On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the latest in the where a pair of unlikely teams—the Miami Hurricanes and Indiana Hoosiers—are set to play for a national title.
The hosts discuss how this new era of chaos across college sports has helped level the playing field in football, where schools that you might not otherwise expect to compete for national titles are now able to do so. An expanded playoffs, available revenue sharing and more lax transfer rules can change the prospects for many schools overnight. They also talk about the money that the CFP distributes, money that each conference gives to its members via a different algorithm.
Next they talk about the NFL playoffs. It’s a potentially historically open postseason, with no team separating itself as the NFL’s dominant squad in the regular season. The playoffs also lack some of the sports biggest names, with both Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson having failed to qualify. They also talk about the media assignments, with Amazon’s Prime Video receiving the best game of the first round: an NFC North showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.
They close by talking about MLB‘s arbitration system. The process is in the spotlight now thanks to Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. The two-time Cy Young winner submitted a salary demand of $32 million and the team responded with $19 million, creating the largest gap in the history of baseball arbitration. Baseball’s looming labor fight could also result in changes to the system.
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