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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

😡 Fran-kly disrespectful. Syracuse coach Fran Brown bristled at reporter Javon Edmonds' question about his future after The Athletic named him a candidate for the Penn State opening. Brown called the question "disrespectful," muttered, "You trippin', man," and later alluded to banning Edmonds from press conferences similar to what Deion Sanders did to Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler at Colorado.

🚫 Exit denied. Bill Belichick called reports of exploring a UNC exit "categorically false" during Monday's press conference, saying "there's zero truth to any of that." The denial comes after multiple outlets reported both sides were discussing potential buyout options less than 10 months into his tenure, following a disastrous week that included reports of a "toxic culture" and the cancellation of UNC's planned Hulu docuseries.

📺 Big Noon doubt. Fox's presumed selection of Penn State-Ohio State for Big Noon on Nov. 1 is now in serious question after the Nittany Lions fired James Franklin amid a three-game losing streak. The network, which typically gets 9-10 million viewers for this matchup, may pivot to the increasingly attractive USC-Nebraska game between two 5-1 ranked teams. However, most experts believe Ohio State-Penn State remains around 70% likely.

🗣️ Public callout. Tua Tagovailoa's post-game comments calling out Dolphins teammates for showing up late to player-only meetings put Mike McDaniel in an awkward position, with the embattled coach saying Monday that "after a loss as the franchise quarterback, that's not the forum to displace that." The 1-5 Dolphins' dysfunction continues to spiral as McDaniel coaches for his job.

👟 Adidas adidn’t. Penn State flatly denied reports that Adidas drove James Franklin's firing, calling the claim "patently false" and stating that Adidas is not helping pay Franklin's $49 million buyout. The denial comes after a viral report claimed the apparel company, which signed a 10-year, $300 million deal with Penn State last month, wanted Franklin replaced before the recent three-game losing streak.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

The NFL's next billion-dollar window nobody asked for

The NFL has been testing new windows for years, and one of them is about to become permanent, whether fans like it or not.

As a result of a megadeal with the NFL, ESPN is dropping its overlapping Monday Night Football doubleheaders next year, ending a failed experiment that saw ABC and ESPN cannibalize each other's ratings since 2021. Those overlapping broadcasts gave the league an extra 75 minutes to three hours of football inventory, depending on the week, creating makeshift windows that split audiences instead of growing them. The overlapping format never performed well in ratings, and last year's ESPN+ exclusive averaged fewer than 2 million viewers during a fourth overlapping doubleheader.

Meanwhile, the league has been quietly expanding its 9:30 a.m. ET international window. The league announced seven international games across five countries in 2025 — Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Madrid — with most European games scheduled to kick off at that early morning slot. That's up from five games last year and just one game back in 2007.

The pattern is obvious. The NFL is testing inventory, measuring audience tolerance, and preparing to sell a new regular window to the highest bidder. The current media rights deals run through 2033 and generate $110 billion, but Roger Goodell isn't waiting until 2032 to figure out what comes next. The league will want more money at some point, and some window will become more common to justify that ask.

The question isn't whether the NFL will create a new regular window. It’s which one makes the most sense?

The international window is the obvious candidate — and the worst option.

When the Los Angeles Rams played in London with a 6:30 a.m. Pacific kickoff, it felt like a slap in the face to fans. Early morning games consistently tank ratings, forcing people to set alarms before sunrise and cutting pregame audiences by roughly 40 percent on average. Fans consistently complain that 9:30 a.m. games on the East Coast are unnecessary. Yet the league continues to expand the format because games in Europe consistently sell out, regardless of how unappealing the matchup, with crowds of 80,000-plus, including fans wearing jerseys of teams not even playing.

The 9:30 a.m. ET international window could eventually become a regular fourth Sunday slot, giving the league a new TV package worth potentially $1 billion annually to sell to networks or streamers. With up to eight regular-season international games approved (plus Jacksonville's annual London commitment), the infrastructure is in place to make this permanent.

But American fans hate these games. West Coast viewers are asleep. East Coast viewers are barely awake. The participants lose a home game every time. And the matchups are often forgettable — European crowds will fill stadiums regardless of whether it's Chiefs vs. Dolphins or Jaguars vs. Bears, which gives the league no incentive to schedule marquee showdowns.

The sold-out stadiums aren't about ticket revenue — they're proof of concept for more lucrative international media rights deals. More games in Europe means bigger packages to sell to broadcasters overseas, creating revenue streams that are not dependent on American viewing habits at all.

The NFL is prioritizing this dual revenue strategy — both domestic and international media packages — over the domestic fanbase that made it a $110 billion property."

The international window at least creates a distinct time slot that doesn't compete with existing inventory. It's new television real estate, even if nobody wants to visit at 6:30 a.m. local time.

The 9:30 a.m. ET window doesn't cannibalize the lucrative 1 p.m., 4 p.m., or 8 p.m. Sunday windows. And mediocre domestic ratings are preferable to splitting good ratings across overlapping broadcasts.

The NFL sold Thursday Night Football to Amazon for $1 billion per year despite fans and players hating it. The same logic applies to international games. It doesn't matter if West Coast fans are asleep or if pregame show ratings crater by 40 percent. What matters is creating sellable inventory that can be packaged as "global expansion" for media rights negotiations.

Whenever the NFL decides to negotiate new media deals, the league will need more inventory to justify a bigger payday. The international slot is the only option that makes business sense, even if it makes zero sense for fans.

The alternative is to admit that the NFL has already maximized its domestic scheduling. Creating more inventory means either splitting existing audiences or asking fans to watch at times nobody wants to watch.

So get ready for 9:30 a.m. Sundays to become a permanent fixture by 2026 or 2027. The league will announce it as global expansion. They'll point to sold-out stadiums in London and Berlin.

What they won't say is that they've run out of other options. Saturday is legally off-limits. Overlapping windows split audiences. Weeknight games are poison. And asking West Coast fans to wake up at dawn is the price of creating another billion-dollar package to sell.

The 9:30 a.m. international window isn't the best option. It's just the only option left. And when you're the NFL, "only option left" is good enough when it comes with a billion-dollar price tag.

📺 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🎬

• NBC will retain the 2030 Super Bowl even if the NFL negotiates new media rights deals early, with network president Rick Cordella confirming the game is "guaranteed no matter what" even in the unlikely scenario NBC doesn't renew its NFL package. The NFL could begin renegotiating deals as early as next year, four years before exercising its contractual exit option, with current agreements undervaluing the league's media rights.

• Max Kellerman will call Zuffa Boxing events on Paramount+ when the promotion debuts next year, adding to his role from last month's Canelo Álvarez-Terence Crawford super fight. The TKO-backed boxing league will host 12 events in 2026 on Paramount+, with some simulcasts on CBS, as the streaming service becomes home to both Zuffa Boxing and UFC.

• Tom Bogert is returning to The Athletic as their US Soccer insider after departing earlier this year, cementing his role as the "Woj" of American soccer news breaking. Bogert will continue to appear on CBS while leading The Athletic's soccer coverage, with a focus on breaking news and scoops.

• Ryen Russillo revealed on his final Ringer podcast that producers Nephew Kyle and Steve Ceruti are joining him at his new production company backed by Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports. Russillo is launching the independent venture after his Ringer contract expires, marking another high-profile sports media personality betting on himself outside traditional media companies.

• Penn State may owe James Franklin little to nothing of his $48-50 million buyout if the fired coach lands a new job quickly, thanks to offset language in his 2021 contract, per Front Office Sports. Franklin's new salary from any coaching or broadcasting position will reduce what Penn State owes, and if he earns more than the buyout amount, the school owes nothing.

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

"Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us, because it doesn't make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening starter to a divisional opponent that's hurting in that area. But that's just my personal feelings." - Steelers coach Mike Tomlin criticizing Browns GM Andrew Berry over the Joe Flacco trade to Cincinnati, calling out the rival executive by name over the transaction.

"Doesn't mean I'm right, but I don't see a coaching move being made anytime soon... I don't see that happening soon." - ESPN's Adam Schefter on The Pat McAfee Show at 12:53 p.m. ET Monday, roughly one hour before the Titans fired Brian Callahan.

"What quarterback does that? I mean, really? He's gonna get hit and turned around. He got whacked. Most quarterbacks go down before they even get down to the whacked part of it. He's gonna get whacked and then he's gonna turn around and get whacked again. I mean, he's just a fighter. He really is. He's just a fighter." - NBC's Cris Collinsworth marveling at Patrick Mahomes fighting through contact on an eight-yard scramble, seemingly unaware that Baker Mayfield, Justin Fields, Josh Allen, and numerous other quarterbacks do this every week.

"I wasn't going to get into it on national television, I'm a professional." - Stephen A. Smith responding on his radio show to Alexis Ohanian confronting him on First Take over comments about Serena Williams, after the Reddit founder pointed out Smith has never been married while giving marital advice.

"Living in this world where there's so many different opinions and feelings which results in a lot of hate, it's sad to see that people close to me are being attacked for my performances on the field. These people have done nothing to warrant negativity for my actions, whether that's my parents, my brothers, my girlfriend, family. It's just really sad." - Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage, opening his playoff press conference by calling out fans harassing his family online following his dominant performance against the Yankees.

"No. The answer's pretty simple. I think you know me. I shoot straight. I respect him to no end, but he's brash, he's over-the-top. He's had the last laugh, which is a really great attribute for somebody who's successful." - Paul Finebaum explaining why he finds 17-2 Indiana coach Curt Cignetti "unlikable," despite admitting "I would've gone broke betting against Indiana this year."

🎺 AROUND AA 🎺

The New York Jets are 0-6. Justin Fields went 9-for-17 for 45 yards with nine sacks in London. They managed 82 total yards of offense. And somehow, the sports media still treats every Jets development like appointment television.

Awful Announcing's Sam Neumann argues it's time to stop. The endless "What went wrong?" segments, which analyze the same organizational dysfunction we've watched for 15 years, serve no purpose beyond filling airtime. When the Jets had the ball near midfield down 10-6 with a minute left in the first half Sunday, Aaron Glenn just let 35 seconds run off the clock without attempting a fourth play. That's not football. That's giving up.

The Jets aren't uniquely bad in NFL history — the 2017 Browns and 2008 Lions also went 0-16 — but those teams stopped receiving national coverage once it was clear they were terrible. The difference? The Jets play in New York, the largest media market, which means every moment of dysfunction gets amplified into programming.

Mike Greenberg built an entire ESPN brand around Jets fandom. National outlets send reporters to London to cover a game where the starting quarterback completed nine passes. Other bad teams don't get this treatment. When the Jaguars were stuck in a permanent rebuild, national coverage dried up. The Jets get special treatment because they play in New York, not because they've earned it.

The story isn't "Can the Jets turn it around?" The story is "This organization has been broken for 15 years and shows no signs of fixing itself." That story doesn't change week to week, and it doesn't need 30-minute daily segments to explain it.

Click to read the whole piece on why the media should collectively move on from treating Jets dysfunction as must-cover content.

️‍🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Kirk Herbstreit's travel segments have jumped the shark

Kirk Herbstreit traveled 5,400 miles this past week for his various football responsibilities. He called Thursday Night Football for Prime Video, appeared on College GameDay in Eugene Saturday morning, then hopped on a motorcycle, switched to a jeep, boarded a private jet, and flew to Dallas for the Oklahoma-Texas game, all while providing choppy, echo-filled commentary from the air.

ESPN has turned this into must-see television. The network dedicated substantial airtime to following Herbstreit's journey, complete with his golden retriever, Peter, by his side. The audio cut in and out. The video froze. Herbstreit sounded like someone on a bad cell phone connection asking "Can you hear me?" repeatedly.” And ESPN kept the cameras rolling anyway.

"Nobody cares about any sports personalities' travel, especially when they're going private," The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand said on his podcast Monday. "Every time he talks, it's like when you talk to somebody on a cell phone. That's not good TV."

Marchand raises the obvious question ESPN doesn't want to answer: Is Kirk Herbstreit the only person who can do this? Would viewers be better served having someone else sub in for Herbstreit on GameDay, or having another analyst call the game? Making it logistically sensible instead of a weekly cross-country sprint?

ESPN had Andre Ware standing by in Dallas as a backup in case Herbstreit's plane was delayed. The former Heisman Trophy winner waited around as Plan B while cameras tracked Herbstreit's private jet across the country.

"That's totally disrespectful, in my opinion, for Andre Ware to have to be a backup Plan B in case Herbstreit's private jet can't get in," Marchand said.

The technical difficulties are one problem. The bigger issue, as Marchand identified, is that ESPN is making College GameDay about the individual rather than the show. "When you make the time crunch and you make it all about, will Herbstreit get there? Then you got the dog with it. It's just too much."

ESPN is in its superstar era. Pat McAfee being Pat McAfee transformed College GameDay. Stephen A. Smith commands $18 million annually and controls his own programming. The network builds shows around personalities, not formats. So perhaps dedicating segments to Herbstreit's cross-country logistics is worth it by that calculation.

However, there's a difference between leveraging star power and forcing viewers to sit through choppy satellite feeds while an analyst tries to break down a film from 30,000 feet. McAfee brings energy and unpredictability. Herbstreit boarding a helicopter mid-show brings... technical difficulties, and Andre Ware standing around Dallas waiting to see if he's needed.

The travel segments worked when they were occasional novelties. Now they're regular programming. Every few weeks, viewers watch Herbstreit race against the clock to make both commitments while ESPN treats it like appointment viewing. The problem isn't that Herbstreit travels; it's that ESPN has convinced itself we need to watch him travel.

Nobody tuned into College GameDay on Saturday morning hoping to hear Herbstreit analyze Florida-Texas A&M through a crackling airplane connection. They wanted analysis, not logistics. The travel spectacle overshadows the show, making it about Herbstreit's schedule rather than college football.

ESPN has options. Keep Herbstreit on GameDay and use another analyst for the game. Keep him on the game and use a rotation for GameDay. Stop scheduling him for both when the timing is impossible. Or keep Andre Ware on standby every week, but at least stop pretending it's good television when the satellite connection cuts out mid-thought.

The Worldwide Leader appears to be pleased with Herbstreit's extensive travel as a segment to build around. But at some point, the technical headaches, the disrespect to backup analysts, and the shift away from actual college football analysis need to outweigh whatever marginal engagement the travel stunt delivers.

Herbstreit is excellent at his job. He doesn't need to prove he can do two jobs at once while traveling 5,400 miles in a week. And viewers don't need to watch him try.