Are top-drawer college football teams and their name, image and likeness collectives simply trying to protect themselves from willy-nilly transfers or are they bullying players to stay put with threats of lawsuits?
Adding liquidated damage fee clauses to NIL contracts became all the rage in 2025, a year that will be remembered as the first time players have been paid directly by schools. But some experts say such fees cannot be used as a cudgel to punish players that break a contract and transfer.
It’s no surprise that the issue has resulted in a lawsuit — make that two lawsuits — before the calendar flipped to 2026.
Less than a month after Georgia filed a lawsuit against defensive end Damon Wilson II to obtain $390,000 in damages because he transferred to Missouri, Wilson went to court himself, claiming Georgia is misusing the liquidated damages clause to “punish Wilson for entering the portal.”
Wilson’s countersuit in Boone County, Mo., says he was among a small group of Bulldog stars pressured into signing the contract Dec. 21, 2024. The lawsuit also claims that Wilson was misused as an elite pass rusher, that the Georgia defensive scheme called for him to drop back into pass coverage. Wilson, who will be a senior next fall, led Missouri with nine sacks this season.
Georgia paid Wilson $30,000, the first monthly installment of his $500,000 NIL deal, before he entered the transfer portal on Jan. 6, four days after Georgia lost to Notre Dame in a College Football Playoffs quarterfinal.
Bulldogs brass was not pleased. Wilson alleges in his lawsuit that Georgia dragged its feet in putting his name in the portal and spread misinformation to other schools about him and his contractual obligations.
“When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same,” Georgia spokesperson Steven Drummond said in a statement after the school filed the lawsuit.
Wilson’s countersuit turned that comment on its head, claiming it injured his reputation because it implies he was dishonest. He is seeking unspecified damages in addition to not owing the Bulldogs anything. Georgia’s lawsuit asked that the dispute be resolved through arbitration.
A liquidated damage fee is a predetermined amount of money written into a contract that one party pays the other for specific breaches. The fee is intended to provide a fair estimate of anticipated losses when actual damages are difficult to calculate, and cannot be used to punish one party for breaking the contract.
Wilson’s case could have far-reaching implications because it is the first that could determine whether schools can enforce liquidated damage clauses. While it could be understandable that schools want to protect themselves from players transferring soon after receiving NIL money, legal experts say liquidated damage fees might not be the proper way to do so.
Former professional poker player James Bord has been chosen as the preferred bidder to take over Sheffield Wednesday, BBC Sport can confirm.
The Owls have been in administration since October, ending 10 years under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri.
On Wednesday, the troubled Championship club’s administrators announced a deal had been reached with a potential buyer.
London-born Bord started his career working for gambling firms Starlizard and Smartodds before winning $4.3m (£3.18m) on the poker circuit.
He now runs data company Short Circuit Science, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) for sports analytics and was involved in an advisory role to COH Sports after its takeover of Sheffield United in the summer, though he now has no connection to the Owls’ rivals.
Under the banner of Park Bench SFC LLC, Bord also has a stake in Spanish Segunda Division side Cordoba CF and Bulgarian club Septemvri Sofia.
Bord, who is based in Las Vegas, has owned Dunfermline along with partner Evan Sofer for almost a year. He attended his first game in person at the weekend, a 3-2 home loss to Ayr United.
At present it is unclear who is part of Bord’s consortium to buy Wednesday, who are bottom of the Championship table on -9 points due to deductions, or if it will be part of Park Bench SFC LLC.
The Bord bid still has to pass the EFL’s Owners and Directors’ test, which may have some hurdles to overcome due to his past involvement in gambling.
Everyone seemed to know in the first quarter of the Southern Section Division 1 final at the Rose Bowl what Santa Margarita High was going to do again and again — get the ball into the hands of Trent Mosley.
Every offensive play in the opening 12 minutes by Santa Margarita involved a pass or a run by Mosley.
“Why not?” quarterback Trace Johnson said.
In the end, Santa Margarita defeated Corona Centennial 42-7 with Mosley scoring four touchdowns and catching 10 passes for a stunning 292 yards. Two weeks later, he made 11 catches for 183 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 47-13 win over De La Salle in the CIF Open Division state championship bowl win.
It was the culmination of a return to greatness for Mosley, who was the Trinity League player of the year as a sophomore, then was slowed by injuries last season. He finally got healthy this season after an injury in the opening game, and every opponent knew the challenge he presented.
Mosley has been selected The Times’ football player of the year in the Southland.
Trent Mosley raises the Southern Section Division 1 championship trophy won by Santa Margarita at the Rose Bowl.
(Craig Weston)
There’s little doubt where his talent comes from — it’s in his genes. His mother, Cindy, was the Heisman Trophy winner for soccer at Notre Dame. His father, Emmett, played football at Notre Dame. His sister, Jalyn, played soccer at Iowa. His brother, Emmett, is a receiver at Texas. Younger brother Grant is another top receiver at Santa Margarita. The three brothers used to see who was most competitive.
Highlights of Trent Mosley zigging and zagging and playing at a different level in his final high school game for Santa Margarita. Courtesy Interscholastic Films. pic.twitter.com/VFo9IC4xk7
“Usually my basketball games with my brothers would end up in fights. Video games, fights,” Trent said. “Blessed to have the experience and their guidance.”
There’s not a sport or position Mosley can’t master. He used to love playing lacrosse, and his versatility is his super power. When he shows up to USC, his college choice, the Trojans will have plenty of plans on how to use him, whether it’s receiver, wildcat quarterback, returning punts or kickoffs.
Centennial coach Matt Logan called him “phenomenal.” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said, “Good lord.”
Mosley added additional speed this season that led to even more big plays and showed what he can do when healthy.
“The gifts I’ve been given by God, working out with offseason speed training and also playing lacrosse two years ago — all that coming together produces what I can do now,” he said.
After Friday afternoon’s practice, USC football coach Lincoln Riley said he had no update on D’Anton Lynn, who has been the target of Penn State’s defensive coordinator search.
Penn State showed interest in Lynn last year before he received a contract extension from USC. Lynn was hired by the Trojans after a successful season as the defensive coordinator at UCLA.
“This is what happens this time of year, especially when you have a really good staff and are doing a lot of positive things,” Riley said. “We’re excited about having the opportunity to keep continuity but if there is turnover, not just with that position but any position, these are coveted jobs. It’s just part of the world we live in.
“Obviously, D’Anton has done a really good job here and we’ll see how it turns out.”
Being prepared for change is a must in the current college football climate, Riley said.
“Contingency plans for coaches, players, staff, everyone because so much can and does change,” Riley said. “Our job is to be prepared and have flexibility. You can’t always predict everything that’s going to happen but you have to be ready to adjust. Yeah, every team goes through it on some level and you try to handle it as well as you can.”
Riley has liked what he has seen in practice as USC (9-3) prepares for its Alamo Bowl matchup against Texas Christian on Dec. 30.
“We’ve done a really good job the last couple of years of going to work and we’re not thinking about what players or coaches are here or aren’t here,” Riley said. “It’s all about trying to maximize this time and build for the future.”
USC announced Tuesday that redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava had re-signed for the upcoming season and is not joining Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane — USC’s two best receivers — in declaring for the 2026 NFL draft.
“It’s great. Anytime you can get a returning guy like that who has played a good amount of football, it’s important,” Riley said of Maiava. “He’s also become a good leader in this program and I’d expect that to continue to improve. The majority of this team has already re-signed, we know those guys are going to be here and it’s cool for those guys to show how much they believe in this place and what we’re doing.
“The exciting thing is you look ahead and you start to imagine pairing what we have coming back with what’s going to be walking through the door here in three weeks or so, but it starts with your veterans who have been through the fire and we have a lot of them back.”
Maiava, one of the last players to leave the practice field Friday, made it clear why he chose to stay.
“Coach Riley,” Maiava said. “Of course, the staff too and my brothers. I’m super grateful to be back out here. I’m focused on a day at a time, staying level-headed, making the right decisions and just taking care of the ball.”
Maiava is happy for Lemon, who won the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s top receiver after catching 79 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior this season.
“It was awesome, everybody was there in the lobby when we found out … it’s well-deserved,” Maiava said. “He and Ja’Kobi set the standard for everyone. He won the award, so I’d say we had pretty good chemistry even off the field going out to eat and places. I had to do my job, but he did his job, too, as best he could.”
Defensive end Braylan Shelby also is grateful to be back with the Trojans for another season.
“I always knew I wanted to be here, he said. “Bowl games mean a lot and it’s a time for the team to put it all together and play together one last time.”
Regarding the new NFL model for announcing re-signings, Shelby said: “Some people love it, some hate it. … USC is a step ahead of the game and I think it’s the right step. In this NIL era, it helps fans know who’s returning.”
Having re-signed, junior safety Christian Pierce is excited about being a potential starter next fall.
“The bowl game is a huge start going into next season in terms of building the culture,” Pierce said. “My focus is on trying to understand the defense even more and the skills and techniques I’ll need to get better at. The talk after re-signing was more on the coaching staff and the program.”
Riley praised offensive lineman Tobias Raymond on his willingness and ability to play multiple positions on the front line.
“He was one of the most important players on the entire team,” Riley said. “His toughness was off the charts, his versatility with all the different lineups we played, being able to physically and mentally handle that. He was just a steadying presence. He’ll be a huge key coming back as a captain, a leader and a player. As many of those guys as you can have in a locker room — you’ll be a lot closer to winning.”
Much to his coach’s liking, Raymond has embraced his leadership role.
“I’ve just tried to be more vocal, set an example and hold other people to the standard our coaches have put out for us,” said the 6–foot-6, 315-pound redshirt sophomore out of Ventura. “Pick people up when things are low and when things are high making sure we’re keeping level-headed.”
Regarding the transfer portal, Riley said he plans to be less reliant on it than in previous years.
“The number we’re talking about is so much less than before, so moving forward we’ll be able to zero in on what we’re going to go after. So the picture is starting to become clearer on what we’ll be targeting.”
Welcome back to the Times’ Lakers newsletter, where we’re all about finding beauty in the struggle that is a basketball season. In a game with 68 free throws, five technical fouls and one potential dagger three-pointer marred by an ejection, there was definitely a lot of struggle.
The thought still made JJ Redick smile.
“It’s about growth,” Redick said after the Lakers survived a slugfest against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. “It’s not about perfection.”
“Consistently, when they have been challenged on a very specific thing, they have responded to those challenges,” Redick said of his players.
The latest challenge was shaping up on defense. The Lakers confronted their deficiencies in a meeting last week during which coaches presented film of the team’s mistakes and stats showing how far the Lakers had fallen. From giving up 113.7 points per possession during their first 14 games, the Lakers allowed 120.9 during the next 10 games.
Redick specifically asked his players for consistency and urgency on defense. For example, instead of being up to touch half of the time, he needed the bigs to be at the level of the screen every time. While allowing teams to shoot 41.3% on corner threes (the second-worst for any team on such shots), Redick noticed a mixture of improper pick-and-roll coverage, bad transition defense or lack of on-ball containment. He asked for simply more consistent execution of what the team had shown it could do.
Some defensive inconsistencies were forgiven during the seven-game winning streak against teams that have a combined .465 record as of Dec. 15. But a 3-3 record during a six-game stretch against .500 teams proved the Lakers can’t hide anymore.
Center Deandre Ayton called it “embarrassing” to see what other teams thought of their defense.
“JJ really got on us and basically showed us, ‘Y’all showing y’all ass right now,’” Ayton said. “‘And it’s time to tighten up a little bit.’”
Playing against a sometimes undersized Suns team Sunday, the Lakers answered by dominating the boards. Ayton grabbed 13 rebounds. The Lakers were without Austin Reaves because of a mild calf strain but leaned on Marcus Smart in the starting lineup for defense and toughness.
Smart missed the previous game against Phoenix with an injury when the Suns got hot during the first half and the Lakers simply had no answer for their opponents’ energy. When the Suns’ Royce O’Neale hit four of his first five three-point attempts and former Laker guard Jordan Goodwin forced turnover after turnover, the Lakers could have folded again.
Instead, they clapped back.
“Nothing’s ever gonna be perfect, especially in this league,” said Smart, who leads the Lakers in per-game plus-minus. “… We know the saying, ‘Pressure busts pipes and makes diamonds.’ We’re gonna see what you’re made of. And that’s the beauty about these games when it comes down to that: finding out who you are individually and as a team.”
Return of the Vandolorian
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt waits for a rebound.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He spent a month on the bench. Then Jarred Vanderbilt needed only 17 seconds to reintroduce himself.
Immediately after entering Sunday’s game to begin the second quarter, the 6-foot-8 forward snagged an offensive rebound and scored on a putback. Vanderbilt had been waiting for that kind of opportunity.
“I haven’t played in a month, so naturally it was built up,” said Vanderbilt, who scored seven points with seven rebounds in 15 minutes against Phoenix after playing only three minutes in the Lakers’ previous 10 games. “But I feel like I bring that every game I play regardless.”
Vanderbilt was the Lakers’ long-awaited X-factor in their nail-biting win over Phoenix, providing the exact defensive and energetic lift the team had needed during its recent slump. As the defense started slipping during the last 10 games, Redick emphasized that everyone needed to get back on defense and be disruptive within the system. Lamenting that his team struggled to do the little things that affected winning such as crashing the boards and forcing turnovers, Redick found the quick answer in Vanderbilt.
“He starred in his role tonight,” Redick said. “He was awesome.”
With Vanderbilt setting the tone for the energetic bench unit, including Gabe Vincent, Jake LaRavia and Jaxson Hayes, the Lakers had a season-high 54 rebounds against the Suns. They forced 20 turnovers.
Vanderbilt fell out of the rotation as soon as LeBron James returned from his 14-game sciatica absence. Although Vanderbilt, who was struggling with injuries in recent years, reinforced his potential as a strong defender during an impressive preseason, he was still sidelined because of his offensive limitations. Because teams don’t respect his shooting, it can create spacing issues for Luka Doncic or James.
He made up for it Sunday by relentlessly crashing the glass. Six of his seven rebounds were offensive.
Even before putting Vanderbilt back in the rotation, Redick praised the 26-year-old’s professionalism and work ethic during a difficult situation.
Smart noticed the same thing. That’s why when the guard saw Vanderbilt running behind him in transition in the fourth quarter against the Suns, Smart attempted to flip him the ball blindly over his head to help Vanderbilt get what could have been a highlight dunk.
It was a disaster. It sparked the Suns’ 20-point fourth-quarter comeback. Smart recognized that it nearly cost the Lakers the game. But Smart did connect with Vanderbilt on another big shot.
Smart assisted on Vanderbilt’s three-pointer with 6:41 remaining. It was Vanderbilt’s first made three since Nov. 14.
On tap
Records and stats updated entering Monday’s games
Thursday at Jazz (9-15), 6 p.m. PST
This game is a respite from the stretch against winning teams, but the Lakers shouldn’t overlook the Jazz. Guard Keyonte George has averaged 30.1 points in his two games against the Lakers this season.
Saturday at Clippers (6-19), 7:30 p.m.
Somehow things have gotten worse for the Clippers since the last time they played the Lakers. After losing 135-118 at Crypto.com Arena on Nov. 25, the Clippers lost five of their next six. They unceremoniously waived Chris Paul in the middle of the night. James Harden, one of the season’s only bright spots, landed on the injury report with a calf strain before Monday’s game in Memphis.
Status report
Austin Reaves: calf
The Lakers announced last Friday that the guard will be out for approximately one week with a mild left calf strain.
Maxi Kleber: back
The forward has missed two games with a lumbar muscle strain but remains day to day. Redick said Kleber felt the injury during practice on Dec. 9 and missed half of the session.
Favorite thing I ate this week
The Pilgrim from Cornish Pasty Co. in downtown Phoenix. The handpie is filled with roasted turkey, onions, sweet potatoes and house-made stuffing.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
I hung Christmas decorations in my house this week but I’m still not over Thanksgiving. So looking for any opportunity to eat more stuffing, I stopped by Cornish Pasty Co. in downtown Phoenix. The “Pilgrim” handpie was filled with roasted turkey, onions, sweet potatoes and made-in-house stuffing (my favorite Thanksgiving side) with a side of cranberry sauce. The pastry was perfectly flaky while not being so soft that everything fell apart. Sign me up for any version of a portable Thanksgiving meal.
USC (9-3), ranked No. 16 in the AP poll, is preparing to play Texas Christian (9-4) on Dec. 30 in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. USC finished 7-2 in its second season in the Big Ten and won four of its last five games, the only setback during that stretch being a 42-27 loss to Oregon, which is the No. 5 seed in the College Football Playoff.
Asked about signing the No. 1 recruiting class for 2026, Riley said: “It was a great day. We tried to keep the focus on building next year’s team. The amount of guys that we signed is a big portion of it and as we start to look ahead … half of our day and maybe even more is pointing towards next year and coming years. Meanwhile, obviously getting ready for this bowl game. It was a lot of hard work to add talent and people who care about this place and starting to put next year’s team together has been exciting here these last few weeks.”
Riley has a 35-27 record in his four seasons at USC and is hoping to improve his bowl record to 3-1. He guided the Trojans to wins in the 2023 Holiday Bowl and 2024 Las Vegas Bowl.
Riley watched the CIF state Open Division bowl game between Santa Margarita (coached by former Trojans quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer) and De La Salle on Saturday and was impressed by the performance of USC commit Trent Mosley, who had 11 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in the Eagles’ 47-13 win.
“He was someone we targeted very early on,” Riley said. “I thought he was super impressive and it was important. He’s one of the best receivers in the country. He’s proven that and he just played out of his mind. It’s a great family and he’s a really smart kid.”
Asked what advice he gives to players who are deciding what to do next in their careers, Riley said: “Yes, it’s an important decision. The guys that make the right decision no matter what it is get a leg up on the rest of their lives. Consequently, a wrong decision can be catastrophic. That’s the world we all live in. I just try to educate them on their options. I don’t like telling guys you should do this or you shouldn’t do that. It’s more about, here’s this option, this is what it would look like, here’s what you need to consider. Sometimes the decision’s pretty clear one way or another, other times it’s not. I try to give them as much guidance as I possibly can.”
Given that USC will be missing quite a few players who were key contributors throughout the season, Riley is not ruling out the possibility of younger players seeing action against TCU.
“There’s gonna be guys all over the place who are going to have opportunities,” Riley said. “All sides of the ball, all position groups, maybe it’s some of the guys you saw a little bit during the season and in some instances you’ll see guys get some burn in this game that haven’t played at all or very little. Bowl games are great, but days like this are the most valuable part of it because we’re just pouring reps into all of these guys, it’s super competitive and the energy level is just different. All these guys feel it’s their time.”
Riley admitted he and his staff had to make hard decisions based on the incoming freshmen, a majority of whom are spring enrollees.
“It’s huge, it’s a high, high number that are going to be here and it’s important,” he said. “We’ve had to make a bunch of roster decisions in the last couple of weeks. We have a large number of players who have already signed and some of the decisions we had to make were based on knowing what we have coming in, and when you sign as many as we did, you’re going to have tough decisions to make.”
Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the PDC World Championship as the 71-year-old claimed a stunning victory over Jeffrey de Graaf.
Backed by a partisan crowd at the Alexandra Palace, the Singapore veteran claimed a 3-1 success over the Dutch-born Swede.
He beat a record held by Northern Irishman John MaGowan, who was 67 when he knocked out Chris Mason in the first round of the tournament in December 2008.
“A moment like this has kept me going for all these years,” said Lim.
“The standard of play nowadays is not like how it was before. This tournament is the Super Bowl of darts so I would say this is a good moment.”
Lim will face Luke Humphries in the second round after the 2024 world champion progressed with a 3-1 win over Ted Evetts in his opening match later on Saturday evening.
Humphries had cruised into a 2-0 lead against his fellow Englishman before Evetts pinched a set back.
However, 30-year-old Humphries regained his intensity and clinically finished out the contest with an average of 98.58, throwing eight 180s.
On meeting again, Humphries told Sky Sports: “He’s amazing, he’s a legend. The crowd are going to be against me so it’s going to be a tough game.”
Lim said: “I hope on a given day it can happen again. I never give up. He is good but he can be beaten.”
The crowd roared on Lim, who is 72 next month, when he won the first set against De Graaf befofe his opponent levelled the match.
Lim went ahead again after a scrappy third set as De Graaf wilted while the experienced ‘Singapore Slinger’ held his nerve in a tense fourth, sealing victory with an average of 86.52.
Five-time world championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle said Lim was able to “take his chances” against De Graaf to secure an “incredible” win.
“If you have the desire, the passion but most of all the ability humans can achieve amazing things – and that was amazing,” said Mardle on Sky.
De Graaf was six years old when Lim made his PDC debut 29 years ago.
Elsewhere, Wessel Nijman of the Netherlands eased to a 3-0 win over Czech Karel Sedlacek while Germany’s Gabriel Clemens beat American Alex Spellman by the same scoreline.
As if Simi Valley coach Jim Benkert doesn’t have enough things to do, he’s taken on the task of putting on the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame high school all-star games Dec. 20 at Simi Valley High.
At 4 p.m. there will be a flag football game featuring players from the San Gabriel Chapter against the Coastal Valley Chapter. At 7, players from Ventura County will take on Los Angeles County in an 11-man game.
Agoura’s Dustin Croick is coaching the West team that includes his outstanding quarterback, Gavin Gray. Taft’s Thomas Randolph is coaching the East team that has a strong group of quarterbacks, including Michael Wynn Jr. of St. Genevieve.
Simi Valley High will be the site for all-star football games on Dec. 20.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Tickets are $10 and will help pay for the growing costs of all-star games, from uniforms to insurance.
Benkert, one of the winningest coaches in state history with more than 300 victories, said he’s determined to make it work.
“We’re trying to keep all-star games alive,” he said. “If we don’t do it, there’s nothing.”
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Step into the Dodgers’ team store, turn to the right, and you’ll be staring at Shohei Ohtani.
Not in person, of course. But amid all the jerseys and caps and T-shirts, there is a commercial playing on a loop, with Ohtani waving his fingers through his hair and winking as he displays the product he is endorsing: the top-selling skin serum in Japan.
“Take care of your skin,” the narrator says. “Live life to the fullest.”
Life is good at Dodger Stadium. In the store at the top of the park, you can buy a bottle of skin serum that retails for $118, or World Series championship gear including T-shirts and caps for $54 and up, hoodies for $110 and up, and cool jackets for as much as $382.
If you’re a fan of any team besides the Dodgers, you might despise all the money they spend on players. On Friday after the Dodgers introduced their latest All-Star, closer Edwin Díaz, I asked general manager Brandon Gomes if they really could buy whatever player they wanted.
“Our ownership group has been incredibly supportive, so if we feel like it’s something that meaningfully impacts our World Series chances, we’ve had that support all the time,” he said. “We’re fortunate to be in that position.”
The Dodgers’ owners spend money to make money, and they wisely hired Andrew Friedman a decade ago to tell them where to spend their money. Sounds simple, but some owners do not spend money wisely, and some do not spend money, period.
And sometimes you do both, and it just does not work out.
In the last decade the Dodgers have made the playoffs every year. Take a guess: What other Los Angeles pro team has made the playoffs the most during the last decade?
It’s the Clippers — eight playoff appearances, no championships and now a disaster.
The Dodgers have won three championships over the last decade. You might not remember that the Dodgers’ owners were ridiculed within the industry for spending $2 billion to buy the team in 2012.
At the time I asked co-owner Todd Boehly how he would define successful ownership of the Dodgers.
“You’re not really asking me that, are you?” he said then. “The more World Series we win, the more valuable a franchise it is, right?”
The Dodgers were valued at $8 billion last year by Sportico.
They signed Díaz for three years and $69 million. I asked Gomes what winter signing he recalled as the biggest during the five years he pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, left, and Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes welcome star closer Edwin Díaz during his introductory news conference Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
In 2014, he said, the Rays signed closer Grant Balfour: two years and $12 million — after the Baltimore Orioles withdrew a two-year, $15-million deal following a physical examination.
It’s not just the Rays, or even the small markets. The New York Mets’ spending rivaled the Dodgers last season, but the Mets missed the playoffs and lost free agents Díaz, Pete Alonso and Tyler Rogers this week alone. The New York Yankees sound oddly supportive of a salary cap. The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs talk like big-market teams but do not spend like them.
At the Angels’ team store Friday morning, five customers looked around the team store, where all jerseys sold for 50% off. The attraction at the store Saturday: photos with Santa.
The Angels have not made a postseason appearance since 2014, and their acquisitions so far this offseason: a formerly touted infield prospect once traded for Chris Sale, a talented young pitcher who missed this past season because of injury and another pitcher who finished third in Cy Young voting in 2022 but has not pitched in the majors in more than 18 months. They’ll likely pay those three players less than $4 million combined.
In March, Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken invited Angels owner Arte Moreno to join her in “an open and honest conversation about the future of baseball in Anaheim.”
This week when the future of the Angel Stadium site came up during an Anaheim City Council meeting, Aitken mused about asking city residents “how much of a priority is it to have the land tied up with a baseball franchise,” Voice of OC reported. (The Angels’ stadium lease extends through 2032, and the Angels have the right to extend it through 2038.)
So consider this a timely holiday reminder for Dodgers fans to give thanks for this ownership group, for what the Dodgers are doing now is exceptional and extremely rare.
It would be nice if the Dodgers made more of a commitment to family affordability — and also if the Dodgers did not charge $102.25 for “an iconic photo op with the 2024 and 2025 World Series trophies” — but their attendance nonetheless hit 4 million for the first time.
This is a Dodger town, and the team is the toast of the town. The Dodgers are the biggest winner in American pro sports right now.
The owners are winners too. On Thursday, Boehly’s company staged its holiday party, and the musicians included Eddie Vedder, Bruno Mars, Anthony Kiedis, Brandi Carlile and Slash. Live life to the fullest, indeed.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The 2026 World Baseball Classic begins in less than three months.
Between now and then, the Dodgers will have to have some “delicate” conversations with their star trio of Japanese pitchers.
As of now, Dodgers front-office officials said at this week’s winter meetings, no final decisions have been made about whether Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki will participate in the tournament, nor if Shohei Ohtani (who has already confirmed his participation) will pitch in addition to hitting.
“We’re still working through that,” said president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who met with Team Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata at the Signia by Hilton Orlando this week.
“We’re very supportive of Samurai Japan and all that they’re trying to accomplish, and they’re very supportive of us,” Friedman added. “It was about just keeping open the lines of communication, the mutual respect and working together to help all sides.”
What would be most helpful to the Dodgers, of course, is if none of their three Japanese stars pitch in next spring’s international tournament.
Each of them could also benefit from extra rest going into the 2026 campaign. Sasaki will be returning to the starting rotation after missing most of last year’s regular season because of a shoulder injury. Ohtani will be embarking on his first full season of two-way duties since 2023. Yamamoto is coming off what was already an unprecedented workload even before last season’s playoffs, having set a new career high (either in MLB or Japan) with 30 starts in the regular season.
Already, it appears several other Dodgers players will, or are likely, to skip the event. While Team Canada general manager Greg Hamilton said Freddie Freeman would like to participate, the first baseman is dealing with some lingering health issues after playing through an ankle injury for much of last season. Teoscar Hernández said in an interview that he will not play for the Dominican Republic in order to focus on next season. Tommy Edman, who previously represented Team Korea, is also not expected to play as he recovers from an offseason ankle surgery.
To this point, the only Dodgers player other than Ohtani to confirm his WBC participation is catcher Will Smith for Team USA.
More could follow, from Mookie Betts (who has yet to announce any WBC decision) to Hyeseong Kim (who told Korean media he has requested permission from the Dodgers to participate) to Alex Vesia (who is under consideration for a Team USA spot, according to American general manager Michael Hill).
In Japan, however, the WBC is held to a higher standard of importance than most other countries around the world (and, to its fans, an even more significant level than the World Series itself). The nation has won the event a record three times, including in the most recent 2023 edition. And having star players sit out, or even be restricted, in the tournament can threaten to become a culturally controversial development.
The Dodgers understand this.
Manager Dave Roberts this week described the dynamic with the Japanese players as “very delicate,” and said neither he nor the organization “want to be dismissive of what it means to them representing their country.”
“You can’t debate the emotion,” he added, “what a player might feel of this potential opportunity.”
That doesn’t mean, however, the Dodgers aren’t concerned about the cost the tournament can incur, especially for starting pitchers given its place on the calendar.
Next year’s event will take place March 5-17, requiring pitchers to be built up for live-game action nearly a month earlier than they would otherwise. Team Japan will also have to travel from Tokyo (where they will play their group stage games) to Miami (where the knockout round will be held) during that two-week window, assuming they advance through the preliminary round as expected.
Because of that, Roberts acknowledged he was hoping Ohtani (who will still be managed carefully as a pitcher next season, potentially with a week or more of rest between outings) would only hit in the event — and seemed to hint that would be the likely outcome for the reigning MVP.
“The pitching side of things is challenging and gives us a little bit of pause,” general manager Brandon Gomes added. “But yeah, we’ll obviously continue to have those conversations and figure it out.”
The Dodgers will also face a decision with Sasaki, whom they can block from participating in the WBC since he missed the majority of last season on the 60-day injured list, though they haven’t given an indication yet on whether they would do so.
“We just need to sit down and talk through it as an organization,” Gomes said generally of the team’s process for WBC players. “Once we get more info on the players, we’ll have those conversations.”
While the Dodgers can’t prevent Yamamoto from participating, Roberts indicated they could lobby for Team Japan to keep him (and Ohtani or Sasaki, if they wind up on the Japanese staff, as well) on a more restricted workload for the tournament.
“I would like to think that it’s going to be a dialogue as far as restrictions and limitations,” Roberts said. “In the sense of just trying to give them the opportunity, but also understand they’ve come off some stuff, some long seasons.”
There should be more clarity in the coming month, with Team Japan hoping to have its roster finalized by the new year. Next week, Friedman said, clubs and national teams will also submit forms to MLB regarding players’ potential participation, which allows for a period of feedback between all parties.
“I do think that the conversations need to be had [and] will be had, as far as what each individual is taking on and whatever role that they might be taking on,” Roberts said. “And what potential costs there might be.”
For now, however, when it comes to one of the more delicate situations the Dodgers will have to navigate this offseason, “there’s no more clarity than we had before,” Roberts added.
Troy Aikman said he’s “done with NIL” after writing a check to a UCLA football player who never thanked him and went on to leave for another school after one season.
There was a reason for that lack of gratitude, according to one person familiar with the Bruins’ football name, image and likeness operations from that time not authorized to discuss donor information publicly.
The player in question didn’t know who funded his NIL deal, only that it was coming from the team’s collective, Men of Westwood. It was standard practice for players not to know which donors or alumni contributed NIL funds that were distributed to the team.
Aikman, who did not identify the player in his remarks, did receive thanks from Men of Westwood leadership, coach Chip Kelly and athletic director Martin Jarmond, according to the person familiar with the situation.
Aikman, the former UCLA quarterback who led the Bruins to a victory in the 1989 Cotton Bowl before going on to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys, voiced his frustrations about NIL on the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch.
“I gave money to a kid, I won’t mention who,” Aikman told Deitsch. “I’ve done it one time at UCLA, never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank-you note. So, it’s one of those deals, to where I’m done with NIL. I want to see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.”
Aikman went on to say he believed that players should be able to leave one school for another amid coaching turnover but should have to otherwise stay with the program paying them.
“There’s got to be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up,” Aikman said. “Starting with players that accept money. There’s got to be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf, to have to stick to a program.”
