Read in Browser [[link removed]]

Morning Edition

February 10, 2026

POWERED BY

As the NFL weighs an 18th regular-season game, players told Front Office Sports that the health risks—and the money—aren’t adding up.

— Griffin Senyek [[link removed]] and Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]

First Up From nine NFL teams to Amazon’s studio set, Ryan Fitzpatrick said timing—and some luck—made all the difference. Read the story [[link removed]]. With his future in Atlanta unclear, Kirk Cousins said he’s keeping an open mind about both playing and TV work. Read the story [[link removed]]. Former UFC champ Daniel Cormier said UFC’s new Paramount deal could bring in tens of thousands of new fans. Read the story [[link removed]]. After winning 10 FCS titles, North Dakota State is moving up to the Mountain West—and paying millions to do it. Read the story [[link removed]]. NFL Players Push Back on 18th Game: ‘Stop Lying to People’ [[link removed]]

Front Office Sports

Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith [[link removed]] is one of many former and current NFL players speaking out against adding an 18th game to the league’s regulpiar-season schedule.

Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, also wants the league to be honest about its intentions.

“Stop lying to people,” Smith told Front Office Sports on Friday at Radio Row in San Francisco ahead of Super Bowl LX. “Tell people that the 18th game is about extra money because that’s really what it’s about.”

The addition of an extra game was a hot topic [[link removed]] during Super Bowl week, with everyone from Roger Goodell [[link removed]] to current players weighing in. Goodell said that “it is not a given” that the league will expand to an 18th game, adding that there have been little to no conversations on the topic.

NFLPA interim executive director David White also chimed in [[link removed]], saying that “the 18th game is not casual for us” in his Super Bowl press conference. “As it stands right now, players have been very clear: they don’t have any appetite for it.”

In speaking with FOS at Radio Row, players voiced concerns in line with White’s comments.

Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. [[link removed]] said, “I’m not a huge fan of that. It’s hard enough now to get through a full season, and then you add that extra game … as of right now, that’s not something I see players really wanting to do.”

Similar to Pittman, Smith worries about an extra game due to the potential effects on players’ health [[link removed]], questioning how the NFL could pursue more games after placing such an emphasis on safety in recent years.

“If you’re so concerned about head trauma and injuries, you think an 18th game is going to eliminate head trauma?” Smith said. “No, that’s more chances for me to get banged in the head.”

Two-time Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins [[link removed]] remembers how strong the opposition was to a 17th game and said that the “writing’s on the wall” for adding another.

“I think the players need to focus on just making sure with that 18th game that they focus on their health and wellness, that they’re compensated. You know, accordingly. And that they think about the long-term ramifications.”

Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins [[link removed]] told FOS that he has yet to get an answer to the one question he has on the subject. That question: “What are we getting in return?”

‘It’s Going to Happen’

Discussion on the 18th game has been ongoing for more than a year. At Super Bowl LIX [[link removed]], Greg Olsen [[link removed]] called the move “inevitable,” stating the potential added revenue as the driving force behind the decision.

“When that cap continues to go up, and they sell that TV package, or wherever they reshuffle the deck, someone’s going to pay big money for those games. And that money is going to be split between the owners, and it’s going to be split with the players’ union, however they negotiate the new contract. So it’s going to happen. I think it’s just a matter of the timing.”

Cousins’s teammate, running back Bijan Robinson [[link removed]], offered a different perspective from the majority of his peers. “For me, it’s more football, so I love it. I don’t know about the guys, though. They want to help their bodies, and I’m all for that as well. So whatever they decide, that’s what we gotta do.”

SPONSORED BY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Score an Elite Sports Career

Build expertise in a rapidly evolving field with a master’s from Georgetown University [[link removed]] in collaboration with Manchester City Football Club. Georgetown brings academic rigor; Manchester City brings access to real-world sports operations, analytics, marketing, and athlete development. Ideal for working professionals, the Global Sports Operations & Strategy [[link removed]] program is built around online, asynchronous learning that enables collaboration, discussion, and growth for a global cohort of students. Graduates will be well equipped with the industry know-how, technical skills, and global connections to capitalize on this growth and advance your career in the sports industry.

EXCLUSIVE

Nebraska Athletes Probed Over NIL Deals

Athletes at Nebraska are under investigation over unreported NIL deals, Front Office Sports has learned. For more on the College Sports Commission’s inquiry and what it signals for NIL enforcement, read Amanda Christovich’s story here [[link removed]].

Major Changes Could Come to Seattle Sports in 2026 [[link removed]]

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Seahawks’ Super Bowl win [[link removed]] likely marks the beginning of an eventful sports year for the Emerald City.

On Sunday, the franchise won its second championship in a 29–13 blowout win over the Patriots.

It also put the franchise on the clock. Seahawks owner Jody Allen has been legally obligated to sell the team and donate the proceeds to charity since her brother, Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, died in 2018. Several reports suggest that she [[link removed]] is finally going to do so. Jody Allen has controlled Paul’s sports portfolio—which includes the Seahawks, Trail Blazers, and 25% of MLS’s Seattle Sounders—since his death.

She started the process of divesting the teams by selling the Blazers to billionaire Tom Dundon. The first part of a multistep transaction to sell the team [[link removed]] to the Hurricanes owner is set for March at a $4 billion valuation.

A source previously told Front Office Sports that the Seahawks won’t be put up for sale [[link removed]] until the first part of the NBA deal closes in March. A spokesperson for the Allen estate told ESPN a week ago that the “ team is not for sale [[link removed]],” and added that “we’ve already said that will change at some point per Paul’s wishes, but I have no news to share. Our focus right now is winning the Super Bowl and completing the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers in the coming months.”

The city won’t just be adding a new NFL owner, though. It very well could be adding another major pro sports franchise.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has suggested for years that Seattle could get an NBA team again after the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008 [[link removed]]. Silver has flip-flopped about domestic expansion over the years, as the appetite for it among NBA owners has fluctuated; he said in December that the league will definitively announce its expansion plans [[link removed]] this year.

Silver then added that he’s aware of the mixed signals he’s sent to both Las Vegas and Seattle—the long-rumored top expansion candidates—which seemed to suggest he’s more likely to add two teams than keep the league at its current 30.

“ I want to be sensitive [[link removed]] there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while,” Silver said.

Kraken owner Samantha Holloway has kept an eye on NBA expansion [[link removed]] and is planning to lead an expansion bid for an ownership group to bring the Sonics back if the NBA ultimately pulls the trigger.

The Kraken are in their fifth season and are currently third in the NHL’s Pacific Division standings, which would clinch the organization’s second playoff berth in its young history.

SPONSORED BY PWC

Outperform the Moment

[[link removed]]

Winning on the world stage isn’t about a single day, but all the days that came before it. It’s about building velocity. And the race is on. Industries are shifting. Your competition is evolving. How will you stay ahead?

PwC helps you take the lead. We don’t just advise on the current state of play, we help you build enterprises for what comes next. Not just improving, but originating.

So you can think it first.

Learn more [[link removed]].

ONE BIG FIG Bonus Boom

Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

$4 million

The amount of money in contract incentives netted by [[link removed]] Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold this season. He signed a three-year, $100.5 million contract with Seattle a year ago after leading the Vikings to a 14–3 record in 2024. Darnold quarterbacked the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title in his first year, which came with a $1 million bonus. He earned the other $3 million by hitting six incentives for $500,000 each, including a 67.5% completion rate, top-10 offense, 4,000 passing yards, a playoff berth, and the two playoff wins before Sunday.

Editors’ Picks Los Angeles Is Preparing for a Very Different Super Bowl in 2027 [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The Southern California sports market is very different compared to four years ago. NFL Opening-Night Decision Starts in Seattle: Chiefs, Bears in Play [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The Super Bowl champions have a stacked 2026 home schedule. Goodell Says Adding NFL Teams Abroad Is ‘Very Possible Someday’ [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The league has been aggressively expanding its international footprint. Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Games [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Shop [[link removed]] Written by Griffin Senyek [[link removed]], Alex Schiffer [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here [[link removed]].

Update your preferences [link removed] / Unsubscribe [link removed]

Copyright © 2026 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.

460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016