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Morning Edition

October 27, 2025

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The Brian Kelly era at LSU has ended, with a buyout that could reach roughly $53 million, part of a staggering $169 million that schools already owe coaches this season. The move came a day after Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian addressed rumors about their own job futures.

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

LSU Ends Brian Kelly Era, $53M Buyout Negotiations Underway [[link removed]]

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

LSU fired Brian Kelly on Sunday, ending the embattled football coach’s three-and-a-half-season run in Baton Rouge.

Kelly, who signed a 10-year, $100 million contract in 2022, is owed a buyout of roughly $53 million. That’s the second most expensive buyout in college sports history, behind the $77 million Texas A&M paid to Jimbo Fisher [[link removed]] in 2023.

However, terms of his exit were still being negotiated as of Sunday evening, according to multiple reports. Offset language—similar to that found in James Franklin’s buyout [[link removed]] from Penn State—could make the total LSU ends up actually paying Kelly much less than the estimated $53 million.

Including the $53 million that is assumed to be owed to Kelly, college football coaching buyouts have now reached a record $169 million this season. Three others are in the eight figures [[link removed]], too: Penn State’s James Franklin ($49.7 million), Florida’s Billy Napier ($21.2 million), and Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy ($15 million).

Spin Cycle

The Tigers fell to 5–3 (including a 2–3 SEC record) after Saturday’s 49–25 home loss to No. 3 Texas A&M, which knocked LSU out of the AP Top 25 poll for the first time this season. Kelly leaves with a 34–14 record at LSU, including three bowl victories, but no College Football Playoff appearances.

Rumors about Kelly getting fired heated up after LSU lost to Vanderbilt [[link removed]] last week. On Sunday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry reportedly met with the school’s board of supervisors and key boosters [[link removed]] to discuss Kelly’s future, according to Matt Moscona of ESPN 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge. Landry has been heavily involved in the process because LSU doesn’t currently have a president, and is in the process of hiring a new one.

Meanwhile, Kelly’s firing comes as the Ole Miss coach Lana Kiffin and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian look to shoot down rumors [[link removed]] that they each have interest in other high-profile jobs across college football and the NFL.

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Lamar Jackson’s Practice Status Flip Sparks NFL Investigation [[link removed]]

Brent Skeen-USA TODAY Sports

The Ravens beat the Bears 30–16 on Sunday for their second win of the season and first since Sept. 14, but the NFL is investigating the team’s injury reporting around quarterback Lamar Jackson, who missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury.

Baltimore could be disciplined for initially listing Jackson as a full participant in Friday’s practice and then, on Saturday, downgrading his game status to out while also retroactively changing [[link removed]] his Friday practice status to limited.

The Sessions in Question

The team explained the Friday practice situation, in which Jackson worked with the scout team, in a statement [[link removed]] Saturday: “Lamar Jackson was present for and participated fully in our entire practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Bears. Upon further evaluation and after conferring with the league office, because Lamar didn’t take starter reps in practice, we updated our report to reflect his practice participation.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told ESPN [[link removed]] that the league “will look into this” since it “reviews any matter involving a change to a player’s status.” Previous punishments for not properly disclosing a player’s injury status have included monetary fines and loss of draft picks.

NFL Eyes NBA Scandal

The Jackson situation is bad timing for the NFL, given last week’s sports betting scandal that put a black mark on the NBA [[link removed]].

On Friday, one day after the FBI revealed its findings and arrested Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo [[link removed]] to all 32 of the league’s clubs reminding players and personnel about the NFL’s gambling policy.

In 2023, the NFL suspended nine players [[link removed]] for violating its gambling policy, but no player has been punished since then.

Blue Jays’ World Series Run Is Just Part of Rogers’ Big Sports Push [[link removed]]

Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

TORONTO — As the Blue Jays are just three wins away from their first championship since 1993, the MLB club’s parent company also has very big things in mind.

Rogers Communications, the Canadian media and telecommunications giant that owns the Blue Jays, intends to exercise an option next year that will allow it to take full ownership of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment—which controls the NHL’s Maple Leafs, NBA’s Raptors, Toronto FC of MLS, and a variety of other sports assets.

Already, Rogers gained majority control of MLSE this past summer [[link removed]], creating one of the world’s most dominant sports portfolios with a set of holdings that also includes the Blue Jays, Sportsnet, Rogers Centre, Scotiabank Arena, and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, among many other assets. The next step will be to buy out the 25% share of MLSE currently held by Kilmer Sports Ventures chair Larry Tanenbaum, as it can contractually start next July.

But that’s not all. Once the Tanenbaum deal happens, Rogers is likely to pursue a recapitalization of its sports assets, including bringing in an outside investment partner.

All of that is developing with a goal of using sports as a focal point for Rogers’ future activity.

“We are in the early stages of transforming our sports and entertainment business into one of the best sports businesses globally,” Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said last week in an earnings call. “This is our third pillar of growth beyond wireless and cable, and will be meaningful to Rogers over time.

“We are building a sports business at scale, and we are assessing multiple options to unlock additional value. We will take the time to be thoughtful, deliberate, and get it right. In the meantime, we will continue to operate with financial discipline while providing team leadership with the tools and resources to build championships,” he said.

There are still some obstacles to the overall Rogers ambition. In particular, Rogers has more than $26 billion in long-term debt it is working to reduce.

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are tied with the Dodgers in the World Series, dropping Game 2 on Saturday after a dominant win in the opener on Friday.

Role of the Blue Jays

Amid the many sports holdings Rogers has, the Blue Jays have ascended to the top of that group, and not just because of the current success. As MLB’s lone team in Canada, at least for now [[link removed]], the Blue Jays have no other baseball competition among the Canadian population of about 41 million. As a result, the team essentially has the largest market of any team in the league.

What’s more, the Blue Jays are a source of deep national pride—something still rising as political and economic tensions between the U.S. and Canada continue. That’s also been reflected in record-level viewership of the Blue Jays on Sportsnet [[link removed]], something likely to continue in the World Series [[link removed]].

“The way our Blue Jays World Series run is captivating this country is a very clear demonstration of the power of our iconic sports teams,” said Rogers CFO Glenn Brandt.

Investors and industry analysts have taken close notice of what Rogers is doing and how the Blue Jays are accelerating the company’s ambitions across its business.

“Rogers benefits in several ways from the Jays reaching the playoffs and World Series,” CIBC Capital Markets said in a research note issued just hours before Game 1 of the World Series. “Beyond the intangible benefits like brand association with the team’s success and primetime ad sports during key moments in important games, Rogers can also benefit directly from increased ticket and concession revenues. We expect that as Rogers leans on sports, it will see increased opportunity to positively associate its Rogers brand and telecom offerings with its sports teams’ successes.”

The emerging synergy and power of Rogers has also been on display through a series of schedule changes [[link removed]] for the Maple Leafs and Raptors to minimize conflicts with the Blue Jays’ World Series games.

CFB Revenue Era’s New Powers: Indiana, Georgia Tech, and Vandy [[link removed]]

Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

With just one week to go before the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2025 season are released on Nov. 4, a slew of programs that are anything but traditional football powerhouses are crashing the party typically reserved for the heavyweights and blue bloods.

In the penultimate AP Top 25 poll before the CFP rankings take center stage, the top 10 includes four teams that almost no one would have predicted in the preseason:

No. 2 Indiana No. 8 Georgia Tech No. 9 Vanderbilt No. 10 BYU

Each of those programs has found success in their own unique ways this season, which is the first of the revenue-sharing era [[link removed]] that let athletic departments pay athletes up to $20.5 million this year.

How They Got Here

Indiana is the most notable, having ascended to second in the rankings as head coach Curt Cignetti’s star power continues to grow. After Penn State fired James Franklin, the Hoosiers locked Cignetti up with a new eight-year, $93 million contract extension [[link removed]] worth $11.6 million annually. He’s now the third-highest-paid coach in the nation.

Georgia Tech is undefeated and in first place in the ACC, and barreling toward a Rivalry Weekend matchup with No. 5 Georgia (the Yellowjackets’ final three opponents before that game are not currently ranked). Georgia Tech has taken its conference by storm as traditional powers like Clemson and Florida State are both under .500.

Vanderbilt beat Missouri Saturday after ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast from the school’s Nashville campus for the first time since 2008. The thrilling 17–10 victory continued the Commodores’ rise from SEC doormat to legitimate CFP candidate [[link removed]].

BYU is 8–0 and atop the Big 12 in the school’s third year in the conference. The Cougars are thriving despite an unexpected offseason pivot [[link removed]] away from former star quarterback Jake Retzlaff (who transferred to Tulane after being sued as part of a sexual assault lawsuit). True freshman Bear Bachmeier, 19, has passed for nearly 1,700 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Conversation Starters Blue Jays legend Joe Carter received his Home Run Jacket—32 years after Toronto’s last World Series. Take a look [[link removed]]. Just weeks before Thursday’s arrests, NBA commissioner Adam Silver discussed issues with prop bets [[link removed]] and said that the league is “operating with one hand tied behind our back” due to sports betting regulations. North Texas has a 0-star freshman QB and a coach who recruited Patrick Mahomes and Cam Ward—and together, they’re torching teams [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Canada Could Get MLB Expansion Team, Manfred Says [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The league has noted fast-rising fan interest north of the border. NIL Has Birthed a Third-Party Cottage Industry—and It’s a Mess [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]There’s no limit to how much players can make from NIL deals. Sarkisian, Kiffin Address Rumors As Coaching Carousel Spins Again [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]Reports are rampant about the coaches taking new jobs. Question of the Day

Do you think NIL and revenue-sharing are responsible for more parity in college football?

YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]]

Friday’s result: 21% of respondents think no college football coaches will be fired after Week 9. 31% think one will be fired. 30% think two will be fired. And 18% think more than two will be fired.

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]]

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