If you’re reading this, you’re probably tuning into the Super Bowl on Sunday. This week, we look behind the scenes at some of the unknown drivers of the Chiefs' and Eagles' success
Boardroom spoke with former Green Bay Packers executive Andrew Brandt about the two lead executives for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles and how their management styles and strategies have led their respective teams to periods of sustained dominance.
In Market Watch, Dallas Mavericks fans reactions to the Luka Dončić trade, we discuss Robinhood’s scuttled plan to get in on Super Bowl betting, and Fox getting in on the sports streaming game. Let’s jump in! |
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The Unknown Architects Behind the Super Bowl Teams |
Photo illustration via Imagn Images |
More than 100 million Americans will watch Super Bowl LIX Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the culmination of thousands of hours of work over the last year from hundreds of team players and staffers across the two organizations. That rings especially true for the architects who built the two teams competing against one another for the second time in three years, Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach and Eagles GM and Executive VP of Football Operations Howie Roseman.
“We not only have the two best teams in the NFL in the Super Bowl,” said Andrew Brandt, a former Green Bay Packers executive who’s now the Executive Director of the Moorad School of Sports Law at Villanova, a columnist at Sports Illustrated, and author of the Sunday Seven newsletter. “We have the two best-managed teams in the NFL in the Super Bowl.”
Veach took on the role in 2017, the year Patrick Mahomes was drafted. Since then, KC is 117-36, including the playoffs and a staggering five Super Bowl appearances in eight years. In 2020, Veach and the Chiefs gave Mahomes a 10-year, $450 million extension that was the largest in NFL history at the time but, in reality, was a masterful team-friendly deal. KC can just focus on building around its all-time great quarterback, and while Mahomes and the Chiefs have periodically restructured the deal, he’s never really going to be the highest-paid player at his position.
Around Mahomes on offense, Brandt said, Veach has prioritized young players who don’t demand the ball and discarded veterans like DeAndre Hopkins, Juju Smith-Schuster, Hollywood Brown, and Kareem Hunt, who fit the team’s scheme. And Veach’s scouting background has paid huge dividends on defense, where the Chiefs drafted stars like Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, and Nick Bolton, ideal fits for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s playbook.
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Chris Graythen / Getty Images |
Although the task has been tougher for Roseman without a franchise quarterback, he’s led the Eagles to three Super Bowl appearances in 10 years because Brandt — who spent some time as a Philadelphia consultant — believes he has a competitive advantage over his peers. Roseman grew into his role from a cap management and financial negotiation background instead of the traditional scouting background, which enabled him to make numerous shrewd signings and trades during his illustrious tenure in charge.
“The trades he's made always seem to be an Eagles-friendly trade. The contracts he's done always seem to be Eagles-friendly contracts,” Brandt said. “He's able to fit in these magnificent players into a cap system where you're not supposed to be able to do that. And they've had remarkable sustained success because of that.”
Philadelphia had a weakness at wide receiver a couple of years ago, which was addressed by acquiring AJ Brown from Tennessee. Roseman took linebacker Zack Baun from New Orleans, and he became an All-Pro for $3.5 million. Then, after the Giants didn’t retain Saquon Barkley, Philly turned him into what Brandt called perhaps the best free agent pickup in NFL history.
So, wherever you may be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, perhaps take a moment to recognize and acknowledge the architects who built the Chiefs and Eagles into the superpowers they are today. |
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💸 Robinhood Backs Off Super Bowl Betting Offering
Robinhood’s highly publicized plan to accept Super Bowl bets as contracts through a partnership with online prediction market platform Kalshi was nixed Monday after concerns from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A CTFC spokesperson said Tuesday that these contracts “may not be permissible under the law” because the contracts involve gaming.
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Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images |
😡 Mavs Fans Want Refunds Following Luka Trade
Following the Dallas Mavericks’ bombshell trade of Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers last weekend, reports emerged on social media of Mavs fans asking for refunds on their season tickets. “Regarding refunds,” the Mavericks told Dallas’ ABC affiliate WFAA, “we value every season ticket member relationship and reps are available to take calls from members with any concerns or questions." At least one fan, per the station, received monetary compensation after complaining to the team.
⛪ Texas Gov. Supports Sports Betting
On a podcast appearance Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he didn’t have a problem with online sports betting, the first show of support for any kind of legal gambling in the state in one of the largest untapped markets in the country. Whether this leads to any sort of legislative progress in the Lone Star State remains to be seen. ❌ Hundreds of College Athletes Opt Out of NCAA Settlement
At least 250 collegiate athletes are opting out of the House NCAA antitrust lawsuit settlement paving the way for revenue sharing, claiming it doesn’t go far enough and seeking further financial compensation. A new federal suit alleges illegal price fixing, limits to roster sizes, and Title IX violations, further complicating an already chaotic landscape.
🚩 Is NFL Flag Football League Already in Works?
In his state of the sport press conference on Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was considering creating a professional flag football league. Pro Football Talk reports that work is already very much underway in forming a new entity, with a debut date unknown but potentially timed for after the sport’s debut in the 2028 Summer Olympics.
📃 Gundy’s OK State Contract Reveals Modern Wrinkles
Mike Gundy’s new restructured contract at Oklahoma State contains provisions aimed at tackling college football’s modern era and is a far cry from the reported seven-year, $87.5 million extension Ohio State just gave head coach Ryan Day after winning the national championship. In addition to a $1 million pay reduction covering player revenue sharing, a reduced buyout, and a provision that doesn’t automatically roll over the contract to make it a perpetual five-year deal, Gundy’s agreement calls for increased engagement with funders and donors and even looking for his potential successor.
⚽ NWSL Creates $5 Million Fund In Abuse Settlement
NWSL players who experienced physical and emotional abuse following bombshell leaguewide investigations in 2021 and 2022 will now receive compensation from a $5 million fund created for the current and former athletes. Multiple teams, players, and coaches were implicated in the heinous scandal, leading to leaguewide changes to the collective bargaining agreement to protect players through improved vetting of personnel, access to counseling, and a better system for players to report abuse.
👻 Snapchat Reports Strong Sports Engagement
A new report on how Snapchat users engage with sports content reveals that more than 25 million minutes of sports content on Spotlight are viewed each day. For Sunday’s Super Bowl, Snap estimates that its users are 2.4 times more likely to use social media for live updates about the game than non-users in an effort to attract brands to its platform.
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📺 Fox Plans DTC Streamer For 2025
In a Tuesday earnings call, Fox Corporation Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said a direct-to-consumer streaming service encompassing the company’s news and sports offerings this year. This comes just weeks after the dissolution of Venu Sports, with a new product that is all but assured of competing with Fox’s former partners in the failed joint venture.
📈 Disney Scores Major College Football Ratings Bump
Disney’s Wednesday earnings report included welcome rating news for ABC’s college football coverage following the first year of the company’s SEC media rights deal. ABC averaged 5.8 million viewers for its 46 college football telecasts in 2024, up 56% year over year. While Disney beat its quarterly profit estimates and Hulu subscribers increased by 3% last quarter, Disney+ lost 700,000 subscribers, and ESPN+ also lost 700,000.
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Mitchell Leff / Getty Images |
🎙 Hubie Brown Calling Final NBA Game Sunday
Basketball Hall of Famer Hubie Brown will call the last game of his long and distinguished career on Sunday when the Philadelphia 76ers visit the Milwaukee Bucks on ABC alongside Mike Breen. Brown remains sharp and polished as an analyst even at 91 years old and will cap off a nearly 35-year broadcasting career for CBS, TNT, and ESPN. Brown also won an ABA championship as a coach in 1975 and won two NBA Coach of the Year awards. So, instead of watching five hours of Super Bowl pregame on Sunday, tune in and take in Hubie’s amazing pearls of wisdom one final time as the broadcast celebrates a hoops icon.
🏀 Altitude, Comcast, End 5-Year Blackout Fight
After a nearly six-year carriage fee war, the Altitude regional sports network and Comcast reached an agreement that would finally broadcast Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche games to subscribers in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Kansas. Following a lengthy legal battle that included an antitrust lawsuit filed by Altitude owners Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, Comcast subscribers watched their favorite Denver-area teams for the first time since the network blackout began on Aug. 31, 2019.
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In August, Forbes reported that the average NFL franchise valuation sits at $5.7 billion in 2024, a far cry from the $1.2 billion average from 2013. A PwC study applied that same 11-year rate to determine that the league-wide average will crack the $27 billion plateau by 2035, and this is before private equity gets firmly entrenched in ownership groups.
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