Travis Kelce will catch the rock. But will he present one to his lover?
The hoodie is back. But how long will Bill Belichick be for Chapel Hill?
Paige Bueckers will call her shots. But will she be getting them up in Dallas?
A first glance at 2025 reveals a year that may zag just after it zigs, that’s about as hard to pin down as a former Green Bay Packer quarterback’s career plans.
Stick with it, though, and you will be surprised – pleasantly or otherwise.
With that, USA TODAY Sports reporters and editors offer up their bold predictions for the coming year, one heavy on the usual (LeBron discourse) and unusual (King Kirk Herbstreit?):
2025 in sports predictions
(via USA TODAY Sports staff)
— LeBron James will retire: After turning 40, and finally achieving his dream of sharing an NBA court with his son Bronny, the future Hall of Famer will decide to walk away at the end of the season.
— Arch Manning will win the Heisman Trophy: And, in the process, become the first Manning to do so. (Archie, Peyton and Eli were all finalists at some point in their college careers but never won it.)
— Paige Bueckers does not end up with the Dallas Wings: Just as Caitlin Clark was the foregone conclusion to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, Bueckers is the gimme for No. 1 in 2025. But Dallas is not exactly a prime WNBA destination, and Bueckers is one of the few players with the leverage to say she doesn’t want to go there. Whether that means she stays at UConn for a sixth year (she has another year of eligibility because of COVID and injuries) or she forces a trade will be the question.
— The Mets will miss the playoffs after committing $765 million to Juan Soto: Soto will enjoy a fine debut season in Queens, but the Mets can’t recapture 2024’s magic and finish third in the NL East with a shaky pitching staff – in the first of the slugger’s 15 years under contract.
— The Detroit Lions will FINALLY make it to the Super Bowl: But then lose to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, who will become the first team in the Super Bowl era to three-peat.
— Bill Belichick will go back to the NFL: A moderately successful debut season at North Carolina will put Belichick back on the radar of NFL teams, and he’ll decide that the necessary politicking of college football is just not for him.
— Aaron Rodgers retires, and then comes back to play: He couldn’t be more like Brett Favre if he tried. After his time with the Jets didn’t pan out, Rodgers calls it quits on his career… until some team comes calling and he misses being in the spotlight.
— Michael Vick and Norfolk State beat Rutgers: In his first year as head coach, Vick and the FCS Spartans pick up a shocking road win over a Big Ten opponent. The former No. 1 overall pick’s name begins getting floated for every major job opening.
— LeBron James retires after being traded back to the Cavaliers: … Who he helps win their second NBA championship.
— Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announce engagement: This sets off hysteria among the Dads, Brads and Chads (and Tony Dungy), who are incensed they will continue having to see the pop superstar for 20 seconds during a 3½ -hour game.
– Mikaela Shiffrin gets her 100th World Cup victory: An unfathomable mark that is unlikely to ever be equaled. (This isn’t a stretch; she’s at 99.)
— Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels will play a bowl game in a baseball stadium: That’d be the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium or the Fenway Bowl in Boston – not unlike the conclusion of almost every UNC football season. On to 161st Street…
— The Los Angeles Dodgers win 117 games: One more than the record-setting 2001 Seattle Mariners and 17 as in, you know, the jersey number of that guy who will be returning to the mound in 2025.
— Nobody cares about the Club World Cup: Set in the United States a year before the 2026 World Cup, FIFA made sure to reverse-engineer its newest tournament to include (wring the last few dollars out of) the nearly-38-year-old Lionel Messi, and features an eye-popping $100 million prize for the winning team. But the 32-club showcase goes on in front of largely disinterested American stadiums with top players complaining about more cash-grab games added to a calendar lacking an offseason.
— Coach Prime gets QB controversy: Deion Sanders signs a long-term contract at Colorado, but a quarterback controversy erupts during his first season without his quarterback son Shedeur, who goes No. 1 in the NFL draft. Blue-chip QB recruit Julian Lewis came to Boulder to play right away. So did Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, who has one year of eligibility left. What does Coach Prime do about it? He plays both of them, and the Buffaloes get a playoff berth.
— No MLS Cup for Messi: Lionel Messi has won 46 trophies for club and country, but one major honor has eluded him after two seasons in the U.S.: The MLS Cup. And, in 2025, Messi and Inter Miami will come up short again of attaining Major League Soccer’s biggest prize.
— Chiefs do not win third straight Super Bowl: Not since Lombardi’s Packers has a team won three consecutive NFL titles, but one of those championships came before the advent of the Super Bowl. Far better teams than this year’s Chiefs – 1994 Dallas Cowboys, 1990 San Francisco 49ers, 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974 Miami Dolphins come to mind – couldn’t do it. Kansas City will be the latest to fall short of Super Bowl three-peat glory.
– South Carolina women win another basketball title: The Gamebacks go back to back, the program’s third championship in four years
— Phil Jackson to the rescue: Phil Jackson comes out of retirement to solve the Lakers’ problems. LeBron James announces the triangle is his least-favorite shape. They opt for a hexagon-inspired offense, and madness ensues.
— Woj does not bomb: The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team reaches the Final Four for the first time since 1970 for a very obvious reason: Adrian Wojnarowski makes all the right moves in his first year as team’s general manager.
— After sitting out 2024 WNBA season, two-time MVP Elena Delle Donne returns in a big way: Delle Donne teams up with Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston in Indiana after the Fever pull off a massive sign-and-trade with the Washington Mystics.
— Herbstreit perfects CFP format: Tired of the criticism about which teams should be in the College Football Playoff, the selection committee decides to let ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit pick the teams instead. He scraps the selection rules and fills the bracket with Ohio State, Colorado and 10 teams from the Southeastern Conference based on the strength of their schedules (not wins). All first-round games then go to overtime. But criticism about the selection process fails to die down, prompting Herbstreit to blame fringe fans and social media for ruining college football.
— Liverpool wins English Premier League: Five years after COVID spoiled celebrations for the club’s first title in three decades, Liverpool fights off a late push to win the league in their first year under manager Arne Slot.
— Tyler Reddick takes Daytona 500: In the midst of their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, 23XI Racing co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin dunk on the auto racing series again when their driver Tyler Reddick kicks off the 2025 season by winning NASCAR’s most iconic race, the Daytona 500.
– Ethan Holliday joins brother as No. 1 overall pick in MLB draft: Three years after Jackson was the top pick up the road in Baltimore, the Nationals select Ethan at No. 1 in 2025. The sons of All-Star Matt Holliday join the Mannings as the only brothers to be taken first overall.
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