The SEC (the Sports One) Is Acting Like It's Invincible
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Maybe think twice before jumping for joy today (especially because the A's still lost).
Plenty to talk about today, with college football in turmoil again (I could copy and paste that every week), plus an interesting sports-related tax issue to discuss, along with two new racing documentaries and the NBA and NHL reaching the final stages of their playoffs. Let's get to it.
Locker Room Links
S-E-C Guarantee?
The SEC seems to think it's invincible. If it gets its way, it just might be.
Advertisement
We've only had one 12-team College Football Playoff and even though the format is already changing for this season, the college football world can't stop talking about expanding the playoff (again) and changing the format (again).
The all-powerful SEC and Big Ten don't want to take any chances. They think they can design the best system: four automatic qualifiers for each of them, plus two each from the ACC and Big 12, one team from the midmajor Group of 6 conferences, and three at-large spots.
Based on tradition and hubris, they think they're the best conferences, they've always been the best conferences, and they always will be the best conferences, so they deserve multiple automatic qualifiers even if their top teams have a relatively bad year.
Multiple automatic qualifiers would be unprecedented in American sports. The other college sports, to my knowledge, don't give out more than one automatic qualifier per conference. The NFL doesn't guarantee the NFC East two playoff spots just because the division has some of the league's most powerful and historic teams. The only parallel I can think of is European soccer, where the international club competitions dish out a given number of qualification spots to the top teams in each country (though the number of spots per country is based on a coefficient formula calculated by team performance in the last five years of the competitions—sounds a bit like the old BCS, doesn't it?).
Advertisement
It's not, however, all that unprecedented in American business. Startups rise to the top of their new fields, and once they become powerful enough to crush their competition, they call for rules and regulations that will hold back any new upstarts with funny ideas or better business practices. But no matter how dominant they get, a new competitor eventually comes along to knock them off their pedestal.
The SEC is following this playbook, the sports version of crony capitalism. It has long been the best conference in college football, but its grip might be slipping—they haven't sent a team to the national championship in two years. The system is changing (expanded playoff; name, image, and likeness payments; direct "revenue-sharing" payments to players) and different teams in other conferences might find different ways to succeed amid the chaos. But if the SEC can guarantee that a quarter of its conference gets into the College Football Playoff, that's going to be an advantage in recruiting players and coaches.
Of course, if the SEC and Big Ten each have four of the best 16 teams in the country, they don't need to worry about automatic qualification. So why not just stick to proving it on the field? We'll see if they decide to take their ball and go home.
They're the Ones Writing It Off
Did you know the Los Angeles Dodgers can write off Shohei Ohtani's contract for tax purposes?
Advertisement
Not just Ohtani's contract—Mookie Betts', Freddie Freeman's, Yoshinobu Yamamoto's, and everyone else on the team too. For tax purposes, these contracts are "intangible assets" that can be written off over 15 years.
It's a good deal if you can get it, but the gravy train may soon slow down (but it's not getting scrapped).
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by the House of Representatives, only half the value of those contracts could be written off instead of the full value, the New York Times reports. But that change will only affect future owners.
One NFL owner told the Times the provision "felt punitive" and speculated that Trump is using the possible change to get leverage over sports owners. (Leverage for what isn't exactly clear, but who knows when Trump will want leverage for some kind of deal.) A White House spokesperson suggested to the Times that the change had more to do with ticket prices to sporting events: "The president is committed to ensuring that sports teams overcharging ticketholders do not receive favorable tax treatment. His focus is on fairness for fans, not team ownership." (This feels like grabbing a screwdriver to try to put out a grill fire—they don't seem especially related.)
Advertisement
One team to watch in this space is the Atlanta Braves. The team is owned by a publicly traded company. Under the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, publicly traded companies will have limitations (starting in 2027) on how much of a write-off they can take from their highest-paid salaries. It could mean a $19 million tax hike for the Braves—though not if their new lobbyists have something to say about it.
Green Flag
Let's go racing. Two new documentaries dropped last week that will be of interest to motorsports fans.
There are a ton of new sports documentaries these days, but Earnhardt (four episodes, one hour each, on Amazon Prime Video) shows them all how it's done. Too often we get documentaries that are too one-sided—usually too deferential to the star power of the main character. Earnhardt could have been like that, and if anything, the racing aspects could have used a little more of a "Raise Hell, praise Dale" vibe. But with the late Dale Earnhardt only able to speak for himself through archival footage, the documentary gets three of Earnhardt's four children to open up about their family life—the positives and the negatives (with a lot of the latter). Sports documentaries should give viewers a fuller picture of their subjects, and Earnhardt absolutely succeeds.
Advertisement
On a completely different note, Netflix gave the Drive to Survive treatment to the 2024 season of the all-female F1 Academy racing series in the super creatively titled docuseries F1: The Academy (seven episodes, 30–40 minutes each). Whether you saw all the racing action last year or skipped it but had your interest piqued, it's worth a watch (as long as you can put up with a bunch of "girl boss" pop music in the soundtrack). The stakes and racing action are compelling enough on their own, and they're coupled with the interesting backgrounds of girls who dream of making it to Formula One someday. Plus, Americans Lia Block and Chloe Chambers get a solid amount of airtime. It's unlikely anyone from this crop will eventually make it to Formula 1, but it's fun nonetheless to learn their stories and watch them compete.
The Finals
Who you got? We're doing another Free Agent reader survey, and I want to know who you're rooting for in the NBA and Stanley Cup finals.
Personally, I'm pulling for the Indiana Pacers. I don't have much against the Thunder (other than their crazy stadium deal—$1,200 in tax dollars per resident!). But I have forgiven the Pacers (franchise, not the players of the time) for the Malice at the Palace and I think some Midwestern solidarity has them pulling at my heartstrings. Also, apparently they're weird.
Advertisement
On the ice, I'm hoping for a Florida Panthers repeat. I'm not super happy about rooting for a repeat, but I'd rather see that than see Canada finally break their three-decade Stanley Cup drought. Canada already got to win the 4 Nations Face-Off this year, they can't get the Stanley Cup too. (Although los petroleros are one of my preferred Canadian teams.)
Take a minute to fill out the survey here and let me know what you're thinking.
Replay of the Week
I knew this was legal in pickleball. I had no idea it was legal in tennis.
That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real game of the weekend, the Kalamazoo Growlers against the Battle Creek Battle Jacks.
The post The SEC (the Sports One) Is Acting Like It's Invincible appeared first on Reason.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Trump says he has group of ‘very wealthy people' ready to buy TikTok
U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News in an interview aired on Sunday that he has a group of "very wealthy people" ready to buy TikTok, whose identities he can reveal in about two weeks. Trump added that the deal will probably need Beijing's approval to move forward, but said "I think President Xi will probably do it," in reference to China's leader Xi Jinping. The president made the off-the-cuff remarks while discussing the possibility of another pause of his "reciprocal" tariffs on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo." Tiktok's fate in the U.S. has been in doubt since the approval of a law in 2024 that sought to ban the platform unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divested from it. The legislation was driven by concerns that the Chinese government could manipulate content and access sensitive data from American users. Earlier this month, Trump extended the deadline for ByteDance to divest from the platform's U.S. business. It was his third extension since the Supreme Court upheld the TikTok law just a few days before Trump's second presidential inauguration in January. The new deadline is Sept. 17. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, of PAFACA, had originally been set to take effect on Jan. 19, after which app store operators and internet service providers would be penalized for supporting TikTok. TikTok went dark in the U.S. ahead of the original deadline, but was restored after Trump provided it with assurances on the extension. Trump, who credited the app with boosting his support among young voters in the last presidential election, has maintained that he would like to see the platform stay afloat under new ownership. Potential buyers that have voiced interest in the app include Trump insiders such as Oracle's Larry Ellison to firms like AppLovin and Perplexity AI. However, it's unclear if ByteDance would be willing to sell the company. Any potential divestiture is likely to require approval from the Chinese government. A deal that would have spun off TikTok's U.S. operations and allowed ByteDance to retain a minority position had been in the works in April, but was derailed by the announcement of Donald Trump's tariffs on China, Reuters reported that month. The president previously floated a proposal for American stakeholders to buy the company and then sell a 50% stake to the U.S. government as part of a joint venture. Experts have previously told CNBC that any potential deal could face legal challenges in the U.S., depending on whether it complies with PAFACA.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Nicolas Hague signs 4-year contract after trade from Vegas to Nashville: Report
The Vegas Golden Knights traded defenseman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators for forward Colton Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon Sunday night, according to a report by TSN's Darren Dreger. Hague was a pending restricted free agent in need of a new deal — and a sizable raise. Rather than signing him, the Golden Knights opted to trade him to the Predators, who immediately signed the 26-year-old defenseman to a four-year contract worth $5.5 million per year, Dreger reported. Hague had a cap hit of $2.3 million this season. Advertisement Hague is a big, rangy defenseman who played mostly bottom-pair minutes in Vegas, but has proven he's capable of playing on the top pair for stretches. He has a big slap shot, kills penalties and totaled 20 career goals and 63 assists in six years with the Golden Knights. Based on his usage in Vegas, the $5.5 million cap hit feels a bit steep, but he received few offensive opportunities behind several offensively gifted blueliners in Vegas. If the Predators find a way to use his booming slap shot from the point more often, he could have more upside than his stats show. In return, Vegas added another bottom-six forward in Sissons. The 31-year-old had only 21 points in 72 games last season in Nashville, and has one year left on his contract with a cap hit of $2,857,143. He had played his entire 11-year NHL career with the Predators, registering 95 goals and 126 assists in 690 games. Lauzon, 28, had one assist in only 28 games for the Predators last season after suffering a season-ending lower-body injury in late December. He is also entering the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $2 million. Hague's raise to $5.5 million per year is quite a big bump up from his previous $2.3 million cap hit. It's understandable if the Golden Knights didn't think they could fit that into their tight cap situation, which could get even tighter if they win the Mitch Marner sweepstakes. Along those lines, there were reports on Saturday that Vegas' fourth line center, Nicolas Roy, could be included in a trade to Toronto for Marner's rights. If Roy is moved, Sissons would be an excellent fit to replace Roy's minutes, both at even strength and on the penalty kill. It is a bit curious that a team looking to shed Hague's salary ended up taking back nearly $5 million in cap hit in this deal. It suggests that the Golden Knights are far from done when it comes to moves this summer.
Business Upturn
an hour ago
- Business Upturn
Waaree Energies shares jump 3% after its subsidiary wins 540MW solar module order in US
By Aman Shukla Published on June 30, 2025, 09:20 IST Waaree Energies saw its shares climb 3% in morning trade after announcing a major international order secured by its U.S. subsidiary, Waaree Solar Americas. As of 9:20 AM, the shares were trading 2.82% higher at Rs 3,030.50. The deal, confirmed on June 27, 2025, is for the supply of 540MW of solar modules to a prominent U.S.-based developer known for utility-scale solar and energy storage projects. While the customer's name hasn't been disclosed, the company is described as a key player in the American renewable energy space. According to Waaree's exchange filing, the order is split across timelines—270MW will be delivered in 2025, and the remaining 270MW will be supplied between 2027 and 2028. This is a one-time contract and forms part of Waaree's broader strategy to expand its global reach. The company also clarified that the deal does not involve any related parties, nor do any promoter group entities have a stake in the customer awarding the order. Disclaimer: The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Stock market investments are subject to market risks. Always conduct your own research or consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions. Author or Business Upturn is not liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
