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Afternoon Edition

January 7, 2026

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The NFL has once again reinforced its dominance among U.S. viewers, posting its highest regular-season viewership totals in more than three decades as every major network and streaming partner saw gains.

Plus, Mark Cuban told Front Office Sports he’s increasing his donations for Indiana football [[link removed]], as the Hoosiers’ CFP run accelerates transfer portal momentum.

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

NFL Sees Highest Viewership in More Than 35 Years [[link removed]]

Doug Engle-Imagn Images

​​There’s nothing like the NFL in U.S. television, and the league has affirmed that once again.

The NFL finished the 2025 regular season with a per-game viewership average of 18.7 million, up 10% from last year’s mark, the best such total since 1989, and the second-best figure on record. Unlike more modest audience increases in recent years, and even a 2.2% drop during the 2024 campaign [[link removed]], this season featured sizable, across-the-board boosts involving every broadcast window and every rights holder.

Among the individual network totals:

Amazon: The streamer generated a per-game viewership average of 15.33 million, up 16% from last year and the highest level in the 20-year history of Thursday Night Football on any network. The 2025 campaign featured a series of milestones for Amazon, including a Christmas Day audience of 21.06 million [[link removed]] that set a company record during the regular season. CBS: The Paramount-led broadcaster had its best NFL regular season ever, averaging 21.3 million for all its games, up 11% from a year ago. The network’s schedule was highlighted by a regular-season NFL record [[link removed]] of more than 57 million viewers for a Thanksgiving clash between the Chiefs and Cowboys. The late Sunday afternoon NFL window on CBS also averaged 25.8 million viewers, more than any program on U.S. television. ESPN: The Disney-owned outlet posted its second-best season in 20 years airing Monday Night Football, and averaged 16.5 million viewers when including all of 23 NFL games, up 10% from last year. Fox: The network averaged 19.6 million viewers per game for all of its NFL coverage, up 6% from last year and its best mark since 2015. Fox NFL Sunday also finished as the most-watched NFL pregame show for the 32nd straight year, averaging 4.4 million viewers. NBC: Sunday Night Football averaged 23.5 million viewers in total audience delivery, up 9% from 2024. A record eight SNF games averaged more than 25 million viewers. Not surprisingly, SNF is also on track to be the No. 1 show in U.S. prime time for a 15th consecutive year, by far the largest streak in TV history. Netflix: In its second year with a Christmas doubleheader, the outlet set a league streaming record [[link removed]], averaging 27.5 million viewers for a late-afternoon game between the Lions and Vikings. NFL Network: The league-controlled outlet averaged 6.2 million viewers for coverage of six international games, up 32% from 2024, and the most-watched set of international games on record. YouTube: The Google-owned outlet averaged 19.7 million for a September game from Brazil between the Chiefs and Chargers, but it generated widespread controversy [[link removed]] for its use of a non-accredited method to measure that viewership.

Some of the viewership boosts owe to Nielsen methodology enhancements such as an expansion of out-of-home tabulation [[link removed]] and the arrival of the Big Data + Panel measurement process [[link removed]]. The NFL, however, has been insistent that its rising popularity is transcending those process improvements, particularly as it still has some issues with the agency.

A heavily front-loaded schedule [[link removed]] to begin the 2025 season also gave the league a strong boost at the outset of play, one that ultimately held throughout the season.

Even in a downbeat season for the Chiefs, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2014 [[link removed]], the team dominated the list of the 10 most-watched games. Kansas City was in four of the top five broadcasts, including the historic Thanksgiving clash. The defending champion Eagles were part of three of the top 10.

The wild-card round, featuring six teams not in last year’s postseason [[link removed]], begins Saturday.

SPONSORED BY ESPN EDGE

Inside ESPN’s Tech Future in Sports Media

The fifth annual ESPN Edge Innovation Conference [[link removed]] offered a clear look at where sports media is headed. From AI-powered production and automated highlights to immersive broadcasts and alternate telecasts, the event showed how technology is reshaping how fans discover, watch, and engage with live sports.

Leaders and partners walked through new workflows powering everything from real-time storytelling to a rebuilt direct-to-consumer platform designed to bring all of ESPN into one place. The takeaway was simple. Innovation is no longer experimental. It is embedded across the business as fan expectations continue to evolve.

👉 Check out more from the full article here [[link removed]].

CFP Coaches Thriving—and Cashing In—As Nick Saban Disciples [[link removed]]

Montgomery

All four head coaches of this season’s College Football Playoff semifinalists have something in common: Nick Saban—and deeper pockets because of him.

Each coach still fighting for a national championship [[link removed]] previously spent at least one season working as an assistant coach at Alabama during Saban’s 17-season stint in Tuscaloosa, which resulted in six national championships and nine SEC titles.

Curt Cignetti, Indiana: Was part of Saban’s first coaching staff in Tuscaloosa, serving as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007 to 2010 Dan Lanning, Oregon: Graduate assistant at Alabama for the 2015 season Pete Golding, Ole Miss: With the Crimson Tide from 2018 through 2021, first as co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach, then as defensive coordinator Mario Cristobal, Miami: Assistant head coach, offensive line coach, and recruiting coordinator from 2013 to 2016, overlapping with Lanning for his lone season at Alabama

All four coaches were a part of a national-championship-winning staff under Saban. Now, each leading their own program, the quartet is among the highest-paid coaches [[link removed]] in college football.

Cignetti’s new deal, just signed in October [[link removed]], pays him $11.6 million annually (and will likely come with a $1 million raise [[link removed]] after Indiana’s Rose Bowl victory). Lanning is making $10.4 million this season at Oregon. Miami is paying Cristobal [[link removed]] $8.3 million this season. And Golding’s first-year salary as Ole Miss head coach will be $6.8 million.

And Georgia’s Kirby Smart, whose Bulldogs lost to Ole Miss [[link removed]] in the CFP quarterfinals, had a longer tenure with Saban than any of the remaining coaches. Smart, the highest-paid coach in college football with a $13.2 million salary, was Alabama’s assistant head coach and defensive backs coach in 2007, and then defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2015, helping the Crimson Tide win four national championships.

Alabama paid Saban $11.4 million during his final season in 2023.

Talk of the Town

Saban, 74, and his coaching disciples have plenty of mutual respect for one another.

“I remember him telling me where he was going, IUP, and thinking that’s a big drop from coaching in the SEC,” Saban told On3 [[link removed]] of Cignetti leaving Alabama to coach Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2011. “But he wanted to be a head coach. He was ready to be a head coach, and it tells you a lot about the belief he had in himself that he would take a job at that level at a place that hadn’t had great success.”

Cignetti said “everybody learned a lot” from Saban. “If you were serious about your career and wanted to be a head coach one day, you took great notes,” he said in a pre-CFP semifinal press conference.

When Lanning joined Alabama, he dropped down from being the defensive backs coach and co-recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State to take a graduate assistant position. “When anybody asked me why, I said, ‘I’m going to get my doctorate in football.’ And that’s what I feel like working for Coach Saban,” he said ahead of the Ducks’ matchup with the Hoosiers.

Saban said Golding texted him after being promoted to head coach following Lane Kiffin’s departure [[link removed]]. “Don’t worry about what people are thinking,” Saban said he told Golding during ESPN’s College GameDay.

In September, before Miami became a CFP contender, Saban said [[link removed]] Cristobal was the “perfect guy” for the Hurricanes job.

EXCLUSIVE

Cuban Increases Indiana Donations for Transfer Portal

Mark Cuban told Front Office Sports he’s boosting his Indiana football donations for a second straight year as the Hoosiers’ dream season continues in the College Football Playoff—and fuels transfer portal momentum.

For more on Cuban’s growing investment in Indiana football, read Alex Schiffer’s exclusive story here [[link removed]].

WBD Rejects Paramount Again [[link removed]]

REUTERS/Mike Blake

TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has rejected a second hostile takeover bid from Paramount, and it plans to continue with its separate merger deal with Netflix [[link removed]].

Largely reiterating its prior rejection of the CBS Sports parent company [[link removed]], WBD said early Wednesday that the revised offer from Paramount and its CEO and chair David Ellison remains “inferior given significant risks, costs, and uncertainties compared to the Netflix merger.” WBD also said Paramount’s offer would be the largest leveraged buyout ever, and involve Paramount taking on debt and equity financing nearly seven times its total market capitalization.

In part because of that, WBD said Paramount’s offer contains a much greater uncertainty of closing.

“The [Paramount] offer is not superior, or even comparable, to the Netflix merger,” WBD wrote in a letter to shareholders [[link removed]]. “Paramount has repeatedly failed to submit the best proposal for WBD shareholders despite clear direction from WBD on both the deficiencies and potential solutions.”

Paramount had offered to buy all of WBD—including the sports and linear television assets—in a deal with an enterprise value of $108.4 billion. Instead, the $82.7 billion deal with Netflix will be focused on WBD’s studio and streaming businesses.

WBD also plans to continue with a planned split of the company [[link removed]] that will create Discovery Global, a new holding entity that would house TNT Sports [[link removed]]. That split, and the Netflix deal, are slated to close in the latter half of 2026, and a new sports-centric streaming service is under development [[link removed]] within TNT Sports and Discovery Global.

New Financing, Same Result

After the initial rejection from WBD, Paramount had attempted to boost its bid, particularly the financing within it—including guaranteeing the backing from billionaire Larry Ellison, the father of David Ellison. Paramount, however, did not elevate the amount of its bid.

“The WBD board, management team, and our advisors have extensively engaged with Paramount and its representatives and provided it with explicit instructions on how to improve each of its offers,” WBD wrote. “Yet, Paramount has continued to submit offers that still include many of the deficiencies we previously repeatedly identified, none of which are present in the Netflix merger agreement.”

WBD also said that “certain fixed obligations that Paramount has incurred or may incur prior to closing, such as the multiyear programming and sports licensing deals, could further strain its financial condition” as a factor in the rejection.

Paramount did not immediately comment regarding the latest rejection. Spanning the time before WBD formally put itself up for sale and after, Paramount has made eight separate offers for the company. WBD, meanwhile, is bracing for a potential lawsuit from Paramount.

“WBD continues to be of the view that [Paramount] is a litigious counterparty, which raises concerns regarding the likelihood that the offer (or any related merger agreement) will be completed on the terms proposed,” the company said in a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, in which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS LIVE

Don’t Miss This in 2026

In 2025, Front Office Sports brought the energy.

We hit the Super Bowl, the Hamptons, the Times Center, the New York Stock Exchange, and more—hosting 14 events that connected more than 4,000 leaders across sports, entertainment, media, tech, and finance.

From college athletics and NIL (name, image, and likeness) to private equity, media rights, and women’s sports, we broke down the hottest topics in sports and brought out some of the biggest names in the industry for conversations, cocktails, and friendly competitions.

In 2026, we’ll be running back favorites like Breakfast Ball, Huddle in the Hamptons, Tuned In, and Asset Class—plus, new events to be announced.

Sign up [[link removed]] for Front Office Sports Live email updates and follow us on LinkedIn [[link removed]] to be the first to know about new events, programming updates, and exclusive offers to attend.

Don’t miss your chance to connect, learn, and lead in 2026.

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Down

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

John Harbaugh ⬆ Immediately in the wake of being fired by the Ravens [[link removed]], his agent, Bryan Harlan, told ESPN [[link removed]] that he heard from seven teams expressing interest in the longtime coach. Given that there are only seven current openings [[link removed]], and one of those is in Baltimore, that means at least one NFL team without a current vacancy reached out to Harlan.

John Daly ⬆ The two-time golf major championship winner will be conducting his typical Masters week events in Augusta, Ga., this April, despite the Hooters location he used to set up shop closing this past July. Top Dawg Tavern in Augusta will be hosting Daly [[link removed]], who will be signing autographs, taking pictures, and selling merchandise like usual.

Lionel Messi ⬆ The superstar recently signed a three-year contract extension to remain with Major League Soccer through 2028, and his Inter Miami just won the 2025 MLS Cup, capping a storybook season [[link removed]], but he’s already thinking about his next moves. In an interview with Argentine streaming channel Luzu TV [[link removed]], Messi said he wants to be a team owner. “I want to have my own club, start from the bottom, and make it big,” he said. “Being able to give kids the opportunity to develop and achieve something important. If I had to choose [between ownership and coaching], that would appeal to me more.” Messi has an equity option in Inter Miami that he is expected to exercise when he retires.

Washington ⬇ Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. announced on social media that he is entering the transfer portal [[link removed]]. This comes after ESPN reported last week that Williams had signed a new deal [[link removed]] to stay at Washington, marking the latest twist in the ever-spinning college football QB carousel [[link removed]].

Editors’ Picks The New Brady Rules: Why NFL QBs Turned TV Talents Are Double-Dipping [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]] and Daniel Roberts [[link removed]]Tom Brady started it, and now other NFL TV stars want dual gigs. [[link removed]] PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague Quits After Just a Year [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]Sprague cited the need to help support his family in New York. DAILY TRIVIA Factle Sports

Can you rank the NBA players by the most career rebounds?

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