The College Football Playoff is gearing up for its semifinal matchups this week, with the expanded postseason’s inaugural TV ratings in the national spotlight.

With 12 teams making up this year’s bracket, the first-ever CFP quarterfinals averaged 16.9 million viewers on ESPN platforms, after an average audience of 10.6 million tuned in to the debut of first-round Playoff games across ESPN and TNT Sports platforms. So far, all eight CFP games combined have averaged 13.75 million viewers.

Next up, ESPN will apply its traditional “MegaCast” approach to Notre Dame–Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night, and Ohio State–Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Friday night. Those games will be looking to match or surpass last year’s CFP semifinals, which averaged 23.2 million viewers for ESPN. 

Last year’s matchups were played on New Year’s Day, with the Michigan-Alabama Rose Bowl drawing 27.7 million viewers. That was higher than the audience of 25 million who tuned in to the Michigan-Washington national championship game.

Ready for Kickoff

The Orange Bowl is going ahead as originally scheduled, despite a request from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to have the CFP semifinal games flipped, due to the Sugar Bowl’s one-day delay to Jan. 2. Sankey felt that Notre Dame, which beat SEC champion Georgia last week, would have a disadvantage, since Penn State ended up with two extra days of rest, having beaten Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

For Notre Dame, another $6 million in bonus money is on the line, as the Fighting Irish get to keep 100% of the CFP revenue distribution they earn as an independent university, as opposed to other schools whose conference receive said bonus money, and distribute it to all their members.

Notre Dame has already earned $14 million thus far—the same amount Penn State and Ohio State have each earned for the Big Ten, and Texas has netted for the SEC.

The 2024 NFL regular season has been over for less than 72 hours, and Tom Brady has already become a major storyline.

Less than three months after Brady was approved as a Raiders minority owner, complete with a series of special rules to account for his Fox Sports broadcasting role, the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s role in football operations is again quickly rising to the forefront.

The team fired head coach Antonio Pierce after one season, and in the midst of that, multiple reports quickly suggested Brady would have a sizable role in selecting Pierce’s successor. Among them was an Adam Schefter post saying Brady would be part of a “collaborative committee” to interview coaching candidates. 

Of course, that’s hardly a leap, as last month Raiders owner Mark Davis said he expected Brady to have a “huge” say in the team’s future direction. The rebuilding team finished 4–13 on the season, and it will have the No. 6 pick in the 2025 draft. 

The drama of the situation, however, stems largely from how this latest role aligns with his 10-year, $375 million broadcasting contract with Fox. The coaching search functions are not on the banned activities list along with other actions such as attending team practices or pregame production meetings. But they would appear to skirt closer to the line, and potentially raise another appearance of conflict—particularly if the Raiders pursue current Lions coordinators Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson or Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, and Brady is calling one or more of those teams’ playoff games in the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, Brady will also be part of Fox’s production of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, an event that is not only the single largest event in all of U.S. television this year but an obvious corporate priority for Fox Corp. 

As those preparations continue, Brady’s performance in the booth has been widely deemed to have improved considerably in the second half of the season. 

Among the other potential candidates for the Raiders coaching job is former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, also a former teammate of Brady’s in New England. Vrabel, however, will also reportedly interview for the Patriots’ vacant head coaching job, along with several others, and he is seen as a strong candidate there. 

Jimmy Butler was suspended for seven games by the Heat on Friday as the team explores trade offers for the six-time All-Star. However, it seems Miami will not be trading Butler before he is reinstated.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Heat are not satisfied with the offers they’ve received for Butler and are “preparing internally” for Butler to be on the team by the time he’s eligible to play on Jan. 17.

“We’re at a genuine stalemate,” Windhorst said Tuesday on First Take. He added that teams are offering the “pupu platter” for Butler because of his contract. 

The Heat reportedly refused to give the 35-year-old a two-year, $113 million contract extension this past summer, so Butler can be an unrestricted free agent this offseason if he chooses to decline his $52.4 million player option.  

Multiple teams, including the Grizzlies, have been told Butler has “no interest” in being traded to them, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes. Yahoo Sports senior analyst Kevin O’Connor reported the Bucks as another team Butler shot down. This would indicate Butler would not sign an extension and would essentially be a half-year rental for any team.

According to Windhorst, Butler’s desired destination is Phoenix—and there’s mutual interest between the two sides. But several factors complicate a trade to the Valley of the Sun. For the money to work, Bradley Beal would need to be involved in a trade—unless the Suns unexpectedly decide to trade Kevin Durant or Devin Booker.

Beal, who was benched Monday for the first time since the 2015–2016 season, has three years left on his deal, including this year, amounting to about $161 million. He also has a no-trade clause—and he told reporters after Monday’s game that the team has not informed him about a potential trade.

“If so, I need to be addressed because I hold the cards,” Beal said.

Beal was reportedly willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to Miami in 2023 when he was being shopped by the Wizards. The Heat were unwilling to take on the three-time All-Star’s contract. That position hasn’t changed this time around, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Miami will need to find another team willing to take on Beal that can also make the money work—especially because the Suns are second-apron violators. An already narrow field would shrink further since Beal must be willing to waive his no-trade clause for the deal to push through.