The YES Network–Comcast carriage battle that marked the beginning of the 2025 Major League Baseball season is about to resurface, with parity issues again taking center stage.

A short-term contract between the Yankees-controlled regional sports network and the No. 2 U.S. pay-TV distributor, reached in late March, will expire at the end of the month, bringing many of the same issues from the spring back into sharp focus. 

Unlike many other distribution disputes centered on economics or how best to manage accelerating disruption in linear television, the YES Network–Comcast situation is based heavily on how the RSN’s carriage compares to SportsNet New York, the local home of the crosstown Mets. 

Comcast has engaged in a multiyear effort to place dozens of RSNs around the country on more expensive premium tiers, and sought to do so again in March with the YES Network. That initiative will also continue Oct. 1 when Marquee Sports Network in Chicago, the home of the Cubs, moves to Comcast’s Ultimate tier. 

SNY, partially owned by Comcast, is not subject to that and remains on an expanded basic tier, as its current distribution deal with the carrier is not up for renewal—creating a New York–area dichotomy that YES Network executives have been unwilling to accept.

Comcast and the YES Network declined to comment. Since the parties reached the prior deal, the Yankees have played a somewhat uneven season in the defense of their 2024 American League title, but they are poised to reach the postseason for the eighth time in the last nine years.

Similar to the prior round of Comcast negotiations, and in some other distribution talks, it’s possible that YES Network will soon begin airing crawls and other consumer alerts relating to the potential end of availability of its programming on Comcast. 

If the YES Network goes dark on Comcast, the NBA’s Nets could be most immediately affected, as Yankees playoff games would be on other national carriers. The RSN, however, does have extensive pre- and post-game coverage of the MLB postseason when the Yankees are involved.

Regulatory Power

The other major factor that bears watching in the YES Network–Comcast situation is what, if any, role that Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr will play. The regulator, appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, has seen his power across the media business grow sharply in recent months, as evidenced again this week by his significant influence in ABC’s suspension of late-night personality Jimmy Kimmel and in July regarding Skydance’s acquisition of CBS Sports parent Paramount. 

Carr’s public comments also helped spur a quick resolution last month between YouTube TV and Fox. He publicly lobbied in the spring for a deal between the YES Network and Comcast, something quickly noticed by other team owners, and last month, he appeared in the YES Network booth after throwing a first pitch at a Yankees game.

“I’m a big [baseball] fan,” Carr said during the YES Network broadcast of a Red Sox–Yankees game. “The Yankees are such an incredible organization.”

The Browns’ suburban stadium plans are now cleared for takeoff after Ohio transportation regulators resolved concerns about the venue’s proposed height near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. 

More than a month after initially denying a permit for the NFL team’s proposed $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park, Ohio, the Ohio Department of Transportation said the venue’s planned height of 221 feet above ground will not disrupt nearby air traffic and has granted the permit.

“All along, our goal has been to ensure that all concerns were heard and addressed, and a resolution could be found,” said ODOT director Pamela Boratyn in a statement. 

ODOT previously had sought to either have the Browns reduce the height of the stadium or select another location farther away from the airport, raising a series of safety concerns. Amid a series of negotiations between the team and regulators, a third-party consultant ultimately found that the stadium’s construction would not divert any flight paths.

Additionally, the venue will have roof lighting required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“We respect both the comprehensive work that the FAA did to determine that our stadium project poses no hazard to the surrounding area and ODOT’s diligent process to confirm these findings,” said Dave Jenkins, president of Browns owner Haslam Sports Group. “Safety is of paramount importance to all of us and was at the forefront of our detailed and deliberate process with our FAA consultants, who we engaged with well before our architects began designing the stadium.”

The Browns intend to break ground early next year and open the new stadium in 2029, after the expiration of their current lease at the downtown Huntington Bank Field. There are still several other hurdles to overcome, however, including filling a funding gap of at least $300 million that the team has intended to come from public sources, and ongoing legal challenges, including from the city of Cleveland. 

The team, meanwhile, is part of a fast-growing stadium development wave in the NFL that includes projects for the Bills and Titans that are well into active construction, and final approval this week for a Commanders stadium in the District of Columbia. Other teams, such as the Bears, Broncos, and Eagles, are either actively pursuing new stadiums or are considering ones as well.

The Indiana Fever have had a difficult season. Five rotation players have sustained season-ending injuries, including star Caitlin Clark, who played in just 13 games all season. 

The team also waived veteran DeWanna Bonner, one of its key offseason acquisitions. Bonner, who signed with the Phoenix Mercury in July, said the “fit did not work out.”

And yet, the Fever still produced their most successful season in a decade.

The Fever defeated the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night—despite trailing for all but the final seven seconds of the second half—and will advance past the first round of the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2015. 

The win is an affirmation of the team’s offseason coaching change. Indiana hired 2023 Coach of the Year Stephanie White, who had previously coached the team in 2015 and 2016—the last two times it made the playoffs. 

“I’ve had five coaches in eight years. I’ve been on the worst-record teams here [with] the Indiana Fever. … I’ve never had a coach that poured into me, respectfully, like Steph has,” Kelsey Mitchell, who has played her entire career in Indiana, said after the game.

Clark, who has not played since mid-July but has continued to be present on the sidelines, even tweeted White’s name in all caps after the game.

With Clark gone, Mitchell took over as the team’s top scorer, averaging more than 20 points for the first time in her career. She was named an All-Star for the third straight season, alongside Clark and center Aliyah Boston. 

Ratings Boost

The Fever have remained the league’s top draw despite the absence of Clark. That’s showcased by early WNBA playoff viewership numbers as the first two games of the Dream and Fever series have averaged about 1.2 million viewers on ESPN networks, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel numbers.

While that’s down compared to last year’s two Fever postseason games, which averaged more than 2 million viewers (and came before Nielsen’s measurement updates), it’s still more than any other WNBA series. ESPN thus emerges as a big winner, as it is guaranteed at least three more Indiana games. The Fever will battle the Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-five second-round series.

However, the first game of that series will be Sunday and will directly face off with Week 3 of the NFL season. The WNBA has felt a big hit on viewership when facing the NFL, as seen by the difference in viewership between the first two games of the Dream-Fever series. Game 1 drew 951,000 viewers Sunday on ABC, while Game 2 averaged 1.5 million viewers Tuesday on ESPN.

Starting next year, assuming the season is not derailed by a work stoppage, the WNBA will have additional flexibility to avoid the NFL once it begins its new media deal. ESPN, which has held the rights to the WNBA playoffs for more than 20 years, will air two of the first-round series, while NBCUniversal and Amazon will each take one. The final two rounds will rotate among the three partners.

The additional partners may also help curb the issue of playoff games being demoted to ESPN2 or ESPNU. The three do-or-die Game 3s were scheduled for ESPN2, including the two nail-biters Thursday, in favor of college football. Game 3 of the semifinals next Friday will be on ESPN2, while any potential Game 5s are scheduled to air on ESPNU.

A month after the SEC approved a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2026, the ACC is considering its own schedule format change.

According to an ESPN report, the ACC is close to changing its format to require at least 10 games against Power 4 competition. However, it is still yet to be determined whether the corresponding number of conference games will be eight or nine. Under the current rules, each ACC team is required to play eight conference games and one non-conference Power 4 team.

The conference’s athletic directors are scheduled to meet Monday to decide whether they will simply add another required conference game or move to an 8+2 model. A formal vote is not expected for another few weeks, according to CBS Sports. Any approved changes will start next season.

An ESPN poll indicated that the majority of the ADs prefer shifting to the nine-game conference schedule, but others, like Clemson’s Graham Neff, prefer the 8+2 model. The belief is that an 8+2 model would allow teams a chance to enhance non-conference rivalries or even build new ones with other Power 4 schools.

The CBS Sports report also indicated that there’s some concern among ACC officials that more required conference games may complicate scheduling, since all other Power 4 conferences have already increased their required conference games.

The format changes are a response to the College Football Playoff committee’s new metrics that consider strength of schedule.