Sports · Saturday, 19 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

F1 will run 10 sprint races next year, even at Monaco. It has still not said where this season ends.

Formula One's 2027 calendar swaps practice sessions for extra races on ten weekends and opens in Bahrain, while the last two races of 2026, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, wait on the war with Iran. Also: the Asian Games open without an athletes' village, two star quarterbacks bet on next year's pay, and a $230m contract keeps a struggling quarterback on the field.

10 of 24

race weekends in 2027 that will carry a sprint race

up from six this year, the most since sprints began in 2021 [2][4]

12%

more people watching a sprint weekend than a normal one, by F1's own count

F1 also says 82% of people at the track on sprint weekends feel it adds value to their ticket [3]

33 points

the most a driver can win on a sprint weekend

a normal grand prix pays 25 to the winner, and a sprint win adds 8 [2]

2 races

of this season, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, still not confirmed

F1's boss said a decision would come in mid-September, and by 17 September none had been announced [5]

The lead story — what happened

Formula One published its 2027 calendar on Wednesday: 24 races, opening in Bahrain on 14 March and ending in Abu Dhabi on 12 December. [1][4]
Sprint weekends will rise from six this year to a record ten next year. [2][4]
On a sprint weekend, an extra qualifying session and a short race replace two practice sessions. [4] The sprint race is one third of the length of a normal grand prix. [3]
So a normal weekend has three practice sessions and two that count, qualifying and the race. A sprint weekend has one practice session and four that count. [3][4]
F1 says total viewing on sprint weekends is 12% higher than on normal weekends. [3] It says sprint qualifying is up to three times more popular with fans than practice. [2][3]
Monaco gets its first sprint, although cars can almost never pass each other on its narrow streets. [1][2] F1's case is that Monaco's best moment is qualifying, and a sprint weekend has two of them. [2][3]
A sprint win is worth 8 points, so a driver who wins both races on one weekend can take 33 points instead of 25. [2] F1 has put sprints on the last two races of the year, where they could decide the title. [4]
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia open the season, although both of their 2026 races were called off after war broke out in Iran in February. [1][5] This year's Bahrain Grand Prix will be run in Malaysia on 4 October under Bahrain's name. [5]
The Gulf races pay F1 large hosting fees, and Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco and Qatar Airways are big sponsors of the series. [1] F1 pays around half of its income back to the teams as prize money, partly funded by those fees. [5]
F1 has not said whether Qatar on 29 November and Abu Dhabi on 6 December will go ahead. [1][5] Its chief executive Stefano Domenicali had pointed to mid-September for a decision. [5] Imola in Italy is the likely back-up, and tickets for both Gulf races are still on sale. [1][5]
Domenicali said he would not replace them with a race in the US, because F1 would be up against the NFL, the top American football league. [6]
Portugal and Turkey return next year, while the Dutch race and the Barcelona race drop off. [1][3] Madrid keeps its September date after a first race on 13 September that drivers called hard to overtake on, and that F1 says drew 353,000 people over the weekend. [4][11][7]
The season ends a week later than this year, leaving F1's staff about 11 days between the last test and Christmas. [4]

This year6

Next year10

The number of sprint weekends in the Formula One season, this year and next.

Who is involved

Stefano Domenicali

chief executive of Formula One, the company that runs and sells the championship; he pushed for more sprints [2][3]
Mohammed Ben Sulayem

president of the FIA, the body that writes motor racing's rules; he says F1 was right not to rush the Gulf decision [1]
Ayao Komatsu

boss of the Haas team; he says not knowing where the season ends makes budgeting harder [5]
Lando Norris

the reigning world champion, who drives for McLaren; he took pole in Madrid and called its track not a great race track [8][43]

How it unfolded

2021 F1 runs its first sprint races [2]
Feb 2026 war breaks out in Iran; the Bahrain and Saudi races are called off in April [5]
13 Sep Madrid hosts its first grand prix; Kimi Antonelli wins [11][43]
16 Sep F1 publishes the 2027 calendar with ten sprints [2]
4 Oct the Bahrain Grand Prix is run in Malaysia [5]
29 Nov - 6 Dec Qatar and Abu Dhabi, if they go ahead [1]

Where this points

Watch whether F1 confirms Qatar and Abu Dhabi or moves the last race to Imola, because the same Gulf hosts are due to open next season in March. [1][5]

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.

More events on the same programme Building↑

Formula One is adding four sprint races to weekends it already runs. [2] The Asian Games in Japan have 469 medal events, against 329 at the Paris Olympics. [13] World Rugby started a new women's series this month for the top 12 teams. [39]

Long contracts signed early High↑

Green Bay gave tight end Tucker Kraft a new deal worth up to $92m after a torn knee ligament. [19] Utah agreed about $157.5m over five years with Keyonte George, a 22-year-old guard. [31] Newcastle extended left-back Lewis Hall to 2031. [32]

Contracts too costly to undo High→

Cleveland is in the last year of paying Deshaun Watson $230m, all of it guaranteed. [22] Firing Clemson's coach Dabo Swinney would cost at least $57m. [33] F1 kept all four Gulf races on next year's calendar, and each holds a long-term contract to host F1. [1]

Supporters losing patience Building↑

Manchester United's crowd booed its team after a 3-2 cup defeat by Brighton. [34] Key people at Clemson are frustrated with Swinney, sources told CBS Sports. [33] Wolves and West Brom asked fans to behave at their first league derby in five years. [36]

The rest of the day

20 more stories on this beat.

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

02
The Asian Games open without a village

The Asian Games open on Saturday in Nagoya and the Aichi region of Japan and run to 4 October. [13] More than 11,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions have entered, against 10,700 at the Paris Olympics. [14] Organisers planned for 15,000 athletes and officials, but about 17,000 are coming because new sports were added. [12][13] A planned athletes' village was scrapped to control costs, so people stay in hotels, container huts and a cruise ship. [12] The Olympic Council of Asia, which runs the Games, said on Friday a village would have been left with no use afterwards. [12]

Planned for15,000 people
Coming17,000 people
Athletes and officials at the Asian Games. About 2,000 more are coming than were planned for, and there is no village.

Why it matters — Japan last hosted the Games in 1994, and its Tokyo Olympics were held without fans because of COVID. [15] Athletes in archery, hockey, sailing, squash, surfing, tennis and triathlon can also win places at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics here. [13]
03
Two star quarterbacks wait for next year's market

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans, an American football team, stopped talks on a new contract before the season. [16] Stroud will play the last year of his $36.28m rookie deal, with $25.9m already guaranteed for 2027. [16] The top new-money deal is Patrick Mahomes' $63m a year, and a $70m deal is possible next spring. [16] Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens also has no deal. [17] His contract counts $84.3m against Baltimore's spending limit in 2027. [17]

Why it matters — Baker Mayfield's new deal this month, $55m a year in new money, set a bar that every quarterback due a contract can point to. [18] Jackson's contract also bars Baltimore from using a tag to stop him leaving as a free agent in 2028. [18]
04
Tight ends get paid

Tucker Kraft agreed a four-year extension with the Green Bay Packers worth $75m, rising to $92m with bonuses, and a $26.5m signing bonus. [19][20] He is 25 and tore a knee ligament last November, eight games into his best season. [19][20] The Las Vegas Raiders gave Michael Mayer a three-year deal worth $45m, with $30m guaranteed. [21] That makes Mayer the fifth-best-paid tight end in the league. [21]

Why it matters — Kraft is now the third-best-paid tight end in the league, behind George Kittle and Trey McBride. [20] Mayer's deal is the biggest three-year extension ever for the position. [21]
05
Cleveland keeps its $230m quarterback

The Cleveland Browns are starting Deshaun Watson in week two, in the final year of a five-year, $230m contract that was fully guaranteed. [22] The Browns traded three first-round draft picks to get him from Houston in 2022. [22] In week one they trailed Jacksonville 31-0 at one point and Watson was sacked five times. [22] Their next opponent is Tampa Bay, led by Baker Mayfield, the quarterback Cleveland traded away to make room for Watson. [22][18]

Why it matters — CBS Sports calls it a textbook case of carrying on because of money already spent, since the $230m is owed whether he plays or not. [22] Coach Todd Monken says starting him is not a debate. [22]
06
Two expensive new signings hurt in week one

The Los Angeles Rams' Myles Garrett, last season's best defensive player in the NFL, needs knee surgery after one game. [23] He had swelling in the knee through most of training camp. [23] A.J. Brown, the New England Patriots' new top receiver, sprained an ankle in his first game for them, at Seattle. [23] Both are on injured reserve, which keeps a player out for at least four games. [23]

Why it matters — They were the two biggest-name arrivals of the summer, and neither team will have them for a month. [23] New England's passing attack looked lost without Brown. [23]
07
Atlanta reach the baseball playoffs again

The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros 6-2 on Friday and made the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years. [25] They did it after three planned starting pitchers began the season injured. [24] Ronald Acuna Jr. missed 49 games and Jurickson Profar was suspended for a banned substance. [24] They need three more wins or Philadelphia losses to win their division. [24][25]

Why it matters — Twelve teams make the playoffs, and Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, the Yankees and the Dodgers had already clinched. [26] In the American League, the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland were level for one division. [26][27]
08
Joe Buck signs for more than $100m

Joe Buck, the lead voice of American football on ESPN, agreed a six-year deal worth about $108m. [28] His pay rises from $15m to about $18m a year. [28] He will call ESPN's first Super Bowl in February and its next one in 2031. [28] His partner Troy Aikman has not yet signed a new deal. [28]

Why it matters — Five years ago Fox replaced him with Tom Brady on a 10-year, $375m deal. [28] ESPN's Stephen A. Smith earns $21m a year, and Pat McAfee is in talks that could pay him up to $65m a year. [28]
09
Record TV audience for the US Open final

The US Open men's final, won by Alexander Zverev against Ben Shelton, averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC. [29] That is the most for that match since ESPN's networks began showing the tournament in 2009. [29] The women's final, won by Elena Rybakina, averaged 2.7 million, up 13% on last year. [29] A match that ended at 3:40 in the morning still held 967,000 viewers at the finish. [29]

Men's final3.2 million viewers
Women's final2.7 million viewers
Whole tournament, average1.2 million viewers
Average TV audience for the US Open finals, against the average across all of ESPN's coverage.

Why it matters — ESPN's full coverage of the tournament averaged 1.2 million viewers, the most since 2022. [29] An all-American semi-final between Frances Tiafoe and Shelton drew 3.1 million. [29]
10
Winnipeg suspends its star goalkeeper

The Winnipeg Jets, an ice hockey team, suspended goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck for not reporting to training camp. [30] He is 33 and in the third year of a seven-year deal worth $8.5m a year. [30] He asked in public to be traded on 27 August, and a trade with Buffalo fell through before the summer draft. [30] While suspended he is not paid, and his salary does not count against the team's spending limit. [30]

Why it matters — Winnipeg has already signed Stuart Skinner, another goalkeeper, on a two-year deal. [30] Hellebuyck has said his only goal left is to win the Stanley Cup, the league's trophy. [30]
11
Utah pays a young guard before he is a star

The Utah Jazz agreed a five-year extension worth about $157.5m with Keyonte George, 22. [31] It starts in the 2027-28 season. [31] George averaged 23.6 points a game last season, when the Jazz won 22 games and lost 60. [31] Players from his draft year have until 19 October to sign such extensions. [31]

Why it matters — The deal pays him like a regular starter, not a star, which protects Utah if he stays a fourth option behind older players. [31]
12
Newcastle ties Lewis Hall to 2031

Newcastle United gave Lewis Hall, a 22-year-old England left-back, a new contract to 2031. [32] He already had three years left, and the club says there is no set price at which he can leave. [32] Manchester United asked about him this summer and were told he was not for sale. [32]

Why it matters — With no release clause, Newcastle can turn down offers or demand a higher fee next summer. [32] Four of its best players asked to leave over the past 13 months. [32]
13
Clemson's coach costs $57m to fire

Clemson, a US university with a top college football team, lost 51-10 at LSU in week one and starts a freshman at quarterback on Saturday. [33] Coach Dabo Swinney's contract runs to 2031, and firing him would cost at least $57m. [33] The athletics department took in $198.6m last year but kept only $900,000 after costs. [33] Its debt rose by $74.9m. [33]

$198.6mClemson sport took in
$900,000Kept after costs
Almost all of what Clemson's sport department earned last year went out again in costs.

Why it matters — Colleges now also share money with players, which leaves less to pay off a coach. [33] Sources say a change of coach is still highly unlikely. [33]
14
Manchester United's fans turn

Manchester United lost 3-2 at home to Brighton in the League Cup on Wednesday after leading 2-0. [34] That had not happened at Old Trafford in 50 years. [34] The club has won two of its first six games, and the crowd booed the team off. [34] INEOS, the company of Jim Ratcliffe that runs the football side of the club, made cuts to stop it losing money. [34]

Why it matters — The club still carries a large debt from the Glazer family's takeover, while its rivals have none. [34] United say they are rebuilding slowly after years of overspending. [34]
15
A late winner on Teesside

Middlesbrough beat Norwich 4-3 with a goal in the 91st minute. [35] It came weeks after seven people, including two police officers, died in a car crash a mile from the stadium. [35] The club was formed 150 years ago next month, and a home win over Millwall days later could put it top of the Championship, England's second division. [35]

Why it matters — Cleveland Police gets 139m pounds less funding than a force with a similar population. [35] Teesside, once a centre of iron and steel, has the highest crime rate outside London. [35]
16
Wolves and West Brom ask for calm

Wolves and West Brom meet on Sunday at Molineux in their first league match against each other in five years. [36] When they met in the FA Cup in 2024, 43 people were arrested and five were banned by the clubs for life. [36] Former players Steve Bull and Jody Craddock asked fans not to fight or run on the pitch. [36]

Why it matters — The clubs promise more stewards and police at the match. [36]
17
South Africa's coach passes 100 Tests

Rassie Erasmus coached his 100th match for South Africa's rugby team when it beat New Zealand on 12 September. [37] He took over in 2018 with the team sixth in the world. [37] South Africa won 74% of those matches, and two World Cups. [37] Australia picked Jordan Petaia, back after a failed move to the NFL, for their Test against South Africa in Perth on 27 September. [38]

74 of 100
74 in every 100 matches won
South Africa's record in Erasmus's 100 matches as coach. Each dot is one match, and the filled dots are wins.

Why it matters — Erasmus has now coached South Africa in more matches than anyone else. [37] Australia's coach Les Kiss says he wanted to see Petaia with the new coaching staff. [38]
18
A new women's rugby series starts

Wales played South Africa in Cardiff on Friday, both teams' first match in the new WXV Global Series. [39] The series is new this season and brings together the top 12 women's national teams, playing home and away in September and October. [39] Wales have lost nine Tests in a row and fallen to 13th in the world. [39] South Africa are 10th after their first World Cup quarter-final. [39]

Why it matters — The series feeds qualification for the 2029 World Cup in Australia, with no relegation until 2028. [39]
19
Mallia returns 300 days after injury

Juan Cruz Mallia, an Argentina rugby player, is on the bench for Toulouse on Saturday. [40] It is 300 days since he badly hurt his knee in a Test against England in London in November 2025. [40] Tomas Albornoz is also back for Toulon after serving a four-match ban. [41]

Why it matters — Argentina's coach Felipe Contepomi gets two players back about a year before the next World Cup. [40][41]
20
The Baku race moves to a Saturday

Next weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku will be held on Saturday 26 September, the first time the race has not been on a Sunday. [9] The change avoids a national day of mourning on the Sunday for those who died in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. [9] Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes leads the championship by 81 points. [9]

Why it matters — Azerbaijan shares a land border with Iran, so F1 will be closer to the war than at any race since it began. [1] Lewis Hamilton has said there is no stopping Antonelli and Mercedes this year. [10]
21
Verstappen passes 100 go-karts

Four-time champion Max Verstappen started at the back of a 101-kart field at Silverstone for a Disney+ programme called Max vs 100. [42] He had 30 laps to pass everyone. [42] He passed 64 drivers on the first lap and needed 13 more laps for the rest. [42]

Why it matters — The race was filmed for Disney+ between two grand prix weekends. [42] Verstappen enjoyed it enough to joke about taking on 200 next time. [42]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why a practice session nobody watched became a race

A race weekend costs about the same whether Friday holds practice or a race, so F1 is filling those hours with something people will watch.

The twist

The cheapest new race F1 can sell is one squeezed into a weekend it has already paid to put on.

The picture

Normal weekend: practice3 sessions

Normal weekend: counts2 sessions

Sprint weekend: practice1 sessions

Sprint weekend: counts4 sessions

Same track, same three days. A sprint weekend swaps two practice sessions for a second qualifying session and a short race.

How it works

The track, the stands and the freight for a race weekend are paid for once
Practice sessions fill hours that few people watch or pay for
F1 swaps two practice sessions for a qualifying session and a short race
The same three days now have more to sell to fans, TV channels and the host city
The drivers and teams get less time to get the car right

The same force, elsewhere today

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

Madrid's first grand prix

The organisers filled the weekend around the race with concerts, food stands and a big fan zone, so people had more to pay for than the race itself.
The Asian Games open without a village

The Games added new sports to the same 16 days, and the extra 2,000 people ended up in container huts and on a cruise ship.

Where you've seen this

Airlines

a plane flies whether it is full or not, so the last empty seats are sold cheaply

Football stadiums

a ground that sits empty between match days hosts concerts in the summer

Cinemas

the same film is shown in the morning at a lower price to fill empty seats

The catch

It only works while the extra race is worth watching. A sprint at Monaco, where cars can hardly pass, may be a session people switch off.

And the whole of it

The drivers get less practice, the staff finish the season 11 days before Christmas, and the fans buy tickets for more sessions. Each of them sees one part of a weekend that F1 changed to earn more from the same track.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Formula One is adding four sprint races to weekends it already runs, because F1 says sprint weekends draw 12% more viewers. It also put Bahrain and Saudi Arabia first on next year's calendar, although both lost their races this year to the war with Iran, and the Gulf hosts pay F1 large fees.

Who gains

Formula One and its owners — Swapping practice for a sprint gives them a session F1 says is up to three times more popular to sell, on a weekend already paid for. [2][3]
The Gulf race hosts — Bahrain and Saudi Arabia open next season and Qatar and Abu Dhabi close it, keeping their places despite this year's cancellations. [1][4]
C.J. Stroud — By waiting, he keeps $25.9m guaranteed for 2027 and can negotiate after the top deals have risen. [16]
Joe Buck — His ESPN pay rises from $15m to about $18m a year on a six-year deal. [28]
Newcastle United — Lewis Hall's new contract has no release clause, so the club can refuse offers or ask a higher fee. [32]

Who pays

F1 drivers and teams — Sprint weekends leave one practice session to set up the car, which Reuters says gives drivers much less time at Monaco. [2]
F1 staff — The 2027 season ends on 12 December, about 11 days before Christmas once the final test is done. [4]
Athletes at the Asian Games — With no village, about 17,000 people are in hotels, container huts and a cruise ship, and some complained of cramped rooms. [12]
Cleveland's players and fans — The team keeps starting Watson because the $230m is owed either way, after trailing 31-0 in week one. [22]
Connor Hellebuyck — He loses his $8.5m-a-year salary for as long as he stays away from camp. [30]
Clemson's athletics budget — It kept $900,000 from $198.6m of income last year, while its debt rose $74.9m. [33]

What nobody knows yet

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

01

Whether Qatar and Abu Dhabi hold the last two races of this season.

F1's chief executive pointed to mid-September for a decision, tickets are still on sale, and by 17 September nothing had been announced. [1][5]
02

How much the Gulf races pay F1.

The AP calls the hosting fees large but gives no figure, and The Athletic says a stand-in race such as Imola would pay less than Qatar or Abu Dhabi. [1][5]
03

Whether sprints really bring new viewers, or move the same ones to Saturday.

Both the 12% figure and the 82% survey come from F1's own announcement. [3]
04

What Stroud and Jackson will cost next spring.

The top deal today is $63m a year and ESPN says $70m is possible, but neither player has signed. [16][17]
05

Where Connor Hellebuyck plays this season.

Winnipeg suspended him without pay, and a trade with Buffalo already fell through once. [30]
06

How many people will watch the Asian Games in person.

Ticket sales have been slow in several sports, and a typhoon may reach the Aichi coast on Monday. [15][12]
07

What Cleveland does with Watson after this season.

His fully guaranteed $230m deal ends this year, and coach Todd Monken has only said Watson starts now. [22]
08

Whether Clemson could afford to change its coach.

A buyout of at least $57m would need donors, and a source told CBS Sports no single donor looks ready to pay. [33]

04 Hope carry this

Juan Cruz Mallia badly hurt his knee playing for Argentina in November 2025. On Saturday, 300 days later, he is back on the bench for Toulouse.

Also true today

Tucker Kraft tore a knee ligament eight games into his best season. By late August he was taking hits in practice again, and this month Green Bay signed him to a four-year deal.
The Atlanta Braves lost three of their planned starting pitchers before the season began. On Friday they made the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years.