📰🏟️ Tiger returns
Plus: March Madness off to record start…
Good afternoon. Welcome back to another week full of top sports stories. Let’s get you up to speed.
—Kyle
1) Men’s March Madness viewership off to record start
The opening weekend of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament set viewership records by multiple metrics, according to broadcasters CBS and TNT.
- The first Thursday set a new record for average viewership (9.8M), including the most-watched First Round primetime window in history (12.5M viewers).
- Overall, March Madness viewership is off to its best start ever, averaging 9.3M viewers through the first two rounds (+5% from last year).
CBB viewers are going mad in March
2) Tiger Woods to make 2026 debut in TGL Finals tonight
Tiger Woods, 50, will make his return to competitive golf tonight for the first time since rupturing his Achilles last March (followed by back surgery in October), the golfing legend told ESPN.
- Woods will play in Match 2 of the best-of-three TGL finals tonight (6 pm CT) for his Jupiter Links team, after they lost Match 1 against the Los Angeles Golf Club last night.
- The 15-time major winner, who hasn’t played competitively on the PGA Tour since July 2024, is still mum on whether he’ll be playing in this year’s Masters (starting April 9).
3) NFL stars young and old sign new deals
Seahawks WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba, last season’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year, reportedly agreed on Monday to a record-breaking 4-yr, $168.6M extension.
- JSN’s deal features an average annual value of $42.15M along with $120M in guaranteed money, both of which are tops in league history among WRs.
- Hours later, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce put retirement rumors to rest and signed a 3-yr, $57.7M contract with Kansas City—though it’s essentially a 1-yr deal worth up to $15M.
Breaking down JSN and Kelce’s new deals
4) NHL’s Atlantic shaping up as best division in history
The NHL’s Atlantic Division is on a record winning pace with just over three weeks to go in the 2025-26 regular season.
- The division, led by the red-hot Sabres, has a cumulative points percentage of .597, which would represent the highest such mark since the NHL moved to four divisions in 2013.
- All eight teams in the division have a points percentage of .500 or higher, meaning they’ve earned some points (2 for win, 1 for OT loss) in at least half their games.
Inside the NHL’s best division
5) CBB coaching carousel is in full swing
The college basketball world has seen a series of major coaching changes so far this week:
- Syracuse this morning hired Siena's Gerry McNamara—one of the most beloved former players in ‘Cuse history—as their new head coach after firing Adrian Autry.
- After 25 years as head coach of Saint Mary’s College, Randy Bennett agreed to a five-year contract to coach Arizona State, replacing Bobby Hurley.
- Head coach Jerrod Calhoun is leaving Utah State for Cincinnati, his alma mater.
- Creighton head coach Greg McDermott officially retired after leading the program for 16 years, with longtime assistant Alan Huss replacing him.
Hop on the CBB coaching carousel
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