Liz Ann Sonders has spent decades translating the complexity of financial markets into language that retail investors can actually use. As chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, she has the ear of millions of individual investors and has become one of the most recognized voices in the country on what markets are doing and why it matters to the average person.
In this interview, edited for length and clarity, Sonders explains the single biggest mistake retail investors are making today, why she believes the line between gambling and investing is dangerously blurred, what valuation metrics actually tell you and what they do not, and why the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates anytime soon.
Why it pays to stay invested: No amount of bad news could stop the stock market's strongest run in more than 25 years
I'm 63, a retired CPA with a $1.2 million 401(k). Do I need to bother with a Roth conversion?
MarketWatch: What is the biggest mistake retail investors are making in this market?

#actually

The NFL season is only a few weeks away, with the preseason in full swing. A new quest for Super Bowl LXI will begin as the Seattle Seahawks open the season as defending champions.
The league has recently been placed front and center in the world of sports gambling. Most notably, the NFL and the NCAA had to deal with the threat of lawsuits from former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who sought to play professional football in 2026.
Now, the NFL continues to embrace its complicated relationship with sports betting. A recent report indicated that the league has struck a new deal with Fanatics Sportsbook to become an official sportsbook partner.
MORE: Roger Goodell has 'no doubt' there will be NFL teams outside the United States
"Fanatics has signed on as an official sportsbook of the NFL, breaking a logjam that left the sponsor category vacant for the league since multiyear deals with FanDuel, DraftKings, and Caesars expired at the end of March. The deal, expected to be announced before the start of the season, includes rights to promote across NFL-controlled media channels, allowing Fanatics to air spots during game broadcasts," Bill King of the Sports Business Journal reported.

#fanatics

A new poll shows that more than a quarter of Gen Z investors see gambling on sports as part of "their long-term financial strategy" — and more than half say they have bet on sports at least once in the last year with money originally set aside for investing.
The online survey of 1,000 U.S. retail investors, which was published Tuesday by the personal finance platform Betterment, underscores a dramatic cultural and generational shift.
Sports betting has become ubiquitous since 2018, the year the Supreme Court struck down a longstanding federal ban on the practice. In 2025 alone, Americans wagered far more on sports — roughly $166 billion — than the U.S. movie, music, book and museum industries generated in revenue combined, according to Fortune. Sports betting now rakes in 42 times more revenue ($17 billion) than it did in 2018 ($400 million), according to some estimates.
Yet no other age group is nearly as likely as Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2007) to view sports gambling as an investment — rather than, say, a form of entertainment.
According to the Betterment survey, just 14% of millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), 6% of Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1980) and 1% of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1965) have made sports betting a deliberate, ongoing part of their financial plans — compared with 26% of Gen Zers.

#investors #part

Baltimore has sued prediction market operators Kalshi and Polymarket, accusing both of running unlicensed sportsbooks in the city.
Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council filed the complaints Thursday in Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
The city says both platforms let residents bet on game winners, point spreads, point totals, and player statistics. Those propositions match products sold by licensed sportsbooks, according to the complaints.
Both companies call them event contracts. However, Baltimore argues they function as sports bets and amount to unlawful gambling under Maryland law.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that the missing licenses free both firms from the tax bills, audits, and player-protection rules that licensed operators carry.

#point #player

AWSHX bars tobacco, alcohol, and gambling companies from its portfolio yet delivered a 17% one-year return and 239% gain over ten years.
KO and JPM exemplify qualifying holdings, with Coca-Cola's quarterly dividend tripling since 1999 and JPMorgan trading near 15 times earnings.
At 0.55% annually, AWSHX costs roughly 10 times more than an S&P 500 index fund, a gap that compounds meaningfully over decades.
Act now: the **** yst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Microsoft didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Most mutual funds will buy anything their strategy can justify. Washington Mutual Investors Fund (NASDAQ:AWSHX) will not. The fund operates under a set of eligibility rules that flatly disqualify certain companies from the portfolio, regardless of price, momentum, or story. That constraint is the entire point of the product.

#Companies #jpmorgan

The Buffalo Bills entered the 2026 offseason period in need of receiving help. Last year, they had a receiving corps that could kindly be described as poor, and it was one that was clearly not a threat for multiple top-flight defenses. When you can send any number of blitzers against a quarterback as good as Josh Allen, yet still have supreme confidence that his wideouts have next to no chance at uncovering, you know there's a problem with the group as a whole.
So, general manager Brandon Beane fixed the mess that, well, he made the offseason prior. He traded for a stud veteran wideout, and the early returns on that deal seem positive. He also drafted a speedster in the fourth round, gambling that the slightly undersized pass-catcher's talent would outweight that smaller stature.
In today's edition of "91 players in 91 days," we discuss that rookie wideout.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Name: Skyler Bell
Number: 13

#wideout #brandon

A plane flew over Wrigley Field ahead of Tarik Skubal's Los Angeles Dodgers debut on Tuesday, Aug. 4. It was supposed to read, "The Dodgers ruined baseball"... if it weren't upside down.
The fumbled stunt, funded by sports gambling company Underdog, was intended as a jab at the back-to-back World Series champions — and their projected $322 million payroll — in the wake of their blockbuster trade for the best pitcher in baseball.
"We just want to say what every fan is already thinking," Underdog said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports. And in that aspect, they accomplished just that. Just look at the replies under Jeff Passan's tweet when he broke news of the trade on Saturday night.
"They ruined the sport I love," wrote murphyJacks0n.
"We need a lockout," owennoble81 tweeted. "This is crazy."

#Dodgers #sports #Baseball #field

Manchester United have announced a new multi-year training kit sponsorship deal with Betway which the club say is the biggest of its kind in world football.
United have not disclosed the terms of the deal but Super Group, which owns the Betway brand, will reportedly pay £20 million ($26.8 million) per season to have their logo on the training kit of both United's men's and women's teams, as well as around Old Trafford and the Progress with Unity Stadium on matchdays.
United went without a training kit partner last season after the expiry of their agreement with blockchain platform Tezos in June 2025, but their return to the Champions League has allowed them to secure more lucrative terms than might otherwise have been available.
The new deal for the training kit sponsorship comes into effect at the same time as new Premier League regulations that prevent gambling companies from appearing on the front of matchday shirts from next season.
Announcing the deal, United's chief business officer Marc Armstrong said: "We are delighted to welcome Betway as official principal partner.

#united #deal #terms #partner

Manchester United have announced a multi-year partnership with Betway, making the brand the club's new official training kit sponsor and exclusive global betting partner in a record-breaking deal. Michael Carrick is at Old Trafford.
The agreement, valued at £20 million per year, is understood to be the most lucrative standalone training apparel or shirt sleeve sponsorship in world football history. Having operated without a designated training wear sponsor last season, securing this agreement represents a significant commercial triumph for the Old Trafford hierarchy.
The announcement arrives at a pivotal moment for both the club and the broader football sponsorship landscape. With Premier League regulations set to ban gambling companies from appearing as front-of-shirt sponsors starting from the 2026/27 season, betting operators have shifted focus toward secondary commercial inventory—with training kit branding emerging as a primary battleground for global visibility. By securing Betway across their training apparel and digital footprint, United have successfully navigated the upcoming regulatory restrictions while maximising their commercial revenue streams.
Under the terms of the deal, Betway branding will feature prominently across all men's and women's first-team training wear, warm-up gear, and coaching staff apparel. Additionally, as Manchester United's exclusive global betting partner, Betway gains extensive co-branding rights across digital channels, LED perimeter boards at Old Trafford, and international fan engagement campaigns.
The fresh injection of £20 million in annual commercial revenue comes alongside broader financial stabilisation at Old Trafford under co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS. Coupled with income generated by returning to the UEFA Champions League, the expanded financial capacity gives manager Michael Carrick crucial flexibility as he builds his squad ahead of the new Premier League campaign.

#betway #betting #across

CHICAGO — One of the biggest changes in my four decades of covering Major League Baseball has been the way the trade deadline is reported.
What once was a few weeks of rumors from beat writers about what might happen, producing a couple of lines in a notebook and an occasional headline if something was close, has morphed into a full-blown, 24/7 job. Some outlets, notably The Athletic and the aggregating site MLBTradeRumors.com, provide nonstop shopping for rumor seekers.
The gambling aspect obviously has increased interest, along with social media and the addition of a third wild-card team in each league, which means more mediocre teams are still in contention at the deadline. As of Saturday, only a half-dozen teams were more than 4 1/2 games from a wild-card spot.
Executives go under the cone of silence weeks before the deadline, leaving managers and players to answer speculative questions.
Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell was in no mood to play along Saturday before the Cubs beat the New York Yankees 5-2 at Wrigley Field.

#Cubs

On Friday, ESPN's Alexa Philippou reported that Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers will not be sanctioned after appearing in a controversial clip that was tweeted by the WNBA's official X account.
In the clip, which the WNBA said was "intended to be lighthearted" in a statement released Thursday, Reese and Bueckers appear to be making a $400 bet on the outcome of their Atlanta Dream-Dallas Wings matchup this week.
After news broke that the league would not be handing out punishment, despite the CBA's provisions on sanctions for betting-related activities, ****** yst Dan Dakich blasted the WNBA as well as the duo of Reese and Bueckers.
"They simply have no integrity in that league…Even in this post, they're defending these players. You can say it's lighthearted. The problem isn't the post. The post just shows how stupid the WNBA is. The problem is in the action. And the action is, you're betting on your own game at a time when sensibilities towards gambling are at an all-time high." [Timestamp – 7:26]
Dakich then invoked two more high-profile names in sports to illustrate his point.

#reese #post #clip #betting

Please note: Ross discusses suicide during the Mr Vegas section of this week's podcast. Please listen or skip as best fits your situation.
A rush of Reading news besets the boys this week, both on and off the field. There's a recap of the preseason friendlies with Newport County and Woking – both of which Ben attended. Then off the field, Reading release a new kit and announce a new front-of-shirt sponsor: gambling site Mr Vegas.
And in horse news, Long Kelvin leaves RG2 and English shores altogether, signing with Danish club AC Horsens. Is this good business, and how hard will Ehibhatiomhan be to replace?
View Link
Thank you to The Amazons for providing the theme song.

#reading #field #county #woking

As new details come to light about Shohei Ohtani's translator's bank fraud, Ippei Mizuhara's old interview reveals how the baseball star's lifestyle impacted the scandal.
Shohei Ohtani is the face of baseball and the MLB. There has been no bigger star in recent memory. However, his career was severely threatened in 2024.
Payments from Ohtani's bank account to a prominent bookmaker led to an investigation. If he had been found guilty of being involved with sports gambling, it could have potentially ended his career.
However, the investigation found that the Dodgers man was actually the victim of theft. And the person to blame was his translator, Ippei Mizuhara. An interview has now shed more light on the subject.
Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

#light #interview

New details are emerging from Shohei Ohtani's translator, Ippei Mizuhara's gambling scandal, including an audio of him pretending to be the ****** anese star while calling the bank.
Shohei Ohtani has enjoyed incredible success already during his tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's won back-to-back MVPs as well as consecutive World Series ****** les.
Even this season, Ohtani is a contender for the Cy Young Award, pitching at an elite level. Despite all his success, though, there have been some low points for the ****** anese superstar as well.
In 2024, the Dodgers fired interpreter Ippei Mizuhara following accusations that he had stolen millions of dollars from Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts. Now, new details have come to light.
Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

#shohei #japanese

One of my all-time favorite jokes (which may or may not be the untold "joke" from Big Shield) is a simple one that was told by David Letterman during a week of shows from Las Vegas in 1987.
It went like this. (And, yes, I found the episode on YouTube.)
"Something really odd happened to me this morning," Letterman said. "I'm coming here to the hotel . . and I see this guy standing in front of the casino. Seemed like a nice enough guy. I don't know, like mid 30s or so. And he's kind of depressed, and he comes up to me, and he says, 'Excuse me, Mr. Letterman, can I borrow from you like $100?' He said, 'Because my wife is not well, and I need the $100 for some medicine, and hopefully, thank God, maybe she'll improve if we have the money to buy the medicine.'
"I said, 'Geez, you know, of course I would love to help you out. But what guarantee do I have now, if I give you the 100 bucks, that you won't take it right there into the casino and spend it on gambling? Just blow it completely? Gamble it away?'
"And the guy looks at me and he says, 'Oh, I got gambling money.'"

#letterman #medicine #gambling

Canadian singer Drake has wagered $1.5 million USDT on Argentina to beat Spain in regulation time at Sunday's World Cup final. A win would pay the rapper $5,175,000.
He placed the bet through the crypto gambling platform Stake and announced it on Instagram. In contrast, Spain enters the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium as the favorite.
Soccer fans have already invoked the Drake Curse, the belief that teams he backs publicly falter at the worst moment. A similar regulation-time bet cost Drake his last World Cup payout, even though Argentina won it in extra time. The wager only pays out if Argentina wins within 90 minutes, excluding extra time and penalties.
The rapper's crypto ties run deeper than betting slips. He referenced Bitcoin (BTC) on his new Iceman album this year, calling himself a "crypto big-timer." This bet, however, relies entirely on a stablecoin rather than a volatile token.
Kalshi's regulation-time market prices Spain's win probability at 43%, compared with 28% for Argentina and 32% for a tie. Meanwhile, that gap mirrors how World Cup betting markets have leaned toward Europe throughout the knockout rounds. The Kalshi contract for Sunday's World Cup game had already logged more than $2.8 million in trading volume.

Warren Buffett has made billions picking stocks over the course of his life. But these days, he says, the market is changing. Instead of investors focusing on long-term returns, speculative trading is becoming predominant.
Despite the major indices hitting record highs, Buffett, in an (1)interview with CNBC (1), aimed criticism at retail investors who chase the hot stock of the moment and one-day options trading, likening it to gambling.
Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one
Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — here's what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP
Millionaires under 43 hold only 25% of their wealth in stocks. Here's where their money is actually going

Concerned about an AI bubble? Sign up for The Daily Upside for smart and actionable market news, built for investors.
You've heard of the luck of the Irish. Want to bet on the luck of the ****** et manager?
Tidal Investments and Subversive Capital have filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an "event contracts" exchange-traded fund tied to the outcomes of sports games. In other words, a sports gambling ETF. The Subversive All Season Sports ETF will have exposure to 40 to 80 bets at once, attempting to generate alpha by betting on where the adviser thinks the market's odds are wrong. The filing also included a related fund, the Subversive Prediction ETF, tied to "economic, regulatory, climate and global events themes." With the Securities and Exchange Commission still weighing approval of novel funds like these, whether they will actually make it to the market is a toss-up.
"They're pretty much a pro-innovation SEC," said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF ****** yst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Still, he theorized that the SEC wants to make sure it has a consistent framework in place to approve prediction market ETFs. "I think their issue here is that if they approve one of these, they could see 500 to 1,000 filings within a month or two. It would be raining filings."
Sign up for The Daily Upside at no cost for premium ****** ysis on all your favorite stocks.

PHILADELPHIA – For the better part of 90 minutes Tuesday, July 14, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players' ****** ociation interim executive director Bruce Meyer laid out their alternative visions of reality, staking out opposite poles on a salary cap, revenue sharing, and perhaps the color of the sky as the sport grinds toward a Dec. 1 owners' lockout.
Yet there's one subject in which they were in full agreement: If sports gambling and prediction markets are legal, they most certainly should get a piece of it.
Meyer, in his first major press briefing since Tony Clark's February resignation, acknowledged that widespread legalized sports betting has created "an environment where our players are subject to constant threats, harassment. Always has been, but I think the players will probably say it's reached a new low."
Yet in late April, the MLBPA struck a long-term licensing agreement with Hard Rock Bet, which it said integrates "MLB player name, image, and likeness directly into the core of the betting experience across Hard Rock Bet's digital and retail platforms throughout North America."
That would seem to put the union at odds with one of its core principles, protecting player safety and welfare. Yet both league and union have adopted a mindset that could also serve as the ****** les of a '90s album: Everybody else is doing it, so why can't we?

Usually, a summer weekend will reset the sports news cycle, allowing a goldfish-brained collective consciousness to move on to something new.
That didn't keep Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper from dusting off a topic that had lost some steam since it surfaced last week.
Harper has issued a statement on Instagram addressing the report from the Philadelphia Inquirer about a Cameo video that was purchased by a FanDuel VIP host for a bettor who had lost enough money to make it money well spent in an effort to lure him back.
"In November 2024," Harper wrote in his Instagram story, "someone identifying themselves as 'Bryttanni' submitted an order through Cameo for a personal 'holiday video for Terry.' Cameo had a separate category for business video requests, and at the time I did not know this video would be used for commercial purposes. The request included a short script. I read it in good faith. FanDuel then put its own logo on the video and used it as a gambling promotion. I did not know FanDuel would do this. I did not consent to it, and FanDuel had no right to do it."
Harper said that he wouldn't have made the video if he had known "anything about Terry or his situation, or about any alleged 'partnership' between Cameo and FanDuel."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said he did not know a Cameo video he recorded would be used by FanDuel as a reward for a VIP customer who later sued the sportsbook, saying it took advantage of his gambling addiction.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week that a fan named Terry Thompson had wagered $18.5 million with FanDuel and was eventually rewarded with a personalized video from Harper.
In the video, Harper addressed the fan by name and even mentioned the man's young son. Harper shared a screenshot Monday of the request on Cameo, an app that allows users to pay celebrities to record custom videos.
"Had I known FanDuel's true intent, I would not have made the video," Harper said. "The same is true had I known anything about Terry or his situation."
The Inquirer reported Thompson lost $1.5 million, according to a lawsuit that the Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Thompson and against FanDuel and DraftKings. Thompson also was reported to have lost money to DraftKings.

Sports betting is becoming a problem among golf fans and contributing to personal abuse hurled at players, says Matt Fitzpatrick.
The 2022 US Open champion was part of the European side that was barracked by hostile US fans at Bethpage Black last September in the Ryder Cup.
England's Fitzpatrick was also subjected to pantomime boos from the partisan fans when he lost out to Cameron Young at the PGA Tour's flagship Players Championship in March.
"I would say every golfer that's played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling," said Fitzpatrick.
"You go and type in a player's name who maybe isn't playing well, maybe someone who's favoured to play well, you type the name into Twitter [now known as X] and you'll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse.

Conor McGregor’s comeback fight at UFC 329 won’t soon be forgotten. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing.
After five years away from MMA, McGregor appeared to suffer a devastating knee injury in the opening exchange of Saturday’s UFC 329 rematch against Max Holloway inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. McGregor attempted to fight through his misfortune, but ultimately referee Mike Beltran was forced to wave off the contest after just 69 seconds.
The outcome is not only a brutal blow for the UFC, which banked its biggest live gate in company history with UFC 329, per UFC CEO Dana White, but also an anticlimactic end to the ongoing saga of the biggest star MMA has ever produced. McGregor’s return bout had been a major storyline in the sport since his 2021 trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier ended in the former two-division champion suffering a gruesome broken leg.
McGregor, 37, entered Saturday night with two bouts remaining on his UFC contract and was expected to return again sometime in early 2027. That target date, of course, is now in jeopardy as the Irishman seeks likely treatment on his right knee.
Unsurprisingly, the disappointing end to McGregor vs. Holloway 2 elicited plenty of reaction from fellow UFC fighters and McGregor rivals alike, ranging from suspicion amid today’s gambling-obsessed sports world to empathy and delight over the Irishman’s misfortune. A sampling of that reaction can be seen below.

We've done it folks. We've worked through another week and if you're anything like me we you're relaxing with your dog while watching your favorite TV program. At least, I hope that's what you're doing. In the meantime, I did ask all of you to give me your favorite for the 2026 Big Ten football season. Obviously Purdue is going to struggle once again this year. I mean, I know that there was quite a lot of roster turnover, some good, some bad, some with big red flashing question marks since we don't know enough about them, so with no Purdue championship on the horizon who is the team to watch?
I gave you a series of teams to choose from but also allowed you to choose "other" which is always a ******* y choice. I mean other could be anybody, it could even be Purdue! So much to think about there. So, the results are in, let's see who you think.
The Ohio State Buckeyes received the majority of the votes with 52%. I was honestly sort of surprised to see someone win an outright majority. The Indiana Hoosiers come in second with 23% and I still can't believe this is the world we live in. Dogs and cats living together!
I am curious as to who the 5% of respondents think the "other" champion would be. Let us know in the comments! Have a great weekend folks!
This week's results are sponsored by FanDuel. Make sure to check out their college basketball odds that are now live. Please be careful when gambling and don't wager anything you wouldn't be okay losing.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier wants to play in the NBA while he fights sports gambling charges that sidelined him last season. Bail conditions that bar him from contact with certain players and limit his travel could complicate his potential return.
U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall on Wednesday denied a defense request to modify Rozier's bail conditions so he can practice and play with potential witnesses as long as they don't talk about the case. The judge said it would be impossible to police Rozier's on-court conversations.
She admonished Rozier for already violating the no-contact provision of his $3 million bond by sending a text message to a person he was told not to communicate with. Rozier was contacting the person to tell the person he was on the no-contact list, DeArcy Hall said.
"What that tells me is that he believes he knows better than the court," DeArcy Hall said at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court. Rozier, she said, "violated the court's trust with that text message."
Rozier averaged 3.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 ***** ists per game in 10 NBA seasons, four and a half of which he spent with the Charlotte Hornets before he was traded to Miami in 2024. He remains a free agent after the Heat released him in April. An arbitrator ruled in February that the Heat had to pay Rozier his $26.6 million salary for last season.

Of the 32 NHL teams, several front offices stand out amongst the rest. These organizations consistently make moves to put their teams in positions to contend for a Stanley Cup. Their general managers are bold, gambling and winning through free agency, trades and the NHL Draft.
It should be no surprise that these teams are the cream of the crop in the current NHL. Some of these teams also have a leg up in attracting free agents due to state income tax laws, weather or the fun of the city.
But success, whether through skill or luck, and being born on third base, are part of life, and thus part of hockey. It’s impossible to exclude these factors. In this sense, sports have never been fair. But this list will be as fair as it gets.
The Hurricanes made a number of moves in the past 15 years that set them up for long-term success. They drafted Jaccob Slavin, a defensive cornerstone, in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL Draft. They drafted a steal in Sebastian Aho in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft. Then they selected Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
Arguably, their best decision was signing Rod Brind’Amour as their coach in 2018. They haven’t missed the playoffs since and have one Stanley Cup from this year to show for it. Brind’Amour has them use an aggressive forecheck and pepper the opposing goalie with shots, a playstyle that has proven effective 90% of the time.

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark wanted to talk Tuesday about the league's upcoming season, not the Brendan Sorsby gambling saga at Texas Tech that led to a lot of legal wrangling and a since-dismissed court order that had sent shockwaves through college sports.
Even though that was the first thing Yormark was asked about after his opening remarks at Big 12 football media days.
“I appreciate the question. I appreciate other questions that are probably going to come forth today. Today is not the time to address that issue,” Yormark answered. "Today is about celebrating the upcoming football season and celebrating our 16 schools.”
Yormark later spoke about the conference “moving ahead as 16 strong.”
That would include Texas Tech, which the league and its other 15 members were discussing potentially punishing if Sorsby had indeed played this fall for the Red Raiders after the quarterback transferred from Cincinnati, another Big 12 school where he played the past two seasons.

FRISCO, TX – This is the biggest media event of the year for the Big 12 Conference – Big 12 football media days at the Star with an audience of hundreds of reporters. But Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark shut down questions about the Big 12’s biggest offseason story when asked about it Tuesday July 7.
“Today is not the time to address that issue,” Yormark said. “Today is about celebrating the upcoming football season and celebrating our 16 schools.”
That issue is the Big 12’s conflict with Big 12 member Texas Tech over its handling of the gambling violations involving Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby. The league even has a lawsuit still pending against Tech about it.
At one point, Yormark even accused a reporter of misquoting him when challenged about Sorsby.
The reporter had noted how the Big 12 previously sold the notion of being “greater than 12” when promoting the league’s 16 teams – a notion that might seem at odds with the league suing one of its own members. The same reporter noted Cincinnati, another Big 12 team, didn’t get in trouble for playing Sorsby despite indications that the school knew about his gambling violations, which Cincinnati has denied.

If the Rams end up needing another quarterback next year, whether it’s because Matthew Stafford retired, and/or Stetson Bennett is no longer on the roster, then the currently jobless Brendan Sorsby would be a great option in the 2027 draft.
Unable to play in the NFL, the CFL, or for a college program in 2026, Sorsby will be taking a year off following his sports gambling scandal at the NCAA level, betting on Indiana’s games while he was a member of the team. The NFL has separated itself from Sorsby this year by deciding to not have a supplemental draft, and so is the Canadian Football League after they officially barred Sorsby from signing with a team this year.
But as a player who has better tools than Bennett, and a ceiling comparable with some of the top quarterbacks in the 2026 draft, the Rams should take a long look at Sorsby as a day two or day three option now that he’s barred from playing football this year.
This is really unfortunate, as playing in the CFL would have been a fascinating opportunity for Sorsby to prove to the world—and the Rams—that he’s a rising star.
And he wouldn’t be the first. Here are a handful of great stories that started in the CFL, an opportunity that the league has decided to deny itself of with Sorsby.

At a time when college athletics is confronting the expanding influence of legalized sports gambling, NIL money, and unprecedented access to athletes, the conversation often sounds new.
It isn’t.
What is too often missing is the reminder that integrity isn’t new either. In September 1960, just days before the University of Florida was set to face Florida State, a young Gator fullback named Jon MacBeth found himself at the center of something far bigger than a football game.
He was approached by gamblers. Not casual bettors—but part of a broader, organized effort tied to what would soon become one of the most significant point-shaving investigations in American sports history. These were not amateurs. This network stretched from college campuses to New York and into the orbit of organized crime figures who were actively probing college athletics for vulnerabilities.
The proposition was straightforward: influence the outcome against the point spread. Don’t necessarily lose, just make sure the margin stayed within a certain number. It’s the same scheme many of us still worry about today. It could ruin athletic competition.