Big Contracts, Big Buyouts, Big Pressure: College Football Coaches Hit the Jackpot

By BY ALAN BLINDER from NYT Sports Brian Kelly will earn at least $9 million a year at L.S.U., which is paying its old coach almost $17 million to step aside. Top universities have become steppingstones to other top gigs.https://nyti.ms/3xUWxIP

Lamar Jackson’s Bold Play: A Contract Without an Agent

By BY KEN BELSON from NYT Sports Jackson is leading his own negotiation for a contract extension with the Ravens, challenging the norms of executives’ relationships to N.F.L. players and raising questions about the efficacy of agents.https://nyti.ms/3AVLakl

Quarterbacks Are the N.F.L.’s Biggest Investment. Why Won’t It Listen to Them?

By BY JONATHAN ABRAMS from NYT Sports From Aaron Rodgers to Tom Brady to Patrick Mahomes, quarterbacks are trying to push football’s status quo. The results have lagged behind stars’ achievements in other sports.https://nyti.ms/2X4FDsZ

Teenage Ballers Can Cash in Earlier Than Ever. But at What Cost?

By BY DAVID GARDNER from NYT Sports Male players as young as 16 have many options to play high-level basketball before the N.B.A. without going to college — and get paid big money to do it.https://nyti.ms/3w0fjfg

Scoot Henderson Has Options. He’s Choosing G League Ignite.

By BY JONATHAN ABRAMS from NYT Sports Henderson, 17, will bypass college to play for the Ignite, an N.B.A. developmental team for elite prospects. “You know how every kid has their own path?” he said.https://nyti.ms/3udRE9X

Is the Salary Cap a Myth?

By BY MIKE TANIER from NYT Sports A Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should not be fiscally possible on paper, but here we are.https://nyti.ms/2YoeUoy

Soccer Has a Financial Crisis. Its Leaders Aren’t Feeling It.

By BY TARIQ PANJA from NYT Sports As their sport reels from the pandemic, FIFA’s top officials will gather for a video call on Friday. Each will earn at least $80,000 just for listening.https://nyti.ms/39GwKtu

N.B.A. Is Expected to Start Its New Season Next Month

By BY MARC STEIN from NYT Sports The players tentatively approved a shortened 2020-21 season that will begin Dec. 22, giving top teams little time to recover from the last campaign.https://nyti.ms/3p21avH

Retirement Threats in U.F.C. Show How Economics Have Changed for Fighters

By BY KEVIN DRAPER from NYT Sports Because of ironclad contracts, threatening to retire is perhaps one of the main negotiating tactics available to Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters seeking to improve their deals.https://nyti.ms/2QttaZa

The N.H.L. Is Back but Full Paychecks Are Not, Some Employees Say

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Sports The N.H.L. cut the pay of some staff members by 25 percent to reduce costs during the league’s suspension. But while hockey is returning, full salaries are not.https://nyti.ms/3jxmLth

Patrick Mahomes’s Contract Shows the Gap in Pro Sports Paydays

By BY BENJAMIN HOFFMAN from NYT Sports His new deal with the Kansas City Chiefs was touted as sports’ first half-billion dollar contract. But in the N.F.L., contracts are not always what they seem.https://nyti.ms/3f5r9gi

Patrick Mahomes Gets 10-Year Deal With Kansas City Chiefs

By BY KEN BELSON from NYT Sports Mahomes, 24, signed an extension reportedly worth over $400 million on the heels of a Super Bowl win.https://nyti.ms/3f4USWB

Baseball Avoided a Lost Season. But Bigger Threats May Lie Ahead.

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports The contentious negotiations between M.L.B. and the players’ union that nearly killed the 2020 season only deepened a schism that could soon swallow up the sport.https://nyti.ms/2BInzd4

Players Reject 60-Game Plan, Leaving Manfred to Determine M.L.B. Season

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports The rejection of the owners’ latest proposal left few options for a 2020 season and set up a potentially lengthy legal battle between management and the players’ union.https://nyti.ms/3dmTiOd

As Baseball Teeters, Rob Manfred’s Words Ring Hollow

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports “It’s just a disaster for our game,” the commissioner said of the lack of trust between M.L.B. and its union. But much of the blame lies with him.https://nyti.ms/3fwlU9p

After More Proposals, Players Tell M.L.B.: ‘Tell Us When and Where’

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports A baseball season of roughly 50 games appears to be increasingly inevitable after another round of pointed statements between the league and the players’ union.https://nyti.ms/2ABgk6z

As Money Squabbles Delay M.L.B., Many Workers ‘Just Get Steam-Rolled’

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports Without a union or safety net, scores of minor league players, stadium workers and club employees have borne the financial pain of the suspended M.L.B. season.https://nyti.ms/2YrWMK4

As Baseball Squabbles Over Money, It Risks a ‘Disastrous’ Outcome

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports M.L.B. and the players’ union are at risk of turning a potential opportunity into “a gigantic negative,” Bob Costas said. Time is running low to avoid that fate.https://nyti.ms/2XrR1fX

Who Should Bear the Financial Brunt of the Coronavirus in Baseball?

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports The owners shipped a pay proposal to players that appeared to be a nonstarter. But the sides want a deal by Monday to return to play.https://nyti.ms/2X7TX14

Can U.S. Soccer and Its Women’s Team Make Peace on Equal Pay?

By BY ANDREW DAS from NYT Sports A federal judge’s rejection of the players’ equal pay claims cost the team their leverage, but it is in the federation’s interests to find a settlement both sides can embrace.https://nyti.ms/2VULPQU