2026-10-29
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Finance & Investments
The $5B total is five times higher than the $929M earned during the 2022 Qatar tournament.
This massive increase happened because the 2026 event featured 40 more matches than the previous edition.
FIFA, the global soccer governing body, plans to distribute these extra funds to its 211 member associations.
The 2K-employee legal giant is reportedly closing, telling its junior lawyers to start searching for new jobs immediately.
This collapse shocks the sports investment industry, as the firm frequently advises private equity groups buying global sports teams.
Rival businesses will likely poach the firm's top talent, who previously won a $100M contract lawsuit for NBA star Zion Williamson.
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Media, Broadcasting & Sponsorships
Teams averaged $33M last season from deals to air games in their home regions, down 32% from $48M in 2023-24.
FanDuel Sports Network, the largest regional sports network, collapsed, leaving 16 teams scrambling to replace payouts worth 14% of their revenue three seasons ago.
The 11-year, $76B national TV deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon paid each team nearly $150M last season, up 40%, masking the local slump.
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Teams & Leagues
The major college sports league unanimously restricted outside player compensation deals to prepare for the proposed Protect College Sports Act.
League officials say this early adjustment helps universities plan budgets and build athletic rosters to match the new law's economic rules.
The conference will strictly enforce this restriction by hitting universities that break the rules with escalating financial fines and disciplinary action.
Infantino, who runs world soccer body FIFA, faced calls to quit after a scrapped plan to sell World Cup stakes to private investors emerged.
Asia's regional soccer body, whose president had urged him to resign, now backs him, as does Africa's, ahead of March's presidential vote.
UEFA, European soccer's governing body, still opposes him and is suing him in the US, though Infantino says he is open to dialogue.
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Miscellaneous
Researchers analyzed death records for over 2.3K former athletes from the National Football League who died between 2008 and 2023.
Out of 387 players who donated their brains for study, 94 percent had CTE, a degenerative brain disease.
Because symptomatic players were five times more likely to donate, scientists adjusted the data to estimate a 75 percent overall disease rate.
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