Sports, in brief

American football's National Football League opened its season on Wednesday night, New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks, 8:20 p.m. Eastern time on NBC. [2]

Seattle are the defending champions. They beat New England 29-13 in February's Super Bowl. [7]

The opening game is normally on a Thursday. This year the league gave Thursday to a game played in Melbourne, Australia. [1]

That Melbourne game is shown on Thursday evening in the United States, which is Friday morning in Australia. [1]

The league also had to work around the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, a US law meant to keep American football off dates that would hurt college and school games. [1]

Netflix is reported to be paying about $500m for five NFL games this season, the Melbourne one among them. [3]

NBC sold the odd date itself, running a 'Hump Day' campaign with a talking camel and carrying a kickoff football from Boston to Seattle over the past week. [1]

A second Wednesday game is already booked: the Los Angeles Rams against the Green Bay Packers on the eve of Thanksgiving, again on Netflix. [1][3]

A 30-second advert in one Sunday night NFL game sold for about $1.07m this year. The priciest non-sports show on US television, American Idol, sold the same half-minute at about $140,000. [4]

NBC will report its NFL audiences this season using the standard method of Nielsen, the firm that counts US television audiences, dropping the blended figure it used to publish. [5][1]

Last season's opening game peaked at 34.4 million viewers. The US president, Donald Trump, gave a convention keynote speech against Wednesday's game; his 2024 convention speech drew 28.4 million. [6]

Why it matters. Watch the audience figure for the Wednesday opener: the league has already booked a second Wednesday game in November, and a weak number would be the first argument against a third.

Ben Shelton beat the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in five sets at the US Open, the American Grand Slam tennis tournament in New York, finishing at 3:33 a.m. on Wednesday, the latest finish in the tournament's history. [9] The night session began 90 minutes late, because two earlier matches went to deciding tiebreaks, so the pair walked on a little after 11 p.m. [10] Arthur Ashe Stadium seats nearly 24,000, and thousands left before the fifth set. [10] Alcaraz was playing his first tournament since a wrist injury in April. [11]

Why it matters. The tournament said it must look again at how it schedules, and its director, Eric Butorac, said he was open to suggestions. [8][10] Wimbledon stops play at 11 p.m. and the French Open puts only one match in its night session. [8]

Coco Gauff beat Mirra Andreeva to reach the US Open semi-finals, saving two match points on the way. [13] It was the fifth time she has won a tour match after facing one, and the second time at a major. [13] She now plays Elena Rybakina, who beat Zheng Qinwen earlier the same day and will be the top-ranked woman in the world after this tournament. [13][14] Gauff is 22 and won this title in 2023. [13]

Why it matters. In the years since professionals were admitted to the majors, only one woman has won the US Open after saving a match point: Martina Navratilova in 1986. [13] Rybakina will be the world's top-ranked woman after this tournament whatever happens in the final. [13]

The USTA, which runs the US Open, named Kalshi its official prediction market partner during the tournament. [12] Kalshi is a US exchange where people buy contracts on whether something will happen, priced like shares rather than sold like bets. [12] The deal brought courtside branding and match-prediction alerts sent through the tournament's own mobile app. [12] Trading on tennis outran every other sport on the exchange during the first week. [12]

Why it matters. Tennis is scored in small steps and its season barely stops, so there is something to trade on almost every minute. [12] The tournament now takes money from a market that quotes odds on its own matches.

The NFL brought in a short list of rule changes for 2026. [2] Replay officials in New York can now throw a player out and enforce a penalty even when no official on the field flagged it. [2] A player penalised three times for one of four dangerous tackles is banned for a game, and a player who commits only one gets half or all of the fine back. [2] Coaches may hand the challenge flag to a named member of their staff. [2]

Why it matters. The kickoff numbers show what rules do to behaviour. Last season's change lifted the share of kickoffs returned from 32.8% to 74.5%, and concussions on kickoffs went from 8 to 35. [2]

The NFL closed a gap in its kickoff rule this season. [2] When a penalty moved a kickoff up to the halfway line, kicking the ball out of bounds handed the other team possession on its own 25-yard line, rather than the 40 an out-of-bounds kick normally concedes. [2] So teams did it deliberately. [2] From this season a kick from the halfway line that goes through the end zone is placed on the 20, which makes kicking properly the better choice again. [2]

Why it matters. Nobody was cheating. The rule had made one option cheaper than the honest one, and coaches did the arithmetic. [2]

NBC Sports will report its NFL viewing figures using the standard method of Nielsen, the firm that counts US television audiences, starting with Wednesday's opener. [5] It had been publishing its own Total Audience Delivery figure, which mixed Nielsen data with digital numbers from Adobe. [5] Nielsen and rival networks objected to the blend. [5] The argument came to a head at this summer's men's World Cup, when Fox published Nielsen figures and NBCUniversal's Telemundo published the blend. [5]

Why it matters. Audience figures are how a network proves what an advert is worth, so two networks counting differently cannot be compared. [5][4]

Netflix has gone from two NFL games to five this season, at a reported $500m. [3] The slate is a Christmas doubleheader, the Melbourne game, a Thanksgiving Eve match and a Week 18 game likely to matter for the play-offs. [3] Live rights are about 5% of what Netflix spends on content and produce about 1% of its viewing hours. [3] Two of its three biggest sign-up surges since 2018 came around NFL games. [3]

Why it matters. Netflix is buying sign-ups, not hours. People join on the night a game is on, which is why five games can cost more than the viewing figures alone would justify. [3]

Ohio State play at Texas on Saturday in American college football. [27] CBS Sports reported the game could approach the all-time audience record for a regular-season match. [27] The same two teams met in last season's opening week in Columbus and drew 16.62 million, the most-watched opening-week game on record. [27] A 2024 study by Nielsen, the firm that counts US television audiences, ranked both among the five most-watched teams in the sport. [27]

Why it matters. The record they are chasing is roughly 22 million viewers, set in 1993 by Notre Dame against Florida State, and no regular-season game has beaten it since. [27] A fixture between two teams from opposite ends of the country is put together for people watching from a third place. [27]

The Professional Women's Hockey League, the top women's league in North America, signed its first season-long American television deal, with Scripps Sports. [15] A Saturday game of the week will run on ION, Scripps' free national channel, with two more games each week and the Walter Cup finals. [15][16] ION reaches more than 128 million American households. [16] Local Scripps stations in Detroit and Las Vegas, where the league is adding clubs this autumn, will carry games too. [15][16]

Why it matters. The league had been shown in the United States only through local and regional outlets. [15] ION already carries weekly WNBA and NWSL games; one Indiana Fever match last month averaged 1.62 million viewers on it. [15]

The owners of EuroLeague, Europe's top club basketball competition, will meet in Milan on 5 October to decide their role in a new European league the NBA plans to launch in October 2027. [17] EuroLeague's chief executive, Chus Bueno, said that without a deal his competition will compete against it. [17] The NBA has received final bids from more than 20 groups across all 12 target cities, several of them above $1bn. [17] Many of the bidders are existing basketball and football clubs. [17]

Why it matters. Most of the clubs bidding for the NBA's league are already in EuroLeague, so the vote asks owners whether to join the thing that would replace them. [17]

FIFA, football's world governing body, accused UEFA, which governs the game in Europe, of running a smear campaign against FIFA president Gianni Infantino. [18] On 28 August UEFA filed a legal document in the United States alleging Infantino promoted an off-market price for his own benefit. [18] It concerns an abandoned plan to sell a 20% stake in FIFA's commercial arm for $4.2bn to Thrive Eternal, a US investment fund. [18] UEFA's lawyers called the valuation absurdly low. [18]

Why it matters. UEFA asked for the documents before deciding whether to start criminal proceedings in Switzerland, where FIFA is based. [18] Infantino is standing for re-election in March.

Liverpool began their Champions League campaign on Wednesday, and their Tuesday-night games in Britain are shown on Amazon's Prime Video. [19] Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon and joined the group that bought a minority stake in Liverpool this summer, still holds about 8% of Amazon and a seat on its board, which oversees Prime Video. [19] Prime Video also holds some rights in Ireland, Germany and Italy. [19] In the United States the games are mostly on Paramount+. [19]

Why it matters. A broadcaster owning a club is old news in the United States, where Fox owned the Dodgers and Ted Turner owned the Braves. [19] It is new in English football, and there is no published rule covering it.

The National Hockey League's new agreement with its players takes effect on 16 September, and training camps open the same day. [20] Experienced players get a 13-day camp instead of 20 and are limited to two exhibition games, with four per club. [20] The regular season grows to 84 games and starts on 29 September. [20] Fitness testing has been abolished, and re-signing players can no longer be given contracts longer than seven years. [20]

Why it matters. The players' union director described the end of fitness testing as a trade-off for the two extra games a season. [20] A play-off salary cap and the end of deferred pay start on the same date. [20]

Canal Edge, a developer led by White Sox minority owner Justin Ishbia, announced plans on Saturday for a possible new ground in Chicago's South Loop. [21] The site is a 47-acre former rail yard about 2.5 miles north of the club's current home in Bridgeport, across the river from a stadium the city's soccer club is building. [21] Ishbia has an agreement to take over the club from chairman Jerry Reinsdorf some time between 2029 and 2034. [21] Amtrak wants a maintenance yard near the existing ground. [21]

Why it matters. Bridgeport and Chinatown residents have been objecting to the rail yard plan. [21] No cost, public contribution or timetable for the stadium has been published.

Major League Baseball, the top American baseball league, has not added a club in more than three decades. [22] Its commissioner, Rob Manfred, has said since 2016 that the stadium problems of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Athletics had to be settled first. [22] In late August the Hillsborough County Commission approved $796m of public money towards a new ground for the Rays, and the Athletics' move to Las Vegas is close. [22] Salt Lake City, Nashville, Montreal and Raleigh are among the candidates. [22]

Why it matters. One obstacle is left, a new labour agreement with the players, and its timing is not fixed. [22] Until late August the commissioner's answer to every expansion question was those two unsolved stadium problems, and that answer has now run out. [22]

Players in the USL, the tier below Major League Soccer in the United States, ratified a collective agreement running to 2030. [23] The minimum wage rises from $31,000 to $42,000 in 2026, with annual increases after that. [23] Standard contracts now last 12 months instead of 10, and clubs can no longer buy a player out in mid-season. [23] Every club must offer health insurance at or above a set national standard. [23]

Why it matters. The USL is building a first-division league, USL Premier, for 2028, with promotion and relegation between tiers. [23] Its minimum was agreed in advance at $67,500. [23]

The Women's Professional Baseball League completed its first regular season and began play-offs on Wednesday. [24][25] Four clubs played 30 games from 1 August, all of them in Springfield, Illinois, starting with a sell-out at Robin Roberts Stadium. [25] The San Francisco Firebells finished top. [25] Kelsie Whitmore, the first pick in last November's draft, pitched, batted and played centre field in the same game and hit her tenth home run of a 15-game season. [24]

Why it matters. American girls who want to play baseball have long been pushed towards softball instead. [25] Revenue from women's sport in the United States is projected at about $3bn this year, an increase of about 340% in four years. [25]

The NFL and The Athletic, the sports title owned by The New York Times, began a content partnership on Wednesday. [26] Stories from The Athletic now appear on NFL.com's headline bar, and clicking one meets a paywall for NFL+, the league's subscription product. [26] NFL+ subscribers can add a subscription to The Athletic to their existing plan. [26] The Athletic said the league has no role in its journalism and cannot edit a word of it. [26]

Why it matters. The Athletic has a similar arrangement with the NBA. [26] The league's media arm is rebuilding after selling NFL Network to ESPN. [26]

Barcelona have scored 17 goals and conceded two in four league games, and started their Champions League campaign against Feyenoord on Wednesday. [28] Head coach Hansi Flick has moved Raphinha from the left wing into the centre of the attack. [28] Raphinha has six goals in four games, having scored 21 in all competitions last season from the wing. [28] The change also fits Anthony Gordon into the side and cuts the distance Raphinha has to run. [28]

Why it matters. Barcelona lost Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres in the summer and have scored 17 goals in four league games without them. [28] Raphinha is currently outscoring Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. [28]

Liverpool chose not to buy a right-back this summer and have used Ronald Araujo, on loan from Barcelona, in the position instead. [29] He started their 2-0 win at Ipswich Town and their 2-1 Champions League win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. [29] The club had expected Conor Bradley back from a knee injury and Jeremie Frimpong to improve under new head coach Andoni Iraola. [29] Frimpong struggled in the opening two league games. [29]

Why it matters. Araujo became available in early August when Barcelona, the Spanish champions, agreed to let him go on loan. [29] Liverpool moved quickly after Joe Gomez was injured in pre-season. [29]

Quinn Hughes was due to speak on Wednesday at the NHL and players' association media tour in Las Vegas. [30] He is in the last year of a contract paying an average of $7.875m a season, and extending him has been the Minnesota Wild's main task of the off-season. [30] Comparable defencemen are paid far more; Cale Makar's deal averages $20.4m. [30] Three months of speculation have run without a word from him. [30]

Why it matters. If he does not commit, the Wild face a choice between keeping a player who can leave for nothing and trading him. [30]