📰🏟️ Mayweather v. Pacquiao 2

Good afternoon. Welcome back to another week full of top sports stories in an easy-to-digest format. Let’s rock and roll.

—Kyle

1) Winter Olympics delivers big US ratings

The Milan Cortina Olympics averaged 23.5M viewers in the US across NBCUniversal’s digital platforms, the company said. 

• That’s a 93% increase from the Beijing Games four years ago, and the largest Winter Olympic audience since 2014.
• Milwaukee was the market with the highest ratings share throughout the Olympics, followed by Minneapolis, Fort Myers (FL), Pittsburgh, and Dayton (OH).
• In particular, the US-Canada gold medal women’s hockey game drew 5.3M viewers, a US record for any women’s hockey contest.

NBCUniversal won gold this Olympics

2) Mayweather v. Pacquiao 2: Fighters set rematch

Floyd Mayweather Jr., 49, and Manny Pacquiao, 48, have agreed to a pro boxing rematch on September 19 at the Las Vegas Sphere, with the fight to be streamed live on Netflix.

• The announcement comes days after Mayweather (50-0) said he’s coming out of retirement following an exhibition fight against Mike Tyson in April.
• The initial Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in May 2015 shattered all-time boxing records for PPV buys (4.6M), ticket sales ($72.2M), and revenue ($410M+).

Iconic rematch, or desperate cash grab?

3) Atlanta Falcons to release QB Kirk Cousins

In a radio interview this morning, new Falcons GM Ian Cunningham said he told the veteran QB the team will release him on March 11, the first day of the NFL’s 2026 league year.

• Cousins, 37, started the final seven games for Atlanta and threw for 1,471 yards, 10 TDs, and 5 INTs, as the team went 5-2 but fell short of the playoffs.
• The Falcons will be on the hook for $35M in dead cap spread across 2026 and 2027, due to the structure of Cousins’ reworked 4-yr, $180M deal signed in 2024.

How Cousins became once removed

4) Savannah Bananas expand their ESPN presence

ESPN announced today that it will air 25 Savannah Bananas exhibition baseball games this season, up from 10 games shown in 2025.

• Six games will air on ESPN and nine on ESPN2, while all 25 will be available on Disney+. They’ll also air for free on the Savannah Bananas’ YouTube channel.
• The “Bananaball” exhibition league, which routinely sells out MLB and NFL stadiums, recently expanded to six teams: the Bananas, Party Animals, FireFighters, Texas Tailgaters, Loco Beach Coconuts, and Indianapolis Clowns.

Why the Bananas are a-peel-ing to ESPN

5) QB Rivers follows dad Philip’s footsteps to NC State

Four-star QB Gunner Rivers, the son of 8x NFL Pro-Bowler Philip Rivers, announced plans to sign with North Carolina State, where his dad carved out a legendary CFB career.

• Before playing 17 NFL seasons, Philip Rivers was a four-year starter at NC State from 2000 to 2003, and emerged as one of the most prolific QBs in NCAA history.
• Rivers’ 13,848 career passing yards are the most in ACC history, and place him 13th on the NCAA's all-time passing list.
• His son Gunner is ESPN's #11-ranked pocket passer and #142 overall prospect in the Class of 2027.

Like father, like son?

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