Afternoon Edition

September 23, 2026

Former LSU players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris may not be eligible to play in college football or in the NFL this season. But they do have at least one option to make money playing football: the UFL. The league confirmed to Front Office Sports that the players are eligible to participate in the upcoming season, which starts next April.

—Amanda Christovich and Mark Maske

First Up

President Donald Trump is expected to appear at the Presidents Cup on Sunday during the final round of the four-day team golf competition outside Chicago.
A group led by retired business executive Bill Bakk wants to bring the WNBA’s 19th franchise to Vancouver in 2031.
Investor Drew Weatherford says youth sports’s tournament system is an “inefficient way” of running a network of anything, and that private equity can fix it.
ESPN and NFL Network data analyst Cynthia Frelund spoke with FOS about some of the wins and losses she’s experienced in investing over the years.

Dae’Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris Can Play in UFL This Spring

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Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris may not be eligible to play in college football or in the NFL this season. But they do have at least one option to make money playing football: the UFL.

On Wednesday, the league confirmed to Front Office Sports that the players are eligible to participate in the upcoming season, which starts in April 2027.

“It’s a great [question],” UFL co-owner Mike Repole told FOS’s Dan Roberts. “I mean, listen, we’re a pro league, right? I mean, at the end of the day, anybody who plays in the United Football League shouldn’t be able to go back to college, right? … We want those college players that can’t make the NFL [to] come to the United Football League. … If they’re looking for a path back into the NFL … I think we have 50-plus players right now on NFL rosters that over the last three years have played.”

In August, Wright and Harris joined a Louisiana state eligibility lawsuit challenging the implementation of the NCAA’s new “age-based” eligibility policy. Their case was one of many brought by players arguing they should have a fifth year based on this policy. But it made waves because the players signed NFL contracts and appeared on NFL rosters over the summer.

Wright was waived by the Cleveland Browns after their second preseason game, while Harris was waived by the New Orleans Saints in early August.

The minimum NFL rookie salary is $885,000, although players on practice squads are only paid just over $13,000 each week they’re on the practice squad.

Most NFL players have non-guaranteed salaries and must be on a team’s roster to be paid the salaries in their contracts for that season. It is believed Harris and Wright received either a small signing bonus or no signing bonus when they were signed by NFL teams as undrafted rookies in the spring.

In 2025, UFL players signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the league that increased minimum salaries—for players who play the full season—to $64,000.

LSU agreed to sign both players—sparking the football power conferences to implement pro player bans attempting to prevent them from returning to college. Despite receiving an injunction to play, the pair never suited up for the Tigers. Kiffin opted not to roster the players after the SEC sued LSU and Kiffin. The conference later escalated that lawsuit by filing court documents threatening to expel LSU.

Wright and Harris found themselves without a place to play football. Shortly after LSU decided not to roster them, the NFL told its teams last week that it would not allow the two players back on NFL teams for the 2026 season. They would have to wait until next year, when they would be considered undrafted free agents for the 2027 NFL season.

Last week, Wright’s agent Drew Rosenhaus told FOS that Wright was “looking at his legal options.” Meanwhile, the NFLPA said it would “explore all options.” Rosenhaus has said that Wright never actually signed an agreement with LSU.

Rosenhaus did not directly address the prospect on Wednesday of Wright playing in the UFL or comment on other aspects of the case, telling FOS that there were no new developments.

Repole said the UFL prepares players to be ready for NFL offseason practices and training camps if they’re signed.

“I think that our players are developed, prepared,” he said. “They’re in great shape. They play from February to June 15, [which] is our championship. I think that makes a big difference when they go to [the NFL].”

While the UFL is an option, it’s unclear whether the players are interested. The UFL similarly offered eligibility to former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who sued the NCAA for eligibility despite engaging in gambling activities but who ultimately chose not to play for the Red Raiders this year. The NFL declined to hold a supplemental draft for Sorsby, locking him out of the league for this season as well. Sorsby has not signed with a UFL team.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS LIVE

The Voice That Shaped Sports Talk

The pioneering Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is one of the godfathers of modern sports radio.

Once known for his long radio run with Mike Francesa on WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog, he now hosts Mad Dog Unleashed and operates his own channel on SiriusXM Radio. His recent regular appearances on ESPN’s First Take have introduced him to a new audience of sports fans nationwide. Now he’s bringing his perspective to Tuned In.

Hear from Russo next month on what it takes to stay relevant in an ever-changing industry. Get your ticket now before they’re gone.

ONE BIG FIG

NFL’s Week 2 Bounceback

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27.2 million

That’s the viewership number Fox Sports said it averaged for last Sunday’s late afternoon national broadcast of the Cowboys’ 37–20 win over the Commanders. It was the most-watched game telecast so far in this season on any network, beating the 25.7 million viewership average that NBC Sports had for its Sunday Night Football season opener on Sept. 13 between the Cowboys and Giants.

CBS Sports also saw a bounceback after a marked audience decline in the Week 1 schedule. The network posted its most-watched Week 2 singleheader, averaging 19.34 million viewers, led by the Patriots’ 20–3 win over the Steelers in the early Sunday afternoon window.

LOUD AND CLEAR

CFP Expansion

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“I sure feel like it’s headed towards 24.”

—Alabama AD Greg Byrne said in an interview with Front Office Sports in response to a question about College Football Playoff expansion and how inevitable a 24-team Playoff is. Byrne discussed several issues facing college sports now, including the rapid growth of NIL, conference realignment, and what makes a great coach.

Byrne said if the Playoff expands, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is trying to ensure every school has to play 10 Power 4 games during the season. “It is ridiculous that some are playing that many and some aren’t, and the teams that are playing 10 should be heavily rewarded for doing so. But I also think that 24 is a lot of teams,” he said.

A final decision on whether to change the format for the 2027 season must be reached by Dec. 1.

STATUS REPORT

Two Up, Two Down

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Minnesota Lynx ⬆ The WNBA team has officially locked in the No. 1 seed for the playoffs. That’s despite losing to the Indiana Fever 96–77 on Tuesday night. The Lynx needed a win or a Golden State Valkyries loss to secure the top spot, but with rookie guard Olivia Miles out with an injury, they struggled from the first quarter. The Lynx will play their final regular-season game Thursday in a rematch against the Fever at Target Center.

Premier Lacrosse League ⬆ The PLL Championship earned the highest ratings for a championship game in league history, averaging 405,000 viewers on ABC. On Sunday, the Philadelphia Waterdogs earned their second title in franchise history, defeating the Denver Outlaws 14–4 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. The 2026 season was the most watched in the league’s eight-year history, with 265,000 average viewers on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2, marking a 22% increase from the previous season’s figures. It also set a single-game viewership record this August when the New York Atlas and California Redwoods drew 612,000 average viewers.

Rockies ⬇ Colorado lost its 100th game of the season Tuesday night, falling 7–2 to the Diamondbacks. With the defeat, the Rockies became the first MLB club to hit the triple-digit loss mark in four consecutive seasons since the Mets of 1962–65, the initial years of that franchise as an expansion team. There had been hope over the summer that the Rockies could avoid the ignominious mark, but a 12–33 slide since Aug. 3 sank the club to the new low. Last offseason’s hires of president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and GM Josh Byrnes also have not sparked a turnaround. “You learn your hardest lessons in difficulty in life,” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. “This is not easy.”

Colorado ⬇ Elsewhere in the state, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said at a Tuesday press conference that he had dismissed multiple players from the program for “conduct detrimental to the team” following the Buffaloes’ 41–7 loss at Northwestern. After the defeat, Sanders lamented some of his players “laughing” in the locker room postgame, and on Tuesday he said he regretted not putting his “foot down” on poor behavior last season. Colorado safety Ben Finneseth also made an appearance at the press conference and apologized for a viral social media video in which he was captured saying Northwestern’s temporary stadium “fucking sucks” and “sounds like a fucking library” before the game.