Weekend Rap

NASCAR will announce its new championship format tomorrow, and industry executives are predicting a simplified system that shifts closer toward racing norms but without going all the way back to the sport’s old-school points formula. Last week, the sanctioning body posted a media alert that it would announce the new format on Monday afternoon, according to multiple reports, after more than a year of studying the proposition of changing the system that has been in place since 2014.

For most of its history that began in 1948, NASCAR used a points system with no playoff, with the driver with the most tallied at the end of the year winning the championship, similar to what IndyCar and F1 still use to this day. In 2004, NASCAR introduced a playoff format called the “Chase for the Nextel Cup,” where a 26-race regular season was followed by a 10-race postseason. The sport then tweaked the format again in 2014 to where a one-race finale determined the annual champion, something that eventually led to accusations that the system was overly complicated and that NASCAR was artificially seeking out stick-and-ball-type Game 7 moments at the expense of racing legitimacy.

After acknowledging it was open to changing that format at the end of 2024 following an increasing fan outcry, NASCAR put together an industry committee in 2025 to study the issue ahead of making the change for the 2026 campaign and beyond. The results of that committee’s work will be announced Monday at 3:30pm ET via a live stream on NASCAR’s digital channels.

NASCAR informed some team executives before the end of the 2025 season that retaining a playoff was the most likely outcome of its championship system review, SBJ previously reported. Industry executives who have spoken with SBJ in recent weeks have kept with that prediction, forecasting that NASCAR will switch to a system that puts a greater emphasis on points earned during the entire season but without going fully back to the traditional format used before 2004.

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The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement expired Friday night without an extension or deal, meaning a player strike -- more likely than a lockout -- is a realistic possibility in the coming weeks or months if negotiations over revenue sharing continue to stall.

With the continued disruption to the regular WNBA calendar, sources said the league submitted a free agent moratorium proposal to the union at 11:06 p.m. Eastern Time, which the WNBPA was still examining well after midnight and will not greenlight right away.

If accepted, it would presumably allow the roughly 100 WNBA free agent players to negotiate tentative contracts that wouldn’t become ironclad until a CBA was formalized.

After a day of union protests outside the NBA Store in Manhattan -- which included an inflatable rat to signify the dissent players feel after 15 months of failed talks -- the WNBPA issued a contentious 11^th hour statement Friday implying the WNBA has purposely delayed progress and devalued the players’ role in recent league fiscal success.

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Former NFLer Matt Ryan has been named the President of Football for the Falcons. In the newly created role, Ryan will “oversee all aspects of football for the Falcons and will report to” owner Arthur Blank. One of the “first orders of business will be hiring” a GM and coach. Ryan has no front-office experience in the NFL, but Blank has “confidence in the path forward.” The team interviewed four other candidates for the position, and Ryan was the “presumed choice.” The position will give “final say” over the GM and coach, with both reporting “directly to Ryan” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 1/10). Ryan’s hiring looks “very much like a most pivotal moment in the franchise’s direction.” After a “truly abysmal eight-season stretch,” Ryan has “come to set things in order.” It is “simply very easy to envision him excelling in this role” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 1/10).

CBS touched on Ryan’s new position at the outset of “The NFL Today” as host James Brown introduced the panel, feigning a tear when presenting Ryan before everyone applauded him. Ryan explained his purpose in taking the job by saying, “You want to be in the mix, in the playoffs. It’s been too long there. We’re going to work really hard and find the right people to get us back in that position to be successful.” CBS’ Nate Burleson said, “Selfishly, we want you to stick around here because you one hell of a talent. But it’s a position that you have to take and we’re proud of you” (“The NFL Today,” CBS, 1/11).

Ticket prices for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between No. 1 Indiana and No. 10 Miami are at “absurdly high levels.” As of Saturday morning, the cheapest ticket for the Jan. 19 game on GameTime is “over $3,500, including fees.” The “average ticket price was $5,589 -- more than double the average price of last year’s game.” The game will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens where Miami plays its home games. Miami is playing for its first national championship since the 2001 season, while Indiana has never won a national title in football. Indiana fans are “enjoying every minute of its undefeated season,” as fans “flooded Mercedes-Benz Stadium” for Friday night’s Peach Bowl win over Oregon. It is “not an exaggeration to say that more than 80% of the crowd was wearing red” (YAHOO SPORTS, 1/10).

Attendance for the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl, which served as the CFP semifinal sites last week, was up for both games. The announced crowd for the Fiesta Bowl between Miami and Ole Miss was 67,928, up from 63,854 for the Penn State-Boise State quarterfinal last season. The Peach Bowl, with Indiana vs. Oregon, drew 75,604, up from 71,105 for the Texas-Arizona State quarterfinal. Composite attendance for the first three rounds is down slightly from last season -- 805,611 to 750,172 -- because of the campus sites used in the first round. Last season’s Round 1 games at Penn State, Texas and Ohio State all drew more than 100,000 (SBJ).

Asked to describe his tenure so far as Exec Dir of the American Football Coaches Association, Craig Bohl starts with the word “challenging.”

“Our whole world has changed exponentially,” he told SBJ on Sunday as the AFCA Convention begins in Charlotte.

The list is long -- calendar, NIL, transfer portal, professional development and mental health resources for coaches who are going non-stop.

Here are excerpts from his session with SBJ:

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The College Sports Commission on Friday issued a memo to ADs saying that it has “‘serious concerns’ about some of the multimillion-dollar contracts being offered to players.” The memo from the new regulatory body for college sports comes amid a transfer portal “spiraling out of control.” The CSC reminded ADs that, according to the rules, “third-party deals to use players’ name, image and likeness ‘are evaluated at the time of entry in NIL Go, not before, and each deal is evaluated on its own merits.’” CSC, through its NIL Go portal, is “supposed to evaluate those deals to make sure they are for a valid business purpose and fall within a fair range of compensation for the services being provided.” The CSC did not list examples of “unapproved contracts, but college football has seen its share of seven-figure deals luring players to new schools” since the transfer portal opened on Jan. 2 (AP, 1/9).

Meanwhile, schools in certain states “began trading ‘no state income tax’ social media posts as a way to entice players in the portal.” The Univ. of Houston, UTEP, North Texas, UCF, FIU and UNLV -- all schools within one of the nine states that do not levy income taxes -- “posted about their lack of state income taxes on X on Saturday, featuring an image of either a mascot or cheerleader lifting a comically large bag of cash above their heads.” College athletes are “not only taxed on their NIL earnings, but also on anything they receive of value.” Arkansas has “tweaked its tax code so that NIL income is tax-exempt as an incentive to induce athletes to sign” at the Univ. of Arkansas or other in-state schools (THE ATHLETIC, 1/10).

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NCAA President Charlie Baker “met for a scheduled sit-down” in N.Y. on Thursday and on the agenda was the “ongoing threat of legalized gambling, particularly prop bets.” The NBA is currently dealing with the “fallout of a federal investigation” that has led to the arrests of Heat G Terry Rozier, former NBAer Damon Jones and Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, so finding solutions “is a priority.” Also discussed was the “possibility that players with remaining years of college eligibility could petition the NCAA to return to school after they are drafted.” Silver and Baker discussing “player eligibility is very interesting.” In Baylor C James Nnaji, the NCAA “effectively opened the door for any drafted players to return -- provided they have not signed an NBA contract.” Teams are “unabashedly enthusiastic about the chance to incubate picks in the college ranks” (SI.com, 1/9).

Observers are “cautiously optimistic” about the status of Milan’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena for the Milan-Cortina Games after a series of test events held there this weekend. There is a “lot of construction there that still needs to be done.” However, a participant in one of the test events indicated that the ice surface was “better than he expected,” though it got “soft at the end of periods.” Officials are going to “rip it out and put in a new ice surface after this week because the doors have been open,” allowing the surface to get dirty (“Hockey Night In Canada,” Sportsnet, 1/10). Players taking part in a semifinal match in Italy’s Serie A hockey league generally “expressed positivity across the board, predicting that everything would only get better moving forward” (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 1/10).

There is “no sense on the ground that the Olympic tournament is in jeopardy.” The capacity for the arena will come in at 11,800, “well short of the planned 14,000 because they ran out of time to finish entire sections.” The building has “unpainted drywall and unfinished concrete floors throughout.” There will be “no fancy concourses or luxury boxes here.” On Friday night, fans could purchase food and beer “from food trucks parked outside.” The ice surface “appeared soft” and there was a “delay in the first period after a hole developed in front of one of the goals” (THE ATHLETIC, 1/9). TSN’s Jennifer Hedger noted organizers claim they are putting their “finishing touches on the rink.” However, she added, “Considering some of the images we saw coming out of Italy today, I think we need to define what ‘finishing touches’ are.” TSN’s Lindsay Hamilton said, “When you’re bringing out a watering can to fix a hole in the ice less than a month before the Olympics, probably not a good sign” (“SportsCentre,” TSN, 1/10).

Former LIV golfer Brooks Koepka “applied for reinstatement of his PGA Tour membership Friday,” according to sources cited by ESPN.com. Koepka left LIV Golf on Dec. 23 with one year left on his contract. It was not immediately clear when Koepka “will be permitted to return.” He did not renew his membership before the 2022-23 season. Sources said that once Koepka reapplies for membership, the tour “will start its reinstatement and disciplinary process” (ESPN.com, 1/9). The process for Koepka’s return “is unclear.” The PGA Tour has given one-year bans to non-members for playing in LIV events, but several LIV players who are past PGA Tour members have said that they “believe their punishments are longer.” Koepka’s situation “could be different.” Unlike LIV golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, Koepka was not among the players who filed a lawsuit against the PGA Tour. Sources said that the decision will “ultimately be made by new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp.” He is expected to “take guidance from his Future Competition Committee (helmed by Tiger Woods), along with the tour’s policy board” (GOLF DIGEST, 1/9).

Phillies 1B Bryce Harper said that he “no longer has an apparel deal with Under Armour” after partnering with the company for about 15 years. Harper, in the comments section of a TikTok video where he is seen taking batting practice and wearing Nike shoes, wrote that he is a “Free agent in the apparel/footwear category right now” in response to another commenter. A source said that Harper and his representatives are “negotiating a new equipment deal.” His deal with Under Armour “has lapsed.” But the source added that Harper has “not ruled out signing a new deal” with Under Armour. Harper initially signed with Under Armour in 2011 before inking a 10-year extension in 2016. He was “creating new shoes, cleats and batting gloves with the company all the way up until 2025″ (BALTIMORE BANNER, 1/10).

Bengals Dir/Player Personnel Duke Tobin in a press conference on Friday acknowledged the team’s “failures, took accountability for his own shortcomings and expressed confidence in the ability for the Bengals to turn things around without a major overhaul.” Tobin sat for “more than an hour” in what was a “rare opportunity for fans to hear from the Bengals’ de facto general manager at the end of a season.” However, Tobin “never provided any real solutions.” Tobin confirmed that the organization does “not plan to make any changes with its coaching staff or add to the scouting department to help identify talent to improve the roster.” He spoke “highly of the knowledge and collaboration among decision-makers, scouts and coaches.” But he said that he “understands that fans probably don’t believe in his ability to lead after three straight years missing the playoffs and just five playoff wins in his tenure since joining the Bengals in 1999” (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 1/9).

St. Louis businessman Richard Chaifetz is “now a member” of the S.F. Giants ownership group. Chaifetz joined “at the partner level.” He has a “minor share of the team, in the 1%-2% range,” and he is “not on the team’s board.” The Giants have 35 partners in the ownership group. St. Louis Univ.’s business school and sports arena are named after Chaifetz, and he has “attempted to buy other pro sports teams, including the NFL’s Rams, the NBA’s Bucks and MLB’s Marlins” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/9).

World No.1 tennis player Carlos Alcaraz defeated No.2 Jannik Sinner in straight sets in a South Korea exhibition match Saturday before around 12,000 fans at Inspire Arena in Incheon, just west of Seoul. This was the “first appearance in South Korea for both players.” The match was a “mix of high-quality, intense shotmaking and levity from both players, who drew oohs and aahs.” Other entertaining moments included Sinner bringing out a boy from the stands to “take his racket and play a few shots against Alcaraz during the second set” (YONHAP NEWS, 1/10). The exhibition match was an “unusual way to start the season, but it is frankly a financial no-brainer for both.” It was “one of the most lucrative standalone tennis matches in recent years.” Each player will earn an “estimated appearance fee” of $2.28M (All figures’ US). For this month’s Australian Open, they would “have to claim the title with seven wins to get a larger cheque” of $2.68M. The “most money on offer at any of the official warm-up tournaments” last week is about $1.03M for winning at least five matches at the United Cup team event in Sydney and Perth (London TIMES, 1/9).