Good morning, all! It’s Friiiidayyyyyy!
Commissioner Roger Goodell has identified another revenue stream for the NFL and not even an Act of Congress can stop him or the league. I break it all down in the above video.
Here are some other thoughts, as I contemplate the big Week 14 schedule for the NFL:
In case you are wondering, Amazon’s Black Friday game between the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles garnered more than 16M viewers. Those numbers are enormous for a game on a streaming service.
Speaking of enormous, last Saturday’s Ohio St.-Michigan game also brought in huge numbers. In what turned out to be the largest college football television audience of the season, 18.42M viewers watched the game.
The New York Giants may be horrendous, but when players call out the field conditions of Met Life Stadium they are not making excuses. Even opposing players complain about the playing surface. On Thursday the NFL announced all playing surfaces will have to meet new enhanced standards by the start of the 2028 season. The standards have been developed through rigorous lab and field testing, we are told.
The NBA is getting serious about its participation policy. In case you missed it, the league set down the framework for star players to play on a regular basis and not be rested for a game just to be fresh for the postseason. The league has fined the Cleveland Cavaliers $250,000 for sitting All-Star Darius Garland for a nationally televised game that was streamed on NBC’s Peacock. The league confirmed Garland was available to play in a game against Toronto on Nov. 23.
I am beginning to think it is going to be next college football season, before Penn St. hires a new head coach. If you ask me, interim Terry Smith should be given the job.
Things are starting to heat up, as the MLB winter meetings approach in Orlando next week. The Red Sox and Pirates have executed a five-player deal. Boston acquired starting pitcher Johan Oviedo and minor league players Tyler Samaniego and Adonys Guzman in exchange for prospects Jhostynxon Garcia (OF) and Jesus Travieso (P). Garcia was nicknamed the password for the spelling of his first name.
By the way, this is the second trade made by Red Sox baseball head Craig Breslow this off season, involving teams who are lead by former Red Sox GMs. Ben Cherington heads the Pirates, while Chaim Bloom is the Cardinals boss.
Expect a lot of rumors surrounding MLB teams with the winter meetings approaching. Also expect most of them to be false.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. As always, thank you for subscribing and enjoy your Friday!
DAN
