Afternoon Edition |
April 22, 2025 |
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Shannon Sharpe, his lawyer, and his accuser’s lawyer have lobbed explosive claims throughout Monday and Tuesday, ranging from a rape accusation to allegations of blackmail and extortion, and then the admission of a $10 million settlement offer. Here is what we know.
—Or Moyal, Eric Fisher, Colin Salao, and David Rumsey
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Pro Football Hall of Famer and ESPN personality Shannon Sharpe is facing a $50 million civil lawsuit alleging that he sexually assaulted a woman during their nearly two-year relationship, which began in 2023. The timeline of events has shifted quickly since the suit was filed late Sunday.
- On Monday, Sharpe refuted the allegations, and his attorney released a 44-page document featuring text-message exchanges between him and the plaintiff. The statement calls the lawsuit “a blatant and cynical attempt to shake down Mr. Sharpe for millions of dollars. It is filled with lies, distortions, and misrepresentations—and it will not succeed.” Sharpe appeared on First Take in his regular time slot Monday.
- On Tuesday morning, the plaintiff’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, released an audio file of Sharpe threatening to “choke the shit” out of her. In an email to reporters, Buzbee said, “The attached audio reveals the nature of Sharpe’s relationship with Jane Doe immediately prior to the alleged assault.” It’s not clear whether the audio represents a complete conversation between her and Sharpe or in what context the conversation occurred.
- Sharpe and his lawyer, Lanny Davis, responded by accusing the woman’s lawyer of racism, outing the woman as an adult-content creator, and saying they would be suing the pair for defamation. Sharpe released a video on Instagram calling the suit a “shakedown” on Tuesday.
- During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Davis said the released audio was “edited in a warped and distorted way.” He challenged Buzbee to send the recording to a neutral third party who could determine if it was edited or tampered with. He also revealed that Sharpe had offered the plaintiff up to $10 million in mediation to settle the matter, which she declined.
Make sure to check back with FOS as we continue to monitor this breaking story.
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Lions president Rod Wood is quite clear about what he thinks about the rival Packers hosting this year’s National Football League Draft in Green Bay.
“There’s no way Green Bay will come close [in attendance]. They’ll finish second, or as I said offstage, they’ll finish third like they did last year,” Wood said at the Detroit Economic Club, also referring to the Packers’ 2024 finish in the NFC North division.
Jabs at a rival team aside, Wood is already pushing to bring the draft back to the Motor City. Detroit drew an event-record 775,000 people last year, celebrating the ongoing rebirth of the city’s downtown and representing one of the largest sports events in Michigan history.
“I’m trying to get the NFL to consider bringing it back, because I don’t think they’ll ever top it,” he said. “I’ve mentioned to [NFL commissioner] Roger [Goodell], ‘How could you ever do better than this?’ I think it’s probably going to be a few years from now. A lot of cities are bidding on it. … It’ll be competitive. But I know when they reconsider Detroit, whenever that is, it’s not going to be tough for the league to support bringing it back here.”
Schedule Watching
The Lions, meanwhile, also figure to be a major part of the league’s upcoming schedule release. Detroit previously made the leap into a top national draw, a status expected to go this season to the Commanders. The Lions’ 2025 season, however, features home games against the perennially popular Cowboys and Steelers, and road games at the Super Bowl LIX champion Eagles, Bengals, Chiefs, Commanders, Rams, and Ravens.
All of that is in addition to the normal rotation of home-and-away intradivisional games against the Bears, Packers, and Vikings, as well as several other lesser contests. The Lions are coming off two straight division titles and entered last season’s playoffs as the top seed, but they were upset by the Commanders.
“I would expect that you’ll see us on prime time a lot,” Wood said. “We have a road schedule that’s maybe as tough as anything, at least on paper. … If you like Sunday 1 p.m. [ET] games, you’re going to be very disappointed because there aren’t going to be a lot of those.”
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Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images
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The NBA regular season got off to a slow start ratings-wise, which triggered significant conversation about the league’s declining viewership. The same can’t be said about the NBA playoffs.
The opening weekend of the 2025 NBA postseason drew 4.4 million viewers across eight games on ESPN and TNT platforms, the most-watched opening weekend in 25 years, the league announced Tuesday. It’s also up 17% compared to last year. It’s worth noting that the NBA’s Sunday slate fell on Easter.
The three most-watched games were all on ABC, the NBA’s lone national over-the-air broadcast partner. ABC games averaged 5.66 million viewers, led by the 6.69 million who watched the defending champion Celtics defeat the Magic. That game, which peaked at 8 million viewers, tipped off at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.
The second-most-watched game was Timberwolves vs. Lakers, which aired Saturday night on ABC and averaged 5.84 million viewers.
The six-game slate on ESPN platforms, which included the three ABC games and three ESPN games, averaged 4.49 million viewers—the highest in the network’s history. TNT averaged 4.13 million viewers for its two-game slate Sunday night (Heat vs. Cavaliers, Warriors vs. Rockets, up 23% from last year).
The league’s regular-season viewership numbers finished down 2% after double-digit declines through the first two months. ABC ended the season with 10% growth, but cable channels drove the dip with ESPN-exclusive games down 7% and TNT games down 8%. On top of dwindling cable subscribers, cable channels do not have exclusive broadcasting rights in local markets.
The NBA will add NBC and Amazon as television partners next year—losing TNT in the process—as the league’s new, 11-year, $77 billion media-rights deal kicks in.
No Flex
The most exciting series so far has been the Western Conference matchup between the Clippers and Nuggets. It was the only Game 1 decided by fewer than 10 points, and through two games, the teams are separated by just one point.
However, Game 3 of the series is currently scheduled to air at 10 p.m. ET on NBA TV, which caused several pundits to suggest that the NBA should consider flexing Game 3 of the series Thursday to TNT in favor of Game 3 of the Thunder vs. Grizzlies series scheduled on TNT.
A source told Front Office Sports that the league has no intention of adjusting its schedule.
Game 1 of Memphis vs. OKC, a 51-point blowout, drew 4.45 million viewers Sunday on ABC (the least watched of ABC’s three-game slate). The Clippers vs. Nuggets averaged 3.64 million Saturday on ESPN.
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Rory McIlroy is giving the PGA Tour’s annual event in the Big Easy a big boost in his first start since winning The Masters Tournament to complete golf’s Grand Slam.
Another attendance record is expected to be broken at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where McIlroy and Shane Lowry are returning to defend their title in the special two-man team event, which tees off Thursday at TPC Louisiana.
Last year, a record 116,000 fans attended the tournament as McIlroy played it for the first time, splitting the $2.57 million first-place prize with Lowry.
“The Rory-Shane pairing last year gave us a boost, and is certainly doing it again this year,” Zurich Classic tournament director Steve Worthy told Front Office Sports. General-admission tickets “are tracking way ahead of last year,” he said, but the event relies heavily on fans buying tickets the day of.
McIlroy and Lowry are good friends and have both competed under the Irish flag at the Olympics, even though McIlroy is from Northern Ireland.
After last year’s success, and with McIlroy indicating he would defend his title, tournament organizers expanded their VIP hospitality offerings by 20% this year, and it is nearly sold out of its roughly 3,000 tickets, which range from $185 to $275, available each day.
“There are a lot of people wanting to come see Rory, even though they’re not a golf fan,” Worthy said. “It’s not the food and beverage experience and everything. It’s just, ‘O.K., I’ve heard the story, I know more about him. I’m not a golf fan, but I’ve heard all of this, and now I just want to go see him.’ So, I think we’ve definitely had part of that kick in since Augusta.”
Rory the Ratings Magnet
The final round of the 2024 Zurich Classic averaged 1.85 million viewers on CBS, which was up 26% compared to 2023.
Another strong showing from McIlroy and Lowry would likely lead to another boost in TV ratings, continuing a robust run for the PGA Tour this season.
On Sunday, the final round of the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head averaged 4.36 million viewers on CBS, the most for the tournament in 23 years. McIlroy’s win in Augusta boosted final-round Masters ratings by 33% to 12.7 million viewers.
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Fenway Park ⬆ The home of Major League Baseball’s Red Sox will hold its first boxing event since 1956 following a deal with Nolan Bros. Boxing Promotions to bring an 11-bout professional fight card to the iconic ballpark. The June 7 event will be held in Fenway Park’s Big Concourse. Over the past two decades, Fenway Sports Group has aggressively brought a series of events in sports such as ice hockey, college football, and hurling to the stadium.
Open Championship ⬆ This year’s tournament at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland—Rory McIlroy’s home nation—is expecting attendance to reach 278,000, which would be the most for an edition of the major not played at St Andrews (in 2022, 290,000 turned out to the Old Course). The R&A announced Tuesday that there were more than one million applications for tickets to July’s event, commonly known as the British Open. In 2019, Royal Portrush drew 237,750 fans.
WWE ⬆ The wrestling promotion announced Tuesday that WrestleMania 41 drew 124,693 fans at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas over two days, the largest gate for any event in WWE history. The company also announced 114% viewership growth for the event over last year, a credit to its partnership with Netflix, which carried the premium live event in 37 countries. WrestleMania streamed on Peacock in the U.S.
Hornets ⬇ The franchise was voted “the league’s worst organization,” according to an anonymous NBA players’ survey conducted by The Athletic. Of the 113 players surveyed, 38.1% voted for Charlotte. The Hornets, who were sold by Michael Jordan in 2023 for $3 billion, have made the playoffs just three times since the 2004–2005 season, when they returned to the league as an expansion team under the Bobcats moniker.
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