Ahead of the season opener against Baylor in Atlanta, Auburn has entered into a lucrative NIL deal with the Aflac Kickoff Game, the Peach Bowl announced Tuesday. The agreement is worth “multi-million dollars,” according to the release.

This year’s matchup between Baylor and Auburn was to take place at Jordan-Hare Stadium to conclude a home-and-home series. In October 2025, On3’s Brett McMurphy first reported the game would instead move to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Aflac Kickoff Game and Auburn athletes would be able to earn up to $5 million in NIL opportunities. The Peach Bowl did not disclose the exact figure.

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Up to 24 Tigers athletes will enter into third-party deals that include marketing assets and promotional appearances, starting in July through the Sept. 5 game, the Peach Bowl said. They will participate in social media posts, public appearances, advertisements, in-game promotions and media interviews while also appearing on signage and branding opportunities.

“In the new NIL era of college football, this will be an innovative way to create wins for the teams, programs and student-athletes,” said Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO David Epps in a statement. “This new model is a true win-win scenario where Auburn and its student-athletes get a financial boost in the NIL space. At the same time, it’s a potential gamechanger for neutral-site games like ours who want to bring added value to participating teams and make it a more attractive and lucrative opportunity.”

How NIL led Auburn to move Baylor game

Third-party NIL deals have become an important part of the college sports landscape, especially in the post-House settlement era. While schools can directly share up to $21.3 million with athletes through revenue-sharing, outside opportunities are ways to get “above the cap.” Those deals are subject to the NIL Go clearinghouse.

After the news came out about Auburn’s decision to move the Baylor matchup to a neutral site, Tigers AD John Cohensaid third-party NIL deals are essential to future success in the modern era. While it wasn’t an easy call, he noted the broader impact.

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“When opportunities present themselves, you have to very seriously consider that knowing all the factors that we know – one of which is the fact that anytime you move a home game, you’re affecting lives,” Cohen told AuburnSports’Justin Hokanson at the time. “There are a lot of businesses in and around Auburn. Dr. Chris Roberts and I both, along with our board members, realize that taking a game away from Auburn, Ala. and moving it somewhere else can economically hurt a community and it can have an adverse effect.

“The challenge that we have is we also have to be extremely competitive in the third-party marketplace for NIL. We have to. … We have to get great, quality student-athletes.”

PHILADELPHIA — The young upstart beat the veteran hometown hero in MLB’s Home Run Derby.

Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker upset Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber in the league’s home run contest before a raucous crowd at Citizens Bank Park, prevailing by a 12-11 score in the final. Walker completed a closing rally with six straight home runs on his final six swings to overtake Schwarber. 

The 24-year-old Walker, a fourth-year player in the midst of a breakout season for the resurgent Cardinals, will gain a $1 million prize for winning the Home Run Derby—the largest part of the league’s $2.5 million prize pool for the event. Those winnings for Walker more than eclipse his entire 2026 salary of $799,400. 

He is also the first Cardinal to win the Home Run Derby, despite a storied franchise history that includes former stars such as Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols.

Schwarber will get the $500,000 runner-up prize. 

Bryce Harper, the other Home Run Derby competitor from the All-Star Game host club Phillies, did not advance beyond the first round. 

Harper and five other Home Run Derby competitors—the Rays’ Junior Caminero, the Red Sox’ Willson Contreras, Royals’ Jac Caglianone, White Sox’ Munetaka Murakami, and Yankees’ Ben Rice—earned $150,000 each. Caminero also had the longest home run of the night, at 491 feet, to garner an additional $100,000. 

Despite a move to an untimed competition format for the first time since 2014, this year’s Home Run Derby still moved with crispness and was complete before 10:40 p.m. ET. Instead of going by batter outs, as had been the case before the use of a timer, this year’s structure went by the number of swings.

Cheering on Schwarber’s run to the finals, the Philadelphia fans, meanwhile, are giving an even more definitively local feel to an All-Star Game missing MLB’s two biggest stars and many top pitchers. 

New-Look Broadcast

The Home Run Derby was shown exclusively on Netflix for the first time, with the streaming giant picking up the rights previously held by ESPN. 

Similar to the migration of sports content to streaming that has sparked governmental outcry elsewhere, Netflix carrying the derby prompted a predictable run of complaints from fans. 

“I miss when the hardest part of watching sports was finding the remote,” read one typical fan complaint on social media. “Now I need a flowchart, six streaming services, QR codes, two-factor authentication, and blood samples just to watch guys hit the long balls us chicks dig so much.”

MLB’s strategy with placing the Home Run Derby on Netflix, though, was getting in front of a younger group of fans, and a larger collection of people as well. Netflix has a domestic reach of about 90 million homes, and has more than 325 million subscribers globally, and both measures are still growing. ESPN’s linear channel, by comparison, is in roughly 60 million U.S. households—down by 40% from a peak seen 15 years ago. 

That strategy largely paid off for Netflix earlier this year for a season-opening MLB broadcast, despite some production issues for that Yankees-Giants contest. 

The Home Run Derby production itself alternated between two different crews of talent. That collection of personalities was highlighted in part by MLB legends Barry Bonds and Pujols, MLB’s Nos. 1 and 4 all-time home run hitters.

The post Jordan Walker Edges Out Kyle Schwarber in New-Format Home Run Derby appeared first on Front Office Sports.

One of the most popular, fun, and entertaining events on Major League Baseball’s calendar each season is the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, which is a fan-favorite All-Star break festivity that features eight of MLB’s top sluggers duking it out for a prize of $1 million. The All-Star game (and Home Run Derby) is being held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the Phillies’ home ballpark, Citizens Bank Park.

MLB.com’s Thomas Harrington provided some insight on the new Home Run Derby format, which is powered by T-Mobile:

“Eight players will still make up the field, same as in years past. But instead of trying to hit as many homers as they can during timed rounds, participants will start each round with a finite number of swings: 20 in Round 1, 15 in Round 2 and 15 again in the final round.”

“All swings will count against a player’s swing allotment, whether it results in a homer or not. However, a player who homers on his final swing of a round can keep swinging until he doesn’t hit one out.”

The eight sluggers participating in the 2026 Home Run Derby include: Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies), Bryce Harper (Phillies), Munetaka Murakami (Chicago White Sox), Junior Caminero (Tampa Bay Rays, 2025 runner-up), Jac Caglianone (Kansas City Royals), Willson Contreras (Boston Red Sox), Jordan Walker (St. Louis Cardinals), and Ben Rice (New York Yankees).

It’s a pretty stacked field, and honestly, one of the more anticipated Home Run Derbies in recent memory, it feels like. Two participants from the host city (Schwarber, Harper), last year’s runner-up in Caminero, and a guaranteed new winner. Add in the likes of rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami, and rising stars in Ben Rice, Jordan Walker, and Jac Caglianone. Sign me up.

Let’s get into some of the very important details of the event, plus some sharp predictions/odds.

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How to Watch MLB Home Run Derby, Presented by T-Mobile.

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 15: Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals gets a hug from his father Ron Haper during the Chevrolet Home Run Derby on July 15, 2013 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

How to watch the T-Mobile Home Run Derby. Event details:

Channel: Watch the 2026 MLB Home Run Derby live on Netflix. This is the first time that Netflix is hosting the event.

Time: The 2026 Home Run Derby is set to take place at 8:00 p.m. There is pre-event coverage at 7:00 p.m. ET, and also player introductions, which will likely start at 8.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, @ Citizens Bank Park. 

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Home Run Derby Odds by Participant

GettyST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – JULY 07: Ben Rice #22 of the New York Yankees reacts after hitting a three-run home run in the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on July 07, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

First, let’s start off with the odds for each participant to win the HRD, courtesy of FanDuel SportsBook. Odds are subject to change:

*Indicates home run total for 2026.

• Kyle Schwarber (+290); $100 bet wins $290 ($390 total) *32
• Junior Caminero (+400); $100 bet wins $500. *28
• Munetaka Murakami (+550) *20
• Jac Caglianone (+700) *15
• Jordan Walker (+700) *22
• Bryce Harper (+950) *20
• Ben Rice (+1000) *29
• Willson Contreras (+1100) *20

Disrespect on behalf of Ben Rice?? Perhaps.

Prediction Time!!

Kyler Schwarber is very obviously going to be the most popular pick to win this thing, and why wouldn’t he be? Schwarber has been the perfect HRD candidate, but he’s turned the event down in recent memory. He remains the game’s top pure slugger, and in his home ballpark, it’s possible he just flicks balls out of the yard.

However, for my prediction, I’m going to hand out two potential winners that I like to win the whole thing.

Prediction: Junior Caminero (+400); Ben Rice (+1000) 

The biggest factor I take into account when trying to bet this event is which players need the $1 million the most (right now). Of course, every player in this event is going to get paid in due time, but the players whose salaries are less than $1 million on this list are Ben Rice, Junior Caminero, Jordan Walker, and Jac Caglianone.

Murakami, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Willson Contreras are all signed MLB players.

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, and enjoy the 2026 Home Run Derby, presented by T-Mobile.

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The post MLB Home Run Derby Odds, Predictions, How to Watch Top Sluggers in Popular All-Star Week Event appeared first on HEAVY.

ALS is a hot topic this summer in the wake of Chris Johnson’s diagnosis. But what can be done besides the revival of the Ice Bucket Challenge? The answer might surprise you…

Chris Johnson’s ALS diagnosis sent shockwaves through the NFL and the Nashville community, and the outpouring of support has reintroduced the Ice Bucket Challenge to a new generation. But 12 years after the original viral sensation raised millions for medical advancement, the question remains: why is ALS research still so far behind?

I sat down with Indu Navar, founder and CEO of Everything ALS, to find out what has actually changed, what hasn’t, and what people like you and me can do right now to help.

The Ice Bucket Challenge raised awareness, but ALS treatment hasn’t kept pace

Navar, who lost her husband to the disease in 2019, didn’t mince words about the state of ALS care. The numbers are staggering and upsetting. Every 90 minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with ALS. Every 90 minutes, someone dies from it. And the diagnostic process hasn’t meaningfully changed since Lou Gehrig’s famous speech in 1939.

“We’ve known this for 90 years,” Navar said. “And up to today, we’re still diagnosing somebody the same way and saying every 90 minutes, ‘you have 2 to 5 years to live.' That’s what we did 70 years ago!”

She pointed to the comparable diseases that have seen breakthroughs. Multiple sclerosis now has roughly 40 different treatments available. Spinal muscular atrophy, a pediatric motor neuron disease, has seen near-cure therapies developed in the 21st century.

ALS has seen nothing close to that level of progress.

The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge generated enormous awareness, but Navar was candid about its limitations. For most people, it was a social media moment first and a genuine charitable cause second. The deeper understanding of what ALS actually does to the body, and how woefully underfunded its research remains, never fully took root.

Why ALS research keeps starting from scratch

Funding is part of the problem, but Navar identified something more fundamental about the problem: ALS moves fast. Patients deteriorate rapidly, and families are devastated. Then they walk away from the cause, because the person they loved is gone.

“You really don’t get the staying power,” Navar explained. “The movement is a revolving door. You start a movement, everybody starts something when they’re shocked, and then it dwindles down.”

That revolving door means institutional knowledge leaves with each wave of families. New patients and caregivers enter the system with no foundation, asking the same basic questions about speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and treatment options that the previous generation already answered.

That cycle is exactly why Navar founded Everything ALS as a tech nonprofit. Her organization hosts expert talks where patients and families can ask questions. The goal is to build a permanent platform of accumulated knowledge rather than letting each new family start from zero.

How technology and AI could finally change the trajectory

Here’s where Navar’s background as a tech entrepreneur shines. She argued that ALS measurement tools are stuck in the past. The current standard asks patients to rate their own speech, walking, and breathing on a scale of 0 to 4. That subjective, rudimentary scale is the primary measurement used in clinical trials.

“How do you know what a 3, 2, 1 is?” Navar asked. “It’s not like you know the disease. Everybody’s slope is different.”

Everything ALS is building objective measurement tools using AI and machine learning. Their speech study collects voice data from both ALS patients and healthy individuals of the same age, allowing algorithms to track real changes over time rather than relying on patient guesswork. That data can then be fed back to clinicians and used to optimize clinical trials.

The organization also built an AI product called Sava AI, a generative AI chatbot that helps patients find clinical trials in their region. Navar said that roughly 78% of ALS patients who want to participate in clinical trials don’t know where to go. Her tool is designed to change that.

What you can do right now

Johnson’s decision to use his platform to revive the Ice Bucket Challenge and rally donations has been impactful already. But Navar stressed that the average person can contribute beyond dumping ice water on their head. Downloading the Everything ALS app and participating in the speech study takes as little as two minutes. You don’t need to have ALS or even know someone with it. Researchers need healthy control data just as much as patient data to build the AI models that could accelerate treatment development.

The sports world, and Nashville in particular, is fired up right now. The challenge is converting that energy into something that outlasts the news cycle. Johnson gave ALS its highest-profile moment in years. What people do with that moment beyond social media will determine whether this time is any different.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: Chris Johnson's ALS diagnosis sparks Ice Bucket Challenge revival, but expert says awareness alone won't move the needle

© 2026 A to Z Sports.

Just like last cycle, the EDGE position once again features one of the deepest group of blue-chip prospects.

According to the 2027 Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies, there’s a total of 40 four and five-star recruits at the position. That includes seven five-stars and an additional five top-100 overall recruits.

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All 40 of those EDGE recruits are currently committed, as of July 12. Those commitments have dispersed among 23 different programs. That makes for some big-time hauls at the position for multiple schools.

Rivals breaks down which programs have acquired the best class of EDGE prospects thus far:

Texas A&M

5-star Zyron Forstall (No. 27 NATL., No. 6 EDGE)
4-star Frederick Ards III (No. 62 NATL., No. 10 EDGE)
4-star Kaden McCarty (No. 190 NATL., No. 20 EDGE)

Unsurprisingly, Texas A&M’s top-ranked class — per the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings — is filled with talent on both sides of the ball. Its trio of EDGE commits are among the best.

At the end of March, it landed Forstall, a New Orleans product who now plays for Florida powerhouse IMG Academy. He’s long been considered one of the top pass-rushers in the cycle and that remains the case ahead of his senior season.

The Aggies have been red-hot the entire cycle and that continued into official visit season. Ards III, another Sunshine State star, kicked off a big June by making his commitment. He’s the No. 7 player in Florida.

McCarty was one of the big early recruiting victories for Mike Elko and A&M. He made his pledge back in December and has maintained blue-chip status since.

Notre Dame

5-star Abraham Sesay (No. 19 NATL., No. 3 EDGE)
4-star Aidan O’Neil (No. 112 NATL., No. 14 EDGE)
4-star EDGE Jackson Vaughn (No. 184 NATL., No. 19 EDGE)

Notre Dame’s No. 2 recruiting class is loaded at just about every position — see Rivals’ top running back and offensive line classes. This EDGE group is certainly up there, too.

It starts with Sesay, a quintessential target for the Irish. The No. 3 player in Pennsylvania committed last month, choosing ND over LSU and Penn State, among others. He’s one of three five-stars in the class.

May brought commitments from both O’Neil and Vaughn, both of whom play their high school football in New Jersey. They are the No. 3 and No. 4 players in the Garden State, respectively. Like a majority of Notre Dame’s commits, the EDGE group was prioritized early and pursued heavily. Early relationships and big visits to South Bend helped seal the trio of commitments.

LSU

4-star Chris Whitehead (No. 52 NATL., No. 8 EDGE)
4-star K.J. Green (No. 54 NATL., No. 9 EDGE)

Landing both Whitehead and Green headlined what was a 10-commit June for Lane Kiffin and LSU. They are both prospects pushing to get inside the top 50 nationally and could even push for five-star status this fall.

The latter jumped in the boat first on June 7. Green is the No. 3 player in Georgia and he chose the Tigers over Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and plenty other high-profile programs. He had over 120 total tackles as a junior and is primed for a monster senior season.

The former committed 10 days after Green. Whitehead is the top-ranked recruit in Virginia and has drawn comparisons to Clelin Ferrell by the Scouting and Rankings Team at Rivals. Ohio State, Penn State and South Carolina were among the other contenders in his recruitment, but he’s got his sights set on Baton Rouge.

Other top 2027 EDGE classes so far

Texas
4-star JaBarrius Garror (No. 109 NATL., No. 12 EDGE)
4-star Derwin Fields (No. 221 NATL., No. 24 EDGE)

Michigan
4-star Recarder Kitchen (No. 153 NATL., No. 16 EDGE)
4-star Ifeanyi Emedobi (No. 249 NATL., No. 26 EDGE)
4-star Jayce Brewer (No. 389 NATL., No. 38 EDGE)

Auburn
4-star James Pace (No. 166 NATL., No. 18 EDGE)
4-star Rion Jackson (No. 313 NATL., No. 30 EDGE)

Ole Miss
4-star Keysan Taylor (No. 306 NATL., No. 29 EDGE)
4-star Antwan Jackson (No. 324 NATL., No. 32 EDGE)
4-star Marvin Nguetsop (No. 398 NATL., No. 39 EDGE)
3-star Juelz Batiste (No. 450 NATL., No. 45 EDGE)
3-star Elijah Cox (No. 1,205 NATL., No. 110 EDGE)

Georgia Tech
4-star Justin Weeks (No. 334 NATL., No. 33 EDGE)
4-star Success Nwabude (No. 339 NATL., No. 34 EDGE)
4-star Braden Gordon (No. 356 NATL., No. 37 EDGE)
3-star Kalib Spivey (No. 584 NATL., No. 62 EDGE)