Future is now

Gotta admit, I’ve never been much of an MMA fan.

Which makes the monster deal UFC President Dana White brokered with Paramount — it’s worth $7.7 billion — is stunning.

And it’s also foreshadowing.

Wanted live content is king, people.

The top 68 most-watched shows of 2024 were live sports, presidential debates or awards shows like the Oscars.

The list is dominated by the NFL. There are several Summer Olympics windows, too, and a few World Series games with last year’s star-studded match-up of L.A.-New York.

Crazy stat: Wanna guess the most-watched basketball game in 2024? Caitlin Clark vs. South Carolina in the title game drew 14.2 million viewers, two million more than the most-watched NBA game last year.

So the interest is real, but does that translate to all sports?

Seriously, I think I can name like five MMA fighters and not really any since Rhonda Rousey or Connor McGregor.

The action is undeniable. So is our society’s bloodlust.

UFC has a smaller collection of fans than most leagues, but those fans are arguably top-three across all sports in terms of devotion.

Now Paramount is going to have access to every UFC fight.

Add in the recent announcements for ESPN, which will connect with the WWE moving forward, it’s clear that networks are willing to pay for that devotion — especially now that every network is either about to unveil or are working on direct-to-consumer streaming platforms.

It’s a good day to be Dana White.

Vegas odds

We mentioned the AP Top 25 college football on Monday.

The odds are out on college football teams making the 12-team playoffs.

Here are the FanDuel odds for the AP Top 25 teams to make the playoff, according to FanDuel with each team’s AP ranking:

2 Penn State (minus-325, which means bet $310 on Penn State to make the playoff to win $100)

1 Texas (minus-310)

3 THE Ohio State (minus-300)

5 Georgia (minus-280)

7 Oregon (minus-194)

8 Alabama (minus-188)

4 Clemson (minus-188)

6 Notre Dame (minus-164)

9 LSU (plus-116)

25 Boise State (plus-184)

10 Miami (plus-194)

21 Ole Miss (plus-198)

14 Michigan (plus-210)

19 Texas A&M (plus-235)

24 Tennessee (plus-300)

15 Florida (plus-330)

16 SMU (plus-430)

17 Kansas State (plus-430)

23 Texas Tech (plus-420)

11 Arizona State (plus-430)

18 Oklahoma (plus-490)

12 Illinois (plus-520)

13 South Carolina (plus-540)

20 Indiana (plus-570)

22 Iowa State (plus-980)

Granted, in futures odds, money already wagered on certain teams helps shift the odds as bookmakers are trying to shape balanced markets to limit risk.

And there are some teams — perennial powers — that get reshaped odds because of the known popularity of those programs in the eyes of the betting public.

But you also have to figure for this market, scenarios — i.e. schedules and paths — are factors.

Boise State zoomed from AP 25 to having the 10th best odds to be a playoff team.

Ole Miss also jumped a great deal, being 21st in the eyes of the writers but 12 in the algorithms of Vegas.

Thoughts?

Pre-“er” months smoke

We’ve told this story a few times.

In another life before the TFP, we would work hard and late, and then we would unwind harder and finish later.

The manager of our watering hole was a transplanted New Yorker who loved the Yankees.

And the mid-to-late-1990s was a grand time to love the Yankees, even in the heart of Braves country.

When the summer topic of baseball would circulate, Mike the manager famously coined the phrase, “Talk to me in the “er” months.”

It was poetic. And moreover, it was accurate.

Well, we can talk a little baseball three weeks before the calendar hits an “er” month because the drama atop half the divisions has intensified.

The Brewers are blitzing everyone right now. Winners of 11 straight, Milwaukee (75-44) has the best record in baseball and a league-best 7.5 game in its division.

The Dodgers and the Padres are tied atop the NL West at 68-52. Los Angeles led the division by 8.5 games on July 2.

Seattle and Houston are tied atop the AL West at 67-53. Seattle was seven games back on July 10.

Detroit is still 5.5 up on Cleveland, but the sizzling Guardians have made up 10 games in the AL Central standings since July 8.

Buckle up.

This and that

› Braves played. Braves got smoked. Alas. I am currently as uncomfortable watching Spencer Strider pitch as Strider is in those pants that may have fit him during his sophomore year of high school. Seriously, the announcing crew could have checked his pulse, those things were so tight.

› Major-league visor tip to Travis Hunter for his college career. No, this has nothing to do with winning the Heisman. According to this, Hunter finished at Colorado with a 3.9 GPA.

› Rules, friends. Here’s Paschall on the history of UT coaches in season openers in the A-T-L.

› More rules. Here’s Hargis with a prep preview on the local DII-AA prep football teams. Side note: Georgia’s high school football season starts Friday night. Seriously.

› Oklahoma QB John Mather has a lot of expectations. He had 4,000 total yards at Washington State last year, and he and OC Ben Arbuckle portalled to Norman. Matter said the reports that he Venmoed someone to cover closed sports bets made news Tuesday. I tend to believe the kid’s explanation.

Today’s questions

Which Way Wednesday starts this way.

› Which degree of a UFC follower are you on a scale of 1-to-5, with 5 is never missing a fight and 1 is “What the heck is a UFC?”

› Which of the AP Top 25, considering the odds, do you think is the best bet to make the playoffs? Not the most likely, but the best one to wager on.

› Which MLB pennant race will be the most entertaining?

Answer some WWWs, ask some WWWs

As for today, Aug. 13, let’s review:

› “Bonnie and Clyde premiered on this day in 1967.

› Castro would have been 99 today.

› Hitchcock would have been 126.

› Ben Hogan would have been 113.

› Mickey Mantle died on this day 30 years ago.

› “South Park” debuted on this day in 1997.

Does it make the Rushmore of non-kid-intended TV cartoons?