From Beyoncé’s BarBey drop to Usher’s wheely cool hidden talent, here are the top moments that captured the internet’s attention in between the gridiron action.

Last Tuesday, ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced their intention to create a unified live sports streaming app. It would offer content from all three platforms, a prospect that has already spooked smaller streamers, Wall Street investors, and sports leagues.

Sportico released its list of top 100 highest-paid athletes — and none of them are women. In fact, women don’t even make the top 200. Last year’s highest-earning female athlete, Coco Gauff, raked in $22.7M, light years away from overall No. 1 earner Cristiano Ronaldo’s $275M.

On Monday, a NLRB regional director ruled that under U.S. labor law, Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team members are considered the school’s employees, the first nail in the coffin for the NCAA’s beleaguered amateurism model.

Fergus Bell, founder of the athlete-led venture capital firm The Players Fund (TPF), recently argued that women athletes can be more impactful than male sports stars. While Bell mentioned how this is influencing sports sponsorships and coverage, recent additions to TPF demonstrate how it’s also influencing the boardroom.

College athletes keep winning major battles in the fight to be recognized as employees, a distinction that would allow them to earn income and experience labor protections. From Dartmouth to USC, the NCAA’s amateurism model is giving way to a new, labor-protected college landscape.

As the first weekend of Black History Month (BHM) comes to an end, today we’re celebrating Black sportspeople who’ve broken barriers in sports — from the court to the field to those calling the shots.

The 2024 Formula 1 season doesn’t officially start until the end of February, but F1 silly season has already begun. Seven-time world champion and long-time Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is, ahem, switching gears and joining Ferrari in 2025 — a move as unexpected as when Zayn left One Direction.

The NCAA took another L in its war against NIL last Thursday by losing its Ninth Circuit appeal to avoid paying out $4B in class action damages to eligible athletes, while the National Labor Relations Board resumes hearing a case today that could reclassify USC athletes as “professionals.”

In addition to restructuring its $8.6B debt, DSG secured a key investment and distribution deal from Amazon, which has been eager to expand its sports footprint.

Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment — a new agency dedicated to amplifying women’s sports — announced a groundbreaking partnership with retired WNBA legend Sue Bird on Monday.

Although many hoped the NCAA would unbundle women’s March Madness, the basketball tournament is included in the deal.