Latest news with #SuperBowlLIX
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Denny Hamlin: Majority of NASCAR Playoff Committe Wants New Championship Format
The NASCAR playoff committee was formed this year to consider changing the one-race championship format for 2026. While a change to the playoffs now seems increasingly unlikely next year, Denny Hamlin says the committee wants to deliver what the fans want. On the latest episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin revealed that he is part of the NASCAR playoff committee that Jeff Gluck of The Athletic is also part of. He also shed light on the level of support there is among committee members for changing the playoff format. 'Most of the room, if not all of the room's, general opinion is that the one-race thing needs to go…There is a large concern of the legitimacy of it (one-race championship).' Denny Hamlin on the amount of support within the NASCAR playoff committee for changing the one-race championship format Related: Hamlin made sure to note that no one in the room believes the one-race champions, such as Joey Logano, are illegitimate winners. Those drivers took full advantage of the playoff format NASCAR established, with Team Penske particularly adept at maximizing a one-race championship at Phoenix Raceway. As the driver of the No. 11 car pointed out, the one-race championship cannot be directly compared to the Super Bowl. For that comparison to be accurate—using Super Bowl LIX as an example—teams like the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, and New York Jets would also have to be on the field alongside the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. Related: NASCAR's current championship format allows for crashes caused by drivers often finishing outside the top 20 to take out contenders in the Championship 4 or draw a caution flag that influences who wins the championship. Hamlin also echoed what Gluck reported on The Teardown, stating that NBC appears to have 'the biggest voice' in deciding the championship format. NASCAR told the playoff committee that a 'long discussion' with NBC was necessary, but it would not happen for a while. Until then, substantial progress on a new format cannot be made. With the NASCAR schedule for 2026 set to be released next month, there is very little time left to finalize and implement any new championship format for next year's race schedule. As a result, the change that the majority within the sport want to see likely will not come until 2027 at the earliest. Related Headlines Top Phillies Bullpen Trade Targets After Emmanuel Clase, Felix Bautista Off-The-Board Cincinnati Bengals Get Positive Update on Trey Hendrickson's Holdout NASCAR standings: Cup Series points leaders 2025, Truck and Xfinity Series standings right now Buffalo Bills' First-Round Rookie Suffers Non-Contact Injury
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chiefs' Star QB Mahomes Poised for Tough 2025 Amid Signs of Decline
Patrick Mahomes has earned almost every accolade given to him. The field magician has showcased his abilities through three Super Bowl wins and two Most Valuable Player awards. His mighty arm, which turns difficult passes into spectacular plays, has led the Chiefs to seven consecutive AFC Championship games starting from 2018. He has proven over and over again that he can perform under the greatest of pressure. Despite all those accolades and the media orgy that constantly surrounds him, we need to pump the brakes on declaring him one of the best QBs of all time. The premature comparison to the true GOAT Tom Brady, and the likes of Joe Montana, is losing steam thanks to Mahomes' 2024 season and a very clear and pronounced fall off since the end of 2023. The upcoming 2025 season will deliver an unpleasant shock to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs , as their decline will make itself all too clear. The Chiefs and Mahomes are entering into an ear of decline. Read More: Patrick Mahomes' Numbers are Falling Off Patrick Mahomes' statistical numbers show clear signs of deterioration. In 2024, Mahomes logged just 3,928 passing yards, his lowest as a full-time starter. Last season, he threw for 26 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a 93.5 passer rating. Early in his career, he topped 4,000 yards and 40 TDs multiple times, but last year's dip signals regression, with defenses neutralizing his deep threats. During his early playing years, Mahomes exceeded 4,000 yards and 40 touchdown passes twice, but his statistics from 2024 show a significant decline. Defenses have successfully learned to defend against his deep passes, as indicated by his yards per attempt reaching his career minimum of 6.8 last season. Since Tyreek Hill departed the team in 2022, Patrick Mahomes has turned into a short-pass specialist but lost the explosive plays that used to make him nearly invincible. Some critics argue that his gimmick plays artificially inflates public perception , but actual statistics demonstrate his ordinary performance when supporting players fail him. Related: It's Not Just Mahomes: Chiefs Are Falling Off In Key Areas It's not only Mahomes who is experiencing a significant drop-off in performance. Key skill positions are struggling to meet previous expectations. Despite their 15-2 regular season record in 2024, the Chiefs suffered a 40-22 defeat in Super Bowl LIX against the Eagles , while Mahomes showed signs of confusion throughout the game as he suffered six sacks, threw two interceptions, and failed to maintain any consistency. The offensive line, featuring rookie Josh Simmons, and aging veteran Travis Kelce (36) failed to protect Mahomes during games. At wide receiver, speedy 2024 rookie Xavier Worthy demonstrated speed, but his deep route connection with Mahomes never developed, which left the quarterback without a game-changing receiver. Defenders now blitz more aggressively, which leads to turnovers, as seen when Mahomes threw eight interceptions during the first seven weeks of last season. The O-line instability, combined with receiver failure, will force Andy Reid to implement creative ways to scheme around them, yet he cannot entirely hide these weaknesses. Many are forecasting another disappointing year for Mahomes and some analysts wonder if he will fall out of the top spot with a hungry Allen and Jackson duo out to prove they can win it all in the AFC. Realted: 2025 Could be a Long Season for Kansas City The 2025 season will present Mahomes with the most challenging schedule since his NFL debut, featuring a difficult run against a who's-who of NFL playoff teams. In addition, their own AFC West is improving and catching up after years of Chiefs dominance. With the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Washington Commanders, and Philadelphia Eagles on their schedule, coupled with a much-improved slate of the Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, and Las Vegas Raiders in their division, they will have to fight for a playoff bid harder than ever before. While the Las Vegas oddsmakers have the Chiefs at 11.5 wins over/under, many are picking the Chargers to finally end their streak of AFC West titles. Can Patrick Mahomes Prove Everyone Wrong? Make no mistake: Patrick Mahomes is still a top-tier QB, with three rings and a reel of highlights that scream greatness. But strip away the media-driven narrative and the Chiefs' dynasty is showing fractures. 2025 might be the year it shatters – the signs we see on the stat sheet and the film scream struggle. If Patrick Mahomes can silence the doubters and lead the Chiefs to yet another winning season with a deep playoff run, it'll add to his illustrious legacy. For now, though, storm clouds loom over Arrowhead for the first time in his tenure. Related Headlines Coach Prime Finally Opens Up: Deion Sanders Reveals Cancer Diagnosis Before Recovery, ESPN's Move That Stung Dick Vitale 5 Can't‑Miss Pitching Matchups This Week (July 28– August 3, 2025) NASCAR San Diego Race at Naval Base Coronado 'May Be a One-and-Done'
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
ESPN Plans to Spend Billions for a Cable Network? In This Economy?
Buying a cable network in 2025 is like cracking open War and Peace for the very first time while you're sprawled out on your death bed—should you be fortunate enough to realize such an endgame scenario. (Spare a thought for the 'death futon' crowd.) You've had your whole life to read Tolstoy's knee-buckling novel, and now that you can measure your allotted days in pill bottles you've suddenly got the wherewithal to power through 1,400 pages of Russian lit? Pffft. Just watch TV like everybody else. Such is the sunny analogy that springs to mind as Disney and the NFL get ever nearer to wrapping up a negotiation that only seems to have been going on longer than the Napoleonic Wars. Depending on who's slinging the metaphors, talks to transfer ownership of the NFL's media portfolio, which includes NFL Network and NFL RedZone, are either in what Tom Brady weirdly refers to as the 'red area' or all the way down to the 1-yard line. More from MLS Finally Disclosed an Apple Viewer Metric, but It Is a Riddle Why Bengals Rookie Shemar Stewart Is Holding Out on Contract Sporticast 468: What Is Gotham? Batman's Home, or New York City? Word of an impending vote by the 32 owners suggests that a deal could be in place before the season kicks off in September, although it's worth noting that all sorts of calamities can happen when the offense is just a few feet from paydirt. Ask Pete Carroll. One factor that now seems to ensure a satisfactory resolution for both parties is the resurrection of the NFL's interest in taking an equity stake in ESPN, rumors of which first began circulating in early 2024. While talks between the NFL and the sports media juggernaut broke off last fall, they picked up again at around the same time the football world descended upon New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. Since then, it's been a ground-and-pound effort, with the discussions advancing by increments. If you buy into analysts' valuations, a wholly hypothetical 10% stake in ESPN could be worth $2.4 billion. Disney's sports unit last year generated $17.6 billion in revenue, of which $10.4 million was tied to affiliate fees. At this juncture, the math is merely an expression of best guesses. Which is to say, the real-world numbers aren't likely to leak until the deal closes. Which brings us back to our Tolstoy scenario. In a time when the traditional U.S. pay-TV bundle has dwindled to just 45.5 million households, down from a peak of 103.3 million just 13 years ago, and the average churn rate is grinding on at 12% per quarter, why on earth is Disney about to acquire another ad-supported cable network? Even the inviolable Shield has taken its knocks during the Great Unbundling, although NFL Network is still a fixture in far more homes than the in-house channels owned by rival leagues. The cable outlet now reaches some 46.7 million households, and while that's well shy of ESPN's headcount (63.7 million subs), it's also well ahead of where NBA Network (33.3 million) and MLB Network (28.7 million) currently stand. That said, the NFL's linear channel has lost nearly 10 million customers since June 2021, when the league retained Goldman Sachs to begin an exploration of a sale of its media assets. And there's no hope of winning back any of those cord-cutters; even while virtual MVPDs such as YouTube TV, Hulu Live and Fubo have helped stabilize the patient, pay-TV is still bleeding out. Take a closer look at the calendar, however, and much of the mystery surrounding Disney's desire to absorb the NFL Media catalogue starts to burn off like swamp gas. Sometime before the 2025-26 NFL season gets underway six weeks from now, ESPN will begin rolling out its long-awaited direct-to-consumer service, a platform that marks a sort of event horizon for the 46-year-old TV brand. (The company's consumer-facing campaign characterizes this fall as the beginning of 'The Next Era.' No pressure.) An agreement between the two partners would not only enrich the new ESPN streaming service's already stacked lineup—presumably, all NFL Network and RedZone Channel programming would be featured on the app, including the seven exclusive regular-season games that are set to air on NFLN this fall—but the potential benefits of forging an even cushier commercial relationship with the league is impossible to overstate. When the NFL all-but-inevitably exercises the opt-out clauses with its media partners in 2029, the digital zillionaires are going to be all over the trad TV packages like itch on a wool bathing suit. Disney's Monday Night Football deal, for which it pays $2.7 billion per year, isn't up for review until 2030, but the point remains: When the time comes to fend off the encroaching digital armies, it stands to reason that the heirloom media partner in which the NFL holds a vested interest will have a leg up over the competition. Again, nothing's been finalized and the financial details remain wholly in the arena of the speculative. Before the equity angle was reintroduced, there was talk of Disney forking over another $2 billion over and above its annual rights fee for the NFL's media properties. However things shake out, a done deal will involve nine zeroes and three commas; more to the point, if the rough outlines of the discussions cohere into a pact that even so much as resembles what's in the wind, this has the potential to be sports' most transformative alliance since Fox and David Hill turned the world on its ear in December 1993. Unlike our theoretical death-bed skimmer, the proposed Disney-NFL arrangement would seem to have a long, happy life ahead of it, should it actually come to fruition. Pay-TV may be going the way of Napoleon's Russian campaign, but a successful marriage between the country's biggest sports-media outlet and the indomitable National Football League is the stuff that futures are built upon. In the meantime, as a certain nobleman once wrote, 'All we can know is that we know nothing. And that is the height of human wisdom.' Best of Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia and Collectibles in History The 100 Most Valuable Sports Teams in the World NFL Private Equity Ownership Rules: PE Can Now Own Stakes in Teams Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes gets brutally honest on alleged ‘revenge tour'
The post Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes gets brutally honest on alleged 'revenge tour' appeared first on ClutchPoints. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has heard the prognosticators and is ready to show the league that February's Super Bowl meltdown is in the rearview mirror. When asked about the prospect of a 'revenge tour,' the two-time MVP made it clear that he wants to table any discourse and focus on the gridiron. 'I'm honestly just ready to play football,' Mahomes said on the Up & Adams show. 'Whenever you lose, you kind of have this taste in your mouth and you want to go out there and and revenge that, or whatever you want to say, but at the same time, I feel like I've had to sit back and just listen to people talk and talk, and I'm like, let's just play football and just handle it all out there. And I don't really want to talk about it. I just want to go out and show who we are as the Kansas City Chiefs.' Kansas City is coming off a 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. There were also many pundits and fans who felt the Chiefs were not the best team in the AFC. Much of this skepticism came from the fact that their offense was pedestrian throughout the course of the regular season. The group ranked 15th in points, 14th in passing yards, and 22nd in rushing yards. The offense dealt with injuries for the majority of the year, but did not seem to put the pieces together once health became less of an issue. The Chiefs' playoff wins against the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills featured timely plays, but also did not necessarily serve as a clear indicator of their supremacy. It could be argued that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and his defense were the catalysts behind Kansas City's success prior to the Super Bowl, leaving the offense with an offseason filled with questions. Related: Chiefs owner's 9-year-old relative among tragic deaths in Texas floods Related: Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes offers blunt message about NFL Top 100
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chiefs announce big flex after completing job before training camp
The post Chiefs announce big flex after completing job before training camp appeared first on ClutchPoints. The Kansas City Chiefs are on a mission to reclaim the throne they relinquished to the Philadelphia Eagles last season. Despite losing in Super Bowl LIX, the Chiefs are still viewed by many as the team to beat in the upcoming season due to their stacked roster led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, wide receiver Xavier Worthy, running back Isiah Pacheco, and defensive end Chris Jones. As if their depth isn't enough, the Chiefs added more weapons in the offseason, including quarterback Gardner Minshew, cornerback Kristian Fulton, and offensive tackle Jaylon Moore, among others. Kansas City also infused itself with young talent by signing its seven rookies: Offensive tackle Josh Simmons, defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott, edge rusher Ashton Gillotte, cornerback Nohl Williams, wide receiver Jalen Royals, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, and running back Brashard Smith. 'We have officially signed all of our 2025 Draft picks,' posted the Chiefs on X. It's not common to see a squad sign all of its draftees, let alone a perennial contender. But clearly, the Chiefs have a vision, and if there's one thing that has been proven in recent years, they know what it takes to win. Among their rookies, the 22-year-old Simmons, who underwent a knee surgery in October, and the 23-year-old Norman-Lott are expected to get significant minutes. Last month, Chiefs coach Andy Reid already gushed about Simmons' upside. 'He's doing a nice job. We weren't sure quite how much we were gonna get out of him,' said Reid in a report from The Kansas City Star's Pete Grathoff. 'You can definitely see the talent. He's got to keep learning, and learning stuff that (offensive line coach) Andy (Heck) is teaching him, fundamentally, technique-wise. But he sure has a good attitude.' Kansas City was tied with the Detroit Lions for the league's best record last season at 15-2. The Chiefs captured their seventh straight AFC West title. Related: 10 greatest Kansas City Chiefs teams of all time Related: Chiefs's Andy Reid reveals intriguing plan for rookie after 2024 blindside struggles
