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Afternoon Edition

October 22, 2025

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Roger Goodell isn’t backing down from criticism over the NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl LX halftime show. The league is standing by the global superstar despite growing political backlash.

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

NFL’s Goodell Stands by Bad Bunny: ‘It’s Going to Be a Great Show’ [[link removed]]

Matthew Childs-Reuters via Imagn Images

NEW YORK — The NFL is standing firmly behind Bad Bunny, its choice for the Super Bowl LX halftime show, even as the selection continues to generate political controversy.

League commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed Wednesday at the end of fall meetings here that there will be no change in the headline act for the Feb. 8 showcase at Levi’s Stadium.

“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us, and an important element to the entertainment value [of the Super Bowl]. It’s carefully thought through. I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. That’s hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching. But I feel confident that it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be an exciting and uniting moment.”

Goodell did say that the halftime show with Bad Bunny will “evolve from here” in the ensuing months as production details and potential guest performers are finalized, but he stressed that’s a typical process.

“I’m not saying that there won’t be additional talent that might be involved, but that’s always how it works,” Goodell said.

Trump Speaks Out

The selection of the Puerto Rican superstar for the Super Bowl showcase has been a lightning-rod issue [[link removed]] since it was announced. U.S. President Donald Trump has decried the choice [[link removed]], calling it “absolutely ridiculous,” and an online petition is now circulating to have veteran country music singer George Strait perform instead.

Bad Bunny has been outspoken against immigration enforcement initiatives pursued by the Trump Administration, and he has largely avoided playing in the continental U.S. because of it.

The outcry has grown to the point that Turning Point USA, the conservative advocacy group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, is developing counterprogramming [[link removed]] around what it calls “The All-American Halftime Show.”

Regardless of the controversy, it’s a near-certainty that the Bad Bunny show will be part of a historic viewership total. Already, the NFL posted a U.S. television record [[link removed]] in February 2025 for Super Bowl LIX, and since then has only grown its audience more [[link removed]], beyond even the impact of Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process.

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Read the full story here [[link removed]].

Amazon Plans to Stream NFL Black Friday Game Globally—for Free [[link removed]]

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

NEW YORK — The NFL’s accelerating global ambitions are once again on full display as the league has expanded its Amazon deal to broaden distribution of the upcoming Black Friday game to a worldwide audience.

The Nov. 28 game between the defending champion Eagles and Bears, the third game that Amazon has shown on the unofficial U.S. holiday, will be shown in more than 240 countries and territories, significantly expanding upon the prior plan announced in May [[link removed]]. The game will be shown for free without a subscription or a Prime membership required.

“To be able to take that game and do what we did with both Netflix and YouTube, the [global] audiences speak for themselves,” said NFL EVP Hans Schroeder at NFL fall meetings. “To be able to take a single platform and reach fans all over the world, we’re really excited about it. We think that’s a really great and simple way to bring in new people.”

The effort in particular follows the global distribution on YouTube for the Sept. 5 game from Brazil. That contest, however, fell into an audience measurement controversy [[link removed]] as YouTube did not use an accredited Nielsen process to measure the game, and later had to update its count [[link removed]]. Amazon, conversely, was an early adopter of Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process [[link removed]].

The expanded distribution also feeds directly into an ever-expanding global presence for the NFL, one that will likely include an even larger set of international games [[link removed]] next year beyond this year’s record number of seven [[link removed]].

The Black Friday game between the Eagles and Bears will start at 3 p.m. ET, meaning that with the time difference, it will be in prime time across Europe—a vital part of the NFL’s international plans. Black Friday, of course, is not a tradition outside the U.S., as it feeds directly from American Thanksgiving, but the broadcast will nonetheless be a late-season showcase of two of the league’s more popular teams.

ESPN Deal Proceeds

NFL owners, meanwhile, gave formal approval of the equity transaction with ESPN that was first announced in early August [[link removed]].

The deal is still working through regulatory approvals and hasn’t yet closed, but one of the more notable wrinkles is that the league will gain the ability to redeploy four games per season that had been held by the NFL Network. Along with that, ESPN and the NFL are rethinking prior initiatives such as exclusives on ESPN+ and Monday Night Football doubleheaders, with that latter plan likely on its way out [[link removed]] with the forthcoming deal.

“We never quite got the message right with fans. They never understood,” Schroeder said of the MNF doubleheaders. “And if you look at the numbers, with two games, we were getting a little more than 19 million viewers [on average]. If you do one game on ESPN and ABC, you get a little over 18 million. So you get about the same audience, and it’s less confusing to fans.”

EXCLUSIVE

Trail Blazers Sale Will Take Multiple Years to Complete

Tom Dundon’s $4.25 billion agreement to buy the Trail Blazers is moving forward, but the sale—one of the richest in NBA history—could take several years to finalize, Front Office Sports has confirmed. For more on Portland’s potential sale, read the full exclusive story by Alex Schiffer here [[link removed]].

Big 12’s Yormark Defends Slow NIL Go Approvals: ‘That’s Not a Glitch’ [[link removed]]

Sophia Scheller-Imagn Images

As uncertainty about regulating NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals in college sports continues to grow, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is defending some of the industry’s much-criticized innovations.

As the revenue-sharing era began this summer, the newly created College Sports Commission [[link removed]] (CSC) launched the NIL Go clearinghouse that is supposed to approve any deal worth more than $600. However, that approval process has been lagging [[link removed]], with some deals remaining in limbo for weeks on end.

“While some have expressed concern about how long it’s taking some NIL deals to get approved, I’ll say this: That’s not a glitch, that’s a feature,” Yormark said Tuesday at the Big 12 basketball media days in Kansas City. “The CSC is doing the critical work to ensure there’s no pay for play in our industry. Deals that aren’t aboveboard are getting the scrutiny they deserve. This is a new era of enforcement. Complying with these new rules is not optional.”

Earlier this month, sources told Front Office Sports that multiple major power conference collectives were giving up [[link removed]] on trying to work through NIL Go, and that at least two collectives had begun to pay players before the submitted deals had been approved.

Long term, Yormark expects the CSC’s enforcement efforts “to be strong and robust.”

Is Bigger Better?

Yormark reiterated his stances in favor of expanding both the College Football Playoff and March Madness.

The CFP has a Dec. 1 deadline to decide on any expanded format for the 2026 season. “I’ve always said you have to earn it on the field,” Yormark said. “Nothing should be predetermined come the beginning of the season. So, if there was a conversation about a format that gave the four power conferences the same amount of a chance, I’m all ears.”

Yormark has been a proponent of expanding to 16 teams with just five automatic bids for the top five conference champions, while the Big Ten has been pushing proposals [[link removed]] that would guarantee the conference at least four playoff spots each year.

As it relates to March Madness, Yormark said Big 12 coaches and ADs are “in favor of modest expansion.” The NCAA has been considering growing the men’s and women’s tournaments from 68 to either 72 or 76 teams [[link removed]]. “The right economics have to come with that,” Yormark said, referencing the need for more media-rights fees should expansion be approved. “I’ve reinforced that over the last couple of months. And I do believe that there’s momentum for expansion.”

NFL Tries to Revive Pro Bowl Games by Moving It to Super Bowl Week [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

NEW YORK — The NFL is taking another swing at elevating its long-struggling Pro Bowl Games, moving the event to a new date and locale.

The league will stage the 2026 Pro Bowl Games, its version of an all-star game, on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The event will be held indoors during Super Bowl week, and on a custom-built field at the site of the league’s Super Bowl Experience, the primary fan-facing event during the week. Super Bowl LX will be held five days later at Levi’s Stadium.

The primary competition will remain a flag-football game featuring teams of top players from the American and National Football Conferences. That component continues to promote flag football, a vital league initiative ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where it will debut as a medal sport and will likely feature NFL players.

The new venue and timing, developed after consultation with players, are designed to inject further life into the event and also allow more star players to be a part of Super Bowl week.

“This uses our biggest stage to showcase this game in a very big way,” said NFL EVP Peter O’Reilly at the league’s fall meeting. “We’re building what you might call a Thunderdome for flag [football].”

The upcoming event at the Moscone Center will be ticketed and open to fans, but a final capacity has not been finalized. ESPN will again air it, and the Manning brothers remain actively involved but will not coach the two squads.

The 2025 Pro Bowl Games averaged 4.7 million viewers [[link removed]], down 18% and the third straight annual decline. Given the NFL’s dominance [[link removed]] over not only the rest of sports but all of U.S. television and culture, the continued viewership struggles of the Pro Bowl and then the Pro Bowl Games remain a significant outlier. That television audience in February was less than two-thirds of the comparable 7.2 million average [[link removed]] for MLB’s 2025 All-Star Game in July.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Breaking Down NBC’s Return to Basketball

FOS illustration

NBC brought back its NBA coverage in a big way, but with some kinks that still need to be ironed out, according to FOS media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel. He joins Baker Machado and Renee Washington to evaluate the debut of NBC, including its highly anticipated “MJ: Insights to Excellence” series with Michael Jordan.

Also, Brian Windhorst joins to take us through the biggest stories he’s watching for this season, including LeBron’s new role with the Lakers, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s trade request status with the Bucks, and how teams will navigate the second apron of the CBA. Windhorst also weighs in on the WNBA labor negotiation and Adam Silver’s role within that, and he takes us through the details of his flight’s emergency landing from earlier this week.

Plus, the NHL cancels its pre-Olympic event, LaLiga pulls the plug on its Miami game, and the Ravens punish their players in a pretty hilarious way.

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

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Down

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

ABC ⬆ The network aired the three most-watched games during Week 8 college football action last weekend: Ole Miss–Georgia (9.8 million), Tennessee-Alabama (8 million), and LSU-Vanderbilt (5.9 million).

PGA Tour ⬇ The tour has canceled its 2026 season opener [[link removed]], The Sentry, after not being able to find a suitable replacement venue for the tournament. Last month, the PGA Tour announced it would not be able to play the event in Maui due to ongoing drought conditions, but it said it was looking for alternative options.

TGL ⬆ The indoor golf league launched last year by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy [[link removed]] is renovating its SoFi Center competition arena ahead of its second season, which begins Dec. 28. The putting surface at the South Florida venue will be expanded by 38% to 5,270 square feet, and there will now be twelve hole locations, up from seven. One of the three bunkers has been removed, while the other two are expanding by 50% each. The tee boxes are also being expanded.

U.S. Grand Prix ⬆ The Formula One race drew 1.5 million viewers on ABC on Sunday, marking the event’s largest American TV audience on record. It marked the last U.S. GP on linear TV, as Apple is taking over F1’s U.S. media rights [[link removed]] next year.

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List the top 5 players with the most career hat-tricks in the Premier League.

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