That’s right, it’s time to stop writing 2024 on your checks and papers — the new year is officially here. In celebration of the turning of the calendar, today’s Scroll features a handful of the sports events and moments The GIST HQ can’t wait for in 2025. It’s going to be a great one.

Seventeen weeks, countless Minnesota Vikings’ touchdown (TD) celebrations, and a Pro Bowl roster later, it all comes down to this. Prepare for the inevitable snubs because there are plenty of postseason implications heading into the final weekend of regular-season NFL action.

Per Sportico, Denver beat out competing NWSL cities Cincinnati and Cleveland to secure the league’s 16th franchise yesterday. Investors reportedly paid an expansion fee of $110M, which more than doubles the previous NWSL record and marks the biggest expansion fee in U.S. women’s sports history.

December was a winning month for sports ratings, with the NFL and NBA both benefiting from holiday downtime and marquee broadcasts. While most women’s pro sports leagues were on the sidelines last month, women’s college sports are quickly proving they can also capitalize on prime December viewership.

ICYMI: The first expanded College Football Playoff (CFP) is in full swing, with the 12-team field already whittled down to four. No. 5 seed Texas, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Notre Dame, and No. 8 Ohio State are still fighting for the trophy after a wild holiday break full of upsets and thrilling gridiron action.

We are totally flipping out because the NCAA gymnastics season officially starts today. There’s a whole lot of floor routines, gravity defying tricks, and balance beaming to come between now and the national championship in April.

Stockings were hung by the chimney with care because on Christmas Day, NBA and NFL action would be there. So today unwrap this present — a complete primer for all of the glorious games, tackling both the gridiron and the hardwood.

After a weekend full of blowouts in the first round of the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP), the upcoming quarter-finals (featuring the top four teams who automatically received byes) should be more exciting.

No. 1 seed Penn State women’s volleyball defeated fellow No. 1 seed Louisville in four sets in yesterday’s national championship game, claiming the program’s eighth overall title and first in a decade.

Netflix pulled off quite the heist on Friday by acquiring the U.S. media rights for the 2027 and 2031 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC). It will be Netflix’s first time covering an entire sports tournament and marks FIFA’s biggest deal with a streamer, not to mention it’s the first time the WWC’s U.S. rights were sold separately from the men’s FIFA World Cup.

The 16th NFL Sunday of the season has us feeling like Buffalo Bills quarterback (QB) Josh Allen as we single-handedly tackle our last-minute holiday shopping — and the league’s complicated postseason picture.

At long last, the expanded 12-team CFP makes its debut this weekend, with first-round games kicking off tonight and tomorrow. Four squads earned byes straight to the second round and await the winners of these initial clashes.