Sports · Friday, 11 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Madrid spent 150m euros on a Formula One track by its airport. Its first race comes as drivers say the new rules make them lift off on purpose.

A city-owned exhibition company built a grand prix circuit next to Madrid's airport and signed Formula One for ten years. The cars arriving on it run on engines that are half electric, and the drivers say saving battery now decides the lap.

150m euros

Madrid spent on the circuit and the site around it

85m on the track itself, 65m on everything else [1]

10 years

the length of Madrid's contract to host a grand prix

the man who runs the circuit says the queue of cities wanting one is huge [1]

50-50

the petrol and electric split in this year's F1 engines

it becomes 60-40 in two steps by 2028 [2]

26 degrees

the bank on Turn 12, the circuit's signature corner

steeper and longer than the banked corner at Zandvoort in the Netherlands [1]

The lead story — what happened

Formula One races in Madrid this weekend for the first time, on a part-street, part-purpose-built circuit called Madring next to the city's airport. [1][3]
The track cost 85m euros to build and another 65m euros went on the site around it. [1]
It was built by Ifema, the part-state-owned company that runs Madrid's exhibition halls, and the city has a ten-year contract with Formula One. [1]
The signature corner, Turn 12, is banked at 26 degrees and is meant to hold more than 30,000 spectators. [1]
Builders removed 25km of underground tunnels so that no car races over an iron grid, and organisers cut car parks to push fans onto the metro. [1]
This year's engines are split half petrol and half electric, and that split moves to 60-40 in two steps by 2028. [2]
Max Verstappen says the battery rule makes drivers brake earlier and lift off mid-corner to save charge. [2]
He says that is why Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda were quick straight away after switching cars, because the cars answer less to what a driver does. [2][4]
Verstappen has signed with Red Bull to the end of 2030, but the deal keeps performance clauses, so a slow car still lets him leave. [2]
He wants a smaller V8 engine and a much smaller battery when the rules are next written, around 2030. [2]
Ferrari brought an engine upgrade to their home race at Monza last weekend, did not win it, and left with tension between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. [6][7]
Pierre Gasly took the first pole position of his career at Monza for Alpine, helped by a Mercedes engine and a tow from the cars ahead. [5][8]

Who is involved

Ifema

the part-state-owned company that runs Madrid's exhibition halls; it owns the site and paid for the track
Luis Garcia Abad

the managing director of the Madring circuit and once the manager of the driver Fernando Alonso; he says the race started as a joke
Carlos Jimenez

Ifema's operations director; he says the track needed three layers of asphalt and was laid through the wettest Spanish winter in 20 years
Max Verstappen

the Dutch driver who has won four world championships; he says this year's cars answer less to the driver and wants a V8 engine back

How it unfolded

About 2019 Ifema first asks whether a grand prix in Madrid is possible [1]
This year Formula One's new engines run half on petrol and half on electric power [2]
Last weekend at Monza, Gasly takes Alpine's first pole and Ferrari's home hopes end without a win [5][6]
This weekend the first grand prix at Madring, on a ten-year contract [1][3]
By 2028 the petrol and electric split moves to 60-40 in two steps [2]

Where this points

Watch how many overtakes Sunday's race produces: the junior drivers who have tested Madring say the walls are close and the track is narrow, and Madrid has nine more races to sell after this one. [1]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Spending set by somebody else High↑

Spain's league published Barcelona's ceiling at 582m euros and Real Madrid's at 832m [11]; the Atlanta Falcons paid a guard's salary early to open room under the NFL's cap [32]

Waiting on a price nobody has named Building↑

college football gave ESPN 30 days alone to say what a bigger tournament is worth [10]; baseball's owners may not bid at all until a new labour deal exists [21]

Paying to get in High↑

Madrid spent 150m euros to join the grand prix calendar [1]; the newest women's football team in the United States cost $205m to join, which has priced out Racing Louisville's owners [28]

Contracts reopened early Building→

Mikel Arteta is close to new Arsenal terms a season before his deal ends [26]; Arda Guler signed a new Real Madrid contract and Vegas gave Braeden Bowman six more years [19][24]

The rest of the day

29 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
College football asks a broadcaster what more is worth

The College Football Playoff told ESPN on Tuesday that it has 30 days to talk exclusively about a bigger tournament. [10] The playoff decides the champion of American college football and currently takes 12 teams. [10] Organisers want a price for a 24-team version before they vote on expansion by 1 December. [10] ESPN is in the first year of a six-year deal worth $7.8bn to the conferences and universities, which covers a playoff of up to 14 teams. [10]

Why it matters — Extra rounds would wipe out the conference title games, so the playoff must raise about $250m a year before it gains anything. [10] Fox Sports, which holds the Big Ten's rights, has said it wants to bid as well. [10]
03
Spain's league prints what every club may spend

LaLiga, the top Spanish football league, published its squad spending limits on Thursday. [11] Barcelona's rose by almost 150m euros to 582m. Real Madrid's is 832m and Sevilla's is 20m. [11] The limit is roughly a club's income minus its non-football costs and debt repayments, and it covers wages for players, coaches, reserves and youth teams. [11] Barcelona is inside its ceiling again after Robert Lewandowski and other high earners left. [11]

Why it matters — Every rival can read the figure, so a Barcelona offer is now judged against a published ceiling rather than a rumour. Sporting director Deco says the club chose Anthony Gordon because it wanted more running in wide areas. [12]
04
Real Madrid took the player Barcelona turned down

Bernardo Silva left Manchester City as a free agent after nine years and joined Real Madrid. [13] Barcelona had been treated as his likely destination and did speak to him. [13] Deco, who runs Barcelona's football side, says the 32-year-old's wage demands were one problem and his position was the other. [13] He said Silva did not play where the coach Hansi Flick needed a player. [13]

Why it matters — A free transfer still costs wages, and wages are what the published spending limit measures. Barcelona chose Gordon and Rodri instead, and the man they passed on went to the club with the bigger ceiling. [11][13]
05
Como play their first Champions League match

Como, from a lakeside town in northern Italy, hosted RB Leipzig at the Stadio Sinigaglia on Thursday in their first Champions League match. [14][15] The club is owned by the Djarum Group, an Indonesian conglomerate founded by the Hartono brothers, who bought Como in 2019. [14] It reached Serie A, Italy's top division, in under five years and qualified for Europe in its second season up, under manager Cesc Fabregas. [14] President Mirwan Suwarso and several directors gave up their own seats for supporters born in 1950 or earlier. [14]

Why it matters — Como are now drawn against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich with one of the smallest grounds in the competition. [14][15] A renovation of the Sinigaglia is under way, and until it is done the gate is the ceiling on what the run earns. [14]
06
Manchester United return to Europe after three years

Manchester United played Sabah of Azerbaijan at Old Trafford on Thursday, their first Champions League match since December 2023. [18][19] The club's finances were built for deep runs in the competition, yet it has reached the quarter-finals only once in the past 12 years. [18] Final tickets were still on general sale on the day, partly because Sabah were expected to bring few travelling supporters. [18] Benjamin Sesko started up front. [19]

Why it matters — Champions League money is the gap between United's spending plans and its income, and three years without it has to be paid for somewhere. [18]
07
The Champions League opens with 36 clubs

Matchday one of the league phase ran across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with 36 teams playing. [15] Barcelona beat Feyenoord 5-1, Paris Saint-Germain put six past Slovan Bratislava, Liverpool beat Atletico Madrid at Anfield and Arsenal beat Napoli 1-0 through a late Martin Odegaard goal. [15] Manchester City and Real Madrid won on Tuesday without convincing. [15] Jose Mourinho, who returned to Real Madrid this summer, faced Inter Milan, the club he won the competition with in 2010. [16]

Why it matters — The league phase replaced the old group stage, so every club now plays eight different opponents in one table. [15] More fixtures is what the format was sold on, and it is also what the broadcasters bought. [15]
08
Dortmund edge Villarreal, Guirassy scores at both ends

Borussia Dortmund beat Villarreal in their opening Champions League match, with Serhou Guirassy scoring at both ends. [17] Dortmund have now lost only two of their last 23 home games in the competition. [17] Villarreal lost each of their final six league-phase matches last season, the longest such run in their European history, and scored five goals in eight games. [17] Dortmund conceded 21 goals in 10 games last season, their second-worst rate in a single edition. [17]

Why it matters — Both records point the same way: last season's league phase was decided less by single results than by which clubs could hold a level across eight games. [17]
09
A new Real Madrid contract ends Chelsea's plan

Arda Guler signed a new contract at Real Madrid. [19] The Turkish midfielder is in his fourth season there and made 51 appearances last season, scoring six and setting up 14. [19] Jose Mourinho, the new head coach, has started him in three of Madrid's first games. [19] Chelsea had been linked with a move reported at about $116m, and the extension closes it. [20]

Why it matters — A club that renews a contract early never has to name a fee, because the player is no longer close to leaving. [19] Chelsea have to find another target, and the money set aside for Guler now goes to somebody else. [20]
10
Baseball's free agents face a market that may not open

Major League Baseball's labour agreement expires on 1 December and a lockout by the owners is widely expected. [21] Free agency opens weeks before that, and owners may simply not bid while they push for a salary cap. [21] Three players coming from Japan, Teruaki Sato, Kaima Taira and Hiromi Itoh, are expected to be posted in early November so they can sign before the deadline. [21] Tarik Skubal is expected to break the record for a pitcher's contract, currently $325m. [21]

Why it matters — Before the last stoppage, after the 2021 season, clubs rushed deals through in days, including $500m between Corey Seager and Marcus Semien at Texas. [21] This time the owners want to change how salaries work, so waiting costs them less than signing. [21]
11
Washington weigh whether to bid this winter

The Washington Nationals lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose outfielder Kyle Tucker is paid about $60m a year. [22] The Dodgers' baseball chief Andrew Friedman once said that being rational about every free agent means finishing third on every free agent. [22] Washington cannot match that outlay and has not tried for years. [22] The club is now weighing whether to bid seriously this winter. [22]

Why it matters — Baseball has no salary cap, so the only limit on a club is what its owner will spend. [21][22] That is the rule the owners are trying to change by 1 December. [21]
12
Monday night hockey moves behind an extra fee

Sportsnet, the Canadian channel that carries the National Hockey League, will show Monday games only on its streaming service Sportsnet+. [23] Television subscribers can sign in with their TV details but must pay a further $12.99 a month. [23] Rogers, which owns Sportsnet, says the service will be free for people already subscribed to the channel on 29 September, when the season starts. [23] Saturday doubleheaders stay on television. [23]

Why it matters — The night that goes behind the paywall is the test: if Monday audiences hold, more nights follow. [23] Two long-serving analysts, Jennifer Botterill and Kelly Hrudey, will not be back. [23]
13
Vegas give a 23-year-old six more years

The Vegas Golden Knights signed forward Braeden Bowman to a six-year extension on Thursday worth an average of $3.4m a season, running to 2032-33. [24] Bowman played 54 NHL games last season, scoring eight goals with 18 assists, and 34 more in the minor leagues. [24] He filled in when captain Mark Stone was injured and scored in three games in a row. [24] He has not yet held down a full season in the top team. [24]

Why it matters — The NHL has a hard salary cap, so a club that waits until a young player has proved himself then has to pay in full. [24] Vegas have bet six years that Bowman becomes a regular. [24]
14
Hockey's year restarts with three standoffs open

NHL rookie camps opened this week and training camps follow on 16 and 17 September. [25] Detroit still have no general manager after Steve Yzerman stepped down in July, and captain Dylan Larkin has asked to be traded. [41] Winnipeg's goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has also asked to leave, and Buffalo want him. [41] Hellebuyck won the league's most valuable player award in 2025 and an Olympic gold medal in 2026, and his play-off record is 24-34. [41]

Why it matters — A trade request carries weight while a season has not started. [41] Every day of camp that passes makes it cheaper for a club to say no. [25][41]
15
Arsenal move to keep their manager

Arsenal are close to agreeing new terms with Mikel Arteta, whose contract runs out at the end of this season. [26] The 44-year-old won the club's first league title in 22 years last season and took them to a Champions League final. [26] He is reported to earn about $13.5m a season, with a further $6.8m for qualifying for the Champions League, and will get a large rise. [26] Talks moved on once the summer transfer window closed. [26]

Why it matters — A manager in the final year of a contract is a free agent in waiting, and rivals can talk to him. [26] Arsenal are paying to remove that conversation before it starts. [26]
16
Pochettino says his contract reads differently now

Mauricio Pochettino signed a new four-year contract as head coach of the United States men's football team. [27] He took the side to the last 16 of their home World Cup this summer, and says he had promised to stay until the tournament finished. [27] Speaking in London this week, he said the commitment that had been absolute before the World Cup is no longer the same. [27] He left Chelsea four months before taking the job in September 2024. [27]

Why it matters — A coach who has already delivered the thing he was hired for has less reason to refuse the next call. [27] The federation kept the signature and lost the certainty that came with it. [27]
17
An American women's club runs out of room

Racing Louisville sit second from bottom in average attendance in the National Women's Soccer League, spend near the bottom, and their best player has asked to leave. [28] The owners, who bought in for between $1m and $2m before the 2021 season, say they will be forced to do something. [28] The newest team in the league, in Columbus, paid an expansion fee of $205m. [28] New ownership is the likely answer, and that usually raises the question of moving the club. [28]

Why it matters — The owners joined when a place cost between $1m and $2m and now sit alongside owners who paid $205m. [28] Nothing the team does on the pitch closes that gap. [28]
18
American soccer sets a transfer record in both directions

Major League Soccer clubs spent a record $370m buying players in 2026, up 10.1% on last year's $336m. [29] They received $218m for players sold, up 7.9% on $202m. [29] The league has been trying to bring those two numbers closer together for years. [29] Money received as a share of money spent was 35.3% in 2021 and is 58.9% this year, though it reached 76% in 2024. [29]

Why it matters — A league that sells as well as it buys stops depending on its owners to fund every signing. [29] The 2024 figure shows the ratio can move backwards in a single year. [29]
19
America's second-tier soccer clubs get a share

The United Soccer League agreed a revenue-sharing deal with its men's professional clubs, letting them take part in the league's national income. [30] The board approved it at the end of August and owners in the USL Championship and USL League One ratified it last Tuesday with a two-thirds majority. [30] The deal runs five years and also covers USL Premier, a first division the league plans to start in 2028. [30] The share itself was not disclosed. [30]

Why it matters — Clubs below the top flight normally live on ticket money and their owner's patience. [30] A share of national income is the first thing that makes a lower-division club worth buying. [30]
20
A quarterback waits rather than sign

Lamar Jackson, 29, is going into a season with the Baltimore Ravens without an extension. [31] General manager Eric DeCosta answered six questions about him at a news conference and refused to discuss the talks. [31] Jackson has twice been the NFL's most valuable player. [31] He is choosing to play the season out rather than take the deal on the table. [31]

Why it matters — Jackson has no contract for the years after this one, so every good game raises what Baltimore must pay. [31] If he is injured instead, he carries that loss on his own. [31]
21
Atlanta pay a lineman early to free room

The Atlanta Falcons paid guard Chris Lindstrom his 2026 salary early, which converts most of it into a signing bonus. [32] Under NFL rules a bonus is spread across the remaining years of a contract, so the charge against this year's salary cap falls and later years rise. [32] The Falcons have spent the summer extending young players, which lowers their near-term cap charges in the same way. [32] The owner is willing to pay the cash up front. [32]

Why it matters — A salary cap limits the accounting charge, not the cash. [32] A club with an owner willing to write the cheque can buy room this season and leave the charge in later ones. [32]
22
A running back pleads no contest and waits for a ban

Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers pleaded no contest to misdemeanour charges and was fined $1,000 plus costs, with a follow-up court date set for September 2027. [33] The charges followed an incident at his home in May; the complaint says he threw a woman to the ground and she hit her head. [33] The NFL had placed him on its exempt list, which keeps a player away from the team on full pay. [33] He said he takes full responsibility. [33]

Why it matters — The league's agreement with its players sets six games as the standard suspension for domestic violence. [33] The court is finished with the case; the employer's penalty has not started. [33]
23
Aaron Rodgers is unsure the Packers want him back

Aaron Rodgers said he doubts Green Bay would invite him back to Lambeau Field in a non-playing role, and doubts he would accept. [34] He played 18 seasons for the Packers and won four most valuable player awards there. [34] A month ago he said an invitation would have to come first. [34] He said some people in the building would not be on board, and that he might not be either. [34]

Why it matters — A club's past is part of what it sells, and Rodgers is 18 seasons of Green Bay's. [34] He is saying the invitation would have to come from people who may not want to send it. [34]
24
Ohio State's head coach hires from the professional game

Ryan Day, head coach of Ohio State, has stopped calling plays and is hiring coordinators who have worked in the NFL. [35] He gave up play-calling after the 2023 season and the team won the national championship in 2024. [35] He says his job is now running the organisation, including fundraising and the payments universities make to players. [35] No head coach has won a title while calling plays since 2013. [35]

Why it matters — Paying players changed what a college head coach does all day. [35] The skill that got Day the job is now the first thing he delegates. [35]
25
One financier keeps turning up in tennis

Bill Ackman, 60, runs the investment firm Pershing Square and has an estimated fortune of about $10.4bn. [36] He gave the teenage Frances Tiafoe more than $100,000 for coaching and travel; Tiafoe plays on Friday for a place in the US Open final. [36] He also put money behind Novak Djokovic's effort to start a players' union. [36] He played in a professional tournament himself at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, hoping to become the oldest man ever to score on the ATP ranking list. [36]

Why it matters — Ackman's money went straight to the people he picked: a junior's travel costs, a players' union at its launch, courts in the Bronx and Washington. [36] The teenager he funded is now two matches from winning the US Open. [36]
26
LSU backs down and the argument does not end

Louisiana State University left two former NFL players off its football roster, ending a fight with the Southeastern Conference over whether they were eligible. [37] A judge had earlier suspended the conference's power to punish the university. [37] LSU dropped the position rather than keep testing it in court. [37] The conference is still pursuing its own legal case. [37]

Why it matters — The rule survived because one member chose not to push it, not because anyone decided it was valid. [37] The next university to disagree starts from the same place LSU did. [37]
27
Four top seeds reach a US Open semi-final

Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina made up the women's semi-final line-up at the US Open, the American Grand Slam tennis tournament. [38] It is the first time since 1975 that the top four seeds have all reached that stage there. [38] All four began the tournament able to finish it ranked first in the world. [38] Gauff said she was surprised when she was told. [38]

Why it matters — Seeds are set from ranking points before a ball is hit, and they usually break down before the last four. [38] The last time all four survived here was 1975. [38]
28
What a cricket broadcast costs to make

Sky Sports uses about 130 people, 17 cameras and a drone flown from a rooftop nearby to televise a Test match at Lord's in London. [39] Every ball is typed by hand into software that feeds the on-screen score and the graphics the commentators use. [39] Former England players sit with producers and scroll the footage frame by frame to find the moment a bowler lets go of the ball. [39] A producer talks into the commentary box while play continues, offering lines of analysis. [39]

Why it matters — Most sports earn more from selling television rights than from anything else, and this is what a broadcaster spends to make the thing it sells. [39] The analysis a viewer treats as obvious takes more people than are on the field. [39]
29
Where Australia's women play before a World Cup

ESPN listed every Australian women's international and where she is playing in the 2026-27 club season, ahead of the 2027 Women's World Cup. [40] A large group are at clubs in Europe and North America rather than in Australia's own A-League Women. [40] Coach Joe Montemurro picks his squad from those clubs next June and July. [40] Players outside the strongest leagues have fewer minutes to show him. [40]

Why it matters — A national team's depth now depends on which foreign clubs will play its players. [40] A season on the bench abroad can cost a place that a season at home might have kept. [40]
30
The car that decides who reaches Formula One

Formula 2, the last step before Formula One, showed the car its drivers will race from 2027. [9] The series is owned by Formula One and run under the FIA, motorsport's governing body, and every team uses the same car, built by Dallara in Italy. [9] The new version keeps the 2024 chassis and changes the aerodynamics, to avoid raising costs for teams and drivers. [9] The last new car arrived in 2024 on a three-year cycle. [9]

Why it matters — One shared car is what makes the category a test of drivers rather than of budgets. [9] Keeping the chassis is how the organisers hold the entry price down. [9]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why the fastest lap now includes a moment of going slow

When a rule makes you refill what you spend, the winning move is to give some of it up on purpose, at the exact point where giving up looks like losing.

The twist

Formula One used to reward the driver who braked latest. This year a driver can be quicker by lifting off early, because the battery charge that saves is what pushes the car down the next straight.

How it works

A rule gives you a store you must refill - battery charge, room under a wage cap, cash before a deadline
Spending it all at the first chance is fastest for a moment
Then there is none left where it counts more
So the best move becomes holding back on purpose, at the point where holding back looks like losing
And the winner is whoever judges the refill best, not whoever pushes hardest

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Spain's league publishing club spending limits

the same step: Barcelona could only sign Anthony Gordon and Rodri once Robert Lewandowski and other high earners came off the wage bill and refilled the room
Atlanta paying Chris Lindstrom early

the club took room under this year's cap by pushing the charge into later years, which is spending the store forward instead of now
Baseball's owners before the December deadline

they may hold their money through the opening of free agency, because signing now is worth less than signing under the rules they are trying to write
College football's 30-day window with ESPN

expansion would use up the conference title games worth about $250m a year, so the playoff has to earn that back before it gains anything

Where you've seen this

Long-distance running

the runner who sprints the first mile has nothing left at the finish

A phone on a long journey

you dim the screen early so the map still works when you need it

Election campaigns

money is held back from early adverts to buy the final week

A household budget

a bill paid early can be the reason a card is free when the boiler breaks

The catch

It only works if you can see how much is left and know when the refill comes. Guess wrong and you hold back for nothing, then finish with charge in the battery and a slower lap behind you.

And the whole of it

Nobody in this story chose the store they have to manage. The drivers did not write the engine rules, Barcelona did not set its own ceiling, and the Atlanta guard did not ask to be paid early. Each of them is doing the sensible thing inside a limit that someone else drew, and from inside it the limit stops looking like a choice at all.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Most of today's stories were decided by a number somebody else published or withheld. Spain's league set Barcelona's spending ceiling at 582m euros and Real Madrid's at 832m, so those two clubs found out this week what they may pay next year. College football cannot decide how many teams play for its title until ESPN says what the extra games are worth.

Why it works on us — A published limit reads like a fact about the world, when it is a figure a committee arrived at and can change again next window.

Who gains

Ifema, Madrid's part-state exhibition company — It turned an expo site by the airport into a ten-year fixture on a global calendar, and it owns the land the crowds now travel to. [1]
Real Madrid — The published spending ceilings put them 250m euros above Barcelona, and they signed Bernardo Silva, whom Barcelona said they could not fit. [11][13]
ESPN — It has 30 days alone with the College Football Playoff, and the right of first refusal on any new games, before anyone else may bid. [10]
Baseball's owners — Every week of doubt about a salary cap makes a free agent cheaper to leave unsigned, and the deadline is theirs to hold. [21]
Rogers, which owns Sportsnet — Moving Monday hockey to streaming only adds $12.99 a month from anyone who wants it and is not already a channel subscriber. [23]
Clubs in the United Soccer League — They now receive a share of the league's national income rather than living on gate money alone. [30]

Who pays

Drivers who built a career on braking late — The engine rules reward saving charge, so the habit that made them fast is worth less than it was. [2][4]
Sevilla and clubs like it — Their spending ceiling is 20m euros against Barcelona's 582m, and the figure is published for every rival and every agent to read. [11]
American college conference title games — An expanded playoff would replace them, and they are worth about $250m a year to the schools that play in them. [10]
Racing Louisville's owners — They bought in for between $1m and $2m in 2021 and now compete against a league whose newest team paid $205m to join. [28]
Canadian hockey viewers without a Sportsnet subscription — Monday games are behind a separate streaming fee from 5 October. [23]
Whoever runs the Atlanta Falcons in 2029 — Paying Chris Lindstrom early moves the salary-cap charge out of this season and into later ones. [32]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

What Madrid is actually paying Formula One each year.

The build costs are public: 85m euros for the track and 65m for the site around it. What Madrid pays Formula One each year to hold the race is not in the reporting. [1]
02

Whether the new engine rules really flatten the gap between drivers.

Max Verstappen says Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda were quick immediately after switching cars, and that is one driver's reading of two cases. Nobody has published lap-time evidence either way. [2][4]
03

What a 24-team college football playoff would sell for.

That is the question the 30-day window with ESPN exists to answer. Organisers say they have no idea of the media interest, and the expansion deadline is 1 December. [10]
04

Whether baseball's owners will bid at all this winter.

The labour deal expires on 1 December and a lockout is expected. Clubs rushed deals through before the last one; this time they want the pay rules changed, and nobody has said which way they will go. [21]
05

What share of income the United Soccer League is giving its clubs.

The owners ratified the deal by a two-thirds majority and the percentage was not disclosed. [30]
06

Who owns Racing Louisville next season, and in which city.

The current owners say they will be forced to do something and have named no buyer. Relocation is the obvious risk and nobody involved has ruled it out. [28]
07

How long Josh Jacobs is suspended for.

The court case ended in a fine and a deferred judgment. The players' agreement sets six games as standard for domestic violence, and the league has not announced anything. [33]
08

Whether Lamar Jackson signs before the season ends.

Baltimore's general manager was asked six times and declined to discuss it each time. [31]

04 Hope carry this

Como's president Mirwan Suwarso and several club directors gave up their own seats for the club's first Champions League match, so that supporters born in 1950 or earlier could be in the ground.

Also true today

Bill Ackman gave a teenage Frances Tiafoe more than $100,000 for coaching and travel. Tiafoe plays on Friday for a place in the US Open final.
Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina all reached the US Open semi-finals. The top four seeds have not all got that far there since 1975.