The Super Bowl is over and the NFL is shifting gears — the league wants to finalize upcoming media rights by next month.

The 2021 salary cap figure, which was $198 million per team last year, is scheduled to come out in March. The NFL hopes to have its broadcasting deals set beforehand.

• Fox and CBS will keep Sunday afternoon games and NBC will hold its Sunday Night Football package.
• ESPN+ is being considered to take over DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package.
• Disney has expressed interest in being part of the Super Bowl rotation. 

Fox is the current owner of broadcast rights for the Thursday night package, but the deal ends in 2023. Finding Thursday Night Football a new home has contributed to the delay in finalizing media rights, per CNBC. It’s been speculated that Amazon, which already has Thursday night streaming rights, will take over.

Rumor has it that the league’s new agreements for media rights could reach $100 billion for 10 years, $98 billion for seven years or $96 billion for eight years.

Last year, the NFL struck a 10-year labor agreement with the NFL Players Association to include more postseason games along with a 17-game regular season schedule. With the addition of more content, the NFL is looking to cash in.

PepsiCo has benefitted from consumers hoarding snacks and sports drinks like Gatorade during the pandemic.

Overall, the company reported $22.46 billion in Q4 revenue – an 8.8% uptick in net growth. It expects a “mid-single digit increase” in revenue through the rest of 2021. The North American beverages category saw a 19% increase in operating profit.

Gatorade bolstered its reach during Q4 by adding to its roster of athletes. NBA star Damian Lillard inked a multi-year deal with the brand in December, and Matthew Wolff became the first professional golfer since Tiger Woods to endorse the sports drink.

Much of the company’s profit growth also came from its international presence.

• PepsiCo operating profit grew by 80% in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, largely due to major cost reductions and its acquisition of Pioneer Foods. 
• China, Asia Pacific, and Australia and New Zealand operating profit grew by 7%, as increased spending on marketing appeared to pay dividends, overcoming logistical expenses related to the acquisition of Chinese snack brand Be & Cheery.

“We ended the year on a strong note with our global beverage business having accelerated while our global snacks and food business remained resilient in the fourth quarter,” said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta.

A week after his sexist comments about women, Yoshiro Mori is reportedly stepping down as president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee on Friday. 

When answering a question on the Olympic Committee’s goal of increasing female membership to 40%, Mori said, “You have to regulate speaking time to some extent, or else we’ll never be able to finish.”

“Women have a strong sense of competition,” he went on. “If one person raises their hand, others probably think, ‘I need to say something too.’ That’s why everyone speaks.”

• Mori apologized after swift backlash, and the Tokyo Olympic Committee issued a statement on its support for diversity. 
• The former prime minister initially said he would not resign.

It’s still unclear if the Tokyo Olympics, now scheduled for July, will happen at all. Officials have insisted the event will go on regardless of the pandemic. 

A recent poll found that 61% of people in Japan want the games to be postponed or canceled, and only 8% believe that they should happen in front of a live audience.