Just two seasons into the Coach Prime era, Colorado is giving Deion Sanders a contract extension and making him one of the highest-paid coaches in college football.

Sanders will make $10 million in 2025, with his salary increasing to $12 million by 2029, as part of the new five-year deal that will total $54 million. That’s nearly double what Sanders had been making. Colorado initially signed Sanders to a five-year, $29.5 million contract ahead of the 2023 season. His new $10.8 million average annual salary ranks fourth in the nation among college football coaches.

The Buffaloes are 13–12 under Sanders, after improving to 9–4 in 2024 following a disappointing 4–8 record in 2023. Colorado lost to Big 12 rival BYU in the Alamo Bowl this past postseason. In January, Sanders spoke with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about the head coaching vacancy in Dallas.

Colorado is moving on without star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Coach Prime’s son, and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, who are both projected to be selected among the top 10 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, which kicks off April 24.

Prime Time

Since arriving in Boulder, Sanders has helped revive a Colorado football team that was struggling on and off the field.

Home attendance and season ticket sales have spiked for the Buffaloes, and Colorado has become a popular draw on national TV. 

Sanders recently announced his desire to start a new trend in college football by organizing a spring game against another Power 4 opponent. Colorado and Syracuse requested permission from the NCAA to conduct the event, but there has been no official decision yet.

On the field, Colorado has high hopes around incoming freshman Julian Lewis, a four-star recruit out of Carrollton, Ga., who is one of the nation’s top quarterback prospects.

As Duke rolls into the Elite Eight of men’s March Madness, the standout performance of star freshman forward Cooper Flagg is not only helping draw huge TV ratings—it’s also showing why the tanking conversation in the NBA won’t die down.

Flagg, the consensus No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft, scored 30 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 6 assists, and blocked 3 shots in Duke’s 100–93 victory over Arizona on Thursday night in the Sweet 16. 

His showcase, which was no doubt being watched by most pro scouts and GMs, came just hours after NBA commissioner Adam Silver once again addressed the league’s issues around teams tanking for better draft picks.

“There’s no doubt that incentives change at the end of a season, especially when you have a draft that’s perceived—not just with the top pick but maybe the top few picks—as an incredibly strong draft,” Silver said after the league’s board of governors meeting. “That’s a legitimate way of rebuilding in this league.”

Earlier this month, the 76ers and Thunder both rested key starters when they played each other, as Oklahoma City will own Philadelphia’s pick if it falls outside the top six selections. The NBA also issued a $100,000 fine to the Jazz for violating the league’s Player Participation Policy by not making forward Lauri Markkanen available for a March 5 game.

“What we’re ultimately selling is competition, so I don’t like to see it,” Silver said. “I understand it. I understand what the motivations are for a team.” He added that the “worst part of my job is fining and chasing teams and seemingly getting into coaches’ decisions about minutes and everything else.”

Current NBA Draft lottery rules give the worst three teams in the league an equal 14% chance of winning the top pick. Currently, four teams are within 4.5 games of each other at the bottom of the standings: the Jazz, Wizards, Hornets, and Pelicans. 

“I understand why there is a relegation system in other leagues because it comes down to incentives,” Silver said. 

Once the regular season ends, the NBA Draft lottery will be held on May 12.

The Rays begin their unplanned sojourn Friday into Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the Yankees, but the hope that typically comes with a home opener is joined with additional pressure on the club. 

The situation was already difficult for the Rays between the forced shift to the minor league-sized ballpark because of Hurricane Milton last fall, and the club’s recent decision to walk away from a deal for a planned $1.3 billion stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla. Now, the Rays and owner Stu Sternberg are being called out, both internally and externally. 

Pinellas County commissioner Chris Latvala is now pursuing reimbursement for costs during the development and approval of public bonds for the stadium. The county was due to provide $312.5 million toward the ballpark before the deal’s demise, and Latvala was among those voting to approve the bonds. Since then, though, he has become an outspoken critic of Sternberg.

“Since Stu Sternberg and the Rays have made numerous comments claims to have the money for the deal they signed, but he has appeared to walk away from, I have asked Pinellas County staff to prepare a letter asking him to reimburse our residents for expenses we incurred,” Latvala said in a social media post. 

It’s not yet certain, though, whether the reimbursement effort will succeed or if there is a legal basis for it, and a specific cost estimate has not yet been finalized. There is support for the idea, however, from St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, who already has said the city is prepared to move on without the Rays.

“We have spent a lot of money. The hours of staff, legal, over a year, nights, weekends, you name it. A lot has been put into this,” Welch said. “So, I do think [Latvala’s] notion has merit, and we’ll consider it.”

League Push

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, meanwhile, is similarly saying that it’s incumbent on Sternberg and the Rays to bring forth a new plan for the club’s long-term future. The league has consistently affirmed its support for remaining in the Tampa area, not surprising since it’s now the No. 11 U.S. media market. Manfred personally lobbied last fall to secure political support for the public stadium bonds, only to see the Rays walk away from the agreement. 

“I think the most important point now is that the Rays and Mr. Sternberg have to come up with a ‘go forward’ plan, what it is they intend to do,” Manfred said in an interview this week with SiriusXM Radio. “I don’t think it’s realistic to play indefinitely in a repaired [Tropicana Field]. But they’ve got to tell the other clubs, and I think they’ve got to tell their fan base that they have a plan for making it work in Tampa Bay.”

Calls for Sternberg to sell the Rays have risen steadily in this last month, as rumors grew that the club would abandon the stadium deals, and then were confirmed. Rays officials, however, have insisted the franchise is not for sale.

The United Football League’s 2025 season is set to begin as scheduled Friday, even without a labor deal in place between the spring football entity and its players.

The offseason for the UFL, the first full one for the league after an early 2024 merger of the revived XFL and U.S. Football League, had originally been intended to build on a series of viewership and awareness gains last year. Recent weeks, however, have been colored by a series of rising issues, with players pushing for increased salaries and year-round health-care coverage.

The rising threat of a players’ strike grew to the point that media partners Fox and ESPN began to make alternate broadcast plans if games were lost. In the final hours, though, before the 2025 league debut Friday in Houston with a primetime game between the Roughnecks and the St. Louis Battlehawks, game activities and other league functions were proceeding largely as normal. 

“The teams are preparing as we speak, and an interruption is not expected,” said an industry source. 

The United Football Players Association, which represents the UFL players, confirmed later Friday that it will play in the opening games. The union, however, is appealing directly to key league investor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, arguing that the UFL has “refused to bargain with us in good faith.”

“From what we’ve seen, it’s clear the UFL is willing to invest in everyone but the players—the guys who are suiting up every week and putting their bodies on the line,” a union letter to Johnson read in part.

Fox, also a 50% equity holder in the UFL, will air the kickoff game Friday, and the network’s various broadcast, cable, and social platforms actively promoted the game during the morning and early afternoon—including live, on-air interviews with a variety of league coaches and executives. UFL president and CEO Russ Brandon was among that run of publicity, appearing on Fox and Friends early in the day, where he made no mention of the ongoing labor situation. 

Instead, he touted what he sees as a fast-rising level of talent among the players, growing fan interest in the league, and the support of the network that is the UFL’s largest shareholder. 

“We’re very fortunate to have the entire Fox team around this, and they’ve really just elevated what we’ve become,” Brandon said. 

In addition to the labor matter, the UFL is looking to establish itself as a fixture of the spring sports calendar. This will be the fourth consecutive year with spring football being played between the UFL, now in its second season, and its predecessor leagues.

Editors’ note: RedBird Capital has an ownership stake in the UFL. It is also the parent company of RedBird IMI, the majority owner of Front Office Sports.