NFL News:

• There now appears to be an actual funding plan for building the Raiders a stadium in Oakland:
  • The players:
    • $600 million in private money from Ronnie Lott’s investment group
    • $200 million in public money
    • $200 million in NFL “money” from the NFL stadium building fund
    • $300 million from Mark Davis
  • This would result in a 55,000- to 58,000-seat stadium, plus about 8,500 parking spaces, with an “entertainment complex” similar to what New England has in Foxboro adjacent to the facility.

• Some trouble on the non-traditional football front:
  • Starting in 2017, the League will eliminate the 9:30 ET start time for London games, instead having them run during the 1:00 ET slate of games. This is because of poor ratings in North America and Asia.
  • The League is trying to get ahead of rumours that it will scrap all but the “event” Thursday games from the schedule. To support the League, JERRAL says he loves all Thursday games.
    • No doubt the League will try to avoid having to discount the cable fees it successfully extorted a decade ago when this all-season Thursday game experiment started.

• Adrian Peterson is starting to run again.
  • If he were able to run fast enough to turn back time to before the Vikings started their slide, I’m sure Zygi would appreciate it.
• Joe Theismann has opinions on whether Kirk Cousins is worth the money Washington would be expected to pay him in a long-term deal.
  • The better opinions are, as you’d expect, in the Joe-free second half of the article.
• HODOR is still in concussion protocol, making him questionable for the Colts Monday Night game versus the Jets. That’ll help those sagging ratings.

I’m calling it the “Inaugural Bobby Petrino Memorial 49ers Coaching Watch”. Do I care if not one of them is dead? No; no, I don’t.

• No matter whether it’s called a firing or a parting of ways, either way Mark Helfrich will no longer be coaching the Oregon Ducks.
• Trent Baalke accepts all of the blame for the current state of the 49ers.
  • I wonder if his daughter shares that assessment, or lays the blame on Greg Roman?
• LET SPECULATION COMMENCE:
  • Bleacher Report posits that Oregon should go get Chip, and not wait because that’ll hurt 2017 recruiting.
  • Opinions among actual local reporters vary:
    • Some reporters say not only is Chip staying, but that he doesn’t want to go back to college.
    • Other reporters say he could be gone as early as this Monday, but only if Phil Knight buys out the contract.
• Meanwhile, Jim Tomsula – who is earning $7 million over the next two years also not to coach the Niners – has made his way from Santa Fe to Lubbock, Texas, where he is currently hoping the staff of the Buddy Holly Center are interested in some buttons he found.

Two long-form recommendations today. The first is from ESPN proper and mostly for Seahawks fans, and is about Kam Chancellor. It’s a little hagiographic, but if you are at all interested in not-Richard-Sherman, it’s for you.

The general long-form recommendation is from ESPN’s The Undefeated, about the 45th anniversary today of the first airing of “Brian’s Song”.

https://youtu.be/Lnt-BqOjaTQ

Tonight, if none of the live action interests you, your homework is to watch it again, and accept that someone is cutting dusty onions in the next room.

Tonight’s sports:

• MLS Soccer Playoff: Toronto FC vs. Montreal – 7:00 PM | FS1 / TSN
• College Basketball:
  • Purdue at Louisville – 7:15 PM | ESPN
  • Virginia Tech at Michigan – 7:15 PM | ESPN2
  • North Carolina at Indiana – 9:15 PM | ESPN
  • Ohio State at Virginia – 9:15 PM | ESPN2
• NHL Hockey:
  • Penguins at Islanders – 8:00 PM | NBCSN
  • Leafs at Flames – 8:30 PM | Sportsnet
  • Sharks at Kings – 10:30 PM | NBCSN

The Forbes list of most valuable NHL franchises came out today, with the Rangers #1, followed by the Habs and Leafs.

Sorry Andrew, BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR!