SBJ Unpacks: Rebecca Lowe’s double-duty dream

Tonight in Unpacks: Imposter syndrome, rampant criticism and sexist comments nearly drove Rebecca Lowe out of broadcasting early in her career. But now the lead for NBC’s Premier League coverage is preparing for a year in which she’ll work two of the biggest events in sports: a Winter Olympics and a FIFA World Cup, as SBJ’s Richard Deitsch writes in this early look at next week’s magazine.

Also tonight:

• Indiana, Big Ten, Adidas each provide lessons with CFP win
• Sources: DAZN still in hunt to buy Main Street
• The math behind Super Bowl ticket inflation
• Op-ed: Nordic Combined needs women on the Olympic stage

Listen to SBJ’s most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where Abe Madkour wraps up the week with the NWSL recording a critical victory by retaining Trinity Rodman, the football program’s status as the only profitable program at Texas, the NHL seeing a bounce from “Heated Rivalry” and more.

Rebecca Lowe was done. Six months, she told herself. Six months and I’m leaving this profession for good. It had been a long 10 years, and Lowe thought seriously about walking away from sports broadcasting to open a bed-and-breakfast in south-central England.

That omnipresent resignation is well in the distance now, but the same broadcaster who has masterfully served as the conductor of NBC’s exceptional Premier League studio coverage for more than a decade, the same broadcaster who will host NBC’s daytime coverage of the Milan-Cortina Olympics and the same broadcaster tabbed to be one of the primary hosts for Fox’s 2026 World Cup coverage suffered terrible bouts of imposter syndrome in her 20s as a soccer reporter. Lowe recalled regularly calling her father, Chris, then a famed BBC News presenter, to let him know that it was never going to click for her in the family business.

She had been worn down by the managers and players who had no interest in speaking with her. There was the rampant criticism on social media and the sexist comments she experienced every game pitchside. Nor did she feel entirely safe in stadiums: At one stage in her professional journey, Setanta Sports UK had to assign her a security guard at Oxford United games because the abuse was so bad.

The nadir was a third-round FA Cup match in January 2012 between Arsenal and Leeds, a memorable match that featured Thierry Henry scoring the game winner after a five-year absence from the Gunners. But the game was no fairy tale for Lowe, who was in the final year of her contract with ESPN UK as a pitchside Premier League reporter.

“I was working in front of the Leeds fans, and if you know anything about football, Leeds fans are tough, and Leeds away fans are triple tough,” Lowe said. “There were 6,000 or so of them and I was standing right in front of them for the game. I had hot dogs thrown at me, coins thrown at me, and there was sexual chanting. The chanting was so bad that my mom was sending me messages saying, ‘I can hear that on the TV. Are you OK?’ [Analyst] Robbie Savage, who’s as tough as old boots, actually asked me during the show if I was OK.

“The thing is, I was used to it,” Lowe continued. “I heard these chants week in, week out. Robbie asked if I was fine, but my bosses didn’t. And I don’t really blame them, because it wasn’t the culture then to complain. If that happened now in any American sport or even the Premier League, if you heard that stuff coming down the microphone, it might be a global story. But I went home and that was it. It didn’t even cross my mind to mention it to anybody, and that’s a real shame. That moment, on reflection, was very hard. But less so in the moment.”

Chris Lowe, Rebecca’s father, can recall in detail that challenging time. His daughter would call him frequently, telling him that she was failing. “For the first few years of her doing live reports for BBC, she would be almost overcome with nerves,” Chris said. “Not eating or sleeping properly. She was doubting her ability, and these were difficult words to hear. But I never seriously thought she would quit, and it was her resilience that rescued her.”

Her lifeline, it turned out, came from America. Nine months after that Leeds game, Lowe received a call from her then-agent telling her that NBC was interested in her as a host for its debut season as the U.S. rights holder of the Premier League. It was, she says today in her familiar British accent, “a bolt from the blue.”

‘Pinnacle of a career’

When Lowe chatted with Sports Business Journal for a 90-minute interview in January, she was asked to reflect on what will arguably be the greatest year of assignments for any sports broadcaster in 2026. Along with her Premier League role and her annual assignment working the Kentucky Derby, Lowe will host both the Olympics and the World Cup in the same calendar year.

“It’s both daunting and almost unbelievable in the literal sense of the word,” Lowe said. “It is a dream world for me. The pinnacle of a career. I don’t know how it could ever get better, and with the World Cup being held in my now home country …” Lowe did not finish her sentence. She simply shook her head in astonishment.

“There are very few people I can think of who would have the range and the ability to do both the Olympics and the World Cup,” said Pierre Moossa, coordinating producer for NBC’s Premier League coverage. “It’s not just two different events. It’s doing it with two different networks that have two different approaches. You love seeing people have great success where it is well deserved. She really is the face of soccer in our country. I know there are other people, so I’m not trying to insult them, but she really is.”

How did Lowe end up doing the World Cup for another network? Shortly after Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, top Fox Sports brass, including President Brad Zager; Judy Boyd, vice president of production; and Joel Santos and Zac Kenworthy, both vice presidents of production, met in Los Angeles to discuss World Cup plans. They created a wish list of talent, both within and outside of Fox Sports. Lowe’s name, not surprisingly, came up.

Rolling the dice, Zager reached out to NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood last April to inquire about Lowe working for Fox. Flood told Zager to give him a couple of days to look into it. Lowe recalled Flood approaching her in the studio on a Premier League game day, asking her to turn off her microphone. Like most self-conscious broadcasters, Lowe thought she was about to be fired. Instead, Flood told her he had received a call from Zager asking to borrow her for the World Cup. He told her that NBC was fine with it and that it would be her decision.

“I have had a couple of these incredible moments in my life,” Lowe said. “One was when my agent called about NBC. One was hearing I won that BBC competition when I was 21 to get into this industry. Then this moment. I texted my husband and said, ‘I’m going to call you in five minutes and you are going to answer your phone because I have something unbelievable to tell you.’”

“There are very few people I can think of who would have the range and the ability to do both the Olympics and the World Cup. It’s not just two different events. It’s doing it with two different networks that have two different approaches.”

—  Pierre Moossa, coordinating producer for NBC's Premier League coverage

From a private restroom across the hall from Studio 3, home of NBC’s Premier League studio shows at its headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Lowe relayed the news to her husband. Fox Sports will have multiple hosts and studio analysts, given the volume of games, but Zager said Lowe will be one of the primary hosts for the 34 match days.

NBC Sports President Rick Cordella told SBJ that he believes Lowe’s talent loan to Fox will help NBC with added exposure — and allows one of his prominent on-air talents the opportunity to work a dream assignment.

“This is great for Rebecca, which is obviously good for NBC,” Cordella said. “It’s also good when she comes back to the Premier League and her profile has been raised a few degrees. Maybe some of Fox’s audience says, ‘I liked her here. I never really saw her on TV before, but now I’m going to watch her on NBC.’”

Authenticity and authority

Lowe didn’t start out with sportscasting goals. She studied drama at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and dreamed of being an actress in sitcoms. Her mother, Judith, was a stage actress prior to having children, and became a drama teacher and presentation coach for executives. Rebecca’s brother, Alex, is a rugby correspondent for The Times (UK).

Her first paying job came in 2001, at age 21, when she was hired as an assistant producer on the breakfast show on talkSPORT (a 24/7 sports radio station based in London). But that role was a short one, because she ended up beating 650 other applicants for a six-month contract with the BBC as part of a talent search for a soccer reporter. (She did not reveal in her application who her father was.)

The most influential person in Lowe’s life today is her husband, Paul Buckle, a former English football manager and player who is now a soccer consultant. He also serves as Lowe’s manager and agent. (He negotiated the Fox deal; Lowe used to be repped by CAA.) The couple’s son, Teddy, is now old enough to understand that his mom hosts a prominent soccer show and occasionally brags about her during his own soccer matches.

“My husband is far and away the strongest person I know, and I wouldn’t say when I met him that I was that strong,” Lowe said. “He has toughened me up in the nicest possible way. In this industry, you can be nice, of course, but you have to be tough and make hard choices and be ready for hard situations. It’s pretty cutthroat, and I wasn’t that tough. My husband has helped me be a bit tougher, which in the end has been such a great thing.”

Lowe flies from her home in Northern California about three times a month to host shows on the East Coast, leaving around lunchtime on Friday and returning Sunday evening. When she hosted the Tokyo Games for NBC in 2021, she recalled recording 22 bedtime stories for Teddy so she could send one every day she was away.

“It was very difficult in the early days of raising our son,” Lowe said. “How do I be a mom and yet go to the Rio Olympics and leave my child? But I don’t want to not go to the Rio Olympics. I’m so lucky to have a family and a husband who is so supportive.”

The best studio hosts often share the same characteristics: authenticity and authority. If you watch NBC’s Premier League studio coverage, which features Lowe, Tim Howard, Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe, you see her demonstrate such traits weekly. Mustoe told SBJ that Lowe’s skill set and attention to detail are such that he believes she could produce the show if needed.

Moossa agrees. “She is a classically trained on-air talent,” he said. “What I mean by that is she had her education at BBC, which gave her a great editorial sense. She can write for herself. She’s got the fundamentals of being an exceptional host. But what really makes her stand out is that she doesn’t show off her knowledge in what she says. She shows off her knowledge by getting the best out of the people she works with. She takes ownership of the entire production.”

Lowe has two and a half years left on her contract — the same time left in NBC’s Premier League deal — and even as she reaches the heights of her profession, she talks with force about avoiding complacency.

“This country has given me a dream I never thought I’d have, but I’m not comfortable,” Lowe said. “I will never be comfortable, because this industry can just chew you up and spit you out within seconds. Your contract has an end date, and I have two and a half years left. That’s not very long. The minute I get comfortable is the minute things go wrong. So I don’t feel comfortable. But I do love the position that I’m in, and I love this life I have.”

The confetti rained, Abba blared and catharsis washed over the Indiana fans refusing to leave their seats in the aftermath of the unthinkable.

Indiana — yes, Indiana — won the national championship. In football.

The Hoosiers spent 120-plus years doing essentially nothing but losing. Football was an activity that simply bided time till basketball season.

Not anymore. Indiana completed one of the most improbable stories in the history of sport in downing Miami 27-21 on Jan. 19 in the stadium the Canes call home.

There’s plenty to criticize about college football these days. Its underlying structure is messy. Antitrust cases draw as many headlines as the games. The transfer portal creates a level of chaos for administrators, coaches and players. But within all of that, there’s joy to be found in David downing Goliath.

Here are a few other thoughts from the weekend that was in Miami:

Indiana is an exception, not the rule — but there’s hope in that

Curt Cignetti busted into college football like a bull in a China shop.

“Purdue sucks,” he said at an IU basketball game appearance during the early days of his tenure in Bloomington. “So does Michigan and Ohio State.” Bold words for a program boasting a combined 24-142-5 record against the Big Ten’s bluest of blue bloods, including just one win against the Wolverines from 1988 to Cignetti’s hiring in December 2023.

With Cignetti at the center of it, Indiana is seeing the returns on the decade-plus it spent building a foundation in football.

Indiana spent over $90 million to renovate the north (2009) and south (2018) end zones. Its football budget, per the Knight-Newhouse Database, has more than doubled over the last five fiscal years — topping out at $61.6 million in FY2024. Don’t be surprised if it continues to grow.

There was a vision behind all of it. Asked last week whether Indiana viewed the decision to spend $15 million to fire Tom Allen in 2023 as a recognition that programs must invest in football now or risk being left behind in whatever comes next, Athletic Director Scott Dolson deferred slightly, but agreed with the premise.

“We need to make certain that we’re competitive in football — we have to be,” Dolson told Sports Business Journal on CFP Media Day. “We owed it to the Big Ten Conference. We can’t be at the trough of the Big Ten and enjoying the fruits of all the great work that so many people are doing to make the conference so viable and not be a productive member.”

This wasn’t as simple as throwing money at the problem and hoping it worked. Plenty of programs outspent the Hoosiers — a point Cignetti was quick to emphasize, noting that “our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is, so you can throw that out.”

There was also an element of luck involved. Still, what the Hoosiers have done — from an investment standpoint, an NIL standpoint (generally viewed as middle of the pack in the Big Ten) and a talent development standpoint — suggests that college football’s curve is beginning to flatten.

Does this mean Maryland, Mississippi State, Boston College or Oklahoma State is about to run the table to a national title? Probably not. But to borrow from Jim Carrey: “So you’re saying there’s a chance?”

In this world of college football, there is absolutely a chance.

The Big Ten is the top dog in college football

The sideline scene played out like a movie script.

On the opposite end of the field from Jamari Sharpe’s game-sealing interception, Dolson, Indiana President Pamela Whitten and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti locked in an embrace.

“Three in a row. Three different teams. A new era,” said a Big Ten conference office staffer, pointing to the league’s recent dominance.

Petitti has irked plenty in the college sports world over almost three years in the commissioner chair.

His dalliances with private equity that were ultimately sidelined by the Michigan and USC boards drew headlines. His push for a 24-team CFP format that awards most of the slots based on automatic qualifying hasn’t been widely supported outside his own league, either.

But whatever you think of Petitti, his league has orchestrated three consecutive champions, and that brings a heck of a lot of bargaining power in a world where football, really, is the only thing that matters.

The SEC has long lorded over the sport. But in a world of increased parity, in which billionaire boosters can help in more direct ways, the Big Ten has run circles around its big-time football counterparts.

Petitti — for whatever criticisms he’s earned or otherwise — and the Big Ten deserve their flowers.

Adidas has a national champion to hang its hat on

The college sports apparel wars aren’t quite what they once were, but Adidas is basking in the glow of a weekend on Miami Beach that included two client schools.

The apparel giant has been selective but aggressive in reasserting itself in college sports. Tennessee, Penn State and Texas Tech are on board as clients. Wrestling Miami away from Nike was a coup a decade ago. Finally, the Canes football program landed on a stage each side hoped for when their marriage began.

And then there’s Indiana, an Adidas stalwart previously supported for its basketball potential.

“It’s been more than a pleasant surprise for what’s happening within Indiana football historically,” said Chris McGuire, Adidas North America vice president of sports marketing, and a former Hoosier soccer player. “Obviously, [it’s] a basketball powerhouse and someone that was a great partner on the basketball side. To see what they’ve done in football the last two years has brought us a lot of credibility in the sport, really switched the momentum of the university and honestly the retail sales.”

Adidas has been as aggressive as any in the NIL space in attempting to build out a group of athletes within its grassroots efforts.

The brand had its share of activations around the CFP title game, including a hospitality suite on Miami Beach for much of the weekend. It also featured a number of integrations with Indiana receiver Elijah Sarratt and quarterback Fernando Mendoza — both added to the company’s athlete roster last fall.

“They’ve really been very, very proactive to sit and talk and say, ‘Hey, given the new dynamic, given the rules we have, how can we help?’” Dolson said. “And they’ve really worked hard on their end to make certain they’ve communicated to all the Adidas schools, ‘Hey, we want to help be a part of this new world, but at the same time, we want to make sure that we understand what that might look like and how we can do that within the guidelines that we’re trying to work through.’”

DAZN, whose pursuit to buy Main Street Sports Group once appeared to flatline, has remained in contact with MLB as an end-of-month deadline to fund Main Street reaches its critical stages, sources told SBJ.

Those sources said DAZN has a meeting tentatively scheduled with MLB next week to presumably assess the future of baseball’s media rights and decide whether a purchase of Main Street -- and the rights to potentially nine MLB teams -- could potentially give DAZN a leg up to house the league’s national streaming package starting in 2028. That meeting could ultimately seal the fate of Main Street’s teetering business, particularly if DAZN senses a longer-term partnership with MLB is unrealistic and ends its bid.

Main Street declined comment Friday morning.

Elsewhere, sources also said Main Street’s combined 20 teams from the NBA and NHL are similarly curious whether DAZN is in or out -- and continue to make contingency plans should Main Street have to shutter at the end of the regular season and continue to default on rights fee payments. None of those teams received their checks on Jan. 1 and have been asked by Main Street to accept a 20% reduction in rights fees and a deferral of those payments until Q2 or Q3.

Under a best-case scenario, DAZN would become Main Street’s guarantor by Feb. 1, meaning it could conceivably be business-as-usual for the 29 total teams across the NBA, MLB and NHL. But, with baseball’s season just about two months away, the nine MLB clubs -- the Braves, Reds, Tigers, Royals, Angels, Marlins, Brewers, Cardinals and Rays -- have all made it clear that without new financing by Feb. 1, they are out.

The 20 NBA and NHL teams are just as wary, with most believing Main Street will decide to shutter by Feb. 1 and that they will never receive this year’s rights fee payments in full. Under that worst-case scenario -- even though Main Street sources claim it will broadcast games through April and still pay rights fees even if shuts down -- sources said the NBA, for one, will be ready with a plan.

The sense is the league, in the near term, would likely direct its 13 Main Street teams (the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, T’Wolves, Thunder, Magic and Spurs) to find local over-the-air or direct-to-distributer partners for linear game broadcasts and also arrange to stream the games for home fans on NBA League Pass.

Considering those teams have been bracing for a Main Street collapse for over a year, many have advanced contingency plans for this year and possibly next, anyway. The Cavaliers could air games on owner Dan Gilbert’s Rock Entertainment Sports Network; the Hawks could shift to Gray’s Peachtree TV; and the others have all previously aired select games over-the-air locally. The rights fees will be lower in those emergency scenarios but --like the Suns, Jazz, Blazers, Mavericks and Pelicans who have all abandoned RSNs -- their audience reach could widen.

Sources said the NHL, under that same scenario, would urge its Main Street teams (the Hurricanes, Red Wings, Kings, Wild, Predators, Blues and Blue Jackets) to also prioritize an over-the-air model -- although two other NHL teams (the Stars and Ducks) already use the free ad-supported streaming platform Victory+ and more teams (including some from the NBA) could follow suit.

Sources said most teams remain skeptical that DAZN will rescue Main Street due to a potential dead-end scenario. In other words, both MLB and the NBA have preliminary plans to launch national streaming RSNs by the 2028 and 2027-28 seasons, respectively, meaning if DAZN bought Main Street, it could be a brief expiring asset with only a one or two-year run unless teams re-up.

As it relates to the NBA, the Grizzlies, Hornets and Magic each have expiring deals with Main Street following this season, which could lower the basketball total to 10 teams unless any of them surprisingly extend. As for baseball, sources said Main Street believes -- if a guarantor emerges by the end of this month -- that it can finalize deals with likely six clubs: purportedly the Braves, Rays, Cardinals, Tigers, Royals and Brewers. That could leave the Marlins, Reds and Angels on their way out.

The Cardinals, however, are almost 99% certain to have their games swapped to MLB Media, with sources saying the only reason they are still engaging DAZN/Main Street is the off chance they get a competitive 11th hour rights fee offer.

Otherwise, the most crucial FanDuel Sports Network locations are the ones in cities with multiple Main Street teams. For instance, if the Tigers bolt Main Street -- and considering their owner Ilitch Family Holdings also controls the Red Wings -- the Pistons could feasibly end up being the only team left at FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. And by losing over 150 Tiger and Red Wings broadcasts, that would likely put the network in breach of its affiliate contract, which calls for a minimum amount of major sporting events.

In that case, the Pistons -- who are still under contract to Main Street through the 2027-28 season -- could legally drop the network. The same could conceivably apply to the Bucks (whose contract expires after the 2026-27 season), if the Brewers leave FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. So multiple franchises are on unsteady ground.

Sources said if, in fact, DAZN and its billionaire owner Sir Len Blavatnik end up backing out of the purchase, Main Street has implied it has a potential second buyer -- though industry sources said Fubo, purported to be that second mystery bidder, is no longer considered a candidate.

At the first Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in 2016, the face value price of a field level seat in the end zone was $1,800. This year, those same seats are $4,250, an increase of 136 percent in 10 years, according to documents obtained by SBJ. (Ticketing experts often say lower-bowl end zone seats are the best way to compare ticket prices across years.)

More than doubling in a decade appears aggressive at first, but some context goes a long way. One insider suggested I compare it to the most popular Chanel handbag. I did — it was $4,900 in 2016, and $11,300 in 2025, or a similar increase of 131%. And that’s what a Super Bowl ticket is: a highly visible luxury item in a world where the rich keep getting richer and are seemingly prepared to pay almost anything for a distinctive product or experience. Furthermore, the secondary market makes it clear the NFL could be more aggressive with pricing.

Brian Basloe, CEO of Concierge Live, which develops and sells software to manage corporate tickets, called the rate of increase “conservative” but noted the practical limitations of face value for retail buyers.

“The NFL has done a good job of curating their price to be as reasonable as possible, understanding that it’s the most popular event every year,” said Basloe, who was SVP at official NFL hospitality provider On Location from 2017-18. “However, consumers’ ability to get tickets directly from the NFL is pretty limited, and the gap in both pricing and availability is filled by the hospitality companies.”

Nevertheless, face value matters immensely in the B2B sector. It’s the cost basis to hospitality packages and the entire resale market. Face value also sets the cost of tickets that major NFL and team sponsors/media rights holders can access under the terms of their contracts and the price that the participating teams’ season-ticket holders pay. The NFL wants to maximize revenue but not alienate its best customers and business partners.

“We track resale very closely and understand there is a spread,” said NFL Chief Spokesman Brian McCarthy. “That is part of the balance of charging fair primary prices knowing there is a gap. Also, the secondary prices are on a much smaller universe of tickets.”

A few other insights stand out from comparing face-value data at Levi’s Stadium from Super Bowl 50 to 60:

• The most expensive non-suite seats, club seats on the 50-yard line on the stadium’s west side, are only up 13% since 2016 ($7,500 to $8,500). But the face value of those tickets is just a small component to the extensive luxury packages On Location has built around them, so I’m cautioned against making too many conclusions there. Most of the other club seats have seen much higher face value growth.
• Tickets prices are far more stratified, with 19 price points this year instead of 11 in 2016, which reflects the industry’s increasing capability to account for subtle differences in demand across the market.
• All pricing reflects some concern about politics and public relations, but the NFL puts special priority on having some tickets that stay under $1,000. “We maintain a price at $950 every year — 8%-12% of seats usually on average. We also give away 500 tickets every year for free,” McCarthy said. The extreme upper corners of Levi’s Stadium could surely sell on resale markets for far more than $950. The cheapest seats in 2016 at Levi’s were $500, according to the documents, with another tranche at $850.

Nordic Combined is a rare test of complete winter sport excellence. It asks athletes to master two unique disciplines that could not be more different: ski jumping’s explosive precision; and cross-country skiing’s grinding endurance. That contrast is our magic.

As of January 2025, there are 837 Nordic Combined athletes competing internationally. Of that number, 217 are women. Not a single one of these women will have the opportunity to represent her country at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Nordic Combined is the only Winter Olympic sport without a women’s event.

At a time when the Olympic movement prioritizes gender equity, growth and relevance, the exclusion of women from one of winter sport’s most demanding disciplines exposes a disconnect between the International Olympic Committee’s stated values and its actions.

I am deeply invested in this sport — not only professionally, but personally. Both of my daughters compete in Nordic Combined and my oldest, Alexa Brabec, is ranked second in the world. But beyond my passion and personal stakes, the case is clear: Women’s Nordic Combined belongs on the Olympic stage. It is established, competitive and ready.

The calendar for the 2025-26 season includes 17 Nordic Combined World Cup events for women. Nations across Europe, Asia and North America have invested in programs and pathways; the top 10 spots in the world are held by women from six different nations. Fans are engaged and viewership continues to expand. Yet, without Olympic inclusion, federations struggle to justify budgets, sponsors hesitate and young athletes shift to other sports where they can dream of standing on an Olympic podium. As the decision for future Olympic inclusion looms, women’s Nordic Combined, and the sport as a whole, are on a precipice.

Adding women’s Nordic Combined to the Olympics has no real downside and exponential upside. More athletes create more storylines. More nations increase competitive drama. More races give broadcasters opportunities to showcase exactly what makes Nordic Combined special.

Nordic Combined also aligns perfectly with the IOC’s focus on sustainability and cost efficiency. Continued inclusion of Nordic Combined maximizes the use of existing Olympic infrastructure for ski jumping and cross-country skiing, reinforcing the case for efficient programming at a time when host cities face increasing scrutiny over scale and expense. Adding a women’s component only strengthens that efficiency.

The sport of Nordic Combined has unbounded potential. In the search for the next fan-engaging, media-friendly Olympic sport, this crazy sport that combines the high-risk spectacle of ski jumping with the endurance-driven drama of cross-country skiing that has been a part of the Olympic games for 100 years may be exactly what the Games need. Add the women, and watch the sport thrive. The Olympics will be better for it.

Jill Brabec is the President of Nordic Combined USA, a nonprofit tax-exempt organization established to revive support for Nordic Combined in the U.S. and help build a thriving and sustainable program that fosters growth and success at both the national and international level.

• The NFL led the way among sports documentaries on Netflix in the back half of 2025, with “Quarterback” Season 2 edging out “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys” in terms of views, writes SBJ’s Austin Karp.
• Karp also speaks with UFC play-by-play broadcaster Jon Anik on the league’s new media era with Paramount-Skydance, while SBJ’s Adam Stern writes about UFC CEO Dana White responding to criticism that other projects are becoming a distraction.
• In this week’s Audience Analysis, Karp notes that the PPA Carvana Masters on CBS last Sunday drew 791,000 viewers, marking the most-watched pickleball event on record on U.S. TV.
• SBJ’s Terry Lefton reports from the Sports Licensing & Tailgate Show on which Super Bowl matchup marketers feel would be best for a “hot market” for merchandise.
• SBJ’s Tom Friends notes that Real Madrid’s flirtation with NBA Europe has escalated to “direct, high-level talks,” FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa said Friday.
• Heading into its season opener this weekend at Daytona, IMSA revealed several deals it’s had in the works, including an extension with Rolex, a relationship with NASA and an innovation program, notes Stern.
• In this week’s Talent Pool agency roundup, SBJ’s Irving Mejia-Hilario reports that Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker signed with Aura Sports Group.
• The final hour of Sunday’s American Express golf tournament will be commercial free on Golf Channel thanks to a sponsorship from Callaway Golf, writes SBJ’s Josh Carpenter.
• The NCAA Division I Cabinet on Friday decided that D-I programs could “sell add space on uniforms, equipment and apparel,” which includes jersey patch sponsorships, “starting Aug. 1,” per Yahoo.