📰🏟️ Super Bowl changes
Plus: NBA players in college hoops?...
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1) NFL moves Pro Bowl into Super Bowl week
Starting in February, the Pro Bowl will now be held on Tuesday of Super Bowl week in the same city as the big game, as the league aims to boost fan interest and spotlight flag football ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics.
- The new venue—a custom-built indoor field at the host city—and timing were developed after consultation with players.
- NFL officials say the changes are designed to inject further life into the event, and also allow more star players to be a part of Super Bowl week.
2) The NHL signs first-ever sports deal with prediction markets
Earlier today, the league announced multiyear licensing deals with Kalshi and Polymarket, becoming the first major US pro sports league to allow use of its trademarks by prediction‑market platforms.
- The agreements—which give Kalshi and Polymarket access to terms like “NHL,” “Stanley Cup,” and team names—are the latest sign that prediction markets are challenging traditional sports-betting companies.
- Kalshi is able to offer its sports “event contracts” in all 50 states, even those that restrict standard sports betting, with Polymarket set to soon join them.
3) MLS Playoffs kick off tonight
The MLS playoffs begin this evening with the single-elimination wild card round on Apple TV—but two of last year’s biggest teams won’t be playing for the title.
- Both the defending champ LA Galaxy and runner-up NY Red Bulls missed the playoffs, marking just the second time in MLS history that neither finalist returned to the postseason.
- The Red Bulls also ended their 14-year playoff streak, the longest in North American pro sports.
- On the flip side, the Chicago Fire reached the postseason for the first time since 2017, ending the league’s longest playoff drought.
4) The NCAA has come under fire for allowing G League hoopers
This week, a second former player in the NBA’s G League (or development league) joined a D1 roster for the upcoming college basketball season, prompting legendary Michigan St. coach Tom Izzo to call out the NCAA for allowing them to be eligible —and also joke about bringing back Magic Johnson.
- The NCAA's previous rules banned players from D1 basketball if they had previously competed for money at a professional level.
- But the org has bent its rules recently for multiple international prospects who played professionally overseas. And this week, it did so for a player without any international ties for the first time, in what Izzo described as a slippery slope.
5) Lou Gehrig’s final Yankees jersey heads to auction
The last game‑worn jersey that Lou Gehrig put on for the New York Yankees (during the 1939 World Series; value: ~$4M) hits the auction block today, as part of a rare “American Greats” collection at Christie’s.
- Other high-profile items include a Dolphins Super Bowl ring from the undefeated 1972 season, Jackie Robinson’s Hall of Fame induction ring, and handwritten letters from Robinson and Ty Cobb.
- They all come from the personal collection of the late Dr. Goodman Basil Espy, a battlefield surgeon who was also quietly one of America’s top collectors of sports and pop culture history.
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