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Morning Edition

October 30, 2025

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The fallout from the NBA’s gambling scandal continues, with Terry Rozier’s and Chauncey Billups’s pay now sparking a heated debate between the league and the players’ union.

— Colin Salao [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

NBA Union Says It Will Fight Decision to Withhold Rozier’s Pay [[link removed]]

Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups will not be paid while on their leaves of absence, according to multiple reports.

Though the league’s collective bargaining agreement says that players on leave are to be paid, their paychecks will instead be withheld while awaiting the results of the federal investigations [[link removed]] that led to their arrests last week.

The union for NBA players, the National Basketball Players Association, said it will fight for Rozier to continue to be paid.

“While we are in agreement with the league that upholding the integrity of the game is of the utmost importance, their decision to place Terry on leave without pay is counter to the presumption of innocence and inconsistent with the terms of our Collective Bargaining Agreement,” an NBPA spokesperson told Front Office Sports. “We plan to challenge their decision via the proper channels.”

Rozier is accused of giving inside information [[link removed]] to a friend to help him win prop bets, while Billups was allegedly part of a rigged poker scheme [[link removed]]. A total of 34 people were arrested.

The NBA announced soon after the arrests that Rozier and Billups were placed on leave [[link removed]].

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Friday on Amazon Prime Video [[link removed]] that Rozier was placed on “administrative leave,” a specific category outlined in the league’s CBA [[link removed]].

Exhibits F-7 and F-8 on administrative leave read:

“While on administrative leave, the player shall be ineligible to play in any of his team’s games. However, the player will continue to receive his salary and other welfare benefits to which he would be entitled as an active player.”

The NBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rozier, who is currently on the Heat, is in the final year of a four-year, $96.3 million contract [[link removed]], which he signed with the Hornets in August 2021. His salary for the 2025–26 season is $26.6 million, with $24.9 million guaranteed. He had made $133.8 million over a 10-year career before this season.

The Heat and NBA are in “ongoing discussions” about salary-cap relief for Rozier’s contract, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday [[link removed]].

Billups, the head coach of the Trail Blazers, signed a multiyear contract extension in April [[link removed]]. The exact terms of the contract are unclear, but The Oregonian reported that Billups received a raise from the $4.7 million [[link removed]] he made last season. The deal runs through the 2027–28 season.

Billups made $106.8 million over a 17-year Hall of Fame career. He’s been the Blazers’ head coach since the 2021–22 season, after starting as an assistant coach on the Clippers the year before.

The NBA Coaches Association, the group that represents NBA coaches, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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18-Inning World Series Game 3 Draws 17.6M Viewers in U.S. and Canada [[link removed]]

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Game 3 of the World Series went deep into the night Monday, stretching for 6 hours and 39 minutes in what was the second-longest game by time in MLB postseason history. Viewership, however, remained strong on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.

Fox said late Wednesday that it averaged 11.4 million viewers for the 18-inning matchup between the Blue Jays and Dodgers, by itself down 16% from the comparable game last year for Yankees-Dodgers.

Canada’s Sportsnet, however, averaged 5.8 million viewers, despite the game ending at nearly 3 a.m. Tuesday for Toronto-area viewers, while the country’s French-language TVA Sports added about 400,000 more on average. Overall, Game 3 averaged 17.6 million across the U.S. and Canada, a 27% increase from last year.

The Sportsnet figure for Game 3 follows a record 7 million for Game 1 [[link removed]] on the network and 6.6 million for Game 2. The Game 3 figure is still a historic high point for the Blue Jays on Sportsnet, as it neared the 6 million from Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last week that stood as the network’s record for the club until the World Series. Sportsnet and the Blue Jays are both owned by Canadian telecommunications giant Rogers Communications, now in the process of building one of the world’s most powerful sports portfolios [[link removed]].

A New Dynamic

Fox’s Game 3 performance followed the slight declines [[link removed]] for Games 1 and 2, with the lack of a second U.S. team market measured by Nielsen. That slide was expected [[link removed]], as while the World Series is a major national and now international event, viewership from the home markets of the two competing teams drives a meaningful chunk of the overall audience.

Combining the Fox, Sportsnet, and TVA figures for this year, however, reveals a 25% cumulative increase through Game 3 from even the high-profile Yankees-Dodgers matchup in last year’s World Series. The NHL has experienced a similar dynamic in recent years, particularly with the Oilers competing in the Stanley Cup Final the last two seasons.

The massive influx of interest from Canadian fans has been a major storyline of the entire MLB postseason, to the point that league commissioner Rob Manfred has said multiple cities in the country could be expansion candidates [[link removed]]. Similar to the first two World Series contests, the Game 3 average on Sportsnet represented about 14% of the Canadian population.

Game 3 of the World Series featured another round of heroics from Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani [[link removed]], who got on base a record nine times in the 6–5 Dodgers win. Ohtani, however, could not match that level of performance during his first World Series pitching appearance in Game 4, a 6–2 Blue Jays win.

That Toronto victory deadlocked the series at two games each heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. The Game 4 outcome ensured the World Series will return to Toronto, likely fueling more big viewership numbers for Fox and Sportsnet. It also means that the Dodgers’ bid to clinch a World Series on their home field for the first time since 1963 will remain out of reach for at least another year.

NASCAR Star Kyle Busch Sues Pacific Life Over $8.5M Insurance Scam [[link removed]]

Greg Atkins-Imagn Images

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, one of the sport’s most well-known stars [[link removed]], has filed a multimillion-dollar life insurance lawsuit—and has taken aim at the case’s defendants in an unprecedented public manner.

Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, and his wife, Samantha, claimed they lost $8.58 million from purchasing Pacific Life policies.

The suit, filed in Lincoln County, N.C. [[link removed]], names Pacific Life, insurance agent Rodney Smith, and his Red River LLC as defendants, with the Busches seeking to “recover damages arising from the design, sale, and administration of multiple Pacific Life indexed universal life (‘IUL’) policies” by Smith, in conjunction with multiple Pacific Life employees.

While the 50-page lawsuit is dated Oct. 14, Busch’s legal team on Tuesday sent out a formal press release [[link removed]] announcing the Busches had become a “cautionary tale in indexed universal life insurance ‘retirement’ schemes.” Busch also posted a 90-second video [[link removed]] with his wife on social media about the lawsuit, railing against the insurance “scam.”

Money Matters

The Busches are claiming they made $10.4 million in insurance premium payments, which ultimately resulted in a net out-of-pocket loss of $8,582,007. The suit says Smith “designed and promoted an indexed universal insurance strategy that exposed [the Busches] to substantial financial risk concealed by misleading projections, unrealistic assumptions, and material omissions.”

It’s unclear exactly how much money the Busches are seeking in the lawsuit.

“We’re not discussing specific dollar figures at this stage,” the family’s attorney Robert Rikard said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “What we can say is that the Busches suffered significant financial harm, including more than $8.5 million in direct out-of-pocket losses, lost investment opportunity, and other consequential damages resulting from Pacific Life’s deceptive sales practices and unsuitable policy designs. The lawsuit seeks treble damages under North Carolina law for unfair and deceptive trade practices, reflecting both the magnitude of the financial loss and the willful nature of the defendants’ misconduct.”

Inside the Lawsuit

The lawsuit lays out five separate causes of action for negligence (one against Smith and his LLC, and one against Pacific Life), violation of the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation. Each seeks “an amount in excess of $25,000” from the defendants.

Additionally, the lawsuit seeks to recover the following:

Actual damages in an amount to be proven at trial, including out-of-pocket losses, lost investment opportunity, and loss of policy value and benefits Consequential damages proximately caused by the defendants’ conduct Punitive damages in an amount to be determined by the finder of fact Reasonable attorneys’ fees

Busch’s NASCAR earnings are not public, but the 40-year-old has won 63 Cup Series races, 102 second-tier Xfinity Series races, and 67 Truck Series races. A driver of Busch’s status could easily earn $10 million–plus annually from endorsement deals, too.

Conversation Starters From college walk-on to law degree, college coach of the year, NBA assistant, and now WNBA head coach: The Seattle Storm have hired Sonia Raman [[link removed]] as the team’s next head coach. Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says he applied start-up principles to sports ownership with Angel City FC, and talked to Front Office Sports about what he would do differently today. Take a look [[link removed]]. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is fed up with LSU AD Scott Woodward and says he will not be picking the Tigers’ next football coach. Check it out [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Louisiana Governor Says LSU Athletic Director Will Not Choose Next Football Coach [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]Jeff Landry has little confidence in Scott Woodward. Pacquiao Confirms Mayweather Fight Talks After Political Career Fizzles [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]Pacquiao and Mayweather last fought in May 2015. Wizards Hire Ex-ESPN Editor Cristina Daglas for Front Office Role [[link removed]]by Ryan Glasspiegel [[link removed]]ESPN placed Cristina Daglas on administrative leave in January. Question of the Day

Should the NBA be allowed to withhold players’ pay before the investigations are resolved?

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

Wednesday’s result: 88% of respondents think the WNBA and players will not reach a new CBA deal before the deadline.

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

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