Sports · Friday, 18 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

College football lets schools pay players $21.6m. The richest are spending about $50m.

A count of every big school's player budget shows Ohio State and Oregon near $50m and Boston College near $10m, as the US Senate starts debating a law that would roughly double the limit.

$21.6m

the most a big-conference school may pay its athletes directly this year

Most schools give about 75% of it, around $16m, to football. [1]

$49m to $54m

Ohio State's estimated spending on its football players this season

Boston College, the lowest, is estimated at $8m to $13m. [3][4]

$100.8m

of outside player deals turned down by the new checking body from May to August

It approved $340.2m in the same months, across 21,065 deals. [1]

74-24

the US Senate vote to start debating the college sports bill

A final vote could come as soon as next week. [11]

The lead story — what happened

The Athletic, a sports news site owned by The New York Times, has estimated what every school in college football's four biggest conferences spends on players this season. [2] Professional leagues publish every contract, but colleges keep their player pay secret. [12]
Those schools may pay their athletes directly up to $21.6m this year. Most say about 75% of it, around $16m, goes to football. [1]
At least 20 schools are believed to spend more than $30m on their football players, and a few as much as $50m. [1]
Ohio State, at $49m to $54m, and Oregon, at $48m to $54m, spend the most. Boston College spends the least, at $8m to $13m. [3][4]
The money above the limit comes through other doors. Kit makers such as Nike move sponsorship money into player deals, media partners find sponsors, and rich fans called boosters still pay. [1]
Players or their agents, not schools, must report any outside deal above $600 to the College Sports Commission, the body the conferences set up to check them. From May to August it approved $340.2m of deals and turned down $100.8m. [1]
Money mostly buys wins. The 14 biggest budgets all belong to teams in this week's top 25 ranking. [6] But Oklahoma State, estimated at $15m to $19m, beat Oregon on 12 September. [2][3]
Eleven of the 20 biggest spenders play in the SEC, the Southeastern Conference, against six in the Big Ten. Half the Big Ten spends $25m or less, which is about the least any SEC team spends. [8][7]
Boston College's coach, Bill O'Brien, said the estimate for his team was not accurate. He put his budget nearer to Wake Forest's and Pittsburgh's. [5]
On 15 September the US Senate voted 74-24 to start debating the Protect College Sports Act. A final vote could come next week. [11]
Ted Cruz, a Texas senator who co-wrote the bill, got nearly 10 minutes on ESPN's College GameDay to argue for it, with no opponent on air. [10] Derrick Johnson of the NAACP answered on SportsCenter that the bill gives players no right to bargain together. [11]
The bill would add a second limit of $22.5m for keeping players, plus $5m for women's and other sports, so a school could spend about $49m in all. Several football teams already spend more than that. [1]

Who is involved

The Athletic

a sports news site owned by The New York Times; it called more than 70 people to estimate every big school's player budget
The College Sports Commission

the body the four biggest conferences set up last year to approve outside payments to players and punish cheats
Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell

US senators from Texas and Washington state; they sponsor the Protect College Sports Act
Derrick Johnson

head of the NAACP, a US civil-rights group; he says the bill takes power from players
Bill O'Brien

coach of Boston College, the lowest spender on the list; he says the estimate for his team is wrong

How it unfolded

2021 The NCAA, which runs US college sport, lets college athletes earn money from their name and image, and boosters form groups to pay them. [1]
2025 A $2.8bn court settlement lets schools pay athletes directly, up to a limit. [1]
June 2026 A US Senate committee backs the Protect College Sports Act 19-9. [11]
12 Sept Texas beats Ohio State 24-23 in a game whose rosters cost $94m to $109m, and Oklahoma State beats Oregon. [3][9]
15 Sept The US Senate votes 74-24 to start debating the bill. [11]
16-17 Sept The Athletic publishes every big school's estimated player budget. [2][4]

Where this points

The next step is the US Senate's final vote on the bill, which could come next week and would decide whether a limit of about $49m becomes law. [11]

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.

Young players paid early High↑

In the NHL, North America's top ice hockey league, seven of the 15 richest deals for players with under 100 games came in the last 14 months. [13] The best college transfer quarterbacks now earn at least $5m to $6m a year. [1] Anaheim signed Cutter Gauthier, 22, for six years at $13.5m a season. [14]

Spending limits going up Building↑

The NHL's cap on each team's player spending rises by $8.5m to $104m this season. [14] Running back pay in the NFL, American football's top league, has climbed as each team's cap room keeps growing. [38] A US Senate bill would let colleges spend about $49m. [1]

Stars missing from big events High→

Tadej Pogacar, winner of the last two world road titles, broke his collarbone and will miss the race in Montreal. [22] Ben Shelton pulled out of the Laver Cup, a team tennis event, without giving a reason. [25] Jack Draper has ended his season with elbow and knee injuries. [27]

The rest of the day

21 more stories on this beat.

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

02
NHL teams pay unproven players big

The Vancouver Canucks gave Zeev Buium, a 20-year-old defender, eight years at $75.04m, the biggest contract ever for an NHL player with under 100 games. [13] Buffalo gave Noah Ostlund, a forward with 68 games and 27 points, more than $50m. [13] Pittsburgh gave Ville Koivunen, who has played 47 games, eight years at $4m a season. [13] Part of the rush was to sign before a new labour deal took away eight-year terms. [13]

Why it matters — One executive called some of the deals reckless gambling. [13] An agent said teams can buy out players aged 25 or under for a third of what is left, so a wrong guess costs a team little on its books. [13]
03
Anaheim pays its 41-goal scorer

The Anaheim Ducks signed Cutter Gauthier, 22, for six more years at $13.5m a season on 15 September, just before training camp. [14] Gauthier scored 41 goals last season, more than twice his total as a rookie. [14] His contract includes $69m in signing bonuses. [14] The deal came as the NHL's limit on each team's player spending rose by $8.5m, to $104m. [14]

Why it matters — Anaheim now pays Gauthier and Leo Carlsson, its top centre, a combined $31.5m a season. [14] His deal could become the one other young scorers point to when their first contracts end. [14]
04
Hockey camps open short and some stars unsigned

NHL training camps opened this week under a new labour deal, with an 84-game season and only four warm-up games. [17] Columbus's 21-year-old centre Adam Fantilli had no new contract, and his agent said he would not come to camp without one. [16] Minnesota's Quinn Hughes has still not signed an extension and does not seem in a hurry. [15] Edmonton starts under Mike Babcock, a coach several former players have called a bully. [15][18]

Why it matters — With a shorter camp, every day a holdout misses counts for more. [16] Carolina, the Stanley Cup holders, kept most of their players, and their general manager says that leaves less to teach. [46]
05
Kiffin returns to Ole Miss after a legal fight

Lane Kiffin, coach of Louisiana State University (LSU), goes back to Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, for a game on Saturday. [19] He left Ole Miss for LSU last season. [19] Before this season LSU fought the SEC, its own conference, over his plan to add two former NFL players to his team. [19] The SEC threatened a fine of half a football programme's yearly budget and sued LSU in federal court. [19] Kiffin's lawyer friend Tom Mars now says Kiffin sent him ChatGPT answers as legal advice. [19]

Why it matters — LSU backed down and left both players off its roster. [19] The two teams on the field on Saturday have an estimated $86m to $95m in player budgets between them. [3]
06
Evenepoel and Del Toro win in Canada

Remco Evenepoel of Belgium won the Grand Prix of Quebec, a one-day bike race, on 11 September by beating Giulio Ciccone in a two-man sprint. [21] Two days later Isaac del Toro of Mexico won in Montreal. [20] He outsprinted the French teenager Paul Seixas and became the race's youngest winner, at 22. [20] Both races are the last big warm-ups for the world championships in Montreal. [21][22]

Why it matters — The Montreal race used the same climb, the Camillien-Houde, as the world title race. [20][22] Seixas and Del Toro pulled clear together on that climb on the last lap. [20]
07
The cycling worlds without Pogacar

The men's world road race is on 27 September in Montreal, over 273km with 12 laps of a city circuit. [22] Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia won the last two titles, but broke his collarbone in a crash at the Vuelta, the three-week race in Spain. [22] Britain's Tom Pidcock said the absence of Pogacar raises his own chances. [23] He is trying to be the first British man to win since Mark Cavendish in 2011. [23]

Why it matters — With the strongest rider gone, about two dozen riders now have a real chance at the title. [22] Evenepoel, Del Toro and Seixas are the favourites. [22]
08
Shelton leaves the Laver Cup to Nakashima

Ben Shelton, the American who lost the US Open final last weekend, withdrew from the Laver Cup on Thursday. [25] No reason was given. [25] He was already due to play for the United States in the Davis Cup, the national team competition, in the Czech Republic from Friday. [25] Brandon Nakashima, ranked 16th, replaces him on Team World for the event at London's O2 Arena on 25 to 27 September. [24]

Why it matters — Team Europe brings the US Open champion Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz. [26] Team World has won three of the last four Laver Cups. [47]
09
Draper ends his season at 155th

Jack Draper, a British tennis player who was once fourth in the world, has ended his season because of injury. [27] He played only 15 singles matches this year, held back by a long-running elbow problem in his playing arm and a separate knee injury. [27] He is now ranked 155th. [27] He says he wants to return in 2027 fully fit. [27]

Why it matters — He had already come back once this year and beaten Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells in March. [27] Then a knee injury stopped him again in April. [27]
10
Saudi club punished for Jota chants

Al Taawoun, a Saudi Pro League club, was given a two-game stadium ban and a fine of 100,000 riyals, about $26,660. [28] Its fans chanted the name of Diogo Jota at Ruben Neves, Jota's close friend, during a game on Saturday. [28] Jota, who played for Portugal, died with his brother in a car crash in Spain in July 2025. [29] Neves carried his coffin at the funeral. [29]

Why it matters — Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in the same league, asked for the fans involved to be banned for life. [29] Saudi Arabia's football federation chose a two-game ban instead, and says it cannot be appealed. [28]
11
Leicestershire docked 27 points for a pitch

Leicestershire, an English county cricket club, lost 27 points for preparing a poor pitch that bounced unevenly. [30] The penalty takes away all 19 points from the match it won, plus eight more, and adds a 5,000-pound fine. [30] The ruling came during its second-to-last match of the season and dropped it to the bottom of its division. [30] It argued that a film shoot stopped the pitch being covered, but the panel said that was only one day. [30]

Why it matters — The penalty leaves Leicestershire facing relegation, and it has 10 days to appeal. [30] The head groundsman said it was not the pitch he would have chosen, but the coaches asked for it and have the final say. [30]
12
Two women on one SailGP boat for the first time

The United States team in SailGP, a racing series for fast catamarans, will sail in Geneva this weekend with two women on board. [31] Its driver broke his collarbone in a bike crash, and his reserve broke his foot a day later. [31] The team hired Martine Grael, a two-time Olympic champion from Brazil, who had just been let go by Brazil's team. [31] She will race alongside Anna Weis. [31]

Why it matters — No race in the series has ever had two women on the same boat. [31] Grael was out of a job for less than a week. [31]
13
LeBron James signs with Polymarket

LeBron James, the basketball star, has signed a deal with Polymarket worth $15m a year, according to Front Office Sports. [32] Polymarket is an app where people trade on the result of events, including games. [32] The deal pays nearly four times his $3.9m salary from the Philadelphia 76ers this season. [32] He will promote American football markets, not basketball. [32]

Why it matters — Money traded on such apps, $50.6bn a month worldwide in July, is more than the roughly $14bn a month bet at legal US sportsbooks in 2025. [33] Some US states are suing to stop them. [33]
14
Messi gets a farewell game

Lionel Messi will play one last match for Argentina, against Benin at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires on 6 October. [34] He retired from the national team after this year's World Cup. [34] Argentina's football federation has invited every player from the team that won the 2022 World Cup, with their families. [34] The squad for Argentina's other two friendlies is full of young players. [34]

Why it matters — It is the first Argentina squad since the World Cup, and the first step toward a team built without him. [34] Franco Mastantuono, the last player to wear Messi's number 10 shirt, is in it. [34]
15
The worst NWSL team hires its best coach

The Chicago Stars, bottom of the NWSL, the top US women's football league, hired Vlatko Andonovski as chief football officer. [35] He coached the US women's team and won two NWSL titles, and left the Kansas City Current last week. [35] Chicago has scored 14 goals and let in 54 in 24 games. [35] Its president said staff turnover was the biggest thing holding the club back. [35]

Why it matters — The Orlando Pride went from bottom to winning both US titles in 2024. [35] Chicago is betting that one respected hire can stop agents and other clubs avoiding it. [35]
16
Baseball's second-richest payroll misses October

The New York Mets were knocked out of the baseball play-off race on Monday, losing to the Baltimore Orioles. [36] They have the second-highest player spending in Major League Baseball, and missed the play-offs for the second year running. [36] Star players Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto were injured more than once. [36] Bo Bichette cost $126m over three years and was the best of seven big new arrivals. [36] Even he added only about 1.6 wins to the team. [36]

Why it matters — Pete Alonso, who left the Mets last winter, said a team with a lot of talent sometimes just does not work out. [36] Their young players also failed to improve, and their supply of prospects got weaker. [36]
17
Detroit frees $35m to spend

The Detroit Lions turned $26m of Amon-Ra St. Brown's salary and $18.6m of Penei Sewell's into signing bonuses. [37] A signing bonus can be spread over later years on the team's books, so this freed $20.8m and $14.8m under this year's limit. [37] The players earn exactly the same. [37] Detroit now has the second-most room in the NFL this season, $39.02m. [37]

Why it matters — The Lions already pay Jahmyr Gibbs $22.5m a season, the most of any running back. [38] The freed room could pay for a trade or new extensions. [37]
18
Buffalo opens its new stadium

The Buffalo Bills play their first game at their new Highmark Stadium on Thursday night, against the Detroit Lions. [39] The field is real grass with heating pipes underneath to stop it freezing. [39] It has the world's largest stadium snow-melting system, run by sensors in the roof. [39] A canopy covers 60% of the seats to cut the wind. [39]

Why it matters — The Bills built for winter games in the open air rather than a roof. [39] It is the latest in a run of new NFL stadiums; SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles cost more than $5bn. [39]
19
Golf's autumn starts in Asheville

Max Greyserman and Eric Cole shared the lead after the first round of the new Biltmore Championship in Asheville, North Carolina. [40] It is the first PGA Tour event in the city since 1942. [41] Most top players skip these autumn events, which decide who keeps a full playing card for next year. [42] Seven players in the field play in the Presidents Cup, the US against an International team, at Medinah near Chicago next week. [41][40]

Why it matters — Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are playing the European tour's BMW PGA Championship instead. [41] Christiaan Bezuidenhout, picked for the International team, is also playing to keep his full PGA Tour place for 2027. [42]
20
Penrith keep their players fit

The Penrith Panthers, a rugby league club from western Sydney, have had 94% of their players available for finals across six years. [43] In 20 finals since 2020 they have missed just 21 player-games to injury, about one player per match. [43] They now have two weeks off before a preliminary final, one win from the grand final. [43] Star half-back Nathan Cleary is expected to play. [43]

Why it matters — Penrith have never had more than three players out injured for any finals match. [43] The break also gives Cleary, who is on light training, time to recover. [43]
21
Georgia fans bought a new kit

Georgia's football team was due to wear all-white uniforms for the first time, in its home game against Western Kentucky. [44] Coach Kirby Smart had promised them in March if fans tripled subscriptions to Glory Glory, a paid website about the team. [44] The fans did it before the spring game in April. [44] Part of the money from subscriptions goes to paying Georgia's players for their name and image. [44]

Why it matters — Georgia spends about $15m less than the top teams on players. [8] About a quarter of big schools have turned or closed their old booster groups, and several now run paid websites instead. [44]
22
Why elite athletes lose control of their bowels

Joanna Wietrzyk, an Australian who holds the world record in Hyrox, a fitness race, soiled herself during an event in Beijing this week and still won. [45] The organisers apologised to others affected. [45] The Athletic reports that this is far more common among athletes than people think. [45] Greg LeMond, Michael Jordan and Paula Radcliffe have all had it happen. [45]

Why it matters — In a hard race, blood is sent away from the gut to the working muscles, which makes digestion much harder. [45] Athletes now do gut training to take in more food while racing. [45]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why a big contract gets cheaper every year the league's money grows

A player's pay is fixed in dollars, but the team's spending limit keeps rising, so the same deal takes up less of the team's room each year.

The twist

A team can come out ahead on a huge contract if it is long enough. Noah Ostlund's $6.6m a year will count like a $4.2m salary did last season, if the NHL limit reaches $150m halfway through his deal.

How it works

A league limits how much each team may spend on players in a year
That limit can rise from year to year; the NHL's went up $8.5m this season
A long contract fixes a player's pay in dollars on the day it is signed
Each year the limit grows, the same pay takes a smaller part of the team's room
So teams sign young players early and for many years, hoping the limit keeps climbing
The player takes a sure fortune now instead of a possibly bigger one later

The same force, elsewhere today

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

NHL teams pay unproven players big

Vancouver gave Zeev Buium eight years at once, so his fixed pay takes a shrinking part of the limit in every year that the limit rises.
Anaheim pays its 41-goal scorer

Anaheim signed Gauthier for six years in the same summer the limit jumped $8.5m, locking his price as the room around it grew.
Detroit frees $35m to spend

The Lions moved $44.6m of pay onto later years' books, where it will count against limits that NFL teams expect to keep growing.

Where you've seen this

Home loans with a fixed payment

the monthly payment stays the same for years while most wages rise, so it takes a smaller part of each pay cheque

Long shop leases

a shop that locks its rent for ten years pays less than new tenants on the same street if rents climb

Pay deals when prices rise fast

workers who agree a fixed three-year pay rise can buy less with it each year if prices jump faster

The catch

It only works while the limit keeps rising. If league income stalls, a long deal stays just as heavy, which is why the NHL lets teams buy out players aged 25 or under for a third of what is left.

And the whole of it

These contracts are guesses about how much the sport will earn in the 2030s. That money will come from people buying tickets, TV packages and shirts, and nobody signing a deal this week can know how much those people will pay.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

College football lets each big school pay its players $21.6m directly, and the richest schools spend $45m to $55m by sending the rest through kit makers, media partners and boosters. [1][3] The NCAA and the four biggest conferences now want a US law that would let schools spend about $49m, and the US Senate voted 74-24 on 15 September to start debating it. [1][11]

Why it works on us — Calling the present system chaos, as Ted Cruz does, makes a new spending limit sound like a rescue, not a cap on what players can earn. [11]

Who gains

The four biggest college conferences — The bill would give them limited protection from antitrust lawsuits when they enforce their own rules. [11]
NHL teams that sign young players early — If the player turns out well, the team has him for eight years at a price that gets cheaper as the limit rises. [13]
Polymarket — It gets LeBron James promoting its American football markets for $15m a year, as its trading passes what US sportsbooks take in bets. [32][33]
Brandon Nakashima — He gets his first Laver Cup place, in London, because Ben Shelton withdrew. [24][25]
Martine Grael — Days after Brazil's team let her go, she was hired to drive the US SailGP boat after two injuries. [31]

Who pays

Schools at the bottom of the spending list — Boston College, estimated at $8m to $13m, plays Notre Dame and Miami, which spend several times more. [4]
College players — The bill sets national rules on their pay and moves without giving them a right to bargain together. [11]
Leicestershire — It lost 27 points and 5,000 pounds for a pitch its own coaches asked for, and now faces relegation. [30]
Al Taawoun and its supporters — The club was fined 100,000 riyals and given a two-game stadium ban after fans chanted Diogo Jota's name. [28]
New York Mets fans — The club with baseball's second-highest player spending missed the play-offs for a second year. [36]

What nobody knows yet

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

01

How much any college actually pays its football players.

No school publishes it, so The Athletic built ranges from more than 70 people inside and around the programmes. [4] Boston College's coach says his team's figure is wrong but has not given his own. [5]
02

How much outside money never reaches the College Sports Commission.

Players or their agents, not schools, must report deals over $600. [1] The body cleared $340.2m and rejected $100.8m from May to August, but nobody can count the deals that were never sent in. [1]
03

Whether the Protect College Sports Act becomes law, and in what form.

The US Senate has only voted to start debate, and a final vote could come next week. [11] The bill gives players no right to bargain together, which is the main complaint of the NAACP and some senators. [11][10]
04

Whether the NHL's early big contracts will pay off for the teams.

One executive called some of them reckless gambling, and an agent called them calculated bets. [13] Both depend on how far the spending limit rises, which nobody knows yet. [13]
05

When Adam Fantilli and Quinn Hughes sign new deals.

Columbus and Fantilli's agent were still apart as camp opened. [16] Hughes has spoken well of Minnesota but has not signed. [15]
06

Why Ben Shelton left the Laver Cup.

The organisers gave no reason when they named his replacement. [25]
07

How long LeBron James's Polymarket deal lasts.

Front Office Sports reported $15m a year but not the length of the deal. [32]
08

Whether Leicestershire will appeal its 27-point penalty.

The club has 10 days to decide, and its penalty came during its second-to-last match. [30]

04 Hope carry this

Martine Grael and Anna Weis race together on the United States boat in Geneva on Saturday. No SailGP race has ever had two women on the same boat.

Also true today

Argentina has invited every player from its 2022 World Cup-winning team, and their families, to Lionel Messi's last match for his country on 6 October in Buenos Aires.
Oklahoma State, which spends an estimated $15m to $19m on its players, beat Oregon, which spends about $50m.