SwampSwami.com - Sports Commentary and more!

SwampSwami.com - Sports Commentary and more!
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Sports Commentary

  1. 1d ago

    The US Senate…Tackles College Sports???

    College sports has become a runaway freight train in recent years. Money and greed (as always) have emerged as the primary villains.  Everyone involved wants more. Several years ago, the NCAA began to allow student-athletes to transfer schools as often as the average student.  Prior to that, athletes were required to sit-out one full year after transferring schools.  It was supposed to encourage college athletes to think hard prior to making the decision to transfer.  Colleges also claimed that this was done to give the student-athletes enough time to acclimate themselves to the academic rigors of their new college environment. R-i-g-h-t! Today’s new NCAA Transfer Portal is becoming busier by the year Upwards of 50% of some sport’s athletes are putting their names in the Transfer Portal.  They are in search of more money and playing time elsewhere. These athletes want the right to transfer as easily as all other college students.  The processing of transferring by athletes seems to take place at blazing speed, though. An average college student has to prepare an application, supply academic performance (grades) along with a mountain of paperwork prior to being admitted as a transfer student at most major universities.  The process usually takes several months. Wouldn’t it be nice to know how (and why) these “ASAP” Transfer Portal college athletes get their paperwork processed by their new universities within just a matter of days or weeks? Then there’s the new wheel of fortune game called Name, Image, and Likeness The federal courts have allowed college athletes to be compensated based on their theoretical NIL value. The original concept of NIL sounded downright noble.  Our theoretical college football player simply wanted to have a little spending money to be able go out and enjoy an occasional burger and shake down at Arnold’s. Within years, the compensation being offered to athletes for their (cough) NIL rights has exploded.  Some players are receiving offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars from top college football, basketball, baseball, and even softball programs. The athletic conferences say they don’t like this, either.  However, they spend much of their time renegotiating television and media contracts to generate even more cash to pad their own pockets. That’s why the College Football Playoffs have risen from two teams to four to 12 today.  The conferences are battling with each other today trying to expand the football playoffs from 12 to 24 teams.  Why? More television money, of course. The athletic conferences, schools, administrators, coaches, players, and, of course, the media companies are focused on more and more money for college athletics.  The former systems are broken.  No one is showing much in the way of self restraint or leadership in attempting to resolve growing problems. Who is going to help control this mess?  Did someone say “Congress?” Of course!  Let’s ask America’s legislative body to intervene since the college sports community cannot seem to regulate its fast-growing greed. We know that the 435 House and 100 Senate members rarely agree on anything. Well, they do seem to find enough votes (usually after midnight) in late December to raise their own pay.   They won’t object when a motion for a multi-week recess is raised, either. Heaven forbid if any member of the House or Senate dares to propose a vote concerning (gasp!) term limits. So, why should anyone believe that the US Congress will be able to regulate college sports? Over the past year, the US House of Representatives has tried and recently failed.  A bill entitled the “Student Compensation through Rights and Endorsements” Act was floated.  The “SCORE” Act slithered its way through the halls of Congress at snail-like speed.  The House of Representatives couldn’t even muster enough support to force a full floor vote on the measure a few weeks ago.  That bill is now officially dead. But never fear!  The US Senate wants to “Protect” college sports! Move over, House of Representatives!  A bipartisan bill drafted by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas (R) and Maria Cantwell of Washington (D) finally emerged this past week.  It is now being contemplated by the extremely deliberative (slow moving) body called the US Senate. This bill is called the “Protect College Sports Act of 2026.”  You can read it by clicking here. The 111-page document was introduced in the Senate on Wednesday, June 3. Former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban and several other heavyweights of college sports testified before the Senate in support of the measure.  The President is also in favor of the proposal.   Advocates believe there is a chance that it could pass by August 1, 2026.  That is less than 60 days after it was introduced to the Senate. Personally, I think there is a higher probability of seeing Charlie Brown finally kick that football that Lucy is holding this fall! Let’s review several of the primary portions of the Protect College Sports Act of 2026: Name, Image, and Likeness – The agreement would serve to put NIL under federal jurisdiction.  That is needed, because many states have already implemented a variety of different enforcement provisions and loopholes.  The proposed federal legislation would require NIL agents for athletes to be registered with the government and cap their fees at 5%.  Athletes must disclose their NIL compensation above $600 per year. Medical coverage for athletes – Colleges would be required to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs for athletes for five years following the athlete’s final competition for the school. Transfers – Each athlete would receive one transfer without losing athletic eligibility.  Subsequent transfers may be considered in the event of coaching changes, discontinued sports at a school, and for graduate students. Academics – The legislation requires athletes to complete their eligibility within five years beginning with the earlier of (a) high school graduation or (b) turning age 19.  Exemptions would exist for military service, religious missions, etc. Coaching changes – The Senate proposal would prohibit college head coaches from leaving their school prior to the end of the season to coach, recruit for, or otherwise take over at a different FBS (large division) program. Yes, this is now being called the Lane Kiffin provision. Local television for football and basketball teams – There must be at least one free local television broadcast outlet televising football and basketball games for major universities within their local market. Anti-trust protection television rights for schools and conferences – This would afford college athletics to function in the same way in which the NFL, NBA, and other national professional sports leagues operate.  However, at least 75% of the current FBS schools must sign-off on this provision for it to become effective. Bars major athletic conferences ($1 billion or more in annual revenues) from merging or acquiring each other – The Senate legislation wants to preserve and promote regional rivalries and stop major universities from changing athletic conference affiliations. College football season must end by January 8 – This provision is intended to allow for a smoother transition for students (and transfers) prior to the start of the spring semester. What I like: Restricting athletic transfers to only one time is a winner. This will keep players and the coaches from shopping around so much.  Instead, there should be increased focus on player development (and, perhaps, academics).   The proposed provision for medical coverage for athletes continuing for five years following their college participation seems like a solid idea.  The schools earn revenue from athletic competitions.  They should be required to provide catastrophic insurance coverage for athletes who are injured while playing for the school. A hard cap on five years of college eligibility is also very smart.  There is a significant physical and mental difference between an 18-year old football player coming out of high school and a 24-year old who may have been granted a sixth year of eligibility. The football season ending by January 8 is a definite winner!  Cut the regular season to 11 games if you need more time for the playoffs. (Yes, I realize that won’t happen) Local “free” television coverage for local teams sounds good. This is what the NFL does during Monday Night Football games on ESPN.  The local market’s ABC affiliate generally provides coverage for viewers who are not ESPN subscribers.  When considering this provision for college football, would all Louisiana cities not named Baton Rouge also be considered “local” for LSU football games?  Taxpayers in other Louisiana cities would also like to watch LSU (the state’s flagship public university) football games on their local TV station.  Expect a battle over this issue. I’m not so sure about… Many people are asking why we haven’t dropped the entire NIL charade and consider the players to be paid employees of the university.  The primary authors of the Senate legislation intentionally omitted this issue.  That’s because the recent House legislation dared to address this thorny issue. Arguments on the subject caused the entire bill to go down in flames. Perhaps the Supreme Court will eventually decide the matter. Another roadblock will be in getting 75% of the current 136 member FBS (major college) group of football schools to agree on the anti-trust protection issues. The Big Ten Conference and SEC (much like the House and Senate) can’t seem to agree on just about anything in recent years. With regard to college coaches leaving for other schools, shouldn’t there also be a pr

    12 min

  2. 3d ago

    Enjoy A Week filled with Terrific Games!

    While on a brief visit to see two of our grandsons and a side trip to Arkansas, I had the chance to watch a few exceptional college softball and baseball games along with a very tense Game 7 NBA Western Conference final. It’s time to enjoy the next couple of weeks as the window is quickly closing on the seasons for these three sports. This year’s NBA Finals began Wednesday night. The surprising San Antonio Spurs and streaking New York Knicks began their best-of-seven title series.  New York came into Game 1 with an 11-game playoff winning streak. The Knicks left the Spurs’ home arena Wednesday night with a 12-game playoff winning streak. The Women’s College World Series softball best-of three finale also got underway Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.  Last weekend, Texas Tech’s never-say-die Red Raiders had to fight back from the brink of elimination twice to defeat #1 seed Alabama just to reach the finals. They will now get a chance to do that once again on Thursday night and, perhaps, on Friday night. That’s because Texas Tech lost to intrastate rival Texas 7-3 in the opening game of the best of three final series.  Texas is the defending national champion. On the men’s side of college bats and balls, this week marks the Super Regional round for the NCAA college baseball season. Eight winners from this weekend’s best-of-three weekend series will advance into the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska next week.  There were a number of surprising winners and losers during last week’s opening round. New York’s Amazin’ Knicks have now won 12 straight playoff games! San Antonio Spurs 7’4” center Victor Wembanyama is ending his third NBA season.  Much like Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal (who, by the way, played his high school basketball in San Antonio), Wemby just led his team into the NBA Finals.  He is now being hailed as the top big man in the NBA. The 5-time NBA champion Spurs are much more than just a one-man show.  They utilize their bench as well as any NBA team and play solid defense for the entire 48-minute game. The New York Knicks are seeking their first NBA title since 1973. To say that New York sports fans are hungry for a title is a huge understatement. “The City that Never Sleeps” is in the midst of a rather lengthy championship drought.  Eli Manning’s New York Giants football last won a Super Bowl title in 2011.  Baseball’s New York Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2009.  The crosstown rival New York Mets haven’t claimed a baseball title since 1986.  Broadway Joe Namath was the quarterback for football’s New York Jets in their only Super Bowl victory in 1969. NBA’s New York Knicks came into the playoffs as the #3 Eastern Conference seed behind Detroit and Boston.  After losing two of its first three playoff games to Atlanta in Round 1, the Knicks won the final three games to advance.  They would sweep #5 seed Philadelphia and #4 Cleveland in eight straight wins to claim the NBA Eastern Conference title. San Antonio is playing in the NBA Finals for the first time since June, 2014. The path to the championship round has been increasingly difficult for the Spurs.  San Antonio (the #2 seed in the Western Conference) needed just five games to dispatch the Portland Trailblazers in five games.  It then took six games for San Antonio to subdue the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Last weekend, the Spurs required a full seven games to win a tense Game 7 battle against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Wednesday night’s Game 1 in San Antonio was won by the New York Knicks 105-95 in a game which was much closer than the final score reflected.  The veteran Knicks scored the last 11 points to end the game.  New York stepped-up in the final quarter to score 29 points as the younger Spurs tallied only 19 over the last 12 minutes. New York’s Villanova connection featured guards Jalen Brunson (30 points) and Josh Hart (an incredible 15 rebounds) leading a fourth quarter rally to give the Knicks their 12th consecutive playoff victory. As a result, San Antonio lost its home court advantage after that Game 1 loss.  ABC will televise Game #2 at 7:30PM Friday night from San Antonio.  The series moves to New York’s Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday next week. Make sure to stick around for the post-game coverage on ESPN. The award-winning “Inside the NBA” show features NBA legends Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal breaking down the action along with host Ernie Johnson.  You never know what’s going to happen. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City… The Women’s College World Series best-of-three finals began Wednesday night. Defending national champion Texas (52-12) defeated Texas Tech 7-3 in Game 1. The Red Raiders fell to 61-9 and are on the verge of elimination once again.  They have become quite familiar with this position over the past several days in Oklahoma City. The #11 seeded Red Raiders rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning on Sunday to vanquish #8 national seed UCLA 8-7.  On Monday, Texas Tech had to defeat #1 seed Alabama twice to earn a spot in the championship finals. The Red Raiders won the opener 5-4 over Bama by scoring a run in the bottom of the 7th inning.  They also grabbed the second game 2-0 on a two-hit pitching gem by two-time college player-of-the-year NiJari Canady to earn a spot in the finals. The second seeded Texas Longhorns didn’t have an easy road into the Women’s College World Series finals, either. They had to defeat #7 Tennessee Volunteers twice on Monday to advance.  Texas won the opener 5-2 and then shut-out Tennessee 4-0 later in the afternoon to advance to the championship round. The Longhorns and Red Raiders competed for the Women’s College World Series championship last year as well.  Texas Tech is trying to avenge last year’s loss to Texas in the best-of-three title series. Game 2 will be played Thursday at 7PM on ESPN.  A deciding Game 3, if necessary, will be played Friday night at 7PM on ESPN. What happened to the top seeds in the men’s college baseball tournament? UCLA had been ranked #1 in college baseball all season long. The Bruins were 51-6 heading into the opening round of the NCAA college baseball playoffs.  They faced #4 regional seed St. Mary’s (35-25) in their opening playoff game at home last Friday. The Gaels scored a run in the top of the ninth inning to shock UCLA 3-2.  On Saturday, UCLA had to score three times in the bottom of the ninth to take a 6-5 win and stay alive against 30-26 Virginia Tech. St. Mary’s and UCLA were matched again on Sunday.  This time, the Gaels scored a run in the bottom of the 10th inning to end UCLA’s season with a 6-5 win. Ironically, St. Mary’s was eliminated on Sunday 5-2 by the Cal-Poly Mustangs of San Luis Obispo.  Go figure. It wasn’t any better for #2 national seed Georgia Tech The 50-10 Yellow Jackets were playing at home in Atlanta and trying to advance into the Super Regional round for the first time in 20 years.  Georgia Tech would have hosted a Super Regional this weekend – if only they had won their own opening round regional. The Oklahoma Sooners rallied in consecutive games to dispatch the heavily favored hometown Yellow Jackets to advance into this weekend’s Super Regional to be played in…Kansas? Kansas has rarely been known for its baseball prowess. This year’s baseball Jayhawks are now 45-16 after winning its opening round of games.  KU will host Oklahoma Saturday in the Lawrence, Kansas Super Regional.  The Jayhawks have made it into only one College World Series (1993) in the school’s long history. Kansas plays baseball in relatively small Hoglund Ballpark.  This stadium features just 2,500 permanent seats.  The school recently took down the left field wall and installed a chain link fence.  That allows about 1,000 additional fans to stand or sit in their own lawn chairs in “The Backyard” to watch Kansas baseball games. Expect ticket prices in Lawrence, Kansas to be sky high for this weekend’s Super Regional. Did you pick the Trojans to make it into the Super Regionals? Last weekend, there were the Trojans from the University of Southern California, the Troy Trojans of the Sun Belt Conference, and the Little Rock Trojans from the Ohio Valley Conference. Incredibly, all three of these Trojans baseball teams will be part of the 16 squads competing in the second round “Super Regional” college playoff games this weekend. At least one Trojans team is guaranteed a spot in Omaha at the College World Series next week.  The 36-30 Troy Trojans will host the Little Rock Trojans (39-26) at 4PM Friday on ESPNU.  Troy shocked #5 national seed Florida 10-2 in the final game of the Gainesville Regional last week.  Little Rock won the Hattiesburg Regional after #9 seed Southern Miss was sent packing after two consecutive losses. The USC Trojans (47-16) will travel across the country to play at the University of North Carolina (48-11-1) on Friday at 2PM CDT on ESPN2. Here are all eight Super Regional match-ups (first game starting times are CDT) Friday’s Opening Games: Morgantown – Cal Poly (39-22) at #16 seed West Virginia (43-15) at 11AM on ESPN2 Chapel Hill – USC (47-16) at #5 North Carolina (48-11-1) at 2PM on ESPN2 Troy – Little Rock (39-26) at Troy (36-30) at 4PM on ESPNU Auburn – Ole Miss (39-21) at #4 Auburn (42-20) at 7PM on ESPN2 Saturday’s Opening Games: Athens – #14 seed Mississippi State (43-17) at #3 Georgia (49-12) at 10AM on ESPN Lawrence – Oklahoma (36-22) at #15 Kansas (45-16) at 1PM on ESPN Austin – #11 Oregon (43-16) at #6 Texas (43-13) at 7PM on ESPN Tuscaloosa – St. John’s (36-24) at #7 Alabama (40-19) at 8PM on ESPN2 The post Enjoy A Week filled with Ter

    11 min

  3. May 23

    North Louisiana’s College Sports Programs are Underwater

    One week ago, the state of Louisiana’s Legislative Auditor’s office released its annual fiscal review of Grambling State University’s athletics program for the year ending June 30, 2025. The school was cited for a few audit irregularities and quickly announced that changes were being made.  That wasn’t the biggest news, though. Grambling’s athletics department lost $5.1 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025.  Revenues were reported at $9.2 million versus annual expenses of $14.3 million. In percentage terms, Grambling’s revenue was only 64% of the amount needed to sustain the athletics programs at the current level. Grambling wasn’t the only north Louisiana public university whose athletics spending exceeded revenue last year The same Louisiana Legislative Auditor also filed reports earlier in 2026 for Louisiana Tech University, Northwestern State University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Each of these four football-playing state universities located north of Alexandria reported losses in their athletics programs for the year ending June 30, 2025.  Grambling’s massive deficit grabbed the recent news headlines, but there is a troubling commonality among Louisiana public schools not named LSU. Louisiana Tech recently cut an expensive deal (rumored to be in the vicinity of $8 million) in order to exit Conference USA and join the more geographically-suitable Sun Belt Conference. That move may turn out to be prudent for the Bulldogs over the long-term.  Louisiana Tech’s annual travel expenses as part of Conference USA totaled nearly $3.5 million.  Nearby Sun Belt rival UL-Monroe’s travel costs for the same year were $2.3 million.  Louisiana Tech is expected save $1 million or more annually on its travel expenses beginning this fall by moving to the Sun Belt Conference. Let’s look under the hood at each of these four universities’ athletics spending.  We’ll finish with a few common sense (cheap) ideas on how to achieve break-even in the future. Grambling State University – 5,200 students (2024/2025 school year) Grambling is nationally known for its athletics and its exceptional marching band.  It was bit surprising to learn that Grambling’s football program had lost $2.5 million in the most recent year.  That amounted to about 50% of the athletic department’s annual deficit of $5.1 million. The football team’s travel costs of $1.1 million last fall were higher than all three of the other north Louisiana pubic schools. The expense summary also showed nearly $160,000 was spent to cover the costs of the school’s spirit groups (for one or more road trip performances). Grambling’s men’s and women’s basketball teams each posted losses in excess of $900,000 for the most recent year. Grambling (like Northwestern State) participates NCAA’s FCS small college football division.  The G-men play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Louisiana Tech University – 12,145 students (Fall, 2025) The Bulldogs are based in Ruston.  Louisiana Tech’s campus is less than six miles east of Grambling via Interstate 20.  The Bulldogs have been competing in Conference USA and a part of the NCAA FBS major college football division.  As mentioned earlier, Louisiana Tech moves into the Sun Belt Conference this fall. Audit results for Louisiana Tech’s athletics department last year showed a loss of $11.875 million. Football lost “only” about $1.6 million for the year.  Louisiana Tech’s men’s and women’s basketball teams each ran a deficit of about $700,000 apiece.  Other competitive sports at Louisiana Tech lost another $2.6 million.  The school’s income statement showed “non-program specific” athletic costs with a $6 million shortfall. As noted earlier in this report, Louisiana Tech’s overall travel costs playing in far-flung Conference USA were easily the highest in the group.  The Dogs’ annual total of $3.5 million for travel exceeded Grambling ($2.6 mm), UL-Monroe ($2.3 mm) and Northwestern State (less than $1 million). Northwestern State University – 8,402 students (Fall, 2025) The Demons from Natchitoches, Louisiana came the closest to break-even within its athletics programs among these four state schools.  Northwestern State participates in the NCAA’s FCS small college football division in the regionally-aligned Southland Conference. Northwestern State posted a relatively benign loss of $167,245 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025.  The Demons’ men’s basketball program ran the largest deficit at more than $300,000.  The football team came up short by $280,000. Noteworthy, Northwestern State collected nearly $1.5 million in annual student fees to help support athletics.  That was about 10% of the school’s athletics spending.  It was the highest total among these four north Louisiana state schools. University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) – 8,678 students (Fall, 2025) Sun Belt Conference member ULM (like Louisiana Tech) competes in the NCAA’s FBS major college football division.  ULM is expecting to benefit from Louisiana Tech’s arrival in the Sun Belt Conference this fall with increased attendance and revenues expected at home games in all major sports. The Warhawks’ athletics budget is the smallest among the NCAA’s 136 FBS major colleges.  ULM’s overall school budget has been prone to massive shortfalls in recent years, too.  That means that ULM’s $1.5 million athletics department loss in fiscal year 2025 is much harder to cover. Audit results showed the UL-Monroe football program lost a whopping $3.8 million in the most recent report.  The Warhawks’ men’s and women’s basketball teams lost a combined $2.5 million.  Ouch! The school’s institutional support has kept the ULM athletics department afloat for years.  Significantly higher fan support for the Warhawks football and basketball programs is needed immediately.  Otherwise, the school may have no other choice but to consider returning to the NCAA FCS small college athletics division. A few suggestions from SwampSwami to achieve fiscal break-even These four north Louisiana state universities are located within 100 miles of each other.  Each school is a very large and important employer in its home city. These state schools must immediately address their athletics spending and move quickly toward achieving fiscal balance.  At the same time, they must also work harder and more creatively to raise sports revenues over the long-term to grow the athletics programs. First things first – Take immediate cost cutting measures – The simplest and fairest way is to voluntarily reduce athletics spending by cutting a certain percentage across the board.  That could come in the form of job reductions or, perhaps, an across-the-board pay cut for staff making more than $30,000 per year.  For example, a 5% mandatory spending reduction in Year 1 may spur some voluntary budget trimming beyond that level.  Yes, this likely means one less assistant coach, one fewer support staffer, one less charter flight, etc.  The athletics departments must take a hard look at streamlining operations.  Learn to do more with less. Refuse to play long-distance road games unless the school earns a significant profit by participating – UL-Monroe’s football team hits the road for at least two “Clobbering Time” payday games every season. They are often paid more than $1 million to play at large universities such as LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama with huge stadiums.  ULM receives more money from some of these massive “visitor” paychecks than playing a home game in front of a sold-out stadium.  There are also downsides from being on the receiving end of a couple of massive road losses every season, too.  The football team and local fans can become a bit demoralized about the team’s chances for the remainder of the season. Now, let’s try to grow the revenue side with a few cheap ideas Stimulate increased student, alumni, and hometown support – Student and local support for the athletics programs within each of these four communities (Grambling, Ruston, Natchitoches, and Monroe) must improve.  Local fans want to see their sports teams having a chance to win more than they lose.  Identify sports which are cost-effective and give the school the best chance to hang a new (and long overdue) championship banner. Success in any of the major sports at these four schools can go a long way in rejuvenating and expanding the school’s athletic support base. Improve local marketing and promotion – It may sound corny but handing out free tickets to youth at local elementary, junior high school and high schools gets parents and guardians to purchase tickets, too.  A positive game day experience for that youth can plant a valuable seed about attending that college some day.  Each of these four north Louisiana public universities have thousands of empty seats available at football and basketball games.  A purposeful campaign to encourage and engage more youth at nearby college sporting events will pay future dividends. Inject more game day excitement – Utilize the pregame, quarter breaks, halftime, and post-game times to get fans more engaged.  Experiment with creative new (and inexpensive) ideas to keep the game experience fresh for all ages of fans. They will be more likely to return if they are having more fun at the games. Relentlessly promote ahead – There are only a few home football games played each fall.  Make each game special with its own promotion.  There are, perhaps, twenty home basketball, baseball or softball home games, too.  Give thought as to how to make each home game unique for fans. Target every recent (last few years) ticket purchaser by sending a weekly email.  Remind them of the school’s upcoming weekly sports schedu

    12 min

  4. May 18

    Welcome to the in-FL

    Congratulations to NFL fans in nine cities across America!   Commissioner Roger Goodell has just given you the proverbial one finger salute. The man in charge of America’s fall pro football league has no problem asking you to pay up, shut-up, and watch meaningless August preseason football games at your NFL stadium every year.   Meanwhile, Commissioner Goodell and his band of merry billionaire owners have just pilfered a league record nine regular season home games this fall and moved them them overseas.  That’s two more games than in 2025 and four more than in 2024 or previous years. Notice the trend? I was excited a few weeks ago in reviewing the list of 2026 NFL opponents for each team.  My two favorite black and gold NFL teams (the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers) were slated to play this fall in the Louisiana Superdome. Until… The greedy NFL pirated the Saints’ Week 7 home game against the Steelers and moved it to be played…in Paris, France!?? Sacre Bleu! Yes, we know that French explorers founded New Orleans in 1718.  In 1803, the United States acquired the city and a vast region located west of the Mississippi River in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase for a bargain price of $15 million. New Orleans’ tourist appeal relies heavily on its French roots.  The city’s famous French Quarter features street signs reminding visitors and locals of the city’s French history. You can stroll down Rue Royale (Royal Street) to enjoy a few biegnets and Community Coffee at Cafe Du Monde. Magnifique! Even the New Orleans Saints’ team logo features a French fleur de lis. Yes, I will begrudgingly give credit to someone in the NFL’s scheduling office for coming up with the idea of sending the New Orleans Saints to play a game in Paris. But why did the NFL rob Saints fans of a chance to watch our beloved WhoDats play the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superdome? Saints fans wouldn’t be nearly as torqued if the league had selected a different home game this fall against (let’s say) the Cleveland Browns or Las Vegas Raiders. C’est parti pour les Steelers… (Here we go Steelers…) Pittsburgh Steelers fans aren’t necessarily thrilled about moving the road game in New Orleans all the way to France, either.  The six-time Super Bowl champions have one of the NFL’s largest traveling contingents. Visitors to New Orleans in late October are treated to some of the best weather of the year in the Crescent City.  Local hotels, restaurants, bars and retailers are going to miss cashing-in on 10,000 or more fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers that weekend, too. Thanks for nothing, NFL! The Week 7 game on October 25 in Paris, France will probably still feature thousands of Terrible Towels being waved by fans in attendance. You have to wonder how much money those French football fans will be charged to buy them, though. This migration onto the world stage by the NFL is quite deliberate Commissioner Roger Goodell (it’s OK to “boo” right here) first sent the Arizona Cardinals to play a regular season NFL game vs. the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City in 2005.  Since then, the league has continued to add more and more regular season games played outside of the United States. London is the leader in number of NFL games played outside the continental United States. A total of 48 NFL games have been played in London since 2007.  In fact, a minimum of two NFL games have been played in London annually since 2013. This year will feature three consecutive weeks of NFL regular season games being played in London during October.  But why? The unfortunate Jacksonville Jaguars have been dispatched to London a total of 14 times over the past 13 seasons.  As usual, J-ville travels to Jolly ol’ England again this fall.  The Jaguars are scheduled to play the Philadelphia Eagles on October 11 in London. Many observers (including me) believe that the Jacksonville NFL franchise is going to be relocated to London at some point in the not-too-distant future. Germany has become a popular recent destination for NFL teams.  Five games have already been played on German soil since 2022.  The New England Patriots and Detroit Lions will play in Munich this season on November 15. Mexico City has hosted four NFL regular season games since 2016.  The Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers will play a Sunday night game in Mexico City on November 22. Brazil will host its third NFL regular season game in three years. The Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys will play in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, September 27. Australia gets its first NFL game, too.  The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams are being dispatched to Melbourne for a Week 1 encounter on September 10. Rounding out the NFL’s frequent flier schedule will be the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons flying to Madrid, Spain for a game on November 8. The NFL’s nine game international schedule is a new record.  There were seven games played overseas in 2025 and “just” five in 2024. Have you figured out why the NFL is doing this? If you guessed, “To make even more money!”, you are correct! Don’t believe the NFL’s baloney about “growing the game internationally”.  It’s all about this massive financial private enterprise growing their already bloated bank accounts. The NFL earns millions from the ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and rights it receives to play regular season games in international venues. Even more importantly, the league is setting the proverbial hooks right now.  They want millions of new international fans to become addicted to American pro football each fall. These countries represent fresh sources of potential income for the NFL. Online broadcasters such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Peacock, and Paramount+ are expected to generate massive new international revenue sources for the NFL. Math lesson – How many people are watching these online providers in the US and other countries? These numbers may surprise you.  Let’s start with Netflix. According to one source, these six countries have the most Netflix subscribers: USA – 66.7 million United Kingdom – 18.4 million Brazil – 16.6 million Germany – 16.6 million Mexico – 13.9 million France – 13.6 million Purely by coincidence (cough), the NFL will be playing at least one regular season football game in each of those countries this fall! Did you know that Amazon Prime Video has more than 160 million viewers in the United States alone?  It is already available in 240 other countries worldwide. As for YouTube, I was surprised to learn that India is their number one country for viewership with 491 million YouTubers.  They claim that the US has 253 million YouTube customers.  Next comes Brazil (144 mm), Mexico (84 mm), and Japan (79 mm). Peacock (owned by NBC Universal) boasts of 36 million mostly-US subscribers.    Paramount + (which also owns CBS) claims have 79 million subscribers in 29 different countries. Traditional NFL television outlets better watch out – soon! That villainous NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (feel free to “boo” him again here) dropped hints recently that the NFL may utilize its right to opt-out of several existing television deals as early as the fall, 2029 football season. The NFL’s current TV deals began in 2021 and run for 11 years.  That means that Fox Sports, CBS, and NBC should be “safe” through the football year 2032. Maybe. A voluntary renegotiation with one or more of the current broadcasters to extend their deals (at a significantly higher price, of course) may be underway even now. The NFL has begun receiving greater pushback from the public recently. Last week, restaurant and bar associations in Iowa and Wisconsin demanded congressional investigations as to the NFL’s “one-size-fits-all” new distribution plan for its Sunday Ticket package.  The NFL will provide just one untested internet-based online distribution this fall after retail customers enjoyed years of service via satellite. Smartly, the football giant wants to avoid closer oversight now as franchise owners focus on a gigantic pot of international gold on the horizon. The crafty NFL is playing a game of chess with football fans and US broadcasters There is no reason for the NFL to push too hard right now.  Franchise owners are booking record profits.  The NFL doesn’t have a viable competitor trying to steal some of their massively popular pro football audiences. Yet. The NFL has built a 32-team professional football monopoly in the United States.  It is seeking to expand its empire worldwide and reap even greater profits and franchise valuations. Football fans can still have the last laugh The NFL has slowly grown interest in its product over several decades.  Traditional television networks now have advertisers salivating to reach an average of 19 million mostly male viewers generally within the prime buying demographic of ages 25 to 49. The NFL has quietly grown a new audience.  Millions of casual and professional gamblers are now wagering on weekly NFL games via a variety of online betting providers. Tapping into the international market is another attempt by this behemoth sports enterprise called the NFL to expand its financial reach into more untapped markets. “Joe NFL Fan” in the United States must prepare for these changes.  Should he spend more money to start watching a growing portion of his weekly slate of NFL games online or simply go on an NFL TV diet soon? Barring any new fall football competition, the NFL appears confident that the loss of any former US-based viewers will be minimal when compared to adding millions of new international customers. This process is unfolding right in front of your eyes like a delibe

    11 min

  5. May 13

    PGA Championship Preview – Watch out for Underdogs!

    The second golf major championship of the year will tee-off Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia.  In 1962, the PGA Championship was played on this same golf course. Future Hall-of-Famer Gary Player won that year with a 2-under par total. Aronimink Golf Club was designed by the legendary Donald Ross and completed in 1928.  The superb layout has been stretched to well over 7,300 yards and will play as a par 70. Though Gary Player’s total of 2-under par total was a reasonable score in his day, don’t be surprised if this year’s winner is at least 15-under par.  Today’s vastly improved golf equipment and balls are turning classic layouts such as Aronimink Golf Club into glorified drive, pitch, and putt tournaments. The PGA Championship features a large field of 156 golfers.  That total includes 20 PGA club professionals who earned their way into this week’s tournament by finishing in the top 20 at a recent PGA club professional qualifying event. Much like The Masters, past winners of the PGA Championship are allowed to participate in this event for as many years as the golfer desires to compete. This weekend’s weather forecast looks delightful. Abundant sunshine with moderate temperatures in the 70’s will slowly increase into the middle 80’s by Sunday.  The benign weather conditions will likely create a Philly birdie festival. The PGA Championship has produced a number of champions who “came out of nowhere” to win their one and only professional major in this event. Of the four golf major events, the PGA Championship has produced a large number of surprise winners in recent decades. Let’s review some of those one-and-done major winners and, later, try to identify a few underdogs to win this year’s PGA Championship. Rich Beem – 2002 – Hazeltine (MN) 10-under par Then:  Rich Beem was fortunate just to have a PGA Tour playing card entering 2002.  He played well during the opening three rounds and trailed third round leader Justin Leonard by three shots entering Sunday’s final 18 holes.  Tiger Woods also charged up the final round leaderboard on Sunday to post a 67 and apply some serious pressure.  Rich Beem was able to hang on with a final round 68 to win by one shot over Woods. Now:  The 55-year old Rich Beem will not be playing in this week’s PGA Championship.  In recent years, Beem has been doing golf commentary for Sky Sports.  He has not appeared recently on either the PGA or Champions (Senior) golf tours. Shaun Micheel – 2003 – Oak Hill (NY) 3-under par Then:  You may remember that Shaun Micheel hit the 7-iron of his lifetime on the 72nd hole at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY in 2003 to win the 27-pound Wanamaker trophy.  That was Micheel’s lone PGA Tour victory during a lengthy professional career.  He would often finish in the top ten, though.  Shaun Micheel recently admitted that he struggled for many years by putting too much pressure on himself to perform well on the golf course.  Micheel lamented, “I played every shot like it was life or death.” Now:  The 57-year old Shaun Micheel plays in a few PGA Champions Tour events each season.  As a past PGA Championship winner, he will be in Philadelphia and plans to tee-it up on Thursday. Y. E. Yang – 2009 – Hazeltine (MN) 8-under par Then:  South Korean Y. E. Yang’s victory at the 2009 PGA Championship was memorable for two big reasons.  He became the first Asian-born golfer to win a major men’s golf championship.  Yang also gained worldwide notoriety by rallying in the final round to win by three shots over a highly-favored golfer named Tiger Woods. Now:  The 54-year old Y. E. Yang remains active in professional golf.  He just finished in 14th place at last weekend’s PGA Champions Tour event in The Woodlands, Texas.  He has posted seven top 25 finishes this season on the senior tour.  Yang, like Shaun Micheel, will be playing in this week’s PGA Championship field on Thursday.  Y.E. Yang will be trying to make his first cut at the PGA Championship since the year 2015. Jason Dufner – 2013 – Oak Hill (NY) 10-under par Then:  Former Auburn University college golfer Jason Dufner had already won twice on the men’s tour coming into the 2013 PGA Championship in Rochester, New York.  The laid-back Dufner grabbed a two shot lead over Jim Furyk entering the final nine holes in Sunday’s final round. That  duo battled back and forth over the closing holes.  Dufner held on to claim the only major championship of his career. Now:  The 49-year old Jason Dufner has won five times on the PGA Tour.  This year, he has played in only three PGA Tour events (missing the cut each time) prior to this week’s PGA Championship.  You may remember that Jason Dufner gained a different type of national notoriety during the spring of 2013.  At a Dallas-area PGA publicity event, Dufner appeared before a group of elementary school children.  While the teacher was busy talking (and talking), Dufner was photographed sitting on the floor alongside some of the kids.  He appeared in the picture to be slumped over in a rather relaxed, sleepy posture. The term “Dufnering” was born.  “Dufnering” became even more popular among golfers a few months later after the ultra laid-back Jason Dufner won the 2013 PGA Championship. Jimmy Walker – 2016 – Baltusrol (NJ) – 14-under par Then:  Jimmy Walker took the lead at the 2016 PGA Championship with a blistering five-under par 65 in Round 1.  He would play well in each day of the tournament.  Walker posted a wire-to-wire victory and held off a fast-closing Jason Day.  It was Jimmy Walker’s first and only major championship title. It was also his last win on the PGA Tour through this week. Now:  At age 47, Jimmy Walker is no longer playing regularly on the PGA Tour.  After his 2016 win at the PGA Championship, Walker went hunting with some friends.  Upon returning home, his health began to deteriorate.  Jimmy Walker told a reporter that he had contracted Lyme disease (generally transmitted by ticks).  His recovery was extremely difficult and very slow.  Walker’s return to professional golf was hampered by newfound difficulties with his chipping and putting games.  Nevertheless, Jimmy Walker is expected to be in the field on Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club. Could there be another underdog winner at this week’s 2026 PGA Championship? Absolutely!  Here are four golfers seeking their first major title and not receiving a lot of pre-tournament love from the media pundits this week.  I will also provide a fifth undervalued golfer looking to break into the winner’s column again this week with the 2026 PGA Championship title.   Sam Burns – The former Shreveport resident is one of the tour’s finest putters. If Sam Burns can keep the ball in play off the tee this week, he is quite capable of shooting some very low scores and winning his first major. Thomas Detry – This 33-year old Belgian golfer plays on the LIV Golf Tour. He just posted a solid sixth place finish last weekend.  That golf course in northern Virginia is very similar to this week’s layout at Aronimink. Anthony Kim – Another LIV golfer who is coming off a hot finish last weekend in Virginia. Kim shot a closing round of 10-under par 62 to post another top ten finish. Brandt Snedeker – The 45-year old just won in Myrtle Beach last weekend for his first PGA win in nearly eight years. When you’re hot, you’re hot, right? Jordan Spieth – OK, I admit it.  I would LOVE to see Jordan Spieth find a way to win this weekend.  He hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since 2022. More importantly, Spieth would finally complete golf’s career Grand Slam (The Masters, US Open, The (British) Open, and, finally, the PGA Championship) with a victory on Sunday afternoon. Enjoy this weekend’s PGA Championship! The post PGA Championship Preview – Watch out for Underdogs! appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

    10 min

  6. May 12

    Your Weekend Sports Update

    For one 2025 national champion LSU baseball team, last weekend’s games ended any remote chances that they will qualify for the upcoming playoffs with a chance to repeat. For the other 2025 national champion LSU baseball team located in the northwest corner of Louisiana, their chance for a title repeat is very much alive and well today. This weekend also featured the quiet return of one of the PGA Tour’s most popular golfers as he won for the first time in eight years.  Plus, the NBA’s Indiana Pacers attempt to tank and receive a top draft pick backfired in a big way on Sunday. The LSU Tigers baseball team went 0-3 at Georgia – won’t defend title Omaha will not be the final destination for this year’s 2026 LSU baseball team in June.  The 2025 national champions just dropped three straight games in Athens, Georgia over the weekend. The Georgia Bulldogs downed the Tigers 11-8, 13-8, and (yikes) 12-1 after the infamous 10-run rule was invoked in Sunday’s finale.  That weekend sweep also gave the Dawgs the 2026 SEC regular season title. UGA is now 41-11 overall and a very impressive 21-6 in the SEC. LSU’s depleted pitching staff (giving up 5 ½ runs every nine innings) served up an assortment of tasty treats to Georgia’s eager batters all weekend.  The Tigers fell to 29-24 overall and a woeful 9-18 in the SEC. Those 18 SEC losses are the most ever for an LSU baseball team.  It’s hard to believe Coach Jay Johnson’s baseball team has fallen this far after winning the national championship in 2025. LSU’s regular season mercifully ends at home this weekend in Baton Rouge as the Florida Gators (34-18 and 15-12 in the SEC) visit Alex Box Stadium.  LSU remains in 14th place in the 16-team SEC.  Only South Carolina (7-20 in the league) and Missouri (6-21) have worse records. In Shreveport, the defending NAIA baseball champion LSU-S Pilots are peaking at the right time Last year’s LSU-Shreveport baseball team set an all-time college baseball record by becoming the first team to win every single game they played.  The 59-0 Perfect Pilots of 2025 have lost 12 times during 2026.  However, they also have 41 wins, too. LSU-S will host four other top regional teams in the NAIA opening round playoff series beginning today (Monday, May 11) at Pilot Field in Shreveport.  LSU-S is a nifty 31-4 at home this year.  The odds favor the Pilots advancing into the second round of the NAIA playoffs next week. Unlike their big brothers down in Baton Rouge, LSU-Shreveport’s pitching has been exceptional again in 2026.  The Pilots’ team earned run average is just 3.35.  Pitching ace Brock Lucas has posted a 10-2 record and allowed just 1.83 runs per nine innings. Best of luck to the LSU-S Pilots as they try to bring home a second consecutive national baseball title to Shreveport!  *Update – LSU-Shreveport won two games but also lost twice to Mid-America Christian University (Oklahoma City).  Mid-America Christian (42-13) won the Shreveport Regional and advanced to play in the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho on Friday, May 22.  They will face 47-9 Doane University of Crete, Nebraska.  Louisiana Softball – ULM women robbed of an NCAA playoff spot while LSU received the #16 overall seed Fans of the ULM Warhawks sports teams haven’t had a lot to crow about in recent years.  The women’s softball team, though, has been a recent exception. The Warhawks won their first-ever Sun Belt regular season softball title recently after posting a 19-5 league record. Last weekend’s Sun Belt Conference tournament #1 seed ULM won its opening game against UL-Lafayette.  The Warhawks then dropped a 3-1 decision in the semifinal round to #5 seed and eventual tournament winner South Alabama.  UL-Monroe finished their season with a 38-20 record. Sunday night’s NCAA 64-team women’s softball selection show placed Sun Belt tournament champion South Alabama into the field as expected.  However, the Sun Belt also received two additional spots in the NCAA tournament as well. Both Marshall University (regular season #2 in the conference) and Texas State (regular season #3) received an NCAA invitation.  Marshall finished with a 37-17 record.  Texas State went 38-20. Why didn’t the Sun Belt’s regular season champion ULM receive one of those two NCAA tournament spots? The Warhawks were the hottest team in the conference over the last two months having won 19 of their final 22 games. Yes, all three at-large Sun Belt teams (ULM, Marshall, and Texas State) had very similar records.  Shame on the NCAA for leaving ULM’s regular season champions out of this year’s post-season tournament. In Baton Rouge, the LSU Tigers somehow wrangled the #16 overall seed and will host a four-team regional event this weekend at Tiger Park.  Coach Beth Torino’s team is 37-17 overall and has won nine of its last 12 games.  LSU just qualified for the softball postseason tournament for an incredible 20 years in a row. The Women’s College World Series will be held at Devon Park in Oklahoma City from May 28 through June 4. Golf – 45-year old Brandt Snedeker won for the first time in nearly eight years! The sport of golf can be played well into your senior years.  However, it is rare to see very many winners on the men’s or women’s professional golf tours after they reach their mid-40’s. Hall-of-Famer Sam Snead still holds the men’s professional record after winning the Greater Greensboro Open in 1965 at the age of 52. Two-time Ryder Cup golfer Brandt Snedeker had already been selected to become the captain of this fall’s President Cup team.  The honor generally goes to a popular PGA professional golfer whose playing career has already peaked.  Being the team captain usually means spending a lot of time handling team selections, tournament details, the media, and such.   Most team captains don’t have a lot of time for their own golf game. The 45-year old Brandt Snedeker had lost his PGA Tour playing card a few years ago after several seasons filled with injuries and poor results on the golf course.  Snedeker was having to rely on sponsor exemptions in order to be added into several events over the past few seasons. The likable Brandt Snedeker from Tennessee wanted to prove to himself and his family that his golf game was still good enough to win on tour again. His 18-under par total at Sunday’s Myrtle Beach Classic PGA Tour stop was good enough to secure a one-stroke victory over a 36-year old winless golfer.  Mark “Hard Luck” Hubbard bogeyed the 18th hole to finish in second place. With his win, Brandt Snedeker earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a place in this weekend’s PGA Championship outside of Philadelphia. Nicely done and welcome back, Sneds! Indiana Pacers flunked the NBA Draft ping-pong ball lottery on Sunday Do you remember which team the Oklahoma City Thunder beat in the NBA Finals less than a year ago? Me, either. Last year’s #4 East seed Indiana Pacers surprised many with a late-season charge to win the NBA’s Eastern Conference title in 2025.  Indiana then fought gamely in the NBA Finals against #1 overall seed Oklahoma City before losing in Game #7 at OKC. This year’s Indiana Pacers suffered a series of injuries during the first half of the NBA season.  The team went on to establish franchise records for the longest losing streaks in Pacers’ history during the second half of the season. You could say that the Indiana Pacers were “tanking” on purpose in hopes to receive one of the top NBA draft picks in June.  The league “rewards” bad teams by giving them the highest odds of receiving a top draft pick. Indiana lost with vigor.  This team lost and lost and lost. The Pacers dropped 13 games in a row from mid-December into January. They topped their own futility mark with a 16-game losing streak from February into March. In what would turn out to be a colossal mistake, the Pacers also made a multi-player trade with the Los Angeles Clippers in February during a losing streak. As a part of the deal, Indiana’s #1 draft pick for next season would be sent to the Clippers only if Indiana should be assigned a draft selection worse than #4 overall. Not to worry, right? Indiana finished with a franchise worst 19-63 record.  It firmly placed the Indiana Pacers as one of the top three worst teams in the NBA this year. The NBA’s draft lottery rules assign an equal 14% chance of getting the top draft pick to the three biggest losers.  This season, those teams were the Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets. The next best odds (11 ½ %) were assigned to the Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings. Memphis (at 9%) was sixth. The other eight non-playoff teams received a descending percentage chance with #14 Charlotte having a minuscule ½% chance of receiving the #1 draft pick in June. What could possibly go wrong for Indiana? Plenty. After the Washington Wizards’ ping-pong ball drawing gave them the #1 overall draft pick in June, Indiana was hoping to grab that #2 spot. Alas, the second-worst team in the NBA this year watched in horror as their ping-pong ball drawing fortunes went horribly wrong.  The Pacers didn’t hear their name called until the #5 draft position. As a result, Sunday’s ping-pong ball fiasco also handed Indiana’s 2026 first round pick over to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of this February’s trade. Indiana won’t receive a first round selection in this June’s NBA draft.  Instead, the Pacers will receive Los Angeles’ first round pick in the year 2031. Indiana Pacers’ President of Team Operations Kevin Pritchard later apologized to the team’s basketball fans.  He said, “I’m really sorry to all our fans. I own taking this risk.” He sure does! This also spotlights the NBA’s convol

    12 min

  7. May 7

    UFL Midseason Report – Still on Shaky Ground

    The 2026 United Football League (UFL) spring football campaign passed the halfway point recently. Through six weeks of the league’s ten-game regular season, each UFL team is now on a similar path.  The eight spring football franchises are experiencing a decline in attendance at the midway point of the 2026 season. The UFL replaced teams in San Antonio, Detroit (Michigan Panthers), and Memphis this year. Those franchises were relocated to Louisville (Kings), Columbus (Aviators) and Orlando (Storm). A primary reason for leaving San Antonio, Detroit, and Memphis was that all three teams played in large traditional football stadiums.  Those facilities cost the UFL a lot of money to lease. Small crowds of 10,000 fans or less for games played in 50,000 seat facilities looked really bad on national television, too. This new trio of UFL teams is playing their home games in soccer stadiums with seating generally less than 20,000.  The optics showing a crowd of 10,000 inside of a smaller football venue looks more visually appealing to home television viewers. Let’s count that as a win for the UFL.  However… The average attendance for those three new UFL franchises isn’t exactly turning heads, either. Through game 6, the entire league is averaging a little bit more than 10,000 fans per football home game.  Half of the UFL franchises (Houston, Dallas, defending champion DC, and Orlando) still can’t pull more than 10,000 per outing to their games. St. Louis (which led the league in attendance in each of the UFL’s first two seasons) is averaging 25,700 per game to lead the league in 2026. Below is a chart showing the attendance for each UFL team through Game 6 last weekend. Ticket prices for UFL games across the league are relatively cheap You can buy a 20-yard line ticket to this Saturday night’s Birmingham Stallions home game against the Dallas Renegades for $15 and receive a free t-shirt, too! Let’s say that the average ticket price in Birmingham was $25.  If the Stallions attract a crowd of 15,000 to this Saturday night’s game, that translates into ticket revenue of $375,000 for the week. Over a five game home schedule, Birmingham would generate $1.85 million in ticket revenue. With a roster of 50 players making an average of $60,000 per season, the personnel cost for the Stallions is $3 million.  Let’s also estimate that total expenses for the Birmingham UFL franchise (lease payments, coaching salaries, travel, game day costs and administrative expenses) are (conservatively) another $3 million. Now, multiply that revenue shortfall by eight UFL franchises.  The numbers simply don’t work. What about the television ratings for the UFL? The television ratings for UFL games compared to the NFL are similar to upstart LIV Golf when compared to the PGA Tour. UFL spring football brings about 5% of the average number of weekly television viewers which the NFL attracts for its games in the fall. Television ratings in 2026 for the UFL have been difficult to quantify week-to-week.  In general, the four weekly televised games have settled into a predictable pattern. FOX (one of the minority owners of the UFL) is into Year #2 of providing a Friday night prime-time football game.  The six Friday night games in 2026 have averaged 638,000 viewers. For Friday, May 3, the UFL spring football game on FOX (which attracted 670,000 viewers) finished in dead last behind primary competitors CBS, ABC, and NBC. The CBS Friday night line-up averaged over 4 million viewers.  ABC attracted less than three million.  NBC (which featured horse racing from Churchill Downs) came in at less than 2 ½ million last Friday night. FOX cannot be pleased about getting curb-stomped in the TV ratings every Friday night for two straight years.  The network’s Friday night UFL spring football games have been unable to crack the one million viewer mark one single time in two years. A recent week of prime-time television ratings showed the FOX Friday Night UFL game finishing in 162nd place. In addition to trailing the four primary networks, the FOX Friday UFL game lagged behind top cable television offering on Fox News, ESPN, MSNow, TLC, HGTV, TBS, USA Network, Comedy Central, ESPN2, Food Network, Bravo, Hallmark, CNN, Discovery, History, and A&E. That stinks. ABC’s Saturday afternoon UFL games have shown the strongest viewer interest.  Last week’s Dallas Renegades at DC Defenders drew the league’s highest television audience of the season as 1,050,000 watched the game on Saturday afternoon, May 2. The television networks need the UFL to consistently attract more than one million weekly viewers Advertisers want their product to be seen by the greatest number of people in their desired demographic.  Football traditionally delivers a predominantly male buying audience and is highly coveted by certain advertisers. UFL games are shown on the “big” networks like ABC, FOX, and ESPN. That means that there are zero excuses why football fans are not finding and watching the games.  It is proof that most viewers simply aren’t interested in the product. Has the UFL been targeting the growing online gambling market to stay afloat? Like it or not, online sports gambling has been growing quickly.  Unfortunately, many college students are becoming increasingly involved with online gambling. The UFL football games (especially those shown every Friday night in the spring) represent “the only game in town” for some bettors seeking football-oriented gambling opportunities. It’s impossible to know whether the UFL or the owners of online gambling companies are actively pursuing younger audiences to wager on UFL spring football games. The lack of growth in the UFL’s television audience from year-to-year seems to indicate that the gambling factions are not having a sizable effect. Who is Mike Repole, and why has he become “Mr. UFL?” The first two seasons of the UFL were financially underwritten by an ownership team of FOX Sports (50%) along with wrestling/media star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his ex-wife Dani Garcia, ESPN, and RedBird Capital Partners. The original set of owners has lost tens of millions of their own money during the first two UFL seasons. Last summer, billionaire entrepreneur/promoter Mike Repole became a partner in the UFL, too. He purchased an undisclosed interest after the 2025 season ended. Repole quickly jumped-in trying to remake the league with several of his own ideas. The enthusiastic Mike Repole is about as subtle as the Kool-Aid guy bursting through the wall. He has already told Oklahoma City that they will be granted a UFL franchise in 2028 once the city’s new soccer stadium is completed.  Repole wants the spring football league to double in size to 16 teams within the next few years. It was Mike Repole’s idea to move three franchises to Columbus, Louisville, and Orlando this season.  He also spearheaded the UFL’s move into smaller soccer venues in 2026 to save cash and look better on television. The 57-year old Mike Repole has also jousted with fans of the 2024 UFL league champion Birmingham Stallions franchise, too.  He let it be known that the Alabama-based franchise would be moved if local supporters didn’t show significant improvements in game attendance this season. (Note – the Stallions are #2 in UFL average attendance entering Week #7) Yes, Mike Repole has been a virtual one-man crusader for the UFL over the past year. Try as he might, the vital signs for his beloved UFL in 2026 are still the same. The UFL remains on life support Only the deep pockets of the UFL’s investors has kept this patient from an expected death. Let’s forget about the size of the football stadiums.  When only 10,000 paying fans show up to watch any professional sport with massive fixed costs like football, the sports league is going to lose tons of money and eventually cease to exist. Perhaps the UFL has been hoping to attract some type of life preserver from the National Football League.  It’s not that the NFL couldn’t have invested in the UFL from Day 1, though. It simply chose not to.  The NFL has watched any number of spring pro football leagues come and go.  That’s because football fans aren’t interested in the product. The NFL wisely understood that they “own” the fall sports calendar. NFL franchise owners want football fans to be salivating in anticipation of the league’s return every year. Remember that the NFL has already been through this with the American Football League back in the 1960’s. Once the AFL achieved significant momentum with football fans and grew its television ratings, the NFL purchased their youthful competitor to end the challenge. The UFL’s presentation on the field and for home television has been exceptional.   Games (though still a bit too low-scoring for me) are often entertaining to watch. I will award the UFL an “A” for effort. This spring football league and several others have tried mightily to get their product to take root.  Football fans simply have not reciprocated with an endearing love for spring pro football. The UFL’s owners have every right to lose as much money as they desire hoping that their football league will eventually gain traction with the public. When and if that ever should happen, the NFL is likely to respond. The post UFL Midseason Report – Still on Shaky Ground appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

    11 min

  8. May 5

    A Weekend of Basketball, Golf, and BananaBall

    Let’s catch-up on a variety of sports action from the past weekend. NBA 1st Round Playoffs and the Tragic Orlando Magic When a basketball team (at any level) misses 23 straight shots during a game, that team is more than likely going to lose. The NBA’s #8 seed Eastern Conference Orlando Magic was at home on Friday night.  They were leading the #1 Detroit Pistons 3-2 in their best-of-seven series. The Magic raced out to a 60-38 halftime advantage and had their home crowd ready to celebrate the team’s biggest first round upset in history. Then they played the second half. The Orlando Magic couldn’t hit the proverbial broad side of a barn over the final two quarters. Orlando scored just 11 points in the third quarter.  The fourth quarter produced a paltry eight points. At one point, the Orlando Magic missed 23 consecutive shots. The tiny 19-point second half total in Game 6 was the lowest ever recorded in the NBA’s long playoff history. Detroit was easily able to overcome the 22-point halftime deficit and won 93-79 to even the series at three games apiece. Sunday night’s Game 7 found Detroit back at home to win the finale 116-95. The #1 East seed Pistons advance into Round 2 this week against #4 Cleveland. On Monday morning, the Orlando Magic announced the firing of fifth-year coach Jamahl Mosley. As I have mentioned over the years, it’s a lot easier for a professional sports team’s ownership to fire the head coach rather than an entire roster of players.  That coach wasn’t on the floor missing 23 shots in a row in Game 6. The Boston Celtics did, indeed, die by the 3-point shot Just like Orlando, the #2 Eastern Conference #2 seed Boston Celtics took at 3-1 series lead before losing three straight games to the #7-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. As we covered a few weeks ago, the Boston Celtics thrive or die by their ability to make 3-point shots.  The NBA’s fourth-most prolific 3-point shooting team during the regular season clanked home just 13 of 49 long-distance shots (27%) in a 109-100 Game 7 home playoff loss to Philadelphia Saturday night. The Celtics blew a 3-1 playoff advantage for the first time in the team’s storied history.  Boston had been 32-0 all-time when leading by such a wide margin. This year’s Celtics also lost three of the four games played in their hometown at historic Boston Garden. Philadelphia 76ers fans rejoiced after their team finally won a decisive Game 7 playoff game on the road in Boston for the first time since Julius “Dr. J.” Erving played for the Sixers in 1982. Saturday night’s Game 7 in Boston saw the visiting 76ers zoom to a 30-15 first quarter advantage and never relinquish that lead. Boston played Game 7 without injured star forward Jayson Tatum.  He was dealing with soreness in one of his legs and was held out of the game as a precaution. Tatum and his teammates will now have five months to recover, practice their outside shooting, and, perhaps, consider adding a legitimate inside presence prior to next season. The Houston Rockets failed to achieve a first round lift-off for the 2nd straight year Houston’s Rockets sizzled during the 2024/2025 regular season but fizzled in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The team quickly reacted by adding veteran sharpshooter Kevin Durant to beef-up the Rockets’ scoring during the 2025/2026 season. Unfortunately, the NBA #5 Western Division seed Rockets crashed and burned in the first round of the playoffs once again. In the first two games against the #4 Los Angles Lakers, Kevin Durant sparkled on offense. Unfortunately, the other four Houston starters seemed to stand around and wait for their designated shooter to carry the offensive load. Durant was injured during Game 2 and didn’t play again for the rest of this series. The Rockets looked likely to win Game 3 but then blew a six-point lead in the final 30 seconds to go down 0-3 against 41-year old LeBron James and the Lakers. Houston found a way to win games 4 and 5 before getting drubbed 98-78 on Friday night in Los Angeles to conclude their season with a final loss. The Lakers played the entire series without two of its key starters – Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Houston may be looking at a few shake-ups for the roster and, perhaps, the team’s coaching staff after a second straight one-and-done playoff performance. PGA Tour – Cameron Young put the sleeper hold on the rest of the field in Miami The PGA Tour finally returned to Miami’s famed Doral Country Club Blue Monster golf course this past week.  While some golfers may have trembled while standing on the tee at the tour’s most difficult par-4 #18, stoic Cameron Young seemed to love every minute of it. The bearded 28-year old golfer with the signature pause at the top of his backswing was winless in his first five seasons on the PGA Tour.  Notably, though, Young posted six top ten finishes in the tough golf majors in his early years on the tour. Cameron Young was overdue to win. Sundays’ victory became Young’s third title in the past nine months. He broke through with his first PGA victory in August, 2025 in Greensboro.  Young added The Player’s Championship title in March for career win #2. Cameron Young told reporters Sunday, “When the golf course is difficult and the conditions are difficult, that tends to make it easier for me mentally. Young led from start to finish in all four rounds of the Cadillac Championship tournament at Doral.  His 19-under par total was six shots clear of World #1 golfer and runner-up Scottie Scheffler.  Cameron Young even called a one-stroke penalty on himself on the second hole as his golf ball wobbled on the fairway. He said, “Your heart sinks when you see it move, but it moved.  That’s part of what golf’s about.  There’s no one who is going to give me a penalty there but myself.” Keep your eye on this golfer in the upcoming PGA Championship, US Open, and The Open at Royal Birkdale in England. Savannah Bananas packed 102,000 BananaFans into Texas A&M’s Kyle Field Saturday It’s not football season yet, but you wouldn’t have known that in College Station, Texas on Saturday night.  Kyle Field is the massive football stadium home of the Fightin’ Texas Aggies. On Saturday night, the stadium was filled with 102,000 fun seekers as baseball’s crowd-pleasing Savannah Bananas arrived to play (of course) the Texas Tailgaters. “BananaBall” has been sweeping the nation with sell-out crowds everywhere they play.  This talented traveling team utilizes a number of “get the fans involved” humorous antics to help make baseball games more fun to watch. It’s baseball’s equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters – except on steroids.  Every Savannah Bananas baseball game becomes a party unto itself. The actual game (as if it really mattered) was won by the Texas Tailgaters 4-3. Speaking of baseball, NY Yankees’ legendary radio announcer John Sterling passed away early Monday at age 87 He was best known for his unabashed enthusiastic radio calls for his beloved New York Yankees.  John Sterling’s signature game-ending calls of “The….Yankees win!” were enjoyed by fans in the New York City metropolitan area for 36 years beginning in 1989. At one point, John Sterling didn’t miss a Yankees radio broadcast for 5,060 consecutive regular season games.  That was a span covering more than 30 seasons. The New York Yankees posted Monday, “John Sterling breathed life and excitement into Yankees games for 36 years while wearing his passion for baseball and the Yankees on his sleeve.  The symmetry between John and his audience was both undeniable and magical.” John Sterling was at the microphone for the last five New York Yankees World Series championships.  He retired in 2024 after the season ended.  Sterling required heart surgery early in 2026.    John Sterling’s enthusiasm and talent behind the mic will be sorely missed by all of us baseball fans. The post A Weekend of Basketball, Golf, and BananaBall appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

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