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Afternoon Edition

August 4, 2025

The NCAA won’t be changing the madness—at least not yet. After months of speculation, the men’s and women’s tournaments will stay at 68 teams for 2026. Expansion remains on the table for 2027 and beyond, but for now, the brackets hold firm.

— Margaret Fleming [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]], and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

March Madness Fields Will Stay Put at 68—at Least Until 2027 [[link removed]]

Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

March Madness will keep the same level of madness next year, structurally, at least.

The Division I men’s and women’s basketball committees decided to keep the field at 68 teams during a Zoom call Monday, but they’re not opposed to expansion in the future.

“Expanding the tournament fields is no longer being contemplated for the 2026 men’s and women’s basketball championships,” SVP of basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement. “However, the committees will continue conversations on whether to recommend expanding to 72 or 76 teams in advance of the 2027 championships.”

Gavitt said last month that the committees discussed tournament expansion “at length” [[link removed]] during meetings but hadn’t yet come to a decision. In May, NCAA president Charlie Baker said there had been “good conversations” with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery [[link removed]] about adding more teams. By July, Baker said the biggest challenge would be logistically fitting the expanded tournament [[link removed]] between conference tournaments and The Masters. The Big 12 men’s coaches [[link removed]] and commissioner Brett Yormark have expressed support for expanding, if the media partners pay more.

Adding more teams would, in theory, increase the value of the tournament for media-rights partners. The men’s tournament is locked in with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery through 2032 on a deal that will pay roughly $1.1 billion next year, while the women’s tournament is roped into ESPN’s deals for all NCAA women’s championships. Signed in 2024, the eight-year, $920 million deal [[link removed]] values the women’s tournament at $65 million annually.

But media executives told Front Office Sports in May that the NCAA would probably get “chump change” from CBS or WBD [[link removed]] from beefing up the tournament, because the games would extend the earliest round. FOS also reported that ESPN’s contract says it doesn’t have to pay the NCAA more money [[link removed]] if the women’s March Madness expands.

Sports Is Big Business

At Front Office Sports, we believe that sports is big business. That’s why we’ve trademarked the phrase and launched our new merch shop [[link removed]], where you can say it with us on your hat, T-shirt, or sweatshirt. Orders above $75 ship for free. Pass it on to a friend who also gets it: Sports is big business.

NFL’s Hall of Fame Game Draws 6.9M TV Viewers, Highest Since 2021 [[link removed]]

Detroit Free Press

The NFL returned Thursday—though only with its first preseason contest of 2025. But viewership numbers for the first preseason game showcase how much Americans care about the NFL.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on Thursday between the Chargers and Lions drew 6.9 million viewers on NBC, according to Nielsen ratings. It was up about 40% from last year’s game between the Bears and Texans on ABC, and it was the most-watched version of the game since 2021, when the Steelers and Cowboys drew 7.3 million.

The strong viewership numbers for the exhibition come despite neither team trotting out its starters, including quarterbacks Jared Goff and Justin Herbert. Los Angeles also won in a blowout, 34–7.

NFL’s Dominance Continues

The NBA and MLB rarely surpass 6.9 million viewers for a game unless it’s in their championship series, while the NHL’s 2025 Stanley Cup Final averaged 2.5 million [[link removed]] viewers in the U.S.

While all seven NBA Finals games drew more than the Hall of Fame Game, only two playoff games [[link removed]] before the championship series eclipsed 6.9 million viewers.

Thursday’s NFL preseason contest also outpaced its own all-star showcase.

The NFL’s Pro Bowl Games in February, the third year the games have been rebranded [[link removed]] to include a flag football event, drew 4.7 million viewers [[link removed]]. However, the 2025 Hall of Fame Game drew even more viewers than the 2022 Pro Bowl Games, the last tackle football version of the event (6.7 million).

It also drew more than the NBA’s All-Star Game, which averaged 4.7 million viewers in February.

MLB drew 7.2 million viewers [[link removed]] last month, slightly more than the 2025 Hall of Fame Game. The final of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the tournament that replaced the league’s All-Star Game last year, drew 9.3 million [[link removed]]—the most-watched NHL game in the U.S. ever.

MLS Commissioner On Apple TV Deal: Critics ‘Don’t Get It Yet’ [[link removed]]

Dan Roberts, Don Garber at Huddle in the Hamptons. Photo: Front Office Sports

MLS commissioner Don Garber defended the league’s streaming deal with Apple during a Front Office Sports event, just over a week after revealing some surprising viewership metrics about the 10-year, $2.5 billion media-rights contract.

“The media and pundits just don’t get it yet,” Garber said at Huddle in the Hamptons on Friday. “I’m not sure we are where we need to be, but I know that we’re going to have to get there soon.”

At MLS All-Star festivities in Austin last month, Garber said regular-season matches this season have been averaging 120,000 unique viewers [[link removed]], which was an increase of almost 50% compared to 2024.

However, unique viewers are not a true comparison to the average-minute audience that Nielsen, the industry standard for TV ratings, tracks for most other major sports leagues. In 2022, the last season before the Apple deal went into effect, ESPN networks averaged 343,000 viewers per match for their allotment of national TV broadcasts. Fox Sports also had some English-language broadcasts.

At Huddle in the Hamptons, Garber highlighted the international aspect of Apple’s global deal, saying he’s just as interested in who’s watching in Argentina as he is in who’s watching in Columbus, Ohio. “We had no ability to do that with a domestic linear deal, without going out and selling individual game packages to be the fourth or fifth or tenth program on some channel in Germany,” Garber said.

Garber believes MLS is at the forefront of a sports streaming revolution, despite the viewership not reflecting the switch just yet. “Other than the hassle of people complaining about it, we feel pretty good,” he said.

Garber predicted the world’s top soccer leagues will all eventually use a similar TV distribution model as MLS, which now has 600 games per season, “treated as one global feed” on Apple. “We’re just early,” he said.

Looking back at the decision to broadcast exclusively on the streamer, Garber is confident that moving away from multiple local and national TV partners was the right call. “We had 30 games on ESPN, 30 games on Fox, and 30 Games on Univision, and we had 540 games on local TV, and nobody was watching them, and we weren’t getting paid,” he said.

NFLPA Names Interim Leader in Aftermath of Scandals Rocking Union [[link removed]]

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL Players Association has hired a new interim executive director, as the embattled union continues to deal with the fallout from recent scandals.

Veteran labor executive David White, who was the runner-up for the full-time executive director role in 2023, is temporarily taking over for Lloyd Howell Jr., who resigned last month [[link removed]] after several damning reports came to light.

White is the former head of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which is essentially Hollywood’s version of the NFLPA. He served as national executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA from 2009 to 2021.

More recently, White has served as the CEO of 3CG Ventures, an executive coaching and consulting firm he founded in 2022. However, he is pausing all of his client work related to 3CG Ventures and resigning his board service, including at consulting firm RGP, the NFLPA told Front Office Sports.

NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, in a statement, said a “comprehensive, player-led process” led to White’s hiring, which multiple reports said occurred after a vote among the 32 player representatives of each franchise Sunday night.

Reeves-Maybin also said the union will soon commence another player-led “thorough search process” for a permanent executive director, who will be tasked with several multibillion-dollar decisions [[link removed]] around the next collective bargaining agreement.

Dominoes Keep Falling

The NFLPA has been in flux since late June, when Pablo Torre and Mike Florio revealed findings from a collusion grievance [[link removed]] that the NFLPA had brought against the NFL. Originally filed in 2022, the case’s arbitrator made his ruling in January, but that was kept private for nearly six months.

Shortly after Howell resigned, NFLPA chief strategy officer JC Tretter stepped down [[link removed]], too. Tretter, a former union president during his playing career, was linked to having an interest in becoming NFLPA executive director, although he denied those claims.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY What Happens to ‘RedZone’ on ESPN?

FOS illustration

NFL RedZone is heading to ESPN … unless President Donald Trump blocks the deal, says Tuned In columnist Michael McCarthy. He joins Derryl Barnes and Renee Washington to discuss the president’s potential involvement in this deal and what the acquisition means for Scott Hanson and the commercial-free football we’ve come to love.

Plus, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones continues to throw shade at Micah Parsons, telling fans “don’t lose sleep” over the star linebacker’s hold-in that has now turned into a trade request. FOS newsletter editor Matthew Tabeek joins the show to explain the reason for Jones’s confidence and what comes next in this ugly saga.

Watch the full episode here [[link removed]].

STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Push

The Indianapolis Star

Colts QB room ⬆⬇ The unofficial depth chart lists the starting quarterback as “Daniel Jones OR Anthony Richardson Sr.” Indianapolis finished 8–9 in 2024 and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season as Richardson threw eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions with a 61.6 passer rating. Jones signed a one-year, $14 million deal with the Colts in March to compete against the former No. 4 overall pick in 2023.

Women’s golf ⬆ More than 47,000 fans attended the AIG Women’s Open, making it the largest women’s sporting event ever in Wales. That’s more than double the country’s previous record of 21,186 [[link removed]] for a women’s rugby match in March.

Julio Rodríguez ⬆ The Mariners star became the first MLB player ever to record 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases [[link removed]] in each of his first four seasons when he hit his 100th career home run in Sunday’s win over the Rangers. Rodríguez called his 21st steal of the year “a very big accomplishment.”

Derek Dooley ⬆⬇ The former Tennessee football coach launched his U.S. Senate bid [[link removed]] in Georgia with support from Gov. Brian Kemp, though he hasn’t secured an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump yet. Dooley is positioning himself as “a political outsider,” and he has no prior political experience. Dooley coached the Volunteers from 2010 to 2012 and finished with a 15–21 record.

Conversation Starters Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson suited up in full Talladega Nights gear at the MLB Speedway Classic, Ricky Bobby style. Take a look [[link removed]]. At MLB’s Speedway Classic, Braves outfielder Eli White hit the first home run inside a NASCAR track. Check it out [[link removed]]. From a finance job to the major leagues, Dugan Darnell made his debut on the mound for the Rockies. Take a look [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Federal Judge Tells Stephen F. Austin to Reinstate Women’s Sports Teams [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]Schools may not be able to follow through on threats of cuts. Damian Lillard and All the NBA Players Taking College GM Roles [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The All-Star was named general manager of Weber State men’s basketball Saturday. College Sports Is ‘New Frontier’ for Private Equity [[link removed]]by Ben Horney [[link removed]]“The dam will break at some point,” a Carlyle partner told FOS. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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