Hey all, got a little bit of an ask.

It’s almost time for football season. Last year, I did two posts a week: A college football recap on Sunday mornings and an NFL recap on Monday mornings. This year, I’d like to do three posts a week: A college football recap every Sunday morning, an NFL recap every Monday morning, and a general sports roundup (like this post!) every Friday.

A few things, though:

—Doing the college football recap straight into the NFL recap every weekend really kicked my ass last year. I used to do that turnaround every weekend at SB Nation when I was, like, 24 years old, and I’m not really built for it anymore.

—Going from two to three newsletters a week would mean hiring and paying some new writing and editing help. (We’ve got some scheduling conflicts on Sundays with our current crew.)

—I’m not really sure how many of you follow me for college football anymore? The newsletter basically doubled in readership after the Winter Olympics and the World Cup, and many of you may not want another newsletter every week.

So we’re doing a little Sports! The Newsletter subscriber drive.

If we can get to 1,000 paid subscribers by the first combined NFL/college football weekend of the year (September 12/13), you’re getting three Sports! newsletters a week.

I am willing to get my ass kicked every weekend … for a price.

If we can’t hit that goal … I’ll probably do two newsletters a week (NFL Mondays, sports roundup Fridays.)

The newsletter will remain free to read for everybody, but to get extra content in your inbox every week, I’m asking for two percent of the 12,000-ish free subscribers to step up. Here’s where to upgrade to a paid subscription.

Thanks as always for reading and subscribing!

– Rodger Sherman

On Wednesday, the Lakers were sold to Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, breaking the record for the most valuable franchise sale in pro sports history. The previous record was set all the way back in …

… 2025, when the Lakers were sold for $10 billion to Dodgers owner Mark Walter, who apparently flipped the franchise for $2.5 billion in just 10 months. (Nice work if you can get it.)

The Athletic quoted the agent of a Lakers player as saying, “what the f*** is going on?” Front Office Sports quoted “a source close with dozens of sports team owners” as saying, “it’s one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen … my phone is ringing off the hook with people saying they’re stunned.”

Previously, the Lakers were owned by the same family for nearly 50 years. They have now been sold twice in less than a year. Is this the way sports teams work now?

Why did I say there are still several weeks until football? The flag football world championships STARTED TODAY in Dusseldorf, Germany! Team USA’s hopes of defending its two gold medals began this morning, when the women’s team beat Australia, 46-14:

We’re just two years away from flag football’s much hyped debut at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Where does Team USA stand?

Two weeks ago, I told you about the debut of the Women’s Pro Baseball League. Just a few games into the season, the league already has its first breakout superstar: Denae Benites of the New York Heights. She is demolishing the competition.

Benites is hitting .824 (14-for-17) with a league-leading five home runs and a league-leading six stolen bases. (It’s hard to lead the league in both home runs and steals because when you hit home runs, you’ve already scored and can’t steal any bases.) The rest of the league has just eight homers combined. All five dingers are in this IG carousel:

Something I noticed about Benites’ backstory … she also played high school varsity flag football in Las Vegas! What’s in the (very limited amount of) water in Vegas!

📆 Hello, 2026-27 📆

The first NCAA sport to start every year is women’s soccer, which means we are officially underway with the 2026-27 college sports season. The first highlight of the year is this absolutely nuts solo goal by Virginia’s Gio Canali against my Northwestern squad:

The coolest sports video of the week: Spanish skateboarder Danny Léon, who threw down tricks in front of Wednesday’s sunset solar eclipse:

Incredible prep work to figure out exactly where the sun would be and where to position the ramp and cameras to get this shot. (Jerry Jones could NEVER.) The sports angle: Léon competed in the skateboarding events at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, finishing ninth in the street competition in Tokyo.

🇳🇿🏉 One man stands alone 🏉🇳🇿

The second coolest sports video of the week: When New Zealand’s famed All Blacks went on a tour playing club sides in South Africa, they had to face their former teammate, 44-year-old Ma’a Nonu, who won two Rugby World Cups for New Zealand and now plays for a pro team in Durban called the Sharks. After New Zealand’s haka, Nonu stood alone and returned the haka by himself:

The WAFCON title game is still to come, but four African teams have already secured berths in next year’s Women’s World Cup: Cameroon, Morocco, Algeria, and Malawi. Algeria and Malawi will both be making World Cup debuts. Malawi actually entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked team in the entire field, but made the final thanks to nine combined goals in five games from superstar sisters Temwa and Tabitha Chawinga.

On Deck is written by Bradley Locker.

Thursday-Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany (Peacock)

Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev will look to continue her total dominance of the sport in her homeland. She won gold at the 2024 Olympics and five of six individual titles in last year’s World Championships. But we’re watching Team USA’s Rin Keys, who became the first American medalist ever at World Championships in the ball event. (I wrote about it last August.) Olympic qualifying spots are also on the line.

Thursday-Saturday in Irvine, California (NBC Sports Network/Peacock)

A swimming competition only featuring countries bordering the Pacific Ocean might seem kinda random … but considering that the top four nations in medal count at the Paris Olympics were the United States, Australia, China, and Canada, this is a big-time event. It’s being held for the first time in eight years after the 2022 edition was canceled, and the roster is stacked. American greats Katie Ledecky, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, and Torri Huske are all slated to compete. Other Olympic medalists include Canada’s Summer McIntosh, Australia’s Lani Pallister, and China’s Tang Qianting.

Sunday, 10 a.m. ET in Cardiff (ESPN)

Less than a month after the end of the World Cup, English soccer season starts back up with the Community Shield, the annual matchup between the previous year’s Premier League champion and FA Cup champion. It’s not the most important trophy in English soccer … but it’s a trophy! — RS

Main card starts at 8 p.m. ET in Philadelphia (Paramount+)

Women’s strawweight champion Mackenzie Dern will defend her title for the first time against Gillian Robertson, who is on a five-fight win streak as she eyes her first career belt. Then, the men’s welterweight title will be on the line between Islam Makhachev and Ian Machado Garry. Makhachev, widely regarded as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, is aiming for a record 17th-straight victory. Meanwhile, Machado Garry is looking to become the latest fighter to upset a legend: Ilia Topuria, Alex Pereira, and Khamzat Chimaev have all fallen in recent months.

Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (CBS)

Napheesa Collier, rookied phenom Olivia Miles and record-setting shooter Kayla McBride head to Las Vegas for a potential Finals preview against A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and the Aces. The Lynx have been a revelation this season, already clinching a playoff spot with a league-best 28-7 record, but the Aces are the defending champs. Minnesota beat Las Vegas 98-87 at home earlier this month, which means Becky Hammon’s crew will be motivated for vengeance.

Series begins Thursday, 10:10 p.m. ET (MLB.TV)

The best team in the league this year vs. the reigning champs. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, and they could be on track for a playoff rematch given Milwaukee’s league-best 74-46 record. The Dodgers have been on a slide lately, but they are still title favorites, and the return of Blake Snell (10 K on Tuesday) only solidifies that. The best game looks to be Saturday night, when Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski takes the hill against Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and an All-Star lineup.

Thursday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)

As far as preseason action goes, it’s hard to ask for much more. Two of the top three picks from the 2026 NFL Draft will be in the spotlight. No. 1 overall selection Fernando Mendoza should get his first real runway of NFL action. Meanwhile, Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love has been champing at the bit to play despite being projected for a heavy workload as a rookie. Also of intrigue for Arizona: Can Carson Beck continue his hot streak after impressing in an offense-heavy Hall of Fame Game? Neither of these teams are especially scary going into the 2026 season, but a duel like this is what makes the preseason fun.