Sports, in brief

A US appeals court ruled on Friday that the NFL broke competition law. [1]

The case is about Sunday Ticket, which sells out-of-town NFL games as one package. [1]

Fans pay up to $480 for it through YouTube TV. [1]

The court also ordered a new trial to decide how much the league owes. [1]

A Patriots fan in Mississippi cannot buy only the Patriots' games. [1]

Bars pay more, sometimes thousands of dollars, depending on how many people they hold. [1]

NFL teams agree not to compete in each other's home areas, within 75 miles. [1]

Economists who measure harm in court compare a market with a similar real one. [1]

The harm is what fans paid above the price in that world without the deal. [1]

The new trial could take months or years, and the figure could be much lower. [1]

The NFL could also settle, paying part and giving fans more ways to watch, Sportico says. [1]

The case now goes back to a federal court in Los Angeles. [1]

A US appeals court restored a jury's finding that the NFL broke competition law with Sunday Ticket. [1]

A huge figure like $14.1 billion makes a case feel settled, but the court has thrown that sum out and asked for a new one. [3][1]

The verdict that the NFL broke the law stands again, so a new trial can still award them damages. [1]

They are liable again for Sunday Ticket and face a new damages trial in Los Angeles. [1]

How much the NFL will owe Sunday Ticket buyers.

A new trial will set the figure; Sportico says it could be far lower and take months or years. [1]

Whether the US Supreme Court takes up the Sunday Ticket case.

Sportico says the court seems interested in the legal question, but nothing has been filed there yet. [1]

Sport's top court ruled on Friday that Russia's ice hockey teams must be let back in. [5]

That court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, sits in Lausanne, Switzerland. [4]

Russia has been banned from world ice hockey events since it invaded Ukraine in 2022. [4]

This year the sport's world body, the IIHF, decided to keep the ban for 2026-27. [5]

All 3 judges agreed its safety reasons were "not supported by sufficient evidence". [5]

Russia's teams can now enter every IIHF event this season, starting in December in Canada. [5]

Ukraine's men qualified for May's world championship in Germany, their first in 20 years. [4]

The court gave no guidance on fitting Russia into that 16-team championship. [5]

Ukraine's hockey federation said it felt "deep outrage" at the ruling. [4]

Sports lawyers call the test proportionality: only proven security fears can outweigh athletes' right to play. [5]

The court ordered no neutral flag, so Russia's teams will likely play in their own colours. [5]

Germany's federation chief, Frank Lutz, said: "We reject the return of Russian national teams." [4]

Why a court can make a sport prove its rule is needed

A sports body makes a rule that shuts someone out or stops rivals competing

The people shut out take it to a court, or to sport's own court

The body has to show a real reason for the rule, with evidence

The judges weigh that reason against the harm the rule does

If the evidence is thin, or the rule goes further than needed, it falls

A serious reason is not enough on its own: ice hockey's world body named safety but showed the court no proof, so Russia's teams are back.

The IIHF kept its ban for safety; the court asked for proof, found it 'not supported by sufficient evidence', and ordered the ban lifted.

The NCAA's new rule left out players who started college in 2022; Ohio's top court kept a block on that part while the full case is heard.

The test only reaches a rule when someone can afford to challenge it, and it is slow: the Sunday Ticket case began in 2015 and the money is still not settled.

The NFL fan in Mississippi, Ukraine's players heading to Germany and Ohio's college players all live under rules written by bodies they never chose.

Sport's top court ordered ice hockey's world body to let Russia's teams back, because it had not proved its safety fears. [5]

They must now plan around Russia; Germany's federation cites security, political and economic costs. [4]

How Russia fits into May's 16-team world championship, alongside or instead of Ukraine.

The field is already set, and the court gave the IIHF no guidance. [5]

Nikita Kucherov told the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday that he wants to be traded. [6]

Kucherov, 33, is the reigning most valuable player of the NHL, North America's top hockey league. [7]

He is in the last year of an eight-year, $76 million contract. [7]

He wanted a six-year deal worth about $20 million a year, sources told The Athletic. [6]

That is more than double the $9.5 million a year he earns now. [7]

General manager Julien BriseBois said the team has "no intention of trading Nikita". [6]

Kucherov has won two Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay, in 2020 and 2021. [7]

A week ago he passed Steven Stamkos as the club's all-time top scorer. [6]

His contract lets him name 10 teams Tampa Bay may trade him to. [6]

Next summer he becomes a free agent, able to sign with any team. [6]

Labour economists say a worker's bargaining power grows as a contract runs out. [6]

ESPN's sources say he wants to play alongside another of the NHL's top stars. [7]

Whether Tampa Bay trades Kucherov before he can leave for nothing.

The team says it has no intention of trading him, and he keeps playing while it plays out. [6]

African football's governing body, Caf, will keep its Africa Cup of Nations every two years. [8]

In December Caf had said the tournament would move to every four years after 2028. [10]

The tournament has mostly been held every two years since it began in 1957. [9]

Caf's executive committee voted unanimously to reverse the plan. [10]

Caf's president, Patrice Motsepe, said the change protects African football's interests. [8]

Afcon in Morocco in 2025 was expected to bring in $192 million. [9]

That was 66% of Caf's money from all its competitions. [9]

"Afcon is the locomotive by which Caf funds all of its other competitions," Maher Mezahi said. [9]

Caf said its planned Africa Nations League would need several years to pay its way. [8]

The next Afcon is in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in 2027, then 2028, 2031 and 2033. [8]

Afcon is often played mid-season in Europe, so clubs there lose African players. [8][9]

Economists call this cross-subsidy: one money-making event pays for the others. [9]

Mezahi says Africa backed Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino, in return for this change. [9]

Keeping Afcon every two years keeps the event that was expected to bring in $192 million in 2025. [9]

Afcon every two years, often mid-season, means losing African players for weeks. [8]

Brett Yormark will leave his job as head of the Big 12 on 31 January. [11]

The Big 12 is a group of 16 US universities. [11]

He leaves nearly three years before his contract ends, for a job outside college sport. [13][11]

He joined in 2022, after Texas and Oklahoma voted to leave for a rival league. [12]

He quickly signed a TV deal with Fox and ESPN, beating the rival Pac-12 to it. [11]

The Pac-12 then fell apart, and 4 of its schools joined the Big 12 in 2023. [11]

His pay was $1.12 million in 2022 and $3.88 million in 2023. [13]

In 2024 it was just over $5 million, about half of it bonuses. [13]

The Big 12 has never had two teams in the College Football Playoff in one year. [14]

A school leader said without the early deal they "could have ended up like the Pac-12". [12]

A Monster Energy sponsorship he signed, about $20 million a year, was called underpriced by many. [13]

Ohio State and Notre Dame are each paid about that much for shirt sponsors alone. [13]

The league now starts a national search for its sixth commissioner. [12]

Ohio's Supreme Court let a group of college basketball players play a fifth season. [15]

The NCAA, which runs US college sport, had refused them that extra year. [15]

This year the NCAA let new players play 5 seasons, up from 4. [15]

But it left out players who started college in 2022 and had used four. [15]

Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, then ordered that those players be allowed to play. [15]

The court cited his order when it kept the players' win in place on Thursday. [15]

The players can now play when the season starts in November. [15]

Judges call this an injunction: the rule is stopped while the full case is heard. [15]

The NCAA says state-by-state court cases disrupt rules its schools agreed to follow. [15]

The NCAA has sued the governor in a federal court over his order. [15]

The NCAA's new rule left out players who started college in 2022; Ohio's top court kept a block on that part while the full case is heard.

Whether Ohio's players keep their fifth year.

The full case has not been decided, and the NCAA is suing the governor over his order. [15]

Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea has signed to stay with the university for 2027. [16]

Colandrea, a senior, moved to Nebraska last year from another university, UNLV. [16]

CBS Sports says it is the first known player contract extension in Nebraska's history. [16]

College players can now be paid, through sponsorship and a share of their school's money. [16]

He has an extra year to play because of the NCAA's new "5-for-5" rule. [16]

This season he has thrown for 1,570 yards and 14 touchdowns. [16]

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said rival SEC schools were already tampering with his quarterback. [16]

Economists call this retention: paying to keep a worker before rivals can bid. [16]

He is the second star to re-sign this season, with Oregon State's Jesse Legree. [16]

Bets that named the exact Ballon d'Or top five won nearly $200,000. [17]

The Ballon d'Or is football's best-known yearly prize for a single player. [17]

Harry Kane won on Monday, ahead of Mbappe, Yamal, Rodri and Messi, in that order. [17]

12 accounts on Polymarket, a prediction market run on cryptocurrency, placed the bets. [17]

Seven of the 12 accounts had never bet on anything else. [17]

All 12 were opened between 1 and 20 October. [17]

France Football, the magazine that runs the award, has opened an investigation. [17]

The French police are also to be told. [17]

France Football had said only a handful of people knew the winner beforehand. [17]

Betting on a result someone has already leaked is what investigators call inside information. [17]

Nobody yet knows if it leaked; one account's owner has been traced but not named. [17]

Whether the Ballon d'Or result leaked before Monday's ceremony.

France Football has opened an investigation; one account's owner has been traced but not named. [17]

The WNBA, the top US women's basketball league, says it is weighing prediction-market deals. [18]

Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket let people trade contracts on what will happen. [18]

On Monday the NBA named both its preferred prediction-market partners. [18]

The WNBA was not included, so the apps must sign their own deals with it. [18]

A spokesperson said the WNBA "is now assessing the commercial opportunity". [18]

Kalshi is interested in a deal, a source told Front Office Sports. [18]

The NBA deals ban contracts on things like who scores a game's first basket. [18]

A signed app could use the league's name and official data, as with the NBA. [18]

The NBA also agreed to share information with the US regulator, the CFTC. [18]

The apps would gain the right to use the league's name in their apps and adverts. [18]

The cheapest ticket for Saturday's WNBA Finals Game 7 cost $381 on Friday morning. [19]

It is the dearest ticket in WNBA Finals history, says the site TicketData. [19]

The Golden State Valkyries host the Atlanta Dream at the Chase Center in San Francisco. [19]

It is the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history. [19]

The old record was $275, for Game 1 of this series; in 2024 it was $213. [19]

The Game 7 ticket is seven times the price of a Valkyries regular-season seat. [19]

Whoever wins takes the first title in their team's history. [19]

Economists call it scarcity: one game, a fixed number of seats, and more buyers than seats. [19]

The Valkyries have sold out every home game since joining the league last season. [19]

Hughes, an unbeaten young colt, won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Friday. [20]

The Breeders' Cup is horse racing's season-ending championship, held at Keeneland in Kentucky. [21]

Hughes beat American History by two and a quarter lengths. [21]

He is trained by Bob Baffert and was ridden by Flavien Prat. [21]

The colt is named after Jack Hughes, whose goal won Olympic hockey gold for the US. [21]

Emphatic, also unbeaten, won the Juvenile Fillies, her trainer Brandan Walsh's first Breeders' Cup win. [21]

The win makes Hughes an early favourite for next May's Kentucky Derby. [21]

Jockey Jose Ortiz was cleared to ride after a fall earlier on the card. [21]

Hughes was the even-money favourite, so in pool betting his win paid only $3.64. [21]

European-trained horses won all 3 grass races for two-year-olds at the Breeders' Cup. [22]

It is the second Breeders' Cup in a row they have done so. [22]

European horses filled the first seven places in two of those races. [22]

The trainer Aidan O'Brien won two of them, with Sun Goddess and Haffner. [22]

That gives him 23 Breeders' Cup wins, one more than Bob Baffert's 22. [22]

Billy Loughnane, this year's champion jockey, won the first race on Libertango. [22]

He made the weight, 8st 7lb, only after hours in a sauna. [22]

European horses have never won all 7 turf races at one Breeders' Cup. [22]

Saturday's main card holds the other four turf races. [22]

The Detroit Red Wings suspended Dylan Larkin without pay on Thursday. [23]

Larkin, 30, said he would not play again until Detroit trades him. [23]

He loses $41,237 of his $8 million salary for every day he sits out. [23]

In June he asked for a trade to Florida, Minnesota or Vegas, three top teams. [23]

He lost the captaincy, then played several games before this stand-off. [23]

He has 5 seasons left on an 8-year contract. [23]

Winnipeg's goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck did the same and lost more than $925,000 in 24 days. [23]

Winnipeg then traded Hellebuyck to New Jersey on 23 October. [23]

Labour economists call this a holdout: refusing to work to force a move. [23]

Top NHL players have mostly succeeded in forcing trades this way, Front Office Sports says. [23]

He loses $41,237 of his salary for every day he refuses to play. [23]

The Lakers' new buyers are offering small stakes from $250 million each, Front Office Sports reports. [24]

Josh Kushner, who runs the investment firm Thrive, and Bob Iger agreed to buy the Lakers. [24]

They agreed a record $12.5 billion value with the seller, Mark Walter. [24]

Stakes cost between $250 million and $300 million each, four sources say. [24]

A podcaster, Bill Simmons, said Kushner was $5 billion to $6 billion short. [24]

A source told Front Office Sports that is not true. [24]

The NBA recently changed its rules so an investment firm and its bosses can invest together. [24]

NBA buyers now often agree a price first, then sell small stakes to raise it. [24]

Finance calls them limited partners: investors who own part of a team behind its main owner. [24]

Whether the Buss family sells its last 17.8% is still before a California court. [24]

Whether the Lakers' buyers have raised all the money.

A podcaster says Kushner is $5 billion to $6 billion short; a source told Front Office Sports that is untrue. [24]

Florida and Georgia play their football rivalry in Atlanta on Saturday, for $18 million. [25]