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Afternoon Edition

October 8, 2025

Bud Selig tells Front Office Sports in an exclusive interview that while the Brewers’ “remarkable” run is impressive, their success can’t hide Major League Baseball’s growing financial divide.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

Bud Selig: ‘Remarkable’ Brewers Run Can’t Mask MLB’s Money Divide [[link removed]]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Brewers’ first owner and Major League Baseball’s commissioner emeritus is enthralled with the Milwaukee team’s exploits this season, but he doesn’t believe success changes the broader economic imbalance in the sport.

Bud Selig, the Brewers’ owner from 1970 to 2004 and the league’s commissioner from 1992 to 2015, has been keeping close watch of his hometown team’s rise this season to MLB’s best regular-season record. That ongoing march by the Brewers, despite competing in MLB’s smallest media market [[link removed]] and with the No. 21 payroll, continues Wednesday [[link removed]] as they look to close out the Cubs and clinch a spot in the National League Championship Series.

“I don’t think people understand just how remarkable this story is,” Selig tells Front Office Sports. “If I had told you on March 27, when the season started, they’d have the best record in the league and be where they are, you’d have thought the old guy had flipped. It’s just a wonderful story, and it’s a huge credit to what [owner] Mark [Attanasio] and his team have done.”

Selig also lauded the Brewers’ day-to-day leadership, notably president of business operations Rick Schlesinger and GM Matt Arnold, for building an organization that more than holds its own, both on and off the field, against larger-market competitors.

“They’ve done an exceptional job and the people here, throughout the city and the state, are just wild about what’s happening right now,” Selig says.

Bigger Worries

Despite all of that, Selig characterized the Brewers’ success as an outlier to broader trends in the game. A growing fiscal disparity—as seen in part by the Dodgers spending nearly five times as much this year on payroll as the Marlins [[link removed]]—has increasingly concerned many around baseball [[link removed]].

Selig is among them. Appearing in August on a podcast with former MLB Most Valuable Player Mo Vaughn, Selig noted the successful use of salary caps [[link removed]] in most other major U.S. pro sports leagues. While commissioner, Selig sought a salary cap, with that move leading to a players’ strike that cut short the 1994 season.

Speaking to FOS, the 91-year-old Selig continued on a similar theme.

“The economic problems are still there. Does any of what’s happening now [with the Brewers] lessen any of those problems? No, and [Attanasio] would be the first to say that,” Selig says. “The same things we talked about a decade ago still exist.”

That dynamic will be central in labor talks set to begin next year between MLB and the MLB Players Association. Current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last month [[link removed]] at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit that no bargaining positions have been finalized, but union leaders are openly fearing that owners will again pursue a cap [[link removed]].

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 and College Football TV Ratings Continue to Surge, Especially for CBS [[link removed]]

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

This past weekend of NFL action was highlighted by record-setting viewership for coverage on CBS.

As sports broadcasters keep benefiting from Nielsen’s new ratings methodology [[link removed]], CBS had its most-watched Week 5 singleheader window since it returned as an NFL TV partner in 1998. Sunday’s five games, led by the Broncos’ 21–17 win over the Eagles in the 1 p.m. ET window, averaged 19.57 million viewers, which is up 17% over last season’s comparable Week 5 singleheader window on Fox.

It also marked the most-watched NFL singleheader window for CBS in any week since 2013. Of note: The Buccaneers’ thrilling 38–35 win over the Seahawks in the 4:05 p.m. ET window was available to watch in only select markets throughout the country, mostly in Florida and the Pacific Northwest.

NBC averaged 21.9 million viewers for Sunday Night Football, as the Patriots upset the Bills 23–20 in Buffalo. NBC has drawn at least 20 million viewers for its first six SNF games of the season.

In the late afternoon window Sunday, Fox averaged 20.33 million viewers for its NFL coverage, led by the Commanders’ 27–10 win over the Chargers in most of the country, but also the Lions’ 37–24 victory over the Bengals in some parts.

CFB Stays Hot, Too

In college football (also seeing a major uptick in ratings [[link removed]] this year), the three most-watched games of the weekend were spread evenly across SEC, ACC, and Big Ten action:

Vanderbilt-Alabama: 6.4 million viewers on ABC Miami–Florida State: 6 million viewers on ABC Wisconsin-Michigan: 4.6 million viewers on Fox

ABC is still off to its hottest college football ratings start [[link removed]]on record, averaging 6.9 million viewers per game through six weeks of the season.

Meanwhile, Nebraska’s 38–27 win over Michigan State drew FS1’s most-watched college football game since 2022, averaging 1.5 million viewers Saturday afternoon.

More Eyes on Pregame Shows

ESPN’s College GameDay once again drew its second-most-watched telecast on record—a mark already set multiple times this fall—as the traveling pregame show continues its momentum following its all-time high of 4 million viewers [[link removed]] for its season opener that doubled as Lee Corso’s farewell episode.

Saturday’s show averaged 2.8 million viewers from Tuscaloosa. This season has already delivered College GameDay’s five most-watched telecasts ever.

MLB’s Rare October Day: Four Playoff Games, Four Possible Clinchers [[link removed]]

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Major League Baseball’s final postseason quadrupleheader of the season Wednesday could also be a historic one for the sport.

The league will play four division series games over the course of the day, starting with the Mariners and Tigers from Detroit’s Comerica Park at 3:08 p.m. ET, and concluding with the Dodgers and Phillies from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles at 9:08 p.m. ET. In between will be the Brewers and Cubs from Chicago’s Wrigley Field at 5:08 p.m. ET, and the Blue Jays and Yankees at New York’s Yankee Stadium at 7:08 p.m. ET.

It will be the last such day of playoff games before the schedule staggers and the postseason competition narrows toward the championship series and World Series.

Four Tickets Punched on Same Day?

The jam-packed schedule also presents an unusual confluence of clinching opportunities as the Mariners, Blue Jays, Brewers, and Dodgers are each one game away from advancing to the championship series round. If all four of those teams win Wednesday, that will represent the first time MLB’s four division series ended on the same day since 1996, and just the second such occurrence since this playoff round began in 1995.

The high drama is likely to be a further boon to television viewership that already has been on an upswing for MLB. After seeing across-the-board increases during the regular season [[link removed]] and then unprecedented viewership in the wild-card round [[link removed]], Fox said late Tuesday that the early days of the American League Division Series have produced a 14% viewership increase [[link removed]] from last year. The Blue Jays–Yankees series has been similarly strong on Sportsnet in Canada [[link removed]].

TNT Sports said its coverage on Oct. 4 of the start of the National League Division Series averaged 3.4 million viewers, up 30% from its comparable coverage last year of the ALDS and up 16% from its initial day of the NLDS in 2023.

“The wild-card round gave us a start to the playoffs that could not have been better,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said this week on the Phillies Radio Network. “Our ratings were phenomenal. Obviously, you get a New York–Boston matchup [to start], it just gets everybody engaged sooner.”

Playoff exits by the Yankees and Phillies, should they happen, would be particularly bitter pills for the teams with the No. 3 and No. 4 luxury-tax payrolls [[link removed]], respectively, this year.

Big Stars, Big Moments

The initial games of the division series, meanwhile, have produced a new set of signature moments from some of its biggest stars. The latest exploits include a game-tying home run Tuesday by Yankees superstar Aaron Judge [[link removed]] to help New York hold off elimination by Toronto, and Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts and third baseman Max Muncy successfully executing a ninth-inning wheel play [[link removed]] on Monday to cut down a late Phillies rally.

“It was a best-player-in-the-game type of performance,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge’s Game 3 exploits. “It was special when, obviously and needless to say, we’re backs-against-the-wall.”

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Alexis Ohanian Wants First Billion-Dollar Women’s Sports Team

FOS illustration

The new international basketball league, designed to compete with the NBA and WNBA, is planning to launch in the fall of 2026, but FOS has learned that Maverick Carter will not be one of the founders after all. FOS deals reporter Ben Horney joins Baker Machado and Renee Washington with the details of this new league, and whether it poses a real threat to the existing powerhouse basketball leagues.

Plus, tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian talks through his investments in women’s sports, including his new track league Athlos, which has its New York City event this weekend. Ohanian explains why that league is here to stay, and why his Chelsea FC women’s club could be the first women’s sports franchise worth $1 billion.

Also, the MLB playoffs have been a big success for brands, WNBA Finals ratings set a record, and former ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski announces his latest project with St. Bonaventure.

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

STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Push

Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Stanford football ⬆ The program has received a $50 million gift [[link removed]] from former trustee Bradford M. Freeman, who played for the Cardinal in the 1960s and went on to become a successful financial investor and political fundraiser. Led by GM Andrew Luck and interim coach Frank Reich, Stanford is currently 2–3 this season and plays at SMU on Saturday.

Baycurrent Classic ⬆⬇ The new PGA Tour event debuting this week at Yokohama Country Club in Japan may endure extreme winds, as Typhoon Halong approaches the coast, which has led to emergency warnings for nearby Tokyo’s Hachijojima and Aogashima islands. The PGA Tour moved Thursday’s tee times up by two hours, meaning U.S. TV coverage will begin on Golf Channel at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo ⬆ The soccer superstar has reportedly reached a two-year contract extension with Saudi club Al Nassr worth more than $400 million, making him the sport’s first billionaire player with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion [[link removed]], according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

International soccer ⬆⬇ After UEFA reluctantly agreed Monday to allow a LaLiga match and another in Serie A to be played outside their home countries, the issue has erupted further in the top flight of Italian men’s pro soccer. AC Milan midfielder Adrien Rabiot called the club’s plans to play in Australia in February “completely crazy” and “really absurd.” Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo responded that Rabiot “should have respect for the money he earns, complying with the wishes of his employer, Milan, who accepted and pushed for this match to be played abroad.”

Conversation Starters The Yankees added a few new food options to their postseason menu, including the Change Up Kitchen Burger and Dessert Nachos. Take a look [[link removed]]. Bryce Harper’s wife, Kayla, gave birth to their fourth child just before the Phillies began the National League Division Series, leading Harper to become emotional praising her. Check it out [[link removed]]. The NFL is fining Jerry Jones $250,000 [[link removed]] for flashing his middle finger at fans during the Cowboys’ game against the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Editors’ Picks WNBA Starts Finals With Best Viewership Since Inaugural Season [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Game 1 averaged 1.9 million viewers on ESPN. Cardinals Fine Coach Jonathan Gannon $100K for Striking Player [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Demercado made a costly mistake in the Cardinals’ loss to the Titans. ‘Absolutely Ridiculous’: Trump Blasts NFL Over Bad Bunny Choice [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The president predictably panned the NFL’s selection of the Puerto Rican superstar. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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