National

The College Football Playoff will officially expand from four to 12 teams beginning in the 2024 season - two years sooner than previously planned, the CFP announced Thursday.

Why it matters: This will allow more top-performing teams to compete for the national championship in the highly anticipated and lucrative end-of-season playoff tournament.

Flashback: In September, the College Football Playoff's board voted to expand the four-team tournament to 12 teams. At the time, the board said the new format would begin in the 2026 regular season, unless "earlier implementation" was possible.

Details: For 2024 and 2025, the quarterfinals and semifinals will take place in different bowl games on a rotating basis.

The first round will take place at either the home field of the higher-seeded team or at another site as selected by the higher seed.

The 2024 quarterfinals will take place during the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl will host the CFP semifinal games.

For 2025, the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will host the quarterfinals, and the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl will host the semifinals, according to the CFP.

The national championship will take place on Jan. 20, 2025, in Atlanta, and Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami.

What they're saying: "This is thrilling," said Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, in a press release. "A new era of college football is about to begin. I look forward to it."

Zoom out: The expansion is a long time coming. Conference leaders have been negotiating details of it for more than a year, AP reports.

The new format could bring the conferences a projected $450 million over the last two years of the current TV deal with ESPN, per AP.  

CFP does not yet have a TV contract beyond 2025, but the television rights for the 12-team format could be worth as much as $1.9 billion, AP reports.

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional details.

College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams in 2024

The expansion was previously planned to start in 2026.

CFP trophy during the College Football Playoff press conference and media roundtable on November 19, 2022.

CFP trophy during the College Football Playoff press conference on Nov. 19. Photo: Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

College Football Playoff

NCAA

Shifts in technology and media are changing the way we play, watch and understand sports. Business models are adapting and social change is forcing those in charge of teams and leagues to reconsider decades-old practices.

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Huge audiences tuned into football and soccer over Thanksgiving weekend, with the NFL, World Cup and college football all drawing record viewership.

Why it matters: That was particularly good news for Fox Corp., which aired the three most-watched games on three consecutive days.

Thanksgiving: The New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys matchup was the most-watched NFL regular-season game ever, averaging 42 million viewers across live TV and streaming, per Nielsen. The total audience for the three NFL Thanksgiving games was 138 million, up from 103 million last year and a new Thanksgiving Day record.

Friday: USA-England drew over 15.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched men's soccer match ever on English-language TV in America, Fox said. Another 4.6 million watched the Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo or Peacock, bringing the total viewership to nearly 20 million, per NBCU.

Saturday: Ohio State-Michigan drew 17 million viewers, making it the most-watched regular-season college football game in Fox's history and the most-watched regular-season game on any network since 2011.

What they're saying: A Fox spokesperson told Axios last week that the company expected roughly 120 million people to watch its Thanksgiving weekend coverage across Fox and FS1. These three games alone delivered over half that number.

For context: The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — one of the few non-sports events that routinely ranks among the year's top broadcasts — drew 27.7 million viewers on Thursday across NBC and Peacock.

The big picture: Fox wasn't the only network that scored huge sports ratings over the holidays.

Saturday's Argentina-Mexico World Cup match was the most-watched sporting event in Telemundo's history, with the Spanish-language broadcast drawing more than 8.9 million viewers across Telemundo, and the Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, the network said.

Even after a jam-packed few days, fans still tuned into the NFL across all networks on Sunday, per usual. The Philadelphia Eagles-Green Bay Packers game drew 16.2 million viewers on NBC's "Sunday Night Football," the show's best overnight tally since Oct. 16.

What to watch: Fox should put up another impressive viewership number today when the U.S. Men's National Team takes on Iran in a win-or-go-home World Cup game. The game begins at 2 p.m. ET.

Thanksgiving weekend draws massive sports viewership

The Giants-Cowboys match-up was the most-watched NFL regular-season game ever, averaging 42 million viewers.

Illustration of a pumpkin pie with stitching and dough resembling a soccer ball

Television ratings

NFL, NBA, MLB & NHL

Louisville knew this was going to be a rebuilding season under first-year head coach Kenny Payne. But nobody expected them to be this bad.

Driving the news: After a humiliating 70-38 loss to No. 21 Texas Tech at the Maui Invitational on Tuesday, the Cardinals are the first ACC team to start 0-5 since Virginia in 1960-61.

38 points are the fewest scored by a Louisville team in the last 50 years. They made just 11 field goals.

Through five games, the Cardinals have 90 turnovers against just 36 assists, the worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation.

The backdrop: Recruiting hasn't been going great, either. No. 1 overall recruit D.J. Wagner opted for Kentucky last week, and A.J. Johnson, the top unsigned player in America, chose Texas over Louisville this week.

Looking ahead: That 1960-61 Virginia team started 0-8. Can the Cardinals avoid the same fate? Their next three games: vs. Cincinnati (in Maui), vs. No. 23 Maryland, vs. Miami.

Louisville's historically bad start

They are the first ACC team to start 0-5 since 1960.

College basketball

Olivia Pichardo, a freshman walk-on at Brown, is the first female athlete in Division I history to be named to an active varsity baseball roster.

Driving the news: Pichardo, a utility player who can play in the infield and outfield, was one of 31 players to make the roster for the upcoming spring season.

Coach Grant Achilles said Pichardo had "the most complete walk-on tryout I have seen from a player since becoming a head coach."

Pichardo played varsity baseball in Queens, New York, and was a member of the U.S. baseball women's national team this past summer.

What she's saying: "It's kind of crazy to know that I'm living out my dream right now and my ideal college experience that I've always wanted," said Pichardo.

State of play: Nearly 20 women have been members of collegiate baseball rosters, per nonprofit organization Baseball for All. Pichardo is the first to do so at the D-I level.

The big picture: Women continue breaking ground on the diamond. Consider all the "firsts" that have happened in the past seven months alone.

Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to play in a league with ties to MLB.

Rachel Balkovec became the first full-time female manager in affiliated baseball history.

Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach on an MLB field.

Plus: They're breaking ground in the front office, too. The Marlins recently became the first major U.S. sports franchise to have women operating the entirety of team day-to-day business.

Brown freshman makes history as first woman on D-I baseball team

She was one of 31 players to make the roster for the upcoming spring season.

Baseball

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) condemned an antisemitic message that was projected onto the exterior of TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, during the Georgia-Florida college football game on Saturday.

Why it matters: The antisemitic message approved of Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, and his recent hateful comments against Jewish people, according to WJXT, a Jacksonville-based CNN-affiliate television station. 

Additional antisemitic messages that also approved of Ye's comments were seen throughout the city, including above the Arlington Expressway and projected on the Wells Fargo Center and an apartment building.

Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in the U.S., hitting an all-time high in 2021, the Anti-Defamation League said earlier this year. 

What they're saying: “We strongly condemn the antisemitic hate speech projected outside TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville after the Florida-Georgia football game Saturday night and the other antisemitic messages that have appeared in Jacksonville," the University of Florida and the University of Georgia said in a statement with the SEC.

"The University of Florida and the University of Georgia together denounce these and all acts of antisemitism and other forms of hatred and intolerance. We are proud to be home to strong and thriving Jewish communities at UGA and UF and we stand together against hate," they added.

“I am really distressed on all this antisemitic rhetoric around Florida-Georgia. It's hurtful. And I mean, it's not the Jacksonville I know and love and all of us have to work together to absolutely put an end to it. So let's stop it," Shahid Khan — owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose home facility is TIAA Bank Field — said, according to WJXT.

The big picture: Rep. John Rutherford (R), whose district encompasses most of Jacksonville, condemned the messages, as did Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry (R).

"This stuff is disgusting to me. I've never understood it, and it's disgusting to me," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Sunday. "It's wrong. We have to push back against it."

A banner with a similar message also referencing Ye's comments was hung from an overpass above a busy Los Angeles highway earlier this month by a hate group.

Go deeper: The organizations that have dropped Ye after antisemitic remarks

SEC condemns antisemitic message projected during Florida-Georgia football game

The message approved of Kanye West's recent hateful comments against Jewish people.

TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, on Oct. 29.

TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla., on Oct. 29. Photo: John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Florida

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

A fan who allegedly shouted racist slurs and threatened a Black Duke University volleyball player during a game against Brigham Young University in Utah on Friday has been banned from BYU sporting events, NBC News reports. 

Driving the news: The player, Rachel Richardson, "was called a n----r every time she served," her godmother Lesa Pamplin wrote on Twitter, adding that the person shouting the slurs was “a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus.”

She added that a police officer was put by the Duke bench because of the heckling.

Richardson in a statement on Twitter on Sunday said BYU coaching staff were notified of the incident, and that it caused players to feel unsafe, but "failed to make the necessary steps to stop the unacceptable behavior. ... They also failed to address the situation immediately following the game when it was brought to their attention again."

Richardson praised the BYU athletes and said the harassment was not a reflection on them. The BYU athletic director "was quick to act in a very respectful and genuine manor [sic]."

"This is not the first time this has happened in college athletics and sadly it likely will not be the last time. However, each time it happens we as student athletes, coaches, fans, and administrators have a chance to educate those who act in hateful ways. 

"This is an opportunity to dig deep into closed cultures which tolerate amoral racist acts, such as those exhibited Friday night, and change them for the better. 

"It is not enough to indicate that you are not racist, instead you must demonstrate that you are anti-racist."

Duke University volleyball player Rachel Richardson

BYU didn't confirm the details of the incident but said in an apology on social media it has banned the perpetrator from athletic venues. The university said the person is not a student, but was sitting in the student section. 

“To say we are extremely disheartened in the actions of a small number of fans in last night’s volleyball match ... is not strong enough language," the statement reads. 

"We will not tolerate behavior of this kind. Specifically, the use of a racial slur at any of our athletic events is absolutely unacceptable and BYU Athletics holds a zero-tolerance approach to this behavior."

Some figures in sports have rallied to support Richardson. 

Basketball star LeBron James tweeted to Pamplin: "@LesaPamplin, you tell your Goddaughter to stand tall, be proud and continue to be BLACK!!! We are a brotherhood and sisterhood! We have her back. This is not sports."

Sportswriter Jemele Hill called on Duke to cancel games in support of Richardson. 

A Duke volleyball game against Rider University, which was scheduled to take place Saturday in the same BYU field house where the incident happened, was moved to a new location.

Rider's volleyball team tweeted ahead of the game that it stands in support of Richardson.

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Fan banned from BYU matches after allegedly shouting racist slurs

Rachel Richardson "was called a n----r every time she served," her godmother wrote on Twitter.

Photo: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images

College

Media Deals

CBS and NBC join Fox in landing Big Ten media rights that will pay the soon-to-be-expanded college sports conference more than $1 billion annually, two sources familiar with the deals told Axios.

Why it matters: The Big Ten, which is adding UCLA and USC starting with the 2024 school year, becomes the first conference to eclipse the $1 billion mark for its annual media rights pay.

The deal, announced Thursday morning, ends a 40-year relationship with ESPN, which has held Big Ten rights since 1982.

The big picture: This would effectively give CBS a replacement for the Southeastern Conference (SEC), while NBC gets a bigger foothold in college football outside of Notre Dame.

ESPN is taking over SEC football rights starting in 2024 as part of an expanded deal with the conference.

Fox, given its 61% stake in the Big Ten Network, was never in danger of losing its rights and was even involved in the talks with other networks.

NBC will now own both Saturday and Sunday nights. It also airs an NFL game with "Sunday Night Football."

Details: The Big Ten would have three national game windows on Saturdays: early afternoon on Fox, late afternoon on CBS and primetime on NBC.

That won't happen until the second year of its deal, as CBS still has two years left on its current SEC deal, which mandates that CBS put those games on in the late afternoon window on Saturdays.

Once the SEC moves over to ESPN/ABC in 2024, CBS' Big Ten games may go head-to-head with the conference it used to air.

By the numbers: The New York Post's Andrew Marchand reports that CBS will pay $350 million a year for its Big Ten package, more than the about $300 million that ESPN is paying for SEC football alone. Two sources told Axios that both CBS and NBC will pay roughly the same amount.

What's next: ESPN is now expected to be aggressive in renewing its media deals with the Pac-12 and Big 12, both of which come up for renewal over the next couple of years.

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note that the New York Post reported ESPN is paying $300 million to air SEC football, not $330 million.

Big Ten Conference reaches record media rights deal

The Big Ten becomes the first conference to eclipse the $1 billion mark for its annual media rights pay.

Illustration of a football in the shape of a dollar sign, sitting on a kickoff tee.

Media

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

With a No. 2 preseason ranking and Heisman favorite C.J. Stroud under center, interest in Ohio State football is through the roof ahead of the season, which begins in just two weeks.

State of play: For the first time ever, the Buckeyes are the most in-demand team in college football based on cumulative ticket sales as of Aug. 12, per exclusive data provided by StubHub.

The top 10: 1. Ohio State, 2. Alabama, 3. Texas, 4. Georgia, 5. Texas A&M, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Michigan, 8. Penn State, 9. Auburn, 10. LSU

Ohio State's year-over-year increase in cumulative sales was also the largest among all teams, followed by Texas, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Nebraska. 

Wild stat: The Buckeyes account for nearly 10% of all college football sales so far on StubHub, including more than a third of Big Ten sales.

Conference call: The SEC leads all conferences for the third straight full-capacity season, accounting for 39% of all sales. They're followed by the Big Ten (27%), Big 12 (13%), ACC (8%) and Pac-12 (5%).

Top 10 games: Alabama (three), Ohio State (two) and Notre Dame (two) are the only teams with multiple games in StubHub's top 10 by total sales:

Oregon vs. Georgia (Sept. 3; Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium)

Florida State vs. LSU (Sept. 4; New Orleans' Caesars Superdome)

The Buckeyes are the hottest ticket in college football

For the first time, Ohio State is the most in-demand team in college football based on cumulative ticket sales.

Illustration of Brutus the Ohio State mascot standing atop a large smoking ticket

University of Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson will no longer use the nickname "AR-15" and will rebrand a line of merchandise linked to him.

Driving the news: Richardson had used "AR-15," a combination of his initials and his jersey number, as his brand, but now says it’s important his name is not linked in any way to the semiautomatic rifle used in several recent mass shootings.

"While a nickname is only a nickname and 'AR-15' was simply a representation of my initials combined with my jersey number, it is important to me that my name and brand are no longer associated with the semiautomatic rifle that has been used in mass shootings, which I do not condone in any way or form,” Richardson said in a statement Sunday.

"My representatives and I are currently working on rebranding, which includes the creation of a new logo and transitioning to simply using 'AR' and my name, Anthony Richardson," he added.

The big picture: The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, had purchased an AR-15-style rifle online, per NPR.

Go deeper: Biden calls on Congress to reinstate federal assault weapons ban

Florida quarterback drops "AR-15" nickname, rebrands merchandise after Uvalde

Anthony Richardson had used "AR-15," a combination of his initials and his jersey number, as part of his brand and image.

Photo of Anthony Richardson holding a football in his right hand about to throw

Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson makes a pass attempt during the Florida Spring football game on April 14 in Gainesville, Fla. Photo: Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Guns

USC and UCLA will leave the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten in 2024, the schools announced Thursday — a bombshell that caught the sports world completely off-guard.

Why it matters: The future of college athletics seems clear: Two "super leagues" built from the foundations of the SEC, which will soon add Texas and Oklahoma, and the Big Ten, which now spans coast to coast.

The Pac-12, which has become something of a laughingstock among the Power 5 football conferences, faces an uncertain future without the Los Angeles schools.

Plus: This is expected to trigger more realignment. Could other Pac-12 schools join the Big Ten? What about Notre Dame? What will the ACC and Big 12 do now? Nothing is off the table.

What they're saying: "This move offers greater certainty in rapidly changing times and ensures that we remain a leader in college athletics for generations to come," said UCLA chancellor Gene Block and athletic director Martin Jarmond.

A graphic showing the logo of the Big Ten schools

The impending 16-team Big Ten. Graphic: Axios Visuals

By the numbers: The Big Ten and SEC had already separated themselves from the pack financially. Now, armed with the biggest brands in college sports, it won't even be close.

SEC schools will receive roughly $66 million per year starting in 2024, when ESPN's $3 billion deal kicks in. The new-look Big Ten, which is currently negotiating a new TV deal, should pay out even more.

By comparison, payouts for Pac-12 and Big 12 schools are roughly $21 million and $20 million, respectively, under their current deals. ACC payouts are even lower at roughly $14 million.

The impending 16-team SEC. Graphic: Axios Visuals

The big picture: Major college sports, especially football, are increasingly about one thing: cashing checks. What was once "amateur athletics" is now a TV show — and one of the few that still drive ratings.

Millions watch Power 5 football games on Saturdays, and the money trickles down to schools, athletic departments, coaches and — now indirectly through NIL — players.

By that token, Thursday's shocking sequel to last year's SEC blockbuster probably shouldn't have been shocking at all. Big schools, big matchups, Big Noon — it's all there.

The century-old USC-Stanford rivalry has been thrown in the garbage. UCLA being in the same league as Rutgers is absurd and means huge travel demands and 9am PT kickoffs. The list goes on.

Plus, this doesn't just impact football and basketball. USC and UCLA have hundreds of athletes and are two of the three schools with more than 100 NCAA championships.

Zoom out: The Big Sixteen (or is it The Bigger Ten?) may seem strange, but it's part of a larger shift. As the NCAA cedes power to the richest leagues, who may eventually breakaway, membership is a golden ticket.

Conferences were built on culture and geography, and benefited from the framework and cash provided by the NCAA, which governs all schools from the elites to the minnows in Division III.

Now, the biggest conferences have enough brand name member schools to thrive without having to split money with the NCAA's smaller schools.

Looking ahead: We'll soon have two 16-team mega-conferences, but why stop there? Some believe the Big Ten and SEC will end up with 20 schools each, forming the "Power 2."

What's next for the Pac-12 (The Athletic)

Big Ten bombshell reshapes college sports

The Big Ten and SEC had already separated themselves from the pack financially. Now it won't even be close.

Illustration of the USC and UCLA logos riding away in a convertible

National Collegiate Athletic Assocation (NCAA)

Reproduced from Student Player; Cartogram: Axios Visuals

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill on Thursday that would require the NCAA to change its rules by June 2021 regarding athletes' ability to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL), while also protecting the NCAA from legal challenges to the new regulations.

The big picture: The NCAA is fearful that state-by-state action will lead to competitive unbalance and chaos and is hoping to work with Congress on passing national legislation, so they predictably endorsed Rubio's bill.

What they're saying: "We can't have 50 separate laws. It will destroy college athletics," Rubio said in a video posted to Twitter.

The backdrop: The bill comes six days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis passed a law that will allow athletes in the state to profit off their NIL starting in July 2021. California and Colorado passed similar laws that go into effect in 2023.

The other side: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he's glad Rubio introduced legislation, but Murphy cautioned against putting too much emphasis on the interest of the NCAA and placing the fate of endorsement deals in their hands.

What's next: There is already a bill in Congress on this topic from Rep. Mark Walker (R.-N.C.), and there is another one coming in the next few weeks from Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio). It's a mess — but the tide is turning.

The latest on national legislation to pay student athletes

The NCAA is fearful that state-by-state action will lead to competitive unbalance and chaos.

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This story first appeared in Axios Sports

Business

Empowered by social media, college athletes are speaking out on social issues and driving the national conversation in ways their predecessors could only dream about.

Driving the news: It's not only superstars whose messages have been amplified. Just last week, a little-known Georgia Tech basketball player started a movement to make Election Day a universal off day for all 460,000 NCAA student athletes, and it's gaining momentum.

Auburn: The football team staged a peaceful, three-hour protest at the famed Toomer's Corner.

Oklahoma: In a tweet that has since gone viral, two-sport athlete Ashlynn Dunbar called stick to sports culture "dehumanizing" and encouraged fans who don't support her voice on social issues to not support her on the court.

Missouri: Over 60 football players knelt together in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd before registering to vote.

The rise of student-athlete activism

They're driving the national conversation in ways their predecessors could only dream about.