​Happy Friday! From Wimbledon to the World Cup, the sports world is buzzing, and the same goes for sports business. Share the news with friends and colleagues—there’s no better moment to dive in. In today’s edition: Carlsson lands a huge deal, EA faces backlash, European clubs cash in, remembering the 99ers, introducing Yahoo College Football Fantasy, and more.
Time to show you the money… BIG BILL (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) On Thursday, the Ducks matched the Flyers’ five-year, $90 million offer sheet for Leo Carlsson, confirming that the highest-paid player in NHL history will wear Anaheim’s colors next season. The contract’s average annual value of $18 million narrowly surpasses Kirill Kaprizov’s eight-year, $136 million deal at $17 million per year. You might be wondering how Carlsson, at 21, who posted career highs last season with 67 points, 29 goals, and 38 assists in his third NHL year—and who finished 57th in the league in points—could become the league’s top-paid player. The answer lies in a mix of timing and circumstance.
Timing: Carlsson’s restricted free agency comes as the 2026-27 NHL salary cap sits up by $8.5 million to $104 million, with a projected $9.5 million rise in 2027-28 to $113.5 million. Teams’ spending capacity is the strongest it’s been, and it’s climbing alongside booming league business. Commissioner Gary Bettman has noted that annual league revenue sits between $7.5 and $8 billion, with growth across all revenue streams.
Circumstance: Because Carlsson was restricted, the Ducks could match any offer, so the Flyers presented a bold, front-loaded, bonus-heavy package designed to test Ducks’ resolve. If Anaheim hadn’t matched, Philadelphia would have received four first-round picks. It’s clear they believed Carlsson could mature into a player worthy of such an investment.
But there’s a twist: In a last summer interview, Carlsson said, “I’d take that, for sure,” when asked about a hypothetical eight-year, $9.5 million AAV offer. That answer wasn’t a bidding agreement, merely a hypothetical reply, yet Carlsson did reach restricted free agency and nearly doubled that speculative sum. The situation calls to mind the Celtics briefly pushing Jaylen Brown to become the highest-paid NBA player in 2023—another case of timing and circumstance rather than an outright claim of being the best. And that’s where the NHL and NBA diverge.
First, Carlsson’s $18 million cap hit would have ranked 101st in the NBA last season. More importantly, NBA stars routinely command the maximum share of the salary cap—typically 25–35%—which isn’t exactly the same dynamic in hockey.