]. The same time period last January averaged 436,000 viewers. The show’s initial run is five weeks, which is through the NFL postseason.

A’s ⬆ The MLB club continues to spend more freely as it prepares to move temporarily to Sacramento, as well as seek to avoid a potential MLB Players Association grievance [[link removed]], signing designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60 million contract extension.

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Conversation Starters Jayson Tatum told reporters he “never” wants to miss road games because he knows it might be the only time some fans get to see him play. Check it out [[link removed]?]. FOS “Tuned In” columnist Michael McCarthy released power rankings for ESPN’s most influential on-air talents. Take a look [[link removed]]. UFC president Dana White has joined the board of directors of Meta [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks LIV Golf and PGA Tour Finales Will Clash for First Time [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]LIV Golf’s team championship and the PGA Tour’s finale will go head-to-head. Taylor Rooks on Amazon NBA Plan: ‘We Really Believe in Going Big’ [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Rooks predicts Prime’s NBA coverage will attract a younger audience. MLB Union Drops NIL Lawsuit Against Pirates, Sheetz [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The union claimed Sheetz posted about Pirates players too much. DISCLAIMER

*Marcus and Kiyomi Mariota are non-customer, paid promoters of Prudential Financial. Learn more about the material terms of their relationship with Prudential at [[link removed]].

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

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