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Morning Edition

December 22, 2025

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The Chiefs’ stadium future could take a major turn Monday, as Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is set to make a special announcement that may shape where the team plays for decades.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]

Chiefs Leaving KC? Kansas Governor Teases ‘Special Announcement’ [[link removed]]

Manica

The Chiefs could be on the cusp of finalizing a deal to move across the state line to Kansas and build a domed stadium there, as Gov. Laura Kelly has slated a “special announcement” Monday regarding the team.

The Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon and consider approving bonds funding up to 70% of a stadium project, with Kelly scheduled to speak in Topeka after that. For more than a year, Kansas has been making an aggressive push to lure the NFL team across the border, and has approved [[link removed]] and then extended [[link removed]] the bonding framework that would fund much of the stadium cost.

As that has happened, the Chiefs have been actively deliberating whether to renovate the 53-year-old Arrowhead Stadium [[link removed]] or build a new venue on either side of the Missouri-Kansas line. The construction of the new venue opens up the Kansas City area to host major events it currently cannot hold, including the Super Bowl, Final Four, and College Football Playoff. The Kansas funding mechanism, meanwhile, would not go on a public ballot, saving the Chiefs from a possible repeat of a 2024 rebuke by Jackson County, Mo., voters [[link removed]].

The Chiefs have not commented on the latest developments, but are expected to follow the Kansas LCC meeting Monday.

Show Me a Plan

Missouri, meanwhile, still has not given up its pursuit of keeping the Chiefs, and Jackson County executive Phil LeVota has detailed a “Operation Save Arrowhead” plan that would involve using part of a local sales tax to help renovate the current facility. That effort, however, is similar to what voters have already rejected, and the latest measure would go back up for a vote.

“The people need to hear from us and know we’re fighting,” LeVota said. “We’re fighting hard to keep the [Chiefs] here. I wasn’t ready for this, but I think it’s time and I think everybody needs to know we’re working in Jackson County.”

The current Arrowhead Stadium lease expires in January 2031, placing a heightened level of urgency on finalizing a course of action soon. The forthcoming decision is set to arrive as the Chiefs will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2014 [[link removed]] and have lost star quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the rest of the season due to injury.

MLB’s Royals, which are also determining their facility future, are not part of the discussions involving the Chiefs.

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CFP First-Round Results Vindicate Committee, Expose Group of 6 [[link removed]]

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff concluded Saturday night after 24 hours of matchups that led to two upsets, first-ever home team losses, and a disappointing showing for the Group of 6.

The results raise questions about the future formats FBS commissioners and Notre Dame should consider as they weigh expanding the Playoff and rewriting some of the qualification rules. (While all FBS commissioners will participate in the discussions, the final format must still be approved by the commissioners of the Big Ten and SEC.)

On Friday night, No. 9 Alabama mounted a 17-point comeback win to beat No. 8 Oklahoma 34-24 in Norman. Saturday’s early game, a defensive battle between No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 10 Miami, ended with a 10-3 Hurricanes road win. Led by recently promoted head coach Pete Golding, No. 6 Ole Miss trounced No. 11 Tulane in Oxford, 41-10. The nightcap results were similar, with No. 5 Oregon blowing out No. 12 JMU, 51-34, in Eugene.

All four winners earned another $4 million each in payouts for their respective conferences [[link removed]].

Selection Committee Vindicated

The hottest and most controversial topic [[link removed]] before the Playoff kicked off was the inclusion of Miami in the field over Notre Dame. The selection committee had previously ranked Notre Dame above Miami during the now-controversial Tuesday bid night weekly rankings reveals, but flip-flopped when the final field was released. The reasoning: When the committee finally had to consider the two head-to-head, they opted to give the Canes the No. 10 spot because Miami beat Notre Dame 27-24 during the first week of the season. (The Irish were the first team out, and ranked 11th.)

The committee also faced some controversy over its inclusion (and relatively high ranking) of Alabama after the Crimson Tide were trounced by Georgia in the SEC championship game. The committee said it didn’t want to penalize Alabama for playing in a conference championship game.

But given that both Alabama and Miami have advanced past the first round, the committee’s choices now seem prescient. Perhaps the wins will offer football fans and pundits alike more faith in the group that chooses the fate of college football.

But it also perhaps provides an endorsement of further Playoff expansion, as schools that were left out of the field—including BYU and Vanderbilt in addition to Notre Dame—could have competed for championships as well.

The Register Guard Group of 6 Struggles

Meanwhile, the FBS commissioners and university presidents who chose—and then approved—the current format may face some scrutiny for allowing outmatched Group of 6 programs.

The current format awarded automatic qualifiers to the top five highest-ranked conference champions. This year, the format earned Tulane a bid as the American Conference champion. Because the ACC champion, Duke, was unranked, now-eliminated JMU earned the fifth conference champion slot.

Next year, that won’t be possible. A memorandum of understanding signed last year [[link removed]] by FBS commissioners and Notre Dame agreed that, in 2026, each power conference will receive one automatic qualifier for its conference champion, leaving only one left for the Group of 6.

But there are other questions: Should future fields not allow a Group of 6 conference champions any automatic bids? Should there not be automatic bids for conference champions at all?

While some have suggested an even more radical change—giving the Group of 6 a separate Playoff altogether [[link removed]]—that won’t be contractually possible in the next several years. The MOU guarantees the inclusion of the Group of 6 schools in the CFP generally.

Other stipulations to consider: The MOU gives the Big Ten and SEC unilateral power to choose the next playoff format, as well as a guarantee that Notre Dame will get a Playoff slot if it lands in the top 12 of the final overall rankings next year.

However, the MOUs are only valid for formats of up to 14 teams; it is unclear what happens if the SEC and Big Ten sign off on larger future fields.

LSU Coach Lane Kiffin Earns $250K Bonus After Ole Miss’s CFP Win [[link removed]]

Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

LSU head coach Lane Kiffin will likely still be cheering for his former program at Ole Miss—and that doesn’t have to be out of the goodness of his heart.

Kiffin will earn monetary rewards based on how far the Rebels advance in the College Football Playoff.

Kiffin, whose abrupt exit from Ole Miss [[link removed]] was one of the biggest stories of this year’s coaching carousel, gets a $250,000 performance bonus because the Rebels beat Tulane 41–10 to advance to the CFP quarterfinals. Kiffin’s bonus increases up to a total of $1 million, depending on how far Ole Miss advances.

A Very Rich Twist

The bonus won’t be paid out by Ole Miss, however. Instead, LSU has agreed to foot the bill. That’s all thanks to Kiffin’s new contract with the Tigers [[link removed]], which, in addition to a $13 million annual salary and a multimillion-dollar buyout with no offset or duty to mitigate clause, includes covering the postseason bonus structure in his previous Ole Miss contract.

LSU has agreed to pay Kiffin the following bonus structure, according to a copy of the term sheet previously obtained by Front Office Sports:

$150,000 for the Rebels’ advancing to the first round of the CFP, but lost $250,000 now that the Rebels will appear in the quarterfinal $500,000 if Ole Miss advances to a semifinal $750,000 if Ole Miss advances to the national championship $1 million if the Rebels win it all

Meanwhile, Ole Miss’s current head coach, Pete Golding, will reportedly earn the same bonus structure—but his bonuses, of course, will be paid out by the Rebels.

Other Coaches Cash In

Oregon’s Dan Lanning has reportedly earned $200,000 for leading the Ducks to the quarterfinals. Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer has also reportedly earned $250,000 for making the quarterfinals.

Mario Cristobal’s contract terms at Miami are not public, as Miami is a private school.

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Kenny Dillingham Is Looking for Arizona State’s Phil Knight [[link removed]]

Syndication: Arizona Republic

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham thinks his program needs a sugar daddy—and he’s issuing the public call for one.

On Saturday, Dillingham agreed to a new five-year contract with his alma mater that will pay him an average of $7.5 million annually. He signed the new deal [[link removed]] after being a target of Michigan’s coaching search, joining a slew of coaches this season who benefited [[link removed]] from the coaching carousel chaos with a lucrative extension to stay where they are.

Dillingham, just 35, led Arizona State to the College Football Playoff in 2024 and is 22–16 in three seasons coaching the Sun Devils. ASU will play ACC champion Duke in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31.

Just hours after signing his new deal, when asked what Arizona State needs to become one of college football’s top programs, Dillingham’s answer became a public plea.

“ We need to find one of these really rich people [[link removed]] in this city to step up and stroke a check, and I’ll do everything I can to make you the most famous person in the city,” Dillingham told reporters on Saturday. “We live in Phoenix, Arizona. You’re telling me there’s not one person who could stroke a $20 million check right now? There is somebody out here who can. … Somebody can step up and completely take this place from the direction it’s going to, ‘Holy cow.’ And it’s right here in this city.”

Dillingham is referencing some of college football’s top programs that enjoy one wealthy donor who cuts the largest checks, such as Nike founder Phil Knight at Oregon [[link removed]], Cody Campbell at Texas Tech [[link removed]], or even Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison at Michigan [[link removed]]. Both the Ducks and Red Raiders are in the College Football Playoff this season.

Super donors such as Knight and Campbell give their schools significant funds at a time when others are struggling to balance their books in light of the $20.5 million revenue sharing they’ve started with athletes because of the House settlement [[link removed]].

Arizona State already has one wealthy alum backing one of its major programs in NBA star James Harden, who has helped fund the Sun Devils’ NIL war chest [[link removed]] for its men’s basketball program.

Dillingham’s comments aren’t the first time he’s pleaded with his local community to be more involved in NIL. In November, he asked local businesses to participate in more NIL deals with his players than they had been.

“ Every restaurant, if you don’t have a food [[link removed]] item named after an Arizona State Sun Devil, why? I don’t get it, $500 a month, $1,000 a month, it’s a business expense because it’s a marketing expense. If you’re a local company and you want to engage community, or if you’re a new business and you want to get people involved, what better way to get your brand out there to the city than utilizing our players?

“Everybody thinks this is like a race—‘I can’t give a $700,000 deal.’ No. We have a city behind us. If every restaurant in our city gave a kid a $500 or $1,000 a month deal to advertise them for them … I feel like we’d be in a good spot.”

Editors’ Picks Steelers Receiver DK Metcalf Swings at Lions Fan During Game [[link removed]]by Ryan Glasspiegel [[link removed]]Metcalf was not immediately ejected from the game. Tulane’s Jon Sumrall Juggling Act Heading Into College Football Playoff [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]Tulane AD David Harris spoke to FOS about the coaching shake-up. Meet the NFL Superfans Taking Tailgating to the Next Level [[link removed]]by Jake Kring-Schreifels [[link removed]]Tailgaters like “Pinto Ron” have become legendary in their stadium parking lots. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Amanda Christovich [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]]

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