Closing Bell

The College Football Playoff drama over a new TV deal is nearing a resolution.

The nine FBS conferences and Notre Dame have reached agreements on a new CFP contract that will begin in 2026, ESPN’s Heather Dinich and Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported today. The contract agreed upon this week should also be the precursor to an expected six-year extension worth $7.8B with ESPN for the CFP’s media rights.

The news comes after months of contentious debate between conference commissioners over format and, perhaps most crucial, revenue distribution.

With the CFP’s contract now in place and an ESPN agreement likely to follow, the CFP has at least taken another step toward bringing some level of stability to the ever-chaotic world of college football. What does it all mean for the future of the sport’s postseason? Here’s an early analysis:

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The PWHL is holding neutral site games in Pittsburgh and Detroit this weekend as part of what the league has dubbed "Takeover Weekend," with the goal of "testing potential markets." Though league execs have "tapped the brakes on expansion talk, with nothing on the horizon until the 2025-26 season at the earliest," this weekend's games showcase just how popular the league is becoming -- with both set to be played in NHL arenas. Boston will face Ottawa in Detroit at the Red Wings' Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, then Toronto and Montreal will face off in Pittsburgh at the Penguins' PPG Paints Arena on Sunday. The neutral site games "have generated interest" among fans, with the PWHL already selling tickets in the upper bowl in Detroit, while the lower bowl in Pittsburgh is "expected to sell out" (AP, 3/15).

The NWSL K.C. Current will for the first time tomorrow take the field at CPKC Stadium, a brand-new, $117M stadium that is the "world's first for a women’s professional sports team." Longtime boosters of women’s professional soccer, Current co-owners Angie and Chris Long -- who bought the team in 2020 alongside Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany -- "helped arrange financing" for the new facility from their onetime employer JPMorgan. The stadium "reflects the newfound optimism surrounding women’s soccer" in the U.S., and the team "expects to fill the stadium’s 11,500 seats" after drawing record crowds last season. NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman also "plans to be at the game" tomorrow, which will be against the Portland Thorns at 1pm ET (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 3/15).

NWSL club Bay FC today announced that 10 matches this season will be presented live on NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California, starting with the club’s first-ever match on Sunday against Angel City FC at 4:30pm PT on NBC Sports Bay Area. The 10-game regional TV schedule for Bay FC’s 2024 season features six home matches and four away matches. Four matches will be presented on NBC Sports Bay Area, with four matches scheduled for NBC Sports Bay Area Plus. One match is scheduled for NBC Sports California and one for NBC Sports California Plus (Bay FC).

AT&T launched a series of national commercials titled "Connect to the Madness" today, starring several NBA and WNBA athletes, that the company will run alongside this month's NCAA Tournament. The first, "a 90-second spot" titled "What a Pro Wants" features Thunder teammates Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Knicks G Jalen Brunson stars in another spot called "Jalen's Jacket" while Warriors F Draymond Green is featured in "Draymond's Choice."  Joel Embiid, Sabrina Ionescu, Candace Parker, Carmelo Anthony and JuJu Watkins will also be featured in the campaign. The spots will "begin airing Sunday (March 17) and run through the April 8 championship game" (ADAGE, 3/15).

Investment and advisory firm Pendulum Holdings has launched Pendulum Sports & Entertainment, which will offer advisory services to a number of brands. PSE's team includes Managing Dirs Harvey Fine and Jamie Slade along with VP Michelle Obeso-Theus (PSE).

The Premier League BOD next week is set to make a decision on "whether to accept  777 Partners' prospective takeover of Everton." Meetings between  777 and the Premier League took place last week, and "further meetings were held at the start of this week" before the matter was sent to board to make the final decision (London GUARDIAN, 3/15).

Australian F1 Grand Prix CEO Travis Auld articulated a "bold vision" to further transform the GP in the future into a "festival event across the weekend, which would involve spilling into surrounding suburbs for dinning and other entertainment." F1 will descend upon Australia soon for the March 24 race (Melbourne AGE, 3/15).

The AFL is "keen to scan the brains of players when they are drafted," as one of a series of measures to "reduce the risks associated with concussions." AFL concussion expert Dr. Catherine Willmott also suggested that they "could use blood and saliva tests for DNA information about players that would assist in understanding brain health" (Melbourne AGE, 3/15).

Former Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner, in his first column for F1.com, wrote he "stayed at Haas too long." Steiner: "I would come back to F1 in the future, but it needs to be the right project, done right" (F1.com, 3/15).

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NFL exec-turned-manager Constance Schwartz-Morini sat down on Bloomberg's new podcast "The Deal," hosted by by former MLBer Alex Rodriguez and Bloomberg's Jason Kelly, to talk about working with Snoop Dogg, Erin Andrews, Deion Sanders, Michael Strahan and more. In this clip, Schwartz-Morini discusses the time she called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodellto broker a meeting between the NFL and Snoop Dogg for support in launching what eventually became the Snoop Youth Football League. 

128.9 million -- Number of 21-and-over U.S. residents living in states with legal online sports betting following the opening of betting in North Carolina this week. That number represents 52% of U.S. adults (SBJ BETTING, 3/15).