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Morning Edition

February 11, 2026

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After three straight years of milestones, Super Bowl LX’s audience slipped 2%, averaging 124.9 million viewers on NBC. International viewership is still being compiled, with Bad Bunny’s halftime show expected to be a big driver.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and Griffin Senyek [[link removed]]

First Up Grand Slam Track—the track league founded by Olympian Michael Johnson—has a plan to get out of bankruptcy: paying athletes and stiffing vendors. Read the story [[link removed]]. Kansas insisted there was no inside information behind Darryn Peterson’s surprising late scratch. Read the story [[link removed]]. Serena Williams is eligible to return to pro tennis later this month, though she hasn’t said whether she will. Read the story [[link removed]]. Jets superfan Gary Vaynerchuk said he’s not interested in a symbolic ownership stake in the team and only wants in if he can be the operator. Read the story [[link removed]]. Super Bowl LX Viewership Down 2%, Draws 124.9 Million Viewers [[link removed]]

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Super Bowl LX drew an enormous audience—but did not set a new record.

After three years of all-time viewership highs in U.S. television history in the NFL’s title game, NBC Sports said late Tuesday that Sunday’s Super Bowl LX averaged 124.9 million viewers, down 2% from last year’s game [[link removed]], and the second-highest audience ever. Sunday’s contest, won by the Seahawks over the Patriots in convincing fashion [[link removed]], was likely dragged down by a dominant defensive performance by Seattle that included no touchdowns by either team until the fourth quarter.

The game peaked with an audience of 137.8 million in the second quarter, which was a record and just higher than last year’s peak Super Bowl audience.

The Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny [[link removed]], meanwhile, averaged 128.2 million viewers domestically during the quarter-hour of his performance, down 4% from Kendrick Lamar’s average audience of 133.5 million viewers, but higher than the overall game average. The NFL, however, is still compiling a full international audience number given the Puerto Rican superstar’s widespread global appeal.

The network went into the broadcast hoping for a record but did not guarantee it [[link removed]]. Spanish-language coverage in the U.S. on Telemundo averaged 3.3 million viewers, the largest figure for a Super Bowl broadcast in Spanish, fueled in no small part [[link removed]] by the Bad Bunny show.

The viewership numbers for Super Bowl LX were tabulated by Nielsen, and they represent the verified data following nearly 48 hours of many unsubstantiated claims circulating around the internet, particularly relating to the Bad Bunny performance.

Viewership Trends

The audience for Super Bowl LX, though somewhat downbeat, completed an otherwise banner season for the NFL with viewership gains nearly across the board. The league’s regular-season viewership hit the second-highest level in recorded history [[link removed]], while more milestones were set during the conference championship round [[link removed]], the divisional playoffs [[link removed]], the wild-card round [[link removed]], and on streaming [[link removed]].

Despite the Seahawks’ dominant performance, the Super Bowl LX figure also extended a trend in which the team was part of the least-watched game of the divisional playoff round, and its NFC championship game last month in a Sunday evening broadcast window was outdrawn by the AFC title game in the afternoon slot.

Notably, this was also the first Super Bowl with Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement process [[link removed]]. The methodology, first introduced last September, brings in millions of additional data points from set-top boxes and smart TVs. That expanded view of the market has helped produce viewership gains across much of live sports, and particularly pro and college football—but not with Super Bowl LX.

Next week, there will also be additional data from Nielsen’s new pilot program of enhanced co-viewing measurement [[link removed]] that began in earnest with the Super Bowl. Figures from that test, however, will not be part of the official viewership figure for Super Bowl LX. Ironically, that additional data could help produce a figure higher than the 127.7 million viewer average for last year’s Super Bowl LIX.

International Impact

The Bad Bunny show, meanwhile, prompted widespread impact on social media and music streaming platforms.

The NFL said that the performance generated more than 4 billion social views globally in the first 24 hours after the game, up 137% from last year’s halftime show, with more than half of it coming from international markets— a key league priority [[link removed]]. On Apple Music, which sponsors the halftime show, Bad Bunny’s DeBí TiRAR MáS FOToS claimed the top spot in the service’s album charts in 46 countries and reached the top 10 in 128 countries.

Globally, 24 of his songs were on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 list after the show.

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NBA Teams Ramp Up Their Tanking Efforts Ahead of All-Star Break [[link removed]]

Mike Watters-Imagn Images

NBA teams are throwing in the towel in early February with the hopes of securing a top pick in the 2026 NBA draft, which features Kansas’s Darryn Peterson [[link removed]], BYU’s AJ Dybantsa [[link removed]], and Duke’s Cameron Boozer.

The Jazz, who have the sixth-best odds currently for the No. 1 pick with a record of 17–37, are the latest team to face tanking [[link removed]] allegations, despite being aggressive at the trade deadline by acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr.

Utah’s last three games were all decided by fewer than five points, but its stars have not been on the court in the final minutes. Lauri Markkanen, who averages a team-high 26.9 points per game, did not play in any of the fourth quarters. Jackson made his Jazz debut on Feb. 7 against the Magic, scoring 22 points and helping the team take a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter. He was then pulled, and the Jazz lost by three.

Utah’s apparent tanking reached new heights Monday. Head coach Will Hardy removed Jackson, Markkanen, and Jusuf Nurkić from the game, but the Jazz won, defeating the Heat 115–111. Hardy was asked how close he was to putting Jackson and Markkanen back into the game in the fourth quarter. His answer: “I wasn’t.”

His postgame comments are the first time he has said what’s become an open secret. Utah is tanking and isn’t trying to hide it.

Miami center Bam Adebayo spoke with reporters after the game, taking a clear stand on whether the Jazz are trying to tank. “We’ve got to find a way to win even against teams that, I guess you could say, are trying to lose,” he said.

Utah is not alone in its efforts. The Nets, who are 15–37, waived pending free agent Cam Thomas despite him being second on the team in points per game. Additionally, Brooklyn did not play two of its best players, Michael Porter Jr. and Egor Dëmin, during Monday’s game against the Bulls, potentially indicating a sign of what’s to come.

The Wizards [[link removed]] have also drawn attention for being very cautious with Trae Young and Anthony Davis. Washington acquired Young on Jan. 7, but the point guard has yet to make his debut with the team due to a right quad contusion. Shortly after the team traded for Davis, it was reported that he’s expected to sit out the remainder of the season [[link removed]] to recover from hand and groin injuries.

GM Will Dawkins added to the speculation of the Wizards potentially tanking, making comments about the draft Monday. “Hopefully the lottery gods have our favor and we can add another high-level young talent in June,” he said. Dawkins did not rule out either player for the season, however, saying both Young and Davis will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break (Feb. 13–18).

A team that has an incentive to ramp up its tanking efforts is the Pacers. Indiana has the second-worst record in the NBA at 13–40, but it would lose its pick to the Clippers if it falls in the 5–9 range as a result of the Ivica Zubac trade. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to fans if Indiana benches players like Zubac and Pascal Siakam through the team’s final 29 games.

The NBA’s most recent effort to combat tanking came in 2019, when the league implemented changes to the draft lottery [[link removed]] that reduced the worst three teams’ odds for the No. 1 pick to 14%. ESPN insider Shams Charania reported in December that the NBA was looking into new ways to combat tanking, which will be a hot topic throughout the rest of the regular season.

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

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On Saturday, just one day before the Big Game, more than 100 industry leaders from across sports, media, and mental health gathered with Sheppard Pratt and Front Office Sports for an exclusive thought leadership brunch to explore how organizations can prioritize mental well-being—from the locker room to the boardroom.

Speakers from the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, Bay FC, LOVB, NFLPA, and Sheppard Pratt sat down with Front Office Sports’s Baker Machado to explore the evolving dynamics of mental health in professional sports, the growing role of corporate and philanthropic leadership, and how high-profile moments are enhancing mental health conversations on and off the field.

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ONE BIG FIG Super Lag

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

53 seconds

The amount of time YouTube TV’s stream of Super Bowl LX lagged behind the action on the field at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., according to the 2026 Super Bowl Latency Report [[link removed]] from technology company Stats Perform.

YouTube TV, the No. 4 U.S. pay-TV distributor with an estimated 10 million subscribers, was one of seven platforms measured by Stats Perform on Sunday evening. Here are their lag times behind game action:

Over-the-air TV: 19 seconds Cable TV: 38 seconds Peacock: 48 seconds YouTube TV: 53 seconds Hulu + Live TV: 53 seconds DirecTV Stream: 60 seconds NFL+: 62 seconds

Peacock, which, like Super Bowl LX broadcaster NBC, is owned by Comcast, was the fastest streaming service. The league’s own streaming service, NFL+, was the slowest.

For all the streaming services, though, the lag time was enough so that viewers could have been several plays behind live on-field action at any given moment. That’s particularly notable as the NFL leans in to more sports gambling and live betting options for fans.

Editors’ Picks MLB Media Set to Handle Half of the League’s Teams in 2026 [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The shifts highlight the ongoing disruption across sports media. PWHL Still Laser-Focused on Next Round of Expansion [[link removed]]by Annie Costabile [[link removed]]The PWHL is leaning on its Takeover Tour to inform next moves. Why the Olympics—Not the Super Bowl—Became a Political Football [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Olympic athletes in Italy are sounding off about Trump and ICE. Question of the Day

Did you watch the Super Bowl, the halftime show, or both?

Super Bowl [[link removed]] Halftime show [[link removed]] Both [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Games [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Shop [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Griffin Senyek [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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