Sports

With the long-delayed Skydance-Paramount merger suddenly undelayed, the NFL has a decision to make.

Under its contract with CBS, the league can pull the plug on the deal after a change in control of the company.

Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the possibility this week during an appearance on CNBC.

“We’ve had a long relationship with CBS for decades," Goodell said, via Brendon Kleen of AwfulAnnouncing.com. "We also have a relationship outside of that with Skydance. So I don’t anticipate that that’s something that we’ll see. We have a two-year period to make that decision. I don’t see that happening, but we have that option, and that’s something we’ll take a look at.”

The CBS relationship was paused from 1994 through 1997. Fox took the NFC package from CBS, and CBS took the AFC package from NBC. CBS has held the Sunday afternoon package (which predominantly features AFC games) since 1998.

The current broadcast deals run through 2033. The league has an option to pull the plug on all contracts after the 2029 season. Given the rights fees recently paid for the NBA, it's widely expected that the NFL will exercise its right to end the existing deals early.

On Monday, John Ourand of Puck reported that the league "could" extend all of the deals before 2029, using the waiver of its ability to scrap the deals after 2029 to secure a sweetener through 2034 or 2035.

It's ultimately two separate issues. One, put the CBS contract out to bid. Two, extend all deals with the current partners before putting all contracts out to bid.

49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is expected to start the season on reserve/physically unable to perform as he continues his recovery from knee surgery. That would sideline Aiyuk at least the first four games.

The 49ers, though, have not ruled out the former first-round draft pick from playing the season opener, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

Maiocco added that the 49ers likely will play it safe with Aiyuk after he tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee Oct. 20.

"Even though the timeline, everything being equal, might point toward, Hey, there's a chance Week 1 — and there still might be a chance Week 1 — I think the feeling inside the organization has always been don't take any chances, start him off on PUP when they report to training camp on July 22, and then more than likely, just have that carry over into the regular season," Maiocco said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com.

Coach Kyle Shanahan already said Aiyuk will start training camp on active/PUP.

Aiyuk played seven games last season and made 25 catches for 374 yards and no touchdowns, all career lows.

The rumors started on Sunday. They could not be corroborated until today.

Chargers running back Najee Harris was indeed injured in a fireworks accident during July 4 weekend.

From his agent, Doug Hendrickson: "Najee Harris was present at a 4th of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees. Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident, but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season."

The Chargers did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. When Harris reports for training camp next week in advance of the July 31 Hall of Fame game, Harris will (along with all other players) undergo a full physical.

The rumors persisted all week until the dam broke via a report from Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News regarding the fact that Harris had been injured on July 5 in Antioch, California. Inman's report had no specifics as to the extent or severity of the injury. Inman reported that Harris received treatment at John Muir Hospital in Concord and later at Stanford Hospital.

Multiple other people were injured during the incident.

The original rumors were that Harris had lost an eye. The official word from his camp is that it's a "superficial eye injury." The next development will come when he has his training camp physical.

Harris, a first-round pick of the Steelers in 2021, signed a one-year deal with the Chargers in March. He has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his four NFL seasons.