With their 31–27 semifinal win over No. 6 Ole Miss on Thursday night, the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes just earned themselves their first-ever College Football Playoff national championship berth—and $20 million to boot. 

That’s because the ACC allows its members to keep 100% of the prize money they earn during the CFP—and is the only power conference to do so.

The College Football Playoff distributes more than $100 million in prize payouts to conferences every year based on how well their teams fare in the postseason: $4 million for each school that gets into the CFP, $4 million for advancing to the quarterfinals, $6 million for advancing to the semifinals, and $6 million for advancing to the national championship. Conferences then distribute those funds at their discretion.

Last season, the ACC began a new success incentives program, which allows schools to keep the money they earn in the postseason for football as well as men’s and women’s basketball. Last year, SMU and Clemson both pocketed the $4 million they earned for appearing in the CFP. Miami, which has earned $20 million total, will also pocket the money as part of that program. 

Miami also gets the full $3 million allotted to cover travel expenses for each round. That’s almost an extra $3 million, given that they won’t have to go anywhere to play in the national championship—the game will be held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Jan. 19. (And yes, Miami is the first program in the CFP era to play in its home stadium during a national championship.)

Meanwhile, Big Ten and Big 12 schools are required by their conferences to share the money equally beyond travel expenses. SEC schools take a set amount between $3 million and $4 million for each round, as well as travel expenses; the rest is put in a pool for all SEC schools to share.

MIAMI — Just over 24 hours before the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement was set to expire, union vice president Breanna Stewart made it clear where negotiations stand. 

“We’re not coming to an agreement by tomorrow,” Stewart said. “I can tell you that.” 

The Jan. 9 deadline was the result of a second extension agreed to on Nov. 30, minutes before the CBA was set to expire. When asked for clarity on whether a third extension would be agreed to, Stewart said she was told there would be no extension. 

“We’re just going to continue to negotiate in good faith,” Stewart said Thursday. 

A league source with knowledge of negotiations told Front Office Sports that a deal is not expected to be reached by the deadline and there will be no extension. The source confirmed Stewart’s assessment that negotiations would enter a period of status quo.

Stewart—who is also the co-founder of the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled—has been one of the leading voices expressing concerns over what players have perceived as a lack of urgency on the WNBA’s part throughout negotiations. The league has not yet responded to a proposal submitted by the union roughly two weeks ago. 

In that proposal the union was seeking roughly 30% of gross revenue and a salary cap around $10.5 million, sources confirmed to Front Office Sports. The league believes that proposal would result in $700 million in losses for the WNBA over the duration of the CBA, according to a report from ESPN. When asked what her confidence level was regarding the impending deadline, WNBPA vice president Kelsey Plum paused before letting out a hearty laugh. 

“I wish I could give you a better answer,” Plum said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean a lockout … It doesn’t necessarily mean a strike … It’s probably more of a status quo thing and negotiate in good faith.” 

To Plum’s point, both sides failing to agree to a third extension does not mean a work stoppage would immediately follow. The union elected to authorize a strike in December in a vote that included 93% participation from players; 98% voted to let the WNBPA executive committee call a strike when necessary. Under the terms of the CBA extension agreed to on Nov. 30, the union would not be able to call a strike without first terminating the extended agreement. 

If a third extension isn’t agreed to and neither side initiates a work stoppage, negotiations would enter a period of status quo, meaning the sides would continue negotiating while maintaining the conditions of the current CBA. In this scenario the union could strike with no advance notice, though Stewart said Thursday no strike was imminent.

“The strike authorization was something for us to show that we’re all on the same side,” Stewart said. “We all are understanding where we’re at. It’s not something that we’re like going to do right this second. But being able to have that in our back pocket.” 

Though Stewart said no strike was coming “right this second,” on Thursday the WNBPA launched a collective of “WNBPA Player Hubs,” a global network of training facilities offering players access during the WNBA offseason. 

Stewart emphasized the players’ desire to continue productive negotiations with the league. Any in-person negotiations would likely have to be in Miami where Unrivaled will be stationed until March. Most players active in leadership are in Florida for the Unrivaled season.

The union originally opted out of the CBA—which was set to run through 2027—in October of 2024, giving both sides a year to negotiate a new agreement. Stewart said the most frustrating part of negotiations was that both sides “didn’t do our best” in the early stages. 

“We just have to get players, owners, everybody in the same room,” Stewart said. “Obviously you have the PA side, then you have the W side. But you also want the [owners’ Labor Relations Committee] and the [union executive committee] those people having these conversations because sometimes it gets a little bit too finicky about wording and this and that. While we both are seeming like we’re very far apart there is a place where we can come and find mutual ground.” 

The league’s latest offer, which came in early December, includes players receiving roughly 70% of net revenue, which sources familiar with negotiations believe equates to less than 15% of total league revenue. The salary cap would increase to $5 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025. The max player salaries would be more than $1.3 million, with the league’s proposed revenue-sharing model factored in. Average salaries would exceed $530,000, including revenue sharing. Max salaries and average salaries would increase to $2 million and $780,000, respectively, over the course of the WNBA’s proposed deal. 

The local broadcast rights and revenue for 29 pro teams are now at heightened risk, as a potential sale of FanDuel Sports Network parent company Main Street Sports Group to DAZN looks increasingly unlikely. Without a deal, it raises the prospects that those rights will revert to the teams and leagues.

Main Street Sports has been attempting to sell itself to the London-based DAZN for several months, and before the holidays, a formal agreement looked to be near. Additional issues have developed more recently, though, including a desire by DAZN to reduce local rights fees to many of the involved teams, secure additional digital content rights, add more years to the term, or all of those. 

That situation, one that is unpalatable to many clubs, adds to an already delicate situation in which Main Street Sports missed a scheduled rights payment last month to MLB’s Cardinals, and then many more within its portfolio of 13 NBA teams. 

Without the DAZN deal, Main Street Sports is expected to dissolve itself. As a result, the teams and leagues are now bracing for an imminent collapse of the entire situation. 

“No matter what happens, whether it’s Main Street, a third party, or MLB Media, fans are going to have the games,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday. 

Main Street Sports, formerly known as Diamond Sports Group, shows 13 teams in the NBA, 9 in MLB, and 7 in the NHL, with those teams now assessing a variety of options including over-the-air television, streaming, and local cable deals—both within league-led structures or independently.

All nine of those MLB clubs have terminated their deals with Main Street Sports, industry sources said. Those clubs are the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals, and Tigers.

The company emerged a year ago from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, but a variety of issues—including industry-wide cord-cutting and mounting debt—have particularly battered this part of the sports media business. The company posted a strong viewership increase during the 2025 MLB season, and it has begun to do so again in the current NBA and NHL seasons. It also retooled its production under former ESPN executive Norby Williamson, but the structural issues have only deepened. 

“Our focus, particularly given the point in the calendar, is to maximize the revenue that’s available to the clubs, whether that’s MLB Media or a third party,” Manfred said in response to a Front Office Sports question. “The clubs have control over the timing. They can make a decision to move to MLB Media because of the contractual status now. I think that’s what’s happening right now, clubs are evaluating their alternatives.”

It is still possible, though more unlikely, that the MLB clubs will return to Main Street Sports on renegotiated contracts. That happened during the prior DSG bankruptcy with each of the teams that stuck with the company, but the situation has grown more dire since then.

“We remain in active dialogue with all of our MLB team partners regarding potential revised terms of our agreements going forward,” Main Street Sports said in a statement. 

MLB’s in-house local media department currently handles production and distribution for six clubs, most recently bringing on the Mariners, with the Nationals likely soon to follow after ending its relationship with the Orioles-controlled Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. 

Revenue Impacts

In the meantime, many of the involved teams are facing growing issues setting their player payrolls and conducting financial planning. 

A MLB hot stove season that had started in rather frothy fashion, and still has several big-name players available, has slowed considerably in the past several weeks. The ongoing local media issue is certainly one key factor, as that component provides more than a fifth of total revenue across baseball.

“Obviously, [the clubs] have made significant payroll commitments already, and they’re evaluating the alternatives to find the best revenue source for the year and the best outlet in terms of providing quality broadcasts to their fans,” Manfred said. 

MLB reached an agreement in 2024 with the MLB Players Association to provide up to $15 million for impacted clubs as a “media-disruption distribution.” As the league enters what is expected to be a tough round of bargaining with the players, that program is not currently set to be repeated. 

“We are not providing financial assistance right now,” Manfred said.