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12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The SEC (the Sports One) Is Acting Like It's Invincible
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Maybe think twice before jumping for joy today (especially because the A's still lost). Plenty to talk about today, with college football in turmoil again (I could copy and paste that every week), plus an interesting sports-related tax issue to discuss, along with two new racing documentaries and the NBA and NHL reaching the final stages of their playoffs. Let's get to it. Locker Room Links S-E-C Guarantee? The SEC seems to think it's invincible. If it gets its way, it just might be. Advertisement We've only had one 12-team College Football Playoff and even though the format is already changing for this season, the college football world can't stop talking about expanding the playoff (again) and changing the format (again). The all-powerful SEC and Big Ten don't want to take any chances. They think they can design the best system: four automatic qualifiers for each of them, plus two each from the ACC and Big 12, one team from the midmajor Group of 6 conferences, and three at-large spots. Based on tradition and hubris, they think they're the best conferences, they've always been the best conferences, and they always will be the best conferences, so they deserve multiple automatic qualifiers even if their top teams have a relatively bad year. Multiple automatic qualifiers would be unprecedented in American sports. The other college sports, to my knowledge, don't give out more than one automatic qualifier per conference. The NFL doesn't guarantee the NFC East two playoff spots just because the division has some of the league's most powerful and historic teams. The only parallel I can think of is European soccer, where the international club competitions dish out a given number of qualification spots to the top teams in each country (though the number of spots per country is based on a coefficient formula calculated by team performance in the last five years of the competitions—sounds a bit like the old BCS, doesn't it?). Advertisement It's not, however, all that unprecedented in American business. Startups rise to the top of their new fields, and once they become powerful enough to crush their competition, they call for rules and regulations that will hold back any new upstarts with funny ideas or better business practices. But no matter how dominant they get, a new competitor eventually comes along to knock them off their pedestal. The SEC is following this playbook, the sports version of crony capitalism. It has long been the best conference in college football, but its grip might be slipping—they haven't sent a team to the national championship in two years. The system is changing (expanded playoff; name, image, and likeness payments; direct "revenue-sharing" payments to players) and different teams in other conferences might find different ways to succeed amid the chaos. But if the SEC can guarantee that a quarter of its conference gets into the College Football Playoff, that's going to be an advantage in recruiting players and coaches. Of course, if the SEC and Big Ten each have four of the best 16 teams in the country, they don't need to worry about automatic qualification. So why not just stick to proving it on the field? We'll see if they decide to take their ball and go home. They're the Ones Writing It Off Did you know the Los Angeles Dodgers can write off Shohei Ohtani's contract for tax purposes? Advertisement Not just Ohtani's contract—Mookie Betts', Freddie Freeman's, Yoshinobu Yamamoto's, and everyone else on the team too. For tax purposes, these contracts are "intangible assets" that can be written off over 15 years. It's a good deal if you can get it, but the gravy train may soon slow down (but it's not getting scrapped). Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by the House of Representatives, only half the value of those contracts could be written off instead of the full value, the New York Times reports. But that change will only affect future owners. One NFL owner told the Times the provision "felt punitive" and speculated that Trump is using the possible change to get leverage over sports owners. (Leverage for what isn't exactly clear, but who knows when Trump will want leverage for some kind of deal.) A White House spokesperson suggested to the Times that the change had more to do with ticket prices to sporting events: "The president is committed to ensuring that sports teams overcharging ticketholders do not receive favorable tax treatment. His focus is on fairness for fans, not team ownership." (This feels like grabbing a screwdriver to try to put out a grill fire—they don't seem especially related.) Advertisement One team to watch in this space is the Atlanta Braves. The team is owned by a publicly traded company. Under the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, publicly traded companies will have limitations (starting in 2027) on how much of a write-off they can take from their highest-paid salaries. It could mean a $19 million tax hike for the Braves—though not if their new lobbyists have something to say about it. Green Flag Let's go racing. Two new documentaries dropped last week that will be of interest to motorsports fans. There are a ton of new sports documentaries these days, but Earnhardt (four episodes, one hour each, on Amazon Prime Video) shows them all how it's done. Too often we get documentaries that are too one-sided—usually too deferential to the star power of the main character. Earnhardt could have been like that, and if anything, the racing aspects could have used a little more of a "Raise Hell, praise Dale" vibe. But with the late Dale Earnhardt only able to speak for himself through archival footage, the documentary gets three of Earnhardt's four children to open up about their family life—the positives and the negatives (with a lot of the latter). Sports documentaries should give viewers a fuller picture of their subjects, and Earnhardt absolutely succeeds. Advertisement On a completely different note, Netflix gave the Drive to Survive treatment to the 2024 season of the all-female F1 Academy racing series in the super creatively titled docuseries F1: The Academy (seven episodes, 30–40 minutes each). Whether you saw all the racing action last year or skipped it but had your interest piqued, it's worth a watch (as long as you can put up with a bunch of "girl boss" pop music in the soundtrack). The stakes and racing action are compelling enough on their own, and they're coupled with the interesting backgrounds of girls who dream of making it to Formula One someday. Plus, Americans Lia Block and Chloe Chambers get a solid amount of airtime. It's unlikely anyone from this crop will eventually make it to Formula 1, but it's fun nonetheless to learn their stories and watch them compete. The Finals Who you got? We're doing another Free Agent reader survey, and I want to know who you're rooting for in the NBA and Stanley Cup finals. Personally, I'm pulling for the Indiana Pacers. I don't have much against the Thunder (other than their crazy stadium deal—$1,200 in tax dollars per resident!). But I have forgiven the Pacers (franchise, not the players of the time) for the Malice at the Palace and I think some Midwestern solidarity has them pulling at my heartstrings. Also, apparently they're weird. Advertisement On the ice, I'm hoping for a Florida Panthers repeat. I'm not super happy about rooting for a repeat, but I'd rather see that than see Canada finally break their three-decade Stanley Cup drought. Canada already got to win the 4 Nations Face-Off this year, they can't get the Stanley Cup too. (Although los petroleros are one of my preferred Canadian teams.) Take a minute to fill out the survey here and let me know what you're thinking. Replay of the Week I knew this was legal in pickleball. I had no idea it was legal in tennis. That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real game of the weekend, the Kalamazoo Growlers against the Battle Creek Battle Jacks. The post The SEC (the Sports One) Is Acting Like It's Invincible appeared first on
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Steroid Olympics Are Coming
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Don't forget to organize a Fight Club with your friendly neighborhood geopolitical rivals this week. We're talking about the Olympics today—not the real ones, the new Enhanced Games that allow athletes to use steroids (or not). Then we'll move on to a new Netflix documentary on Brett Favre, followed by Formula 1's Monaco dilemma and a wild story of a journalist getting banned in England. Locker Room Links Olympians, But Enhanced Some world records might soon fall.* Advertisement *But don't expect to see them in the actual record books, not even with an asterisk. The first Enhanced Games are coming in May 2026, an Olympics-style event where athletes who are using performance-enhancing drugs are allowed to compete. "Enhanced Games athletes will be allowed to take substances that are legal in the United States and prescribed by a licensed doctor," reports ESPN's Dan Murphy. "Examples may include testosterone, growth hormone and some types of anabolic steroids. Illicit drugs—cocaine, for example—will not be allowed." (One wonders where the legally murky status of marijuana comes in.) Athletes who aren't taking performance-enhancing drugs are also allowed to compete, which could create an interesting contrast. So far there are only plans in place for short-distance swimming, track, and weightlifting events. I'm sure the public is generally against professional athletes using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, hence the web of rules and testing in major sports leagues. But, as my Reason colleague Ronald Bailey has written, it's still good for the Enhanced Games to show what athletes are capable of when science boosts them beyond the fullest of their natural abilities. Science is already changing athletic competitions in other ways, from faster running shoes to quicker swimsuits and analytics-inspired tactics. Advertisement Let enhanced competitions bloom, and let them compete for the public's attention against nonenhanced events too. Doping is probably more common than we already think anyway. Complicated antidoping rules often punish athletes for accidentally taking a drug they didn't know was banned, or reward athletes who have done better than everyone else at cheating the system. One world record has already fallen: Greek swimmer and former Olympian Kristian Gkolomeev, who started taking performance-enhancing drugs in January, beat the world record in the 50 meter freestyle by 0.02 seconds in a February time trial. By the way, don't expect the Trump administration to express "deep concerns" over all of this like the Biden administration did—Donald Trump Jr. is a partner at a venture capital firm that has invested in the Enhanced Games. Don't Blame Me, Blame Brett A new Netflix documentary, Untold: The Fall of Favre, looks at the complicated legacy of Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre. It's an engaging watch, although viewers probably won't learn anything important they didn't already know about Favre, his sexually inappropriate text messages, and his welfare-related scandal in Mississippi. For me, the documentary raised two questions that I wish had been explored. Advertisement The narrative at the beginning of the movie is clear: Favre was so popular in Green Bay that local fans and the media treated him like a god. But the media knew Favre, despite his family man image, was gallivanting around. None of the journalists interviewed in the documentary seemed surprised at Favre's behavior in the explicit text messages. Why didn't any of them report on Favre's indiscretions sooner? It would have been unpopular and difficult, but it would have been the right thing to do, morally and journalistically. One reporter who did the right thing and followed through on unpopular journalism is Anna Wolfe, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for reporting on the Mississippi welfare funds scandal. Mississippi officials used federal welfare funds on a new volleyball building at the University of Southern Mississippi (where Favre's daughter was on the team) and on Prevacus, a concussion-treatment company that Favre invested in. What surprised me is that government officials spend money on stadiums and politically well-connected companies all the time, just not through welfare funds. All Mississippi had to do was claim the money spent was going to create jobs, and hardly anyone would have batted an eye at it coming out of some state "economic development" fund. Why were they so incompetent in their crimes? Monaco Monotony The Monaco Grand Prix is famously the crown jewel of the Formula 1 calendar, the most historic race with the most glitz and glamor. Yet the actual racing often sucks. Modern F1 cars got bigger, but Monaco's narrow streets stayed the same, with the race turning into a fast, noisy parade without any passing. This year officials tried to fix the quality of the action by mandating that every driver make two pit stops—a good attempt that ultimately failed to make much difference because the problem with Monaco isn't pit strategy, it's that no one can pass on the track. Advertisement F1 regulations are set to change next year, and the new generation of cars will be lighter and smaller with more electric power for temporary speed boosts. Hopefully that solves part of the problem. If not, F1 might have to research any possible adjustments that could be made to the circuit to create longer straights for overtaking (though the Monégasque government may resist anything involving permanent construction). The other option is to just leave it as is and tell critics to get over it: F1 has different kinds of circuits with different kinds of challenges, and Monaco is just going to be what it is. Fencing Off Forest Imagine the Philadelphia Eagles denying Tony Romo press credentials and keeping him from commentating on one of their games, just because he was one of many people who called out the Eagles owner for doing something crazy. That's basically what happened in England this week. Advertisement Earlier this month, Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis went onto the field immediately after a match to angrily confront the team's manager. (When something similar happened on Ted Lasso it felt overwrought and unrealistic, but Marinakis showed me wrong.) Pretty much everyone agreed it was a crazy thing to do, and Gary Neville had the gall to join the chorus, calling it "scandalous." This weekend, Neville was supposed to commentate on the final Nottingham Forest match of the season, the most important match of the Premier League's final day. But as Neville detailed on Instagram, calling it an "unprecedented action," Forest "would not give me an accreditation or access to the stadium as a co-commentator." Marinakis is going to have to grow some thicker skin or no one will be left to commentate on his team's matches. (Forest lost the match, 1–0). Replay of the Week The Indianapolis 500 was chaotic, with drivers struggling to adapt to low temperatures (apparently temperatures in the 60s are too cold for them). Marco Andretti crashed out on the very first turn. Multiple cars crashed trying to slow down or stop on pit road. Josef Newgarden's bid for a three-peat ended with a fuel system failure. NASCAR driver Kyle Larson spun himself out, ending his attempt to finish both the 500 and the 600-mile NASCAR race on the same day. Advertisement But the most shocking thing was that the chaos actually started before the race even began, when series mainstay Scott McLaughlin crashed during the pace laps. That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real game of the weekend, Southern Miss against Columbia in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The post The Steroid Olympics Are Coming appeared first on
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Draft Lotteries Suck for Die-Hard Fans
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Be sure to help somebody with their bag today, and you too might get drafted second overall. But you wouldn't be drafted first overall by the Dallas Mavericks or the New York Islanders, the biggest winners of this season's losers. (I cannot believe the NBA includes the losers of the Play-In Tournament in the lottery). Today we'll talk about why fans should hate draft lotteries, an angry letter about the NHL All-Star Game, team names and trademarks, and a lackluster sports "documentary." Locker Room Links Tank This It's draft season, which also means it's draft lottery season, where so much of your favorite team's history and success may rest in the hands of a pingpong ball—and I hate that. (Maybe I'm just grumpy because my Detroit Red Wings have never moved up under the NHL Draft Lottery and the Detroit Pistons got screwed out of drafting Victor Wembanyama.) Advertisement The point of the lotteries is to reduce tanking so that every team is trying hard to make the playoffs every year. But if the worst teams don't get a high draft pick, it just prolongs their suffering in the league basement. I'm not the only one noticing this tension: Fans obviously don't tank, even if some (not me!) are capable of rooting for it. If the die-hard fans who stick with their team through their worst times have to suffer through the team being worst in the league, they should at least get some optimism from a first overall pick. Players also don't tank, at least not for draft purposes: They have their next contract in mind, plus any performance bonuses in their current contracts, and can hold out hope a good team will want to pick them up in a trade—just look at all the examples of teams that won late in the NFL season and blew their chance at the No. 1 pick. Lastly, coaches don't tank: If they lose a lot, they get fired. Management doesn't praise a coach for leading the team to a high draft pick. Management sometimes tanks, yes, by trading today's talent away for tomorrow's draft picks ("Trust the process!"). But basing a system on the "My team would never tank, but we need to stop rewarding their team for doing it!" belief is a bad idea. Advertisement The point isn't that tanking doesn't happen—it does, and there are tweaks leagues can make to discourage it. But from a fan perspective, if our team sucks in a given season, we want to believe something good can come of it, and that our team might be able to quickly bounce back. There's no draft lottery in the NFL, but a team can go from drafting in the first five to the Super Bowl within a couple of seasons. But in the NHL and NBA, people expect a rebuild to take five years. How's that going to keep a distraught fan engaged with their bad team? That's not solely because of the lottery system, but it's a factor to consider along with rookie contracts and minimum draft ages. Sports are random enough on their own, and often the draft is enough of a lottery on its own, especially in the NHL and MLB where young draft picks are usually a few seasons away from the big leagues. Then there's the varying quality in draft classes: No.1 picks are not created equal. There are plenty of interesting alternatives to draft lotteries to consider—too many to go into detail in one newsletter. I want to know what you think now: Click here for a quick and easy two-question survey on draft lotteries and alternatives, no fuss required. I'll share the results next week. 5 for Fighting This may be the most upset anyone has ever been about the NHL All-Star Game, of all things. Advertisement Next season's NHL All-Star Game was supposed to be at UBS Arena on Long Island, home of the New York Islanders. The league canceled the event, though, and replaced it with a yet-to-be-determined international send-off event for the 2026 Winter Olympics (which will still take place at UBS Arena). That did not sit well with Gov. Kathy Hochul (a Democrat). Hochul wrote to Commissioner Gary Bettman to express her "disappointment" over the decision, which she lamented was made "without consultation with the State of New York." (God forbid a business make a decision without asking for the government's permission.) Hochul's letter claimed the event was "expected to bring millions in economic activity to the region," which seems a bit rich for an event that yes, probably would have sold out, but likely with tickets sold almost entirely to the 20 million people living in the New York City metropolitan area. The Hochul letter also tries to guilt the NHL by pointing out New York State spent $100 million on a new Long Island Rail Road station to serve the arena, "the first new LIRR station in nearly 50 years," which says a lot about New York's ability to build new things. Also, there was already a station half a mile away. To close, Hochul points out what Bettman already knows: New York is home to "three NHL franchises and the league's headquarters." In a time when laws are so vast and complex that an institution like the NHL can be investigated, harassed, and punished by the state for almost anything, that feels a bit like a veiled threat. Advertisement It's a lot of political hullabaloo for an event that hardly anyone cares about. Which Yeti Am I Writing About? Utah Hockey Club is out, Utah Mammoth is in. The Salt Lake City–based NHL team announced its permanent name last week, one year after the franchise's move from Arizona. The name is a pretty good choice, especially considering some of the original options were Utah Caribou and Utah Powder. But it wasn't the best choice, which would have been Utah Yeti. The audible alliteration would have been great, plus the mascot and the logo would probably have been really cool. The name was apparently a front-runner, too. But using the name would have been against the law, because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the idea: It would have supposedly caused a lot of confusion with other products using yeti in their branding—most notably, YETI, the cooler company. Advertisement How this would have caused enough confusion to warrant rejection is beyond me. YETI has a distinct logo using a distinct font. As long as the hockey team used a significantly different font, it would have been no problem. Yes, the hockey team plays on ice, and yes, you put ice in YETI coolers, but that's about all they have in common. If America can figure out the difference between the Arizona Cardinals, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Louisville Cardinals, the Vatican's cardinals, and even the Stanford Cardinal, I think we can figure out the difference between a hockey team and a cooler company. Take a Seat—or Don't I usually recommend something to watch or do in this space, but this week I recommend something to skip: The Seat, a short documentary on Netflix about Formula 1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli taking over Lewis Hamilton's seat at Mercedes. Advertisement At 40 minutes, The Seat is basically a short episode of Drive to Survive—but we already had an episode of that focused on Antonelli (the same episode egregiously gave viewers the impression Mercedes driver George Russell won a race he was disqualified from). The Seat's marketing promised to take us inside Mercedes' decision making process, with access to previously unreleased WhatsApp messages. But the decision is made early in the documentary, and thanks to WhatsApp's sponsorship viewers get a subtle ad for using the messaging app for workplace purposes. (Did you know you can share lap times and files on WhatsApp? Your work messages can live right next to spam messages!) The Seat is basically a 40-minute promo video for Mercedes and Antonelli—who I already thought of as young and likeable, and still do. It's flashy and the visuals are pretty, but it doesn't provide much of anything new. Unless you're a Mercedes superfan, go ahead and skip. F1 drivers racing (and crashing) in life-sized LEGO cars, however, is obviously recommended. Replay of the Week We could all use a good dunk right now. Here's an insane one from Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, en route to a comeback victory against Golden State. That's all for now. Enjoy watching the real game of the week, Michigan against UCF on Friday in the NCAA softball tournament. The post Draft Lotteries Suck for Die-Hard Fans appeared first on
