As the Cowboys dominate the NFL news cycle with speculation about Deion Sanders replacing Mike McCarthy as the head coach in Dallas, there are some important financial obstacles to consider.

Sanders is entering the third season of a five-year, $29.5 million contract as head coach of Colorado. If he were to leave in 2025, the university would be owed $8 million (cheaper than the $10 million UNC would be owed if Bill Belichick leaves before June 1).

The Cowboys are widely estimated to be the world’s most valuable professional sports franchise, worth at least $10 billion, but money was still an issue for Dallas owner and GM Jerry Jones, who had the final say on McCarthy’s departure.

On the team’s official website, Cowboys columnist Mickey Spagnola wrote, “Jerry likely wasn’t willing to commit guaranteed money over the five-year time period new head coaches have been signing over the past year that certainly McCarthy’s agent, Don Yee, was angling for.” That’s in line with other reporting, including from ProFootballTalk, which previously cited similar thinking around league circles.

McCarthy was making $8 million per season in Dallas, according to ESPN. The NFL’s highest-paid coaches have salaries well into the eight figures ($10 million and more). Broncos coach Sean Payton and Chiefs coach Andy Reid could each make as much as $100 million over five years.

It would seem unlikely for Sanders to leave Colorado without a raise upon the $5.9 million (plus $1.85 million in potential incentives) he is due to make in 2025. However, even that salary is above what first-time NFL coaches typically initially earn, which is often not more than $5 million per season.

Rocky Mountain Man

Sanders confirmed he spoke with Jones on the phone about the Cowboys opening, telling ESPN, “I love Jerry and believe in Jerry. After you hang up, and process it, and think about it, it’s intriguing. But I love Boulder and everything there is about our team, the coaches, our student body and the community.”

Colorado is moving forward without an official NIL (name, image, and likeness) collective, after dropping its partner, the 5430 Alliance.

Earlier this week, Sanders posted a video on social media of his first team meeting of the year, in which he said he was excited to “just be a coach and not be a dad.” For the past two seasons, Shedeur and Shilo Sanders were on the Buffaloes. Shedeur is projected to be one of the top quarterbacks selected in the NFL Draft, while Shilo’s professional prospects are less certain.

The battle for supremacy in sports-centric skinny bundles is escalating quickly as satellite TV carrier DirecTV is introducing a sports package that includes all of what was previously attempted with Venu Sports, plus many more channels.

The company unveiled its “MySports” streaming package Tuesday, bringing together content from prior Venu Sports partners ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as league-owned channels such as the NFL Network and MLB Network. Other digital services such as ESPN+ will eventually be added to the package.

More than 40 sports and broadcast channels will be part of the MySports package. It will be available initially in 24 U.S. metro areas, including top markets such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and cost $69.99 per month. A debut promotion drops $20 from the cost for each of the first three months.

Those figures are dramatically less than the standard fee of more than $100 per month for an entry-level DirecTV package with a broad array of sports channels and streaming capabilities—but more than the $42.99 per month eyed for the now-shuttered Venu Sports.

“This is the first of several genre-based options we plan to launch over the coming months on our path towards a brighter TV future for consumers,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement.

The skinny bundle race is one of several strategies carriers and programmers are attempting to address accelerating cord-cutting across the pay-TV landscape. Other efforts are more direct-to-consumer options, such as what ESPN is now developing with its “Flagship” product.

Several major sports programmers, including CBS and Amazon, remain notable omissions from this new MySports package, as they were in Venu Sports.

Broader Landscape

DirecTV’s high-profile announcement arrived just days after Venu Sports announced plans to discontinue before even reaching the market, though former rival Fubo Inc. now plans to revive the essence of that controversial service.

DirecTV, meanwhile, has been in the throes of its own change in recent months. An attempt at a large-scale merger with satellite TV rival Dish Network quickly unraveled, in part due to complications from the latter’s debt load of nearly $10 million. A separate deal in which private equity giant TPG Inc. will acquire from AT&T the 70% stake in DirecTV it doesn’t already own remains on track.

The carrier has also been in the midst of amending current deals or striking new ones with major programmers to help make initiatives such as MySports. Among them was a major negotiation last summer with ESPN’s parent company Disney, ultimately resolving a bitter, two-week impasse in talks.

The accelerating and unlikely momentum of Main Street Sports has gathered more support as the regional sports network operator reached a revised rights agreement with the Reds, the company’s second such new deal in the last two weeks.

As the former Diamond Sports Group recently emerged from bankruptcy with its new name and a reworked rights pact with the Brewers, the National League Central rival Reds made a similar move. Cincinnati had previously elected to go with Major League Baseball’s in-house model for producing and distributing its local games in 2025—to the point of walking away from its 20% equity stake in FanDuel Sports Network Ohio for a single dollar. 

Several weeks of subsequent negotiations between the Reds and Main Street Sports, however, led to a new pact for the coming season back on that network. The agreement includes both linear and streaming rights. 

“Our top priority is to make sure Reds games are accessible to our fans,” said Reds COO and CFO Doug Healy. “The decision to stay with FanDuel Sports Network provides continuity for our fans.”

Main Street Sports now has nine MLB clubs in its portfolio of teams, joining eight NHL teams and 13 more in the NBA. It also has boosted its post-bankruptcy operations by hiring former ESPN executive Norby Williamson as president of production and programming. MLB will now handle five clubs in 2025 through the in-house program. 

The Reds have struggled in MLB’s increasingly big-dollar competitive landscape, reaching the playoffs just once since 2014, and not having won a playoff game since 2012. The team is increasingly seen as an improving one, though, with a solid offseason to date that includes hiring two-time World Series winner Terry Francona as its new manager. Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz is one of the top rising talents in the league.