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ByADAM SCHEFTER
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

Kirk Cousins’ divorce from the Falcons is expected to be finalized before his $10 million roster bonus is due March 17, with executives across the NFL fully expecting Atlanta to release him by then.

The split between Cousins and the Falcons is inevitable at this point, according to multiple sources.

Front office executives observing the situation have pointed out that, due to the no-trade clause in Cousins’ contract, he now has all the leverage. And nobody believes he will do any favors for a Falcons team that surprised him on draft night by selecting another quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., in the first round, then benched him this week in favor of the rookie.

Thus there now is a widespread expectation across the league that the Falcons will not be able to trade Cousins and will have to release him before March 17, when his $10 million roster bonus for the 2026 season comes due. There is no need for the Falcons to absorb any more costs for a quarterback whom they have paid $90 million for 14 games.

Therefore, for the second straight offseason, Cousins is expected to become a free agent, able to choose the team and situation he believes will be best for him.

A Falcons official told ESPN on Saturday morning that it was too early to determine whether the organization would release Cousins. The official added that Penix’s relatively low salary cap number for 2025 ($5.2 million) gives the Falcons the financial flexibility to potentially keep Cousins.

But the expectation around the league remains that the Falcons will release Cousins before the roster bonus is due.

The Denver Broncos were in a similar situation last offseason, when Russell Wilson ultimately was released before his $37 million salary for the 2025 season became fully guaranteed. Wilson’s guarantee was due on March 17, 2024, exactly one year before Cousins’ roster bonus with the Falcons is due.

Wilson signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers worth the veterans minimum at $1.2 million — similar to the type of contract offers Cousins, 36, would field from other teams if he chooses to play in 2025. Any salary Cousins earns in 2025 would be offset by the $27.5 million owed to him by the Falcons, making him a potential bargain option for next season.

Had the situation in Atlanta been handled differently, in the eyes of executives across the league, the Falcons maybe would have had a chance to work with Cousins to facilitate a trade to another team. But considering the history that has unfolded in recent months, that is not expected to be the case.

Cousins was not informed that the Falcons would draft a quarterback until they called the four-time Pro Bowler while they were on the clock for their first-round pick in April.

This caused frustration and confusion from the Cousins camp, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on draft night, because Atlanta didn’t use the eighth overall pick on a player to support Cousins and make the team better; instead, the Falcons selected a player who could eventually take over for Cousins.

“He got the call on the clock, obviously because of the sensitive time with the issues of what you got going on,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said in April. “It’s never a right time to talk to a quarterback about those things, and reactions are always going to be private when it comes to those things, unless Kirk decides to tell you some of those things that are whatever they may be.

“But he’s a competitor, just like us all. And you can always expect those things to go just like you kind of think.”

The Falcons announced Tuesday that Penix was their starting quarterback “moving forward” with three games remaining this season, sending Cousins to the bench just months after he signed a four-year, $180 million contract that included $100 million guaranteed.

The Falcons might try to see whether there is a way to trade Cousins but would need his cooperation, and nobody across the league expects them to get it, meaning it’s only a matter of time before Atlanta will be left with no choice but to release him.

What also makes the move interesting is the perceived shortage of quality quarterbacks available this offseason. Next year’s draft is not considered as good or deep at the quarterback position as this year’s, and the free agent quarterback class currently is scheduled to include Sam Darnold, Wilson and eventually Cousins.

Teams expected to be in the quarterback market this offseason include the Steelers, Jets, Giants, Raiders, Saints, Browns and Titans. As usual, there aren’t enough quarterbacks for everyone.

Morris said Wednesday that the biggest factor in benching Cousins was his turnovers. Cousins has a league-leading 16 interceptions, and his 12 fumbles is tied for the most in the NFL with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

“There’s a standard that I have for myself, that the team has for me, that, unfortunately, I wasn’t playing up to that standard consistently enough,” Cousins said Wednesday in his first comments since being benched. “And so, it is what it is, and you roll with it and now you still get ready — ‘one play away’ kind of a thing — and support Mike and just try to help our team be able to find a way to win these last three to get in the playoffs, and that’s what it’s all about.”

The Falcons (7-7) are second in the NFC South but own the tiebreaker over the first-place Buccaneers (8-6) and have a 20% chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index projections.

Atlanta hosts the struggling Giants (2-12) on Sunday, when Penix will make his first career start.

Cousins said Wednesday that, despite coming back from a torn Achilles in 2023, he is not injured. As far as beyond this season, he said he will deal with that when the time comes.

“I didn’t forget how to play quarterback,” he said. “Certainly, turnovers were not what you want, but I didn’t forget how to play.”

ESPN’s Marc Raimondi contributed to this report.

ByJOHN KEIM
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

A week full of wild swings for the Washington Commanders’ pursuit of a stadium in the District of Columbia ended with another twist — and what one person involved called a Hail Mary — that elevates the likelihood of the team returning to the city.

Early Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill by unanimous consent that would allow the federal government to lease more than 170 acres of land to the district at the site where RFK Stadium resides. It greatly increases the chances of the Commanders building a new stadium at the site, although more hurdles remain before that’s a reality.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has said the district plans to build more housing and a recreation center on the grounds. She has been aggressive in her pursuit of the Commanders, who have been looking for a new stadium site for several years.

“This is a win for DC, for our region, and for America,” Bowser posted on X. “Everybody loves a good comeback story – and that’s DC’s story. #OurRFK”

The first step to a new stadium in D.C. was having the federal government lease the land back to the city for another 99 years. The district has another 14 years on its current lease, but that was not a long enough time to secure the necessary funding for projects.

On Tuesday, a provision to transfer the land was included in a continuing resolution spending bill before Congress, fueling hopes for Washington to pursue a stadium in the district. Those hopes were dashed when the provision was removed Thursday. Although that bill failed to pass, a new one that still excluded this transfer provision did pass Friday.

That left the Commanders and the district pondering a next step that could have included waiting until Congress returned for a new session. Instead, the Senate passed the bill around 1:15 a.m. Saturday. The bill, which the House passed in February, still must be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington D.C. the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK stadium site,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said in a statement. “This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”

The NFL called the vote “an important breakthrough” in a statement, adding: “Washington, D.C., will now have a long-overdue seat at the table when it comes to the location of a new Commanders stadium.”

There is no federal funding involved in the bill. On Wednesday, Elon Musk, an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, reposted misinformation on X that included a headline stating Congress was giving the district $3 billion to build a stadium. That led to a rebuke from Bowser over a bill that was always just about extending the lease.

Now that the provision has passed in the Senate, Bowser can start negotiating with the Commanders about a stadium. Washington played at RFK Stadium from 1961 to 1996 before moving to Maryland.

The organization played in five Super Bowls and won three while playing at the RFK site, fueling an emotional attachment among the fan base that lingers. It has been the preferred destination for the Commanders and Harris, who grew up a fan of the franchise and bought the team from Dan Snyder in July 2023.

Bowser told ESPN earlier this month that “there were a lot of objections raised to the previous ownership and the direction they took the team. That’s almost forgotten, I would say. The spirit of winning is also good.”

Washington has a contract with Maryland to play at Northwest Stadium until early in the 2027 season, but because the team owns the stadium and the land, it can extend the deal until a new stadium is built. Harris has said he would like to have a new stadium by 2030.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has repeatedly stated his desire to have the team stay in Landover, so there’s no guarantee the Commanders will leave — although one source said the odds for the district have greatly increased.

Still, any deal with the city involving public funds must be approved by the D.C. Council, which in the past has been split on the topic.

The Commanders previously provided Maryland’s senators with a written assurance that they would develop the 200 acres of land they own in Landover, Maryland, the site of their current stadium, if they do indeed leave. That helped persuade Maryland’s senators to grant their approval, a necessary step.

The bill was a product of Bowser and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., working together to garner support.

“The Senate’s passage of the D.C. RFK Stadium Campus Revitalization Act is a historic moment for our nation’s capital,” Comer said in a statement. “If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain. Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the President’s desk.”

The news continues a season of revitalization for the franchise. The Commanders are 9-5 and currently hold the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC. They have found a young quarterback in rookie Jayden Daniels to build around with an energetic coach in Dan Quinn and a revamped front office led by general manager Adam Peters.

Indeed, it was Daniels who completed the first Hail Mary for the team this season with a 52-yard throw on the final play of the game against the Chicago Bears in October.

Saturday morning, they received another one.

ByADAM RITTENBERG
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame players and coaches linked arms in the northeast corner of the field late Friday, waiting to sing the alma mater for the final time at home in 2024.

After a slight delay, coach Marcus Freeman bounded into the group, pumping his first toward the student section before the band began to play. No. 7 Notre Dame had beaten No. 10 Indiana 27-17, using a familiar formula of stifling defense, big-play runs and relentless physicality to overwhelm a lesser opponent, just like the Fighting Irish had done for most of the season.

But Friday’s win and setting was different. A Notre Dame program steeped in history became the first to win a campus College Football Playoff game. The Irish, who had not won a CFP contest before, played their first Friday home game since 1900 before a full-throated crowd, many of whom came to campus on a snowy morning and celebrated throughout the day and night.

Freeman, fresh off a new contract in his third season as Notre Dame’s coach, took a moment to enjoy the scene.

“I’ve never been part of an environment like that,” Freeman said. “Not many times in life you’re the first to do something, and as I told the [team] in there, we were the first to win and play a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. That’s historic. Something we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.”

Defensive coordinator Al Golden, whose group drove Notre Dame into the CFP and overwhelmed Indiana for much of Friday’s game, doesn’t walk around campus or the team’s facility with blinders on. He absorbs the national championship banners and other symbols of the program’s distinct path.

“The lineage is so strong and so storied that it’s hard to come about something that’s the first,” Golden said. “So everybody in that locker room, everybody that’s a part of it, can say that for the rest of their lives.”

Notre Dame ensured that its first home CFP game would not be its last of the season, jumping ahead 14-0 after Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run and a 16-play, 83-yard drive capped by a Riley Leonard pass to Jayden Thomas.

Love’s run through the left side of the line marked the longest play in CFP history, the longest run by an FBS player this season and the longest play Indiana has ever allowed, and it tied for the longest run in Notre Dame history (Josh Adams in 2015 against Wake Forest). The sophomore isn’t fully recovered from a knee injury sustained in the regular-season finale at USC and had been dealing with an illness.

“He is the engine that sparks this thing to go in a real positive direction,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said.

Love said he was “gassed” after crossing the goal line, and after the game his voice sounded weak and could barely be heard as he spoke to reporters. He logged only eight carries in the game but made sure no Indiana defender could chase him down on his most impactful play.

“I was looking up on the videoboard, [and] he wasn’t going to catch me,” Love said. “I slowed down. I knew I was going to score.”

Safety Xavier Watts set up Love’s touchdown with an interception and propelled Notre Dame’s defense with 10 tackles. The Irish kept Indiana’s offense out of the end zone until less than 90 seconds remained and turned away the Hoosiers on 8 of 12 third-down opportunities while racking up three sacks and 10 tackles for loss.

Notre Dame led 17-3 at halftime and 27-3 with 4:50 left before Indiana scored two late touchdowns.

“They pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said.

Leonard rebounded from an interception on his first pass attempt to complete 23 passes for 201 yards and had two total touchdowns in his final game at Notre Dame Stadium. Leonard spread the ball to 10 receivers, including wide receiver Jordan Faison, who set a career high with seven receptions.

A Duke transfer and Alabama native, Leonard will continue his quest closer to home in the CFP quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Georgia at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. Notre Dame has lost 10 consecutive major bowl games since its last win in a marquee New Year’s Day game, the 1994 Cotton Bowl.

“This is special for us,” Leonard said. “My freshman year, I went 3-9 [at Duke] and was just begging to make a bowl game. To be playing in the Sugar Bowl right now, I’ve got to go full circle. It’s really cool. We’re just staying alive, and we’re just trying to play as many games as we can.”

Notre Dame’s win might have come at a cost, as starting defensive tackle Rylie Mills did not return after sustaining a right leg/knee injury when sacking Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke on the first series of the second half. The Irish also dealt with injuries to offensive lineman Rocco Spindler and defensive lineman Bryce Young.

Freeman told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt that he has “optimism” about Mills, whose injury likely won’t end his season. Mills leads Notre Dame with 7.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

“We just got to get him right here in the next 10-11 days and get him ready for this upcoming contest down in New Orleans,” Freeman told Van Pelt.

ByABC News
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

President Joe Biden is abandoning his efforts to provide some protections for transgender student-athletes and cancel student loans for more than 38 million Americans, the first steps in an administration-wide plan to jettison pending regulations to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from retooling them to achieve his own aims.

The White House expects to pull back unfinished rules across several agencies if there isn’t enough time to finalize them before Trump takes office. If the proposed regulations were left in their current state, the next administration would be able to rewrite them and advance its agenda more quickly.

As the pending Biden regulations are withdrawn, nothing prevents Trump from pursuing his own regulations on the same issues when he returns to the White House, but he would have to start from scratch in a process that can take months or even years.

For the regulation on transgender students, the Education Department said it was withdrawing the proposal because of ongoing litigation over how Title IX, the landmark law preventing sex discrimination, should handle issues of gender identity. In addition, the department said there were 150,000 public comments with a range of feedback, including suggestions for modifications that needed to be considered.

At this point, the department wrote, “We do not intend for a final rule to be issued.”

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, accused the White House of “adding more red tape and making it more difficult for him to govern.”

Kate Shaw, who served in the White House counsel’s office under President Barack Obama, said it’s not unusual for administrations to speed up or slow down rulemaking. It’s more typical, she said, for the federal government to race to finalize regulations during a transition period, but that can be difficult when there’s a time crunch.

“If you haven’t started it early enough, you’re not going to be able to wrap it up,” she said.

Biden’s rule on transgender sports was proposed in 2023 but was delayed multiple times. It was supposed to be a follow-up to his broader rule that extended civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students under Title IX.

The sports rule would have prevented schools from banning transgender athletes outright while allowing limits for certain reasons — for example, if it was a matter of “fairness” in competition or to reduce injury risks.

Biden’s proposal left both sides of the issue asking for more. Advocates said it didn’t go far enough in protecting transgender students from school policies that could unfairly exclude them. Opponents said it fell short of protecting girls and ensuring fairness.

In April, a bill passed the House of Representatives by party-line vote that would have barred transgender athletes whose sex assigned at birth was male from competing on girls’ or women’s sports teams at federally supported schools and colleges. The legislation, pushed through by House Republicans, never advanced further in the currently Democratic-led Senate, and Biden had said he would veto it.

Biden’s regulation sat on the back burner through the presidential campaign as the issue became a subject of Republican outrage. Trump campaigned on a promise to ban transgender athletes, with a promise to “keep men out of women’s sports.”

Had Biden’s proposal been finalized, it was certain to face legal challenges from conservatives who said Biden overstepped his authority. Biden’s broader policy on Title IX, which was finalized in April, faced a barrage of legal challenges that prevented it from taking effect in 26 states.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ByABC News
December 21, 2024, 11:49 AM

Phoenix Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker has been ruled out for the next two games because of left groin soreness, the team announced Saturday.

Booker will miss Saturday’s game against the Detroit Pistons and Monday’s game at the Denver Nuggets. The team said he will be reevaluated early next week.

Booker, 28, sat out practice Friday, one day after sustaining the injury in the third quarter of a 120-111 loss to the visiting Indiana Pacers.

He departed with 5:18 left in the third quarter and was examined in the locker room before being ruled out. He had 17 points and six assists in 25 minutes and made 5 of 10 shots.

“Hopefully, it’s nothing serious,” Suns big man Jusuf Nurkic said of Booker’s injury. “For me, it’s a part of the game. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Saturday will mark Booker’s first missed game of the season. He is averaging 25.1 points, 6.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds.

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.

ByJEFF PASSAN
December 21, 2024, 12:39 PM

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt and the New York Yankees are in agreement on a one-year, $12.5 million contract, sources confirmed to ESPN, pairing the 2022 National League MVP and seven-time All-Star with the American League champions in the midst of a significant overhaul.

Goldschmidt, 37, has been among the most consistent hitters of his generation. He combines power and patience, hitting .289/.381/.510 with 362 home runs over a 14-year career. His four Gold Gloves were earned through a deftness at first, and in his time in Arizona and St. Louis, Goldschmidt was a beloved figure.

In his first foray into free agency, Goldschmidt chose to join a Yankees team that is redoubling its championship efforts after losing star right fielder Juan Soto to the New York Mets. The Yankees started by signing left-hander Max Fried, followed with trades for closer Devin Williams and outfielder Cody Bellinger, and dipped back into the free agent market to lengthen their lineup with Goldschmidt.

Additionally, Goldschmidt is expected to help in the clubhouse, replacing first baseman and veteran leader Anthony Rizzo. Goldschmidt’s professional approach revealed itself early in his career, when he turned from an eighth-round pick out of Texas State to a two-time MVP runner-up with the Diamondbacks and an NL MVP with the Cardinals.

Goldschmidt followed that season up with a solid 2023 but regressed last season, hitting .245/.302/.414 with 22 home runs and 65 RBIs in 154 games.

The deal, which is pending a physical and was first reported by YES Network, is a bet that a player of Goldschmidt’s caliber can thrive in a Yankees lineup that also includes Bellinger, two-time MVP Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe and rookie Jasson Dominguez.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love wasted no time sending a message to his teammates Friday night.

Nothing was going to derail the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff. Not chilly weather, not a motivated opponent ready to prove it belonged and certainly not an injury or even a lingering illness to the team’s top runner.

Now, with 12 more days for the second-year speedster to rest and recover before the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish face second-seeded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, Love could be much closer to optimal speed when Notre Dame returns to action Jan. 1.

“I probably sound pretty terrible, but I came off of a little injury. I’m sick,” he said before explaining why he slowed down at the end of the run that matched the longest in Irish history. “I was just out of breath. I was gassed.”

At 6 feet, 210 pounds, Love doesn’t necessarily look like the model Missouri Class 5 100-meter champ. But looks are deceiving in this case, and Love has been showing the college football world all season just how dangerous he can be — even with a bad wheel.

He used most of the two weeks between Notre Dame’s regular-season finale Nov. 30 and the playoff opener rehabbing the left knee he hurt against Southern California. Then, he was struck with an undisclosed illness.

So when Love ran through the Notre Dame Stadium tunnel for the first CFP game ever played on a college campus, he was nowhere near full strength against the nation’s top run defense.

It didn’t matter.

After losing a yard on his first carry, Love took his second handoff, ran through a tackle at the line of scrimmage and sped past the other defenders for a 98-yard TD run — the longest in playoff history — as he watched the chase play out on the video board.

“I’ve got the best view in the house. Every time I hand him the ball, I’m just watching, like what’s he going to do now?” Irish quarterback Riley Leonard said after the 27-17 victory over 10th-seeded Indiana. “It’s the little things. It’s that second or third down where he’s stiff-arming guys and getting first downs for us. He’s just a freak athlete.”

Love finished the game with only seven more carries for 10 more yards, playing sparingly after he appeared to reinjure the left knee when he landed awkwardly after attempting to hurdle an Indiana defender later in the first half.

But the victory gives him more time to get healthier for Georgia’s run defense, which allows nearly 130 yards rushing per game. Notre Dame (12-1) faces the Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs (11-2) — just like they did in 1980 when Georgia’s victory gave the program the second of its four national championships.

The Bulldogs have won all three games in the series against the storied Irish but might be without starting quarterback Carson Beck, who injured his throwing elbow in the SEC championship game.

Regardless, Notre Dame thinks it’s time for a change in this series as it attempts to produce the first 13-win season in school history. Notre Dame also is trying to end a 36-year drought without a national championship, the school’s longest since winning its first title in 1924.

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if we didn’t have 12 wins, so I’m grateful to be part of a program and a team that has been able to accomplish this,” coach Marcus Freeman said. “But you know I’m greedy, and my focus is — although I don’t want their focus to be on it — my focus is going to be on find a way to get 13. That’s what matters.”

It matters to Love, too, as he and the Irish prepare their encore performance.

“Like I say, if we didn’t have a rushing quarterback, how many more touchdowns would this guy have?” Leonard said. “He’d be in (the Heisman Trophy) conversations nationwide. Obviously, I think people are starting to see how special he is.”

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MIAMI (AP) — Jalen Williams scored a season-high 33 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 25 and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Miami Heat 104-97 on Friday night for their seventh straight victory.

Lu Dort scored 14 points and Isaiah Hartenstein had 13 points and 18 rebounds for the Thunder, who improved to 22-5 — the second-best record in the NBA and tops in the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City’s winning streak is alive because the NBA Cup final — a loss Tuesday night to Milwaukee in Las Vegas — doesn’t count as a regular-season game.

Tyler Herro had 28 points and 12 rebounds for Miami, which got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Bam Adebayo.

The Heat lost Jimmy Butler to illness in the first quarter and briefly lost Adebayo in the third quarter when he got elbowed over an eye by teammate Jaime Jaquez Jr. Adebayo needed seven stitches but returned.
Takeaways

Thunder: Williams’ previous season high was 31. And the big difference for the Thunder was turnovers — they turned 19 Miami giveaways into 27 points.

Heat: Managing general partner Micky Arison and senior director of team development Ruth Riley Hunter — an NCAA, Olympic and WNBA champion — are Basketball Hall of Fame candidates for the Class of 2025. “It’s about time” for Arison, said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who added that those like Hunter — with college, pro and Olympic titles — should be a Hall lock.
Key moment

Oklahoma City trailed by three midway through the third quarter, then went on a 10-0 run to kickstart a finishing push. The Thunder were up by 11 entering the fourth.
Key stat

Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 25 points in 17 consecutive games, the longest such streak in the NBA this season.
Up next

The Thunder host Washington on Monday. The Heat are at Orlando on Saturday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

NEW YORK (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers topped a record nine teams owing Major League Baseball’s luxury tax this year with an unprecedented $103 million penalty, and the $97.1 million bill for the New York Mets raises their tax total under high-spending owner Steve Cohen to nearly $229 million.

The World Series champion Dodgers will pay a tax for the fourth year in a row. The Dodgers’ tax payroll of $353 million included $1,032,454 in non-cash compensation for Shohei Ohtani, whose contract calls for use of a suite for games at Dodger Stadium and an interpreter.

The Yankees owe $62.5 million, according to figures finalized Friday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association and obtained by The Associated Press. They were followed by Philadelphia ($14.4 million), Atlanta ($14 million), Texas ($10.8 million), Houston ($6.5 million), San Francisco ($2.4 million) and the Chicago Cubs ($570,000).

The total tax of $311.3 million topped the previous high of $209.8 million last year, when eight teams paid. Tax money is due to MLB by Jan. 21.

More than $1 billion in taxes have been collected since the penalty started in 2003, with 15 teams paying $1.23 billion. The Yankees lead at $452 million, followed by the Dodgers at $350 million and the Mets.

Toronto, with a series of summer trades, cut its tax payroll to $233.9 million, under the $237 million threshold. The Blue Jays started the season projected at $244.3 million.

Chicago went just over the threshold at $239.85 million.

The Mets dropped their luxury tax payroll from last year’s record $374.7 million to $347.7 million and cut their tax from last year’s then-record $100.8 million. The Dodgers, Mets and Yankees ($316.2 million) were the only teams exceeding the fourth threshold, added in the 2022 labor contract and nicknamed the Cohen Tax in an initiative aimed at slowing his spending.

Among teams paying the tax, the Giants, Rangers and Cubs missed the playoffs.

Total spending on luxury tax payrolls rose 2.3% to $5.924 billion from $5.793 billion last year.

Tax payrolls are calculated by average annual values, including earned bonuses, for players on 40-man rosters along with just over $17 million per team for benefits and $1.67 million for each club’s share of the $50 million pool for pre-arbitration players that started in 2022. Deferred salaries and deferred bonus payments are discounted to present-day values.

Because they owe tax for three straight years, the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees and Phillies pay at a 50% rate on the first $20 million above the $237 million threshold, a 62% rate on the next $20 million, a 95% rate on the amount from $277 million to $297 million and a 110% amount above that.

The Braves and Rangers owe tax for the second year in a row and pay 30% on the first $20 million over and 42% on the next $20 million.

Houston is paying tax for the first time, though the Astros topped the threshold in 2020 when the penalty was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Giants are paying for the first time since 2017 and the Cubs for the first time since 2019.

The labor contract calls for the first $3.5 million of tax money to be used to fund player benefits and 50% of the remainder to fund player Individual Retirement Accounts. The other 50% of what’s left is dedicated to a supplemental commissioner’s discretionary fund that is distributed among teams that are eligible to receive revenue-sharing money and have grown their non-media local revenue. For this year, the union and MLB agreed to allow discretionary fund distributions of up to $15 million each to teams whose local media revenue has declined since 2022 or 2023.

Next year’s initial threshold is $241 million. If the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies. Braves or Rangers go over, they would pay at the highest tax rate, rising to 110% for the amount over $301 million.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Gold Glove first baseman Christian Walker and the Houston Astros agreed Friday to a $60 million, three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

Houston acquired infielder Isaac Paredes from the Cubs last weekend in the trade that sent outfielder Kyle Tucker to Chicago, and Walker’s agreement likely means the Astros plan to start Paredes at third and won’t re-sign third baseman Alex Bregman.

Walker, who turns 34 during the opening week of the season, hit .251 with 26 homers, 84 RBIs, 55 walks and 133 strikeouts this year. That was down from 2023, when he batted .258 with 33 homers and 103 RBIs as the Diamondbacks reached the World Series.

Walker played in 130 games this year, down from 157 in 2023 and 160 in 2022. He was sidelined between July 29 and Sept. 3 by a strained left oblique.

He didn’t secure a full-time job in the big leagues until 2019. He’s provided consistent power over the past six seasons and has grown into an elite defensive first baseman, winning Gold Gloves in each of the past three seasons.

Walker played college ball at South Carolina and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. He made his big league debut with the Orioles in 2014 but couldn’t stick in the majors and was claimed off waivers by Atlanta, Cincinnati and Arizona in a five-week span.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said. “He’s the best defensive first baseman in baseball. He’s a self-made player in a lot of ways, and I respect that immensely. What that gave our clubhouse was a lead by example that was pretty elite.”

Walker had a $10.9 million salary last season and turned down Arizona’s $21.05 million qualifying offer.

Houston will lose its second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2025 amateur draft.

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AP Baseball Writer David Brandt contributed to this report.

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas returned interceptions for touchdowns and Penn State toyed with mistake-prone SMU in a 38-10 victory on Saturday in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.

The sixth-seeded Nittany Lions (12-2) advanced to face third-seeded Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve by hounding Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings into three turnovers, including a pair of ill-thrown floaters in the first half DeLuca and Rojas converted into Pick-6s that sent the white-out crowd at wintry Beaver Stadium into a frenzy and SMU (11-3) into a funk from which it never recovered.

Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen ran for scores for the Nittany Lions. Drew Allar completed 13 of 22 passes for 127 yards while playing every meaningful snap after backup Beau Pribula — who occasionally and effectively spelled Allar throughout the year — entered the transfer portal earlier this week.

Jennings, whose electrifying play fueled SMU’s undefeated regular-season sprint through the ACC, finished 20 of 36 for 195 yards with a late touchdown and three picks. He began the day by missing a wide-open tight end Matthew Hibner at the goal line to end the Mustangs’ promising opening possession, and things only got worse from there.

His flip to Brashard Smith on SMU’s second drive sailed over the running back’s head and into the arms of an awaiting DeLuca, who raced 23 yards to the end zone to give Penn State the lead. Early in the second quarter, Jennings scrambled to his right and threw against his body into triple coverage. Rojas snagged it and weaved 59 yards to stake the Nittany Lions to a 14-0 lead they never came close to squandering.

The defense’s early strike gave Allar and Penn State’s running game time to get settled. Allen finished off a nine-play 75-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown dash to make it 21-0. Singleton then bulled over from a yard out late in the first half to make it 28-0.

And unlike the ACC title game against Clemson — when the Mustangs roared all the way back from a 17-point second-half deficit to tie it before falling on the final snap — this time there would be no rally.

The last two quarters were mostly a chance for the crowd of over 106,000 that braved temperatures in the low-20s with a pretty steady breeze to soak in the kind of big game victory that hasn’t happened quite as often as they would like during James Franklin’s largely successful 11-year tenure.

With one test now passed, another big one awaits in the desert on the last day of 2024.
Takeaways

SMU: Just like 10th-seeded Indiana on Friday, the Mustangs didn’t do much to validate the CFP selection committee’s decision to put them in over bluebloods Alabama and Miami. SMU’s historic first season in the ACC after coming over from the American Athletic ended with a disappointing thud.

Penn State: The defense bounced back from a shaky performance in the Big Ten title game against Oregon by throttling an offense that came in averaging 38.5 points and 443 yards a game.
Up next

SMU: will try to back up their audacious ACC debut next fall, when their conference slate includes games against Miami, Clemson and Louisville.

Penn State: Will try to win a 13th game for the first time in the program’s 131-year history when it heads to the Fiesta Bowl, a game in which the Nittany Lions are 7-0 all-time.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texans wide receiver Tank Dell was carted off the field with what appeared to be a severe left knee injury that he sustained while hauling in a 30-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud early in the second half against the Chiefs on Saturday.

Dell was coming across the back of the end zone and made a spectacular catch before colliding with Houston teammate Jared Wayne as he was going to the ground. Dell remain there for several minutes while trainers huddled around him, and eventually he was placed on a stretcher and loaded onto the covered medical cart for a trip to the locker room. He was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.

Stroud was visibly shaken as Dell, holding his hands to his facemask, was driven off the field and up the tunnel in the corner of Arrowhead Stadium. The Texans quarterback had to be consoled by teammates when he returned to the sideline.

Dell, who already had six catches for 98 yards and the score, was the second Houston player to be carted off during a game full of injuries. Free safety Jimmie Ward also was taken away on a cart after hurting his foot late in the first half.

Earlier in the game, the Texans’ banged-up offensive line lost starting guard Shaq Mason to a knee injury on the fourth play, and backup lineman Blake Fisher had to be helped off with an undisclosed injury later in the first half. Their injuries came with Juice Scruggs, another starter on the offensive line, inactive because of a foot injury.

The Chiefs lost backup linebacker Jack Cochrane to an ankle injury in the first quarter, then tight end Noah Gray had to be helped off the field in the second half. Wide receiver Xavier Worthy also left briefly with an ankle injury, though the speedster was back on the field for the start of the second half.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 260 yards and a touchdown while running for a score on his ailing ankle, and the Kansas City Chiefs took a big step toward securing the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs with a 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans on Saturday.

The AFC West champion Chiefs (14-1), who have won four straight against the AFC South champ Texans (9-6), can clinch the postseason bye if Buffalo loses to or ties New England on Sunday. If the Bills win, Kansas City can wrap it up by beating Pittsburgh on Christmas Day.

Xavier Worthy had seven catches for 65 yards and a touchdown, Kareem Hunt ran for 55 yards and another score, and Marquise Brown had five catches for 45 yards for Kansas City in his first game this season after recovering from a shoulder injury.

C.J. Stroud had 244 yards and two touchdown passes with two interceptions for Houston, though one of those TD throws came at great expense. Tank Dell, who had six catches for 98 yards, hurt his left knee on the play and was carted from the field.

Dalton Schultz also had a TD reception for the Texans. Joe Mixon was held to 57 yards rushing.

There were questions early in the week about whether Mahomes would play after sustaining a high ankle sprain late in last week’s win over Cleveland. But the two-time MVP was off the injury report by Friday, and Mahomes showed no problems on the Chiefs’ opening drive Saturday, finishing it off with a 15-yard scramble to the end zone.

It was merely the start of a back-and-forth first half.

The Texans answered with a 33-yard field goal, then went on a 13-play, 82-yard drive that ended with Stroud’s touchdown toss to Schutlz. But the Chiefs quickly regained the lead when Hunt barreled into the end zone, and they tacked on a field goal after Stroud’s second interception to lead 17-10 at the break.

Dell was hurt on the Texans’ opening drive of the third quarter. He came across the back of the end zone and made a spectacular catch but collided with teammate Jared Wayne on his way to the ground. He immediately grabbed his left knee, and Stroud was tearful and visibly shaken as one of his top wide receivers was loaded on a cart and driven from the field.

Ka’imi Fairbairn promptly missed the extra point, and any momentum Houston might’ve had disappeared.

Kansas City marched the other way, relying heavily on Worthy, who touched the ball four times on the drive. He finished it off with an 8-yard reception, giving the first-round a season-high for receiving yards and his eighth touchdown.

The teams matched fourth-quarter field goals, and the Texans took over trailing 27-19 with just over five minutes to go.

They promptly went three-and-out and Kansas City ran out the clock from there.
Taylor time

Pop star Taylor Swift was on hand for the Chiefs’ regular-season finale. She has been spending more time with her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, in Kansas City since she wrapped up her Eras Tour on Dec. 8 in Vancouver, British Columbia, including making a surprise visit to Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Injuries

Houston: OG Shaq Mason (left knee) left on the fourth play of the game. FS Jimmie Ward (foot) was hurt late in the first half.

Kansas City: LB Jack Cochrane (ankle) left in the first quarter. RT Jawaan Taylor (knee) left in the third quarter and DT Chris Jones sustained a minor calf injury in the fourth.
Up next

The Chiefs head to Pittsburgh and Houston welcomes Baltimore for the NFL’s doubleheader on Christmas Day.

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