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Afternoon Edition

November 3, 2025

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College football will top $1 billion in buyouts during the College Football Playoff era—and yes, that’s just the money paid to people not to coach.

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

Coaching Buyouts to Surpass $1B in College Football Playoff Era [[link removed]]

Tuscaloosa News

As college football buyouts continue to expand at a record pace [[link removed]] this season, the money schools have paid to fired coaches in the College Football Playoff era has recently set a new mark, too.

Since the 2014 season, the first time the CFP was implemented and officially replaced the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), severance pay for FBS coaches at public universities is nearing $1 billion, according to data in a new report from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Including buyouts for head coaches and assistant coaches, the total for the past 12 fiscal years, which includes the previous calendar year’s football season (i.e., the 2015 fiscal year contains coaches fired during or after the 2014 season), has likely already surpassed $1 billion.

2015: $32.3 million 2016: $39.9 million 2017: $48.3 million 2018: $104.1 million 2019: $68.9 million 2020: $61.6 million 2021: $84.7 million 2022: $98.2 million 2023: $103.1 million 2024: $120.7 million 2025: $34.7 million 2026: $185 million

The figures from fiscal years 2015 to 2024 are actual amounts from NCAA financial reports; the fiscal years 2025 and 2026 (the current season) are based on various media reports, and don’t include buyouts for assistant coaches, which will increase the amount even further.

A Cap for Coaching Salaries?

The latest Knight Commission data arrives after Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R., Wash.) last week proposed a bill [[link removed]]—the Correcting Opportunity and Accountability in Collegiate Hiring Act (COACH Act)—that would limit any athletics salary, including football coaches, to no more than 10 times a school’s tuition costs.

“As Congress debates the merits of federal legislation to place limits and guardrails on college athlete compensation, it should also examine the conditions that allow for the continued growth of excessive compensation and severance for football coaches at non-profit universities,” Knight Commission CEO Amy Privette Perko said in a statement.

This season, LSU leads the way with a $53 million buyout for firing Brian Kelly [[link removed]], followed by Penn State’s $49.7 million buyout [[link removed]] of James Franklin. The largest buyout ever remains the $77 million Texas A&M agreed to pay Jimbo Fisher [[link removed]] in 2023.

SPONSORED BY TNT SPORTS

TNT Sports and Bleacher Report Level Up

The media-rights shake-up in college sports just got bigger. TNT Sports [[link removed]] is stepping beyond its traditional hoops and playoff lanes, teaming up with Bleacher Report to grab deeper access into the Power 4 college football and basketball ecosystem.

With the network already locked into first-round slots of the College Football Playoff via a sublicense deal with ESPN, the B/R partnership brings a younger, social-native audience into the mix and signals a full-fledged pivot toward campus sports as prime streaming real estate.

For athletic departments, conference commissioners, and advertisers, the message is clear: The broadcast table is expanding fast, and the next wave of eyeballs isn’t headed exclusively to linear TV.

Check out the full article here [[link removed]].

No Ohtani-Level Prize, but MLB Free Agency Still Holds Big Stakes [[link removed]]

Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

There won’t be a record free-agent deal again this offseason for Major League Baseball, like during the past years, but the upcoming Hot Stove season will still be impactful for the sport on multiple fronts.

The latest free-agent class doesn’t have a marquee talent along the lines of Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Dodgers for $700 million [[link removed]] after the 2023 season, or Juan Soto, who signed with the Mets last December in an unprecedented pact worth $765 million [[link removed]] over 15 years. Still, there are multiple All-Star-caliber bats and arms who are available and will almost certainly sign nine-figure contracts, and in some cases, approach $500 million deals. The forthcoming market will also serve as an early indicator of the effect of an uncertain labor situation on club spending.

Among the key players who are leading the free-agent market:

Kyle Tucker: The Cubs outfielder battled injuries this year and was briefly benched [[link removed]] in pursuit of a “reset.” Tucker, however, remains arguably the top talent on the market, and since he won’t turn 29 until January, he is younger than most other leading figures in the market. Kyle Schwarber: The Phillies designated hitter had another standout season [[link removed]], and he could finish second in National League Most Valuable Player voting behind Ohtani. Schwarber will turn 33 in March and has said he has greatly enjoyed his time in Philadelphia. Alex Bregman: After seeing a more limited free-agent market last year amid declining performance in Houston, the third baseman largely returned to form this year in Boston, though he grappled with injuries limiting him to 114 games. Pete Alonso: Another player who saw relatively limited market interest a year ago, Alonso signed a two-year, $54 million deal in February with the Mets that included an opt-out after the 2025 season. He then posted another productive season in which he became the club’s all-time leader in home runs. Alonso is a fan favorite in New York, and club owner Steve Cohen will be under considerable pressure to not let him leave. Bo Bichette: The Blue Jays infielder has been a cornerstone figure for the team as it’s risen into a championship contender, but he has battled multiple injuries during the last two years.

The qualifying offer value this year will be worth a MLB-record $22.025 million. That offer, if made to free agents, gives a team a compensatory draft pick if the player signs elsewhere, but it also can complicate the player’s market options. Historically, players have accepted the qualifying offer less than 10% of the time. Some players, such as Alonso and Bregman, have already received such offers, and they cannot be tendered again.

Players can begin to sign deals with new teams later this week after an initial quiet period. The free-agent market, however, will likely take a bit longer to develop, as teams have until later this month to render decisions on qualifying offers and tendering contracts to players unsigned for 2026, including their arbitration-eligible ones.

Labor Matters

Amid a darkening labor situation between MLB and the MLB Players Association, this winter will provide initial clues on how clubs view the matter.

The current labor deal expires in December 2026. Though MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has said [[link removed]] that no management proposals have been finalized, players fear that owners will seek a salary cap [[link removed]] that the union has long resisted.

If free-agent dollars become more constricted this winter, it could be seen as a sign that some teams believe a long work stoppage is possible.

Japanese Market

After Dodgers stars such as Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto played key roles in the club’s repeat title this year [[link removed]], the Japanese market is expected to be meaningful again this winter.

Several players from Nippon Professional Baseball could be posted to MLB clubs. Foremost among them is slugger Munetaka Murakami. The Yakult Swallows infielder is a two-time Central League MVP and won Japan’s Triple Crown in 2022 at just 22 years old.

World Series Game 7 Is Most-Watched Since 2017 in Initial Ratings [[link removed]]

Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

Game 7 of the World Series was big on drama as the Dodgers survived the Blue Jays to become the first repeat World Series winner in 25 years [[link removed]]—and Fox was a major beneficiary.

The network says that according to preliminary viewership data, the Dodgers’ 5–4 win over the Blue Jays in 11 innings Saturday averaged 25.98 million viewers in the U.S. across all Fox platforms, representing the most-watched World Series game since 2017’s Game 7 won by the Astros over the Dodgers.

This is a fast-national number from Nielsen, along with data from Adobe Analytics, and is not a final figure reflecting Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process [[link removed]]. That figure, along with audience data from Canadian broadcasters Sportsnet and TVA Sports, is expected in the coming days.

Still, the initial viewership number from Fox reflects just how much of a draw the deciding World Series game was.

The Blue Jays were just two outs away from securing their first championship in 32 years, but a game-tying home run in the ninth inning by Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas dramatically swung the game in favor of Los Angeles, and a go-ahead home run from catcher Will Smith two innings later sealed it.

As that unfolded, Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto returned to the mound after starting and throwing six innings in Game 6 to close out Game 7 en route to winning World Series Most Valuable Player.

“To do what we’ve done in this span of time is pretty remarkable,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, referring to the team’s back-to-back titles and three in six seasons. “I guess I’ll let the pundits and all the fans talk about if it’s a dynasty or not, but I’m pretty happy with where we’re at.”

Among the other milestones from the initial Game 7 viewership data:

The Dodgers-Blue Jays game beat the last World Series Game 7, 2019’s clash between the Nationals and Astros, in viewership by 10%. The game peaked on Fox with an audience of 31.5 million, with that happening between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. The Game 7 average audience beats the draw from the deciding Game 5 in last year’s World Series [[link removed]] between the Yankees and Dodgers, another major draw among recent Fall Classics, by 40%. The contest’s linear audience beat Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June on ABC between the Pacers and Thunder in viewership by 53%.

Notably, this has all been achieved as this year’s World Series matchup only had one U.S. home market measured by Nielsen, leading to expected drops in American viewership [[link removed]] during the initial five games of the series. More than countering that, however, was record-setting viewership on Canada’s Sportsnet, owned by Blue Jays parent company Rogers Communications [[link removed]], as the entire nation gravitated to their home team.

Games 6 and 7, in which the Dodgers became just the ninth MLB team to win those games on the road to win the World Series, then took the audience to an entirely different level.

“This World Series really demonstrates why it’s not just spin when we (and the NBA) say length of series matters more than matchup,” tweeted [[link removed]] Fox Sports president of insights and analytics Mike Mulvihill. “Average viewership for this series will end up pretty close to [Yankees-Dodgers] last year, but we got 60% more innings. Makes all the difference.”

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This November, high-tech meets high-glam in the heart of Las Vegas.

Front Office Sports and IBM are gathering for an exclusive afternoon [[link removed]] of innovation, networking, and entertainment at the iconic Cosmopolitan, set against the exhilarating backdrop of Vegas’s fastest weekend.

Join industry leaders from across sports, media, and technology as we explore the next frontier of AI-powered fan engagement and the evolving future of live experiences. Expect bold ideas, curated conversations, and connections that move the industry forward.

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FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Dodgers the Favorites to Win Again

FOS illustration

After a disappointing home loss to Kentucky over the weekend, Auburn fired head coach Hugh Freeze, buying out the remaining $15.8 million on his contract and raising the total buyouts in college football this season to nearly $186 million. FOS reporter David Rumsey explains why 25% of the head coaching jobs in the SEC are currently open and how dominant the conference will be in the first CFP rankings released this week.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ Game 7 win in the World Series didn’t just give MLB its first repeat winner in 25 years, but also delivered the league its highest-rated World Series game since 2017. FOS writer Eric Fisher breaks down the historic numbers and previews the upcoming MLB offseason, which has plenty of big names entering free agency.

Plus, it’s yet another season of drama for the Grizzlies and star Ja Morant, who was suspended one game for conduct detrimental to the team. FOS reporter Colin Salao discusses whether the Grizzlies attempt to move on from their star, plus joins host Baker Machado to chat about the other big headlines in the FOS Watercolor.

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

STATUS REPORT Two Up, One Down, One Push

The Greenville News

Clemson ⬇ The ACC has fined the school $10,000 after football coach Dabo Swinney criticized the referees following Saturday’s 46–45 loss to Duke. “That’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in a game, ever, in my entire coaching career,” Swinney said [[link removed]].

Baseball Hall of Fame ⬆⬇ The shrine released its eight-player ballot [[link removed]] Monday that will be considered by its Contemporary Baseball Era committee, kicking off what will become the 2026 induction class. The group includes Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela. The late Valenzuela, a Dodgers icon who died just before the 2024 World Series [[link removed]], is a likely frontrunner of this group, as the candidacies of several here are complicated by links to performance-enhancing drugs. Voting results will be released Dec. 7, and will join a subsequent ballot from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in January.

Dodgers ⬆ After winning MLB’s first back-to-back title in 25 years [[link removed]], the club is already the heavy betting favorite for a threepeat in 2026, according to multiple sportsbooks. Other favorites after the Dodgers include the Yankees, Phillies, Mets, Mariners, and Astros. Notably, several sportsbooks project a regression by the American League champion Blue Jays next year.

LIV Golf ⬆ The league has increased the number of qualification opportunities for its 2026 season from two to four. The move, which makes LIV slightly more accessible, comes as the tour is still awaiting accreditation from the Official World Golf Ranking [[link removed]] ahead of its fifth season.

Editors’ Picks $5.1M ATP Final to Determine Men’s Tennis World No. 1 [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]Sinner and Alcaraz are battling to finish the year at the top. Charles Oakley Owes MSG $642K in Legal Fees [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Oakley played 10 seasons for the Knicks from 1988 to 1998. Daniels’s Injury Solidifies Careening Season for Commanders [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The quarterback injured his elbow in a fourth quarter blowout. 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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