The Nets paid him expecting him to be an anchor, not a millstone. They bet big — nearly nine figures big — on him getting better. Instead, he’s gotten worse.
Kelce said on his latest episode of his podcast that while he "enjoyed" the movie, he "didn't feel ‘Christmas’ at all during the movie."
His brother, Jason, agreed, saying there was "zero Christmas spirit or anything resembling that."
Jason actually took it a step further.
"'Love Actually' might be the worst Christmas movie I've ever seen," he said. "I don't even know that it's up for debate."
The film follows different couples in the weeks leading up to the holiday in London, so by default, it could be labeled as a Christmas movie, but the brothers disagree. They both feel the same about "Die Hard" as well.
Perhaps Travis' girlfriend, Taylor Swift, doesn't love what her boyfriend said about the film though — back in 2014, she raved about the movie.
"If you look around, love actually is all around," she said at the time, according to Page Six.
Jason's wife, Kylie, hopped on the pod and dropped that it was "one of [her] favorite movies, period." So, it seems like both Kelce couples may be having some heated discussions during the holiday.
Jerry Jones is one of the most high profile and outspoken NFL team owners. The 82-year-old billionaire rarely shies away from sharing his thoughts on a variety of subjects, especially when it comes to topics related to professional football.
Earlier this year, the league announced that it reached a three-year deal with Netflix. The agreement gave the streaming giant the rights to the 2024 Christmas Day doubleheader. The game will be available exclusively to Netflix subscribers at no extra cost.
While Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, Jones hopes games will continue to be scheduled on an annual basis, no matter which day of the week the holiday happens to fall on.
"Christmas Day is Christmas Day, and it doesn’t wait around for what day it’s on. We want to be there on Christmas Day," Jones said during his latest appearance on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan.
"I would think the future is whatever day it’s on, we’re going to be there on Christmas."
Christmas falls on a Thursday in 2025. The NFL schedule makers will likely be prepared for that, considering the league already holds games on Thursday nights throughout the regular season. However, 2029 could present some challenges as the holiday falls on a Tuesday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers host the reigning back-to-back champion Kansas City Chiefs in the first of the two holiday games. The Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans also go head-to-head in the special holiday set of games. All four of those teams played their Week 16 games on Saturday to accommodate for competing on a Wednesday.
Music superstar and Houston native Beyoncé is expected to perform at halftime of the Texans-Ravens game at NRG Stadium.
The league has scheduled games on Christmas Day for the past few years. But for decades, the NBA traditionally dominated the holiday by scheduling several games throughout Christmas Day. While the NBA still schedules some of its marquee teams on the holiday, those games now have to compete with the NFL.
Netflix also bought the rights to stream at least one holiday game in 2025 and 2026, according to the terms of the multiyear deal with the league.
"Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live – tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more," Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a news release in May shortly after the Christmas Day package of games was announced.
"There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix."
But Netflix is hosting the special Christmas Day games under some pressure after many of its subscribers faced issues with the live stream feed during the recent fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
The original 12 college football playoff team rosters were worth more than most other teams across the country. Media and technology company On3 estimates the 12 rosters combined made up around $150 million.
"What's happened over the years is more and more money has come into these universities," Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said.
Tuberville, who is also a former college football coach, has legislation that aims to address what some argue is an unlevel playing field.
"The problem was, in 2021 the Supreme Court says, ‘OK, we see this lawsuit, and we agree with the athletes. They need to be able to make money off of name, image and likeness,’" Tuberville said. "It has gone downhill from there. And there were no rules put into it. It was just wild, wild West."
Schools where football players are earning large amounts of NIL money appear to be successful on the field. Most teams that qualified for the college football playoffs also had some of the highest valued rosters.
"There is a class within the class of schools across the country that have the best infrastructure, the best systems, the best fundraising, the best corporate deals involved," said Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports, an agency that oversees several collectives or donor groups across the country. "They would build a collective, and they would pool a bunch of really wealthy people together and build a budget and help support their coach for the sport they like the most."
Schools that took early advantage of forming collectives and those with an already large booster system were able to get ahead.
"Football really is the only sport that makes big money in intercollegiate athletics. Basketball's next, maybe a little baseball," Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl said. "The vast majority of the NIL money is and will be going to the sports that are making the money. And as a result, our Olympic sports are absolutely in jeopardy."
The 2024 season featured even higher stakes with the first extended playoff season. A 13-member college football playoff selection committee ranks the top 25 teams. Twelve schools received playoff spots, but not all were among the top 12 ranked teams. The group granted automatic spots to the five conference championship game winners, which held the highest ranking, among the nine major conferences. Those included the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 10, the Big 12 and the Southeastern Conference from the Power Four. Group of Five conferences were also eligible. Those include the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.
Power Four conference schools traditionally have larger revenue budgets and television viewership than other college athletic programs. A team from each of the Power Four conferences earned a playoff spot. Boise State of the Mountain West was the only team to qualify among the 62 schools across the Group of Five conferences. The team also has the highest valued roster in NIL money than any of the other 62 schools.
"Different programs that have risen up and have gone out there and made a big impact," Sine said. "Right now, money is driving college athletics and schools are looking for, ‘Where can I have the best opportunity to grow.’"
In the 2024 season, several teams changed conferences for access to more money and stronger competition. Southern Methodist University moved from the American to the ACC and ended up losing to Clemson in the conference championship game. Clemson has the most NIL money among ACC teams. Despite being ranked 16th, the team earned a playoff bid by winning the ACC championship game. The Tigers eventually lost in the first round of the playoffs to Texas. SMU also made the playoff bracket but lost in the first round to Penn State.
"It's about opportunity. And you're also starting to see there's a lot of conversation about what could be a Super League or two. And you're starting to see a lot of jockeying happening for, ‘Hey, I want to be there,’" Sine said.
Oklahoma and Texas moved to the SEC. Texas lost the championship game to Georgia but will play Big 12 champion Arizona State in the second round of the playoffs. SEC teams had some of the highest valued rosters. Georgia was among the teams with the most NIL money overall. Texas holds the most expensive roster and is also estimated to have one of the best recruiting classes for the 2025-2026 season.
"We were late to the party and compensating our student athletes properly. We're there now. It's just that we've got to sort of find a way to make it work for everybody," Pearl said. "I think we need some federal assistance so that each state is not doing their own thing, and we won't have a true NCAA champion."
Oregon won the Big Ten Championship game and went undefeated for the season. The Ducks were originally part of the Pac-12, which broke apart with teams joining the ACC, the Big 10 and the Big 12. Oregon will face another member of the Big Ten in the second round of the playoffs, the Ohio State Buckeyes. While Oregon has a better record, Ohio State topped the Big Ten in NIL money.
Arizona State is another former member of the Pac-12. It switched to the Big 12 for the 2024-2025 season. The Sun Devils won the Big 12 Championship game and received an automatic bid to the playoffs. However, their roster was not the most expensive in the conference. Colorado players received the most money. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders is also estimated to be the highest-paid NIL athlete in the country. He is the son of Colorado head coach and former dual NFL-MLB athlete Deion Sanders.
"There has been an elite crop of athletes since day one. They have always risen to the top and have always made the most money because they bring a lot more star power than necessarily the rest of the team does, or they spent a long time building their brand," Sine said.
Blueprint Sports oversees Colorado’s 5430 Alliance collective. While the team did not earn a playoff spot, high-caliber players are on the roster, including Sanders, who is projected to be a first-round draft pick. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter also earned recognition and millions in NIL for playing nearly every snap for the team as a wide receiver on offense and cornerback on defense.
"There are the star-studded athletes that have agencies working behind them to do the big deals with them. There are the up-and-coming athletes, and then there are the athletes that are just, you know, happy to be making anything from an NIL standpoint," Sine said.
Collectives have helped some of the playoff schools sign major deals. Ohio State’s 1870 Society has a partnership with supermarket chain Giant Eagle. Nike co-founder Phil Knight launched Oregon’s Division Street Collective. Tennessee quarterback Nico lamaleava landed an $8 million deal from the Spyre Sports collective before ever signing with the Volunteers.
"I think that where the red flag is popping up is there's a lot of money being paid to high school seniors that are coming into college athletics that have never played a down or a minute of college sports before, and you have no idea what you're going to get," Sine said.
The Texas One Fund combined five separate NIL entities and is thought to be the wealthiest in the nation. It has provided quarterback Quinn Ewers with a private jet and every scholarship offensive lineman with $50,000 annually.
"What we want to do is just try to make sure that everybody has that opportunity to get whatever they can get. But when you take money, you've got to sign a contract, and then you've got to be committed to that contract," Tuberville said. "I know for a fact that some universities, they bring Lamborghinis and Corvettes and put [them] out in front of their office building when they bring these recruits in. It is totally changed. It's big money. It's minor league sports, what it is now."
The NIL market is expected to be worth around $1.7 Billion in the 2024-2025 season according to Opendorse. $1.1 billion of that is going to college football. Men’s basketball players earned around $389 million. Women’s basketball players received around $75 million. Olympic athletes have generated around $134 million dollars.
The money making began back in July 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled the NCAA could not prevent student athletes from profiting by their name, image and likeness. Since the decision, the legal fights have continued between the NCAA and state legislatures.
"It's been really interesting to watch the competitive balance between the states," Rob Sine said, CEO of Blueprint Sports. "Tennessee is more aggressive, Florida wants to get more aggressive, and then Texas wants to get more aggressive. More state laws are passed and repealed and then passed again."
Blueprint Sports oversees several high-profile collectives across the country. Boosters, individual donors and businesses often choose to fund collectives which then pay athletes for appearances or endorsements. The groups are estimated to control around 80% of the NIL Market.
"The schools are already spread so thin. So, for a professional services unit, they're happy to know that, hey, we'll put staff on campus, that will represent them and the student athletes," Sine said. "The collective as a marketing agency, we’ll handle all the operations, we’ll provide that third party arm for athletic departments where we can do negotiations with agents, we can do negotiations with athletes we can handle if an athlete enters the transfer portal, terminating the contract, or things like that."
Blueprint Sports oversees collectives from across the country, including NC State’s One Pack NIL, Colorado’s 5430 Alliance, Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley United and Arkansas’ Arkansas Edge.
"Pennsylvania has different rules than Arkansas does or than North Carolina does," Sine said. "The NCAA guidelines are there to be exactly what is, set guidelines. Then you have to follow the state law in certain areas."
The first guidance from the NCAA in 2021 aligned with the Supreme Court decision. Athletes could be paid if state law allowed. The rules did attempt to prevent schools from using NIL money to recruit athletes.
"It was a lot easier," Sen. Tommy Tuberville R-Ala. said referencing how NIL laws have changed the recruiting process in recent years. "There's really no recruiting now. It's buying. It's totally different."
Before Tuberville was elected to the senate, he coached at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. He has since co-sponsored NIL legislation alongside Sen. Joe Manchin I-W.V. He plans to reintroduce or modify the Protecting Athletes, Schools and Sports Act (PASS Act) alongside a democrat in the next congress.
"In football and basketball, it's whoever's got the most money," Tuberville said.
California signed the first state NIL law in 2019. Several others began to follow suit. Eventually, legislatures began passing laws to circumvent NCAA guidance, to allow NIL money to be used for recruiting.
"Over the years, the money's gotten higher and higher and the student athletes are going, wait a minute, you know, why don't we get some of that money? Why don't we share in the revenue?" Tuberville said.
Tuberville says collectives have too much influence and that legislation like the PASS Act would help level the playing field. But collectives disagree.
"I don't think the federal government is the way to do it. I think it creates a whole lot more complications," Sine said. "I've watched those hearings before and there's not a lot of direction and bright ideas coming out of it. There's been a lot of drafts of bills. I think it'll be hard for them to get anything passed."
Not all university officials believe the federal government should stay out of the NIL debate.
"This is a free market economy. We live in the greatest country in the world. And I think it's great that our student athletes are now finally being able to be compensated for what they're worth But we need national standards in college sports. Every coach needs to know that when that ball gets tipped off, we're all playing by the same rules. And right now, we're not," Auburn Men’s Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl said.
Initial laws in Alabama and South Carolina reflected NCAA guidance that prevented using NIL money for recruitment. Other states began to pass laws that strayed from that guidance and allowed loopholes for third party donors to promise money for potential student athletes. That prompted the NCAA to shift its stance. In 2022, the Division 1 Board of Directors clarified that schools could request donors to provide funds for collectives, as long as those were not directed to a specific sport or athlete.
"Back in the day it was about graduation rates, or it was about, can you help me get to the NBA? Are we going to win championships? What's the culture of the program like? Those things were more important to parents," Pearl said. "Now it's become way more transactional. What is my market value? How much will I get if I go to that school? And of course, everybody's playing with a different budget right now. And that's what makes it somewhat unfair."
The updated NCAA guidance prompted Alabama and South Carolina to repeal initial NIL laws. Both states determined that other schools had more opportunities to recruit better players.
"It did give us a little bit more freedom," Pearl sad. "We'd like for conferences and the people that are guiding our programs to be able to be empowered. Right now, everything goes to the courts. They lose every lawsuit."
Texas passed its legislation in 2023, which strayed from NCAA guidance in allowing donations for specific sports. The law also permits perks and benefits for fans who donate to NIL collectives. A clause also made it illegal for the NCAA to punish a school for taking full advantage of NIL.
"A lot of people began to find a gray area. And so, donors or other organizations around the country were looking at this going, okay, well we're going to raise, instead of $100,000, we're going to raise $2 million or we're going to raise $20 million and we're going to really begin to build this and create a very competitive advantage because nobody's telling us we can't," Sine said.
New transfer portal rules have increased competition to find better players and pay out more money. A couple of months before the Supreme Court issued its NIL decision, the NCAA updated its transfer portal policy, allowing Division I athletes a on-time opportunity to transfer and compete immediately.
Originally, an athlete could transfer schools, but needed to sit out a year before playing, unless granted a waiver by the NCAA. In 2024, the association updated its guidance to allow for unlimited transfers as long as the athletes met certain academic eligibility requirements.
"Marshall University's football team, almost every one of them transferred. They had to drop out of a bowl game," Tuberville said. "Their coach left and they followed them."
Marshall was set to face Army in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. Instead, dozens of Marshall athletes entered the transfer portal. Army will now face Louisiana Tech instead.
"I understand families being in a situation where they may never make more money than they're making right now. And so that's what they're being guided by. We're teaching kids to flee, not fight."
UNLV Quarterback Matthew Sluka announced in September he would enter the transfer portal for a second time in his college career. Sluka’s agent said a $100,000 NIL payment was never fulfilled after he agreed to transfer to UNLV.
"Graduation rates have been destroyed because the combination of NIL and the transfer portal working together, these guys are free agents," Pearl sad. "In some cases the money can be significant."
State laws also differ on who can represent student athletes. In 2019, the Uniform Law Commission recommended states adopt the Uniform Athletes Agents Act. It allowed student athletes to hire agents with the intent of protecting them from unfair practices. At least 39 states have adopted the law but it has no mention of NIL. Some legislatures have added agent clauses to state laws.
"Players have agents, they have lawyers, they have accountants. That's what we fought against for many, many years. Don't sign with agents. Keep them out of your life. But college football, college sports have grown."
The NCAA will now allow universities to pay players directly, in addition to what they are already receiving through scholarships and third-party payments. Each school has a cap of up to $20.5 million across all sports. Schools are already directing most of that to football programs.
"We're going to lose a lot of football programs, basketball programs and women's sports if we don't come up with some kind of solution. The NCAA has got to work with us," Tuberville said. "There's really not a lot of answers when you got so many hands in the pie and everybody wants it their way."
The New Jersey Devils have owned their Hudson River rivals this year, and they had another W to celebrate outside of their 5-0 win over the New York Rangers.
Over five years ago, the Devils and Rangers, respectively, had the first and second overall picks of the NHL Draft, and the selections were simple.
Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko were long assumed to be the first and second picks that year, and that's exactly what happened.
However, that night during a Rangers draft party at Madison Square Garden, Ranger fans applauded the Devils selecting Hughes — whether it was because they preferred Kakko, or they were torn between the two players and didn't want to be torn between the two is up for discussion.
Well, the two players have had very opposite tenures with their respective teams. Hughes has become a Calder Trophy candidate, while Kakko not only didn't live up to the hype, but the Rangers also traded him earlier this month to the Seattle Kraken.
The two foes met in Newark on Monday, and it was the Rangers' first game against New Jersey since trading Kakko, and the Devils, and their fans had a field day.
On the scoreboard, the Devils played a video of one of the aforementioned Kakko celebrations by Rangers fans, and the camera immediately panned to Hughes, who couldn't help but laugh.
To add insult to injury, Hughes scored twice in the Devils' 5-0 victory. After the win, the Devils posted a video of that same video but photoshopped an "L' on MSG's scoreboard.
It's been a disappointing season for the Rangers, who after being Stanley Cup contenders last year may just miss out on the playoffs. Meanwhile, New Jersey can make a serious run for the Cup this year with Hughes leading the charge.
The Devils' 49 points this season are tied for the second-most in the league. The Devils beat the Rangers in the 2023 Playoffs, as well.
The National Lacrosse League has launched an investigation after a jarring scene broke out following a recent Halifax Thunderbirds game.
A video circulated online showing professional lacrosse player Tyson Bell engaged in a physical altercation with fans following Saturday's game against the Colorado Mammoth. At one point during the fight, Bell appeared to utilize his lacrosse stick.
The NLL acknowledged it was aware of what transpired after this past weekend's game.
"The National Lacrosse League is aware of an alleged incident between a player and spectator(s) following the Halifax at the Colorado game on December 21st," the NLL said in a statement released on Dec. 22. "The League will provide an update after it has completed its investigation."
The video shared to social media appeared to show Bell "attacking the fans with his fist before swinging his stick at them," per TMZ Sports.
Fans did appear to direct insults at the athletes as they made their way to the locker room. Bell's teammates eventually intervened and held him back in an attempt to deescalate the situation.
Colorado defeated Halifax on Saturday. Colorado forward Will Malcolm led the team with 10 points and seven goals in the 9-14 victory. Meanwhile, Bell did not record a goal during the game.
Other details surrounding the incident were not immediately known.
The Thunderbirds host the Albany FireWolves on Dec. 28 at Scotiabank Centre.
