The College Football Playoff Championship between Georgia and TCU is days away, and tickets to California’s SoFi Stadium are in high demand.

As of Thursday afternoon, the least-expensive tickets for Monday night’s game on Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, and StubHub ranged between $350 and $400, with some tickets in the lower bowl surpassing more than $8,000.

• On SI Tickets, the average price for a seat on Wednesday was posted at $1,427.
• Fans wanting a VIP or suite experience might have to shell out as much as $225,000 for their tickets. 

Total sales for the game by Wednesday afternoon were outpacing last year’s championship by over 16% compared to the same period in 2022, according to StubHub, an official ticket partner of both schools.

Unsurprisingly, the most tickets have been purchased from Texas (37%), California (19%), and Georgia (7%). Michigan and Arizona take up 3% of sales each. 

CFP Prices

With a few days left until kickoff, StubHub says total sales for all three College Football Playoff games have already equaled last year’s total — while total sales for the semifinals jumped 15% year-over-year.

The Peach Bowl, a playoff semifinal that saw Georgia survive against Ohio State, had some seats selling for north of $50,000.

The NBA players association saw both its assets and debts increase as it gears up for its next round of labor negotiations. 

NBPA assets hit a record $428.1 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, per its annual filing with the Department of Labor.

• That represented a 9.5% increase from the previous year.
• Net assets tumbled 21.9% to $209.9 million as liabilities grew from $122.3 million to $218.2 million.
• Most of that added debt came from increased licensing revenue withheld from players — money owed to players nearly doubled year-over-year to $199.9 million.

The NBPA and NBA are in the midst of negotiations around a new collective bargaining agreement. The league is seeking a harder salary cap, which the players oppose. 

Mind The Cap 

The cap for this season is $123.6 million, but teams may exceed that figure to retain players through contract extensions. Teams over the cap are not only limited in trades and signings, but have to pay a luxury tax.

All but four teams are currently over the cap. The Golden State Warriors are $78.4 million in excess, followed by the Brooklyn Nets at $70.9 million.

League revenues are expected to grow substantially with the next media rights package, which could triple the current deals with Disney and TNT that currently pay the league $2.6 billion annually.

Get ready to play “Fortnite” on PlayStation 5 — in your car.

Sony and Honda are working with the iconic game’s makers on an electric vehicle, the “Afeela,” which will incorporate technology from Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.

• Sony Honda Mobility, the two companies’ joint venture, revealed the Afeela prototype at the CES conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. 
• Yasuhide Mizuno, CEO of SHM, said the company expects to take pre-orders in 2025 and ship the first cars to North American customers in spring 2026. 
• The executive’s presentation showed screens on the back of each front seat, as well as one on the dashboard.

The vehicle will incorporate gaming into its entertainment system. Previous reports suggested that the Afeela would have a built-in PS5 — and one of the screens displayed in the presentation was “Horizon Forbidden West,” with “captured on PS5” visible on the screen.

Honda Revs Up

Honda will provide the automotive expertise for the Afeela at a time when it faces an uncertain future in racing. 

The company currently partners with Red Bull on its Formula 1 vehicles, but the F1 champions will be bringing their construction and operations fully in-house by 2026. Honda has expressed interest in remaining part of the series after that date.

Pickleball is coming off of its best year yet. 

The sport, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic, saw more than 36.5 million people in the U.S. play between August 2021 and August 2022, according to a report by the Association of Pickleball Professionals. Before the report, around 5 million people played pickleball.

• About 14% of Americans played at least once between August 2021 and August 2022. 
• Over 8.5 million people played more than eight times during that same span.

Major League Pickleball will look to capitalize on the growth in 2023 with a new format and schedule. The league will hold events in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Southern California.

The 2023 MLP season will have $5 million in prize money and payouts up for grabs.

Star-Studded League 

Pickleball’s popularity has drawn the interest of investors and the world’s best athletes. 

In 2022, LRMR Ventures, the family office of LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter, purchased an MLP team. The purchasing group also included NBA stars Draymond Green and Kevin Love, investment firm SC Holdings, Relevent Sports Group co-owner and CEO Daniel Sillman, and SpringHill Company CMO Paul Rivera.

Tom Brady and six-time tennis Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters purchased an expansion MLP team that will begin play in 2023. Thirty Five Ventures, the investment firm founded by Kevin Durant, also has an expansion franchise.

Editor’s note: SC Holdings is an investor in Front Office Sports.