Striker Luis Suárez will return to MLS Cup champion Inter Miami next season after agreeing to a new one-year contract, the team announced on Wednesday, Dec. 17.

Suárez’s contract expired after the conclusion of the MLS Cup playoffs, which Inter Miami won for the first time in franchise history with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Dec. 6.

‘Luis deserves to be able to make that decision to be able to leave through the front door and be celebrated like he should be by the club. And if he decides to stay at the club for another year, it would be great,’ Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas said before the MLS Cup final.

‘I would like to see Suárez stay … but the decision is up to him.’

Suárez, 38, finished with 17 goals and 17 assists over all of Inter Miami’s matches in the 2025 season. However, he played sparingly in the team’s final playoff games and did not get on the field in the MLS Cup final.

Suárez made $1.5 million in salary last season, which was tied for the fourth-highest on the team.

Inter Miami teammate and 2025 MLS MVP Lionel Messi is the league’s highest-paid player at $12 million.

The club did not reveal how much Suárez will be paid in what’s expected to be his final season.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been soaring to ‘New Heights’ for nearly a decade. In 2025, they are sinking to new lows.

After seven straight AFC championship game appearances and three Super Bowl victories, the Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 15. While that was bound to happen at some point, their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers will linger a bit longer as Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in the process – an injury that could keep him out into the 2026 season.

It has been a tough year for everyone involved in the Chiefs’ operation, but Travis Kelce can be seen as a headliner. While he didn’t directly address his long-term future with the Chiefs or in the NFL, he touched on a number of topics on the latest episode of ‘New Heights,’ which released on Dec. 17:

Travis Kelce on Chiefs’ playoff elimination

‘When you need them the most, things weren’t falling for us,’ Kelce said about the team being eliminated. ‘Gotta go back to the drawing board. We got three games left. The integrity of who you are as a professional, as a player, you gotta love this (expletive). Chiefs Kingdom, we’re gonna give you everything we’ve got. There’s no question about that.’

The tight end’s 13th season has been far from lucky. He will now miss the playoffs for just the second time in his career.

Travis Kelce discusses Patrick Mahomes injury on ‘New Heights’

Kelce noted that plenty of players on the Chiefs were dealing with injuries heading into the game and throughout the contest. He acknowledged that they fought to the end, but seeing Mahomes go down didn’t feel real.

‘On a freakish play to see one-five go down like that man, it (expletive), it was almost like it wasn’t real,’ Kelce added. (Expletive) just sucks man.’

He said there was a belief that they would find a way to win like they always do, but that wasn’t in the cards for Kansas City in Week 15. The Chiefs had been dominant in one-score games a year ago. That script has been flipped in 2025, posting a 1-7 record in those situations.

Regardless, they still had the ball, down 16-13, with the chance to tie or take the lead before Mahomes suffered his injury with less than a minute to go.

‘Sure felt like that,’ Kelce said, thinking they would find a way to win. ‘That’s why when one-five went down, I was like, ‘No way this is what happens, right?’

Travis Kelce addresses Mahomes’ return, Chiefs’ 2026 prospects

Whether Mahomes returns in time for the 2026 season remains to be seen, but the tight end isn’t counting him out.

‘He’s a warrior,’ Kelce said. ‘I’m telling you. This guy played through everything, battled through everything, crowned champion because he’s battled through everything. He’s gonna battle through this. It’s the only way this guy is wired. He’s gonna make sure he’s gonna come back stronger than ever.’

‘Hopefully the Chiefs can get him back as soon as possible,’ Kelce added. ‘I know he’s gonna be doing everything he can to get back out on that field for the Chiefs.’

For now, Kansas City will turn to Gardner Minshew for the remainder of the season.

Travis Kelce on his future with Chiefs

There are just three games left for the 2025 Chiefs. None of them will have playoff implications, but that won’t stop Kelce from putting his best foot forward in what became a slightly emotional rant.

‘There’s an integrity thing here that when you sign up for the gig,’ Kelce said. ‘You’re living out a kid’s dream that never got a chance to do this. You’re playing this game obviously to win Super Bowls, you’re playing this game to be in those playoff scenarios, but at the end of the day, you’re playing in the NFL. And that’s a (expletive) blessing.

‘That’s an honor. It’s an honor to be out there. It’s an honor to feel the soreness because you’re actually out there, (expletive) doing it. No matter if you’re getting the (expletive) ball thrown to you, no matter if you’re blocking your tail off. It’s an honor to be out there in a uniform, playing for the guys around you, playing for your family, playing for the people back home that are watching you.’

With just three games to go, it remains a mystery if there will be more than that for the star tight end, who didn’t discuss his future in the wake of the Chiefs’ elimination and Mahomes’ injury.

It feels like the end of an era. It remains to be seen if it truly is.

Only time will tell.

Add quarterback to the growing list of areas of uncertainty for the Miami Dolphins’ future.

Coach Mike McDaniel is benching starter Tua Tagovailoa and replacing him with rookie Quinn Ewers, according to multiple reports.

Zach Wilson will serve as the backup and Tagovailoa will be the emergency third-stringer, per reports.

The move comes just one day after McDaniel cast doubt on Tagovailoa’s standing, saying ‘everything is on the table’ after ‘the quarterback play (Monday) was not good enough’ in a 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tagovailoa has endured a turbulent ride in his sixth season in South Florida. He leads the NFL with a career-worst 15 interceptions. The southpaw signal-caller was benched in a Week 7 blowout loss to the Cleveland Browns, with McDaniel saying he ‘just wasn’t good enough’ on the day. He set off a maelstrom the previous week by criticizing unspecified teammates for showing up late to players-only meetings or missing them entirely. McDaniel rebuked his quarterback, who later apologized for the remarks.

Ewers, a seventh-round rookie out of Texas, replaced Tagovailoa in the loss to the Browns. He completed five of eight attempts for 53 yards in his NFL debut.

In the loss to the Steelers, Tagovailoa struggled for the first three quarters before bolstering his final stat line in the last three drives. He finished with 253 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 22-of-28 passing.

Tagovailoa’s demotion is the latest shake-up for a franchise that has already experienced a good deal of upheaval in the last calendar year, with more potentially still to come. General manager Chris Grier parted ways with the organization on Halloween, with McDaniel’s future still unclear as he coaches out the season.

With the loss to the Steelers, the Dolphins were eliminated from playoff conention. The team’s postseason win drought dating back to the 2000 season is the longest active run for any team in the league.

McDaniel enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Tagovailoa in the early going of his coaching tenure with the Dolphins. The peak arrived in the 2023 season, during which the offense led the NFL in total yards and the quarterback earned his lone Pro Bowl nod. The following year, however, Tagovailoa missed six games due to a concussion and a hip ailment.

Though Miami enjoyed a late-season resurgence this year with a four-game win streak heading into the matchup with Pittsburgh, it was a rushing attack averaging a league-best 192 yards per game during that span that was leading the way.

The Dolphins host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in a game that was flexed from its original ‘Sunday Night Football’ prime-time slot.

Tua Tagovailoa contract

Tagovailoa is the NFL’s sixth-highest-paid player after signing a four-year, $212.1 million extension in 2024.

Due $54 million in guaranteed salary in 2026, Tagovailoa could be prohibitively expensive to part ways with if the Dolphins want to move on. Releasing him after the season would incur a record $99.2 million dead cap hit, though that figure could be spread over two seasons with a post-June 1 designation.

Dolphins QB depth chart

Quinn Ewers
Zach Wilson
Tua Tagovailoa

(This story was updated to add a video and new information.)

Pittsburgh right side hitter Olivia Babcock’s accolades are stacking up.

Babcock was one of 14 players selected to the 2025 AVCA first-team All-American list on Wednesday, the junior’s third consecutive selection. Babcock is also up for the 2025 AVCA Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, which will be announced on Friday, Dec. 19 at the AVCA Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 14 athletes named to the first team represent 11 different schools across four conferences. Nebraska leads the way with three first-team selections, followed by Kentucky with two. The Big Ten boasts the most players with five, while the ACC and SEC each have four. The Big 12 also made a mark with Arizona’s State’s Noemie Glover on the first-team.

Here’s a full list of AVCA first, second and third teams:

NCAA VOLLEYBALL: Final Four set as Texas A&M and Wisconsin advance

2025 AVCA first-team All-Americans

Olivia Babcock, Pittsburgh, Jr.:  The 6-foot-4 right side hitter recorded career highs in kills per set (5.11) and digs per set (2.11) this season and set a program record with 45 kills vs. North Carolina on Nov. 2.
Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin, Sr.: The 6-3 outside hitter had 20 or more kills in nine matches this season, including 23 kills vs. No. 1 Texas in the Elite Eight and 27 kills vs. No. 2 Stanford in the Round of 16. She averaged 5.39 kills per set and 5.97 points per set.
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Texas A&M, Sr.: The 6-foot-2 middle blocker leads the nation with 190 total blocks (21 solo) and has a team-high 1.70 blocks per set. She had a season-high 13 blocks vs. Tennessee on Nov. 2.
Brooklyn DeLeye, Kentucky, Jr.:  The 6-2 outside hitter is averaging 4.69 kills per set and hitting .289 with a team-high 521 kills this year. DeLeye is responsible for more than 564.5 points this year.
Noemie Glover, Arizona State, Jr.: A transfer from Oregon, the 6-2 opposite hitter has been named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week twice. She recorded double-digit kills in 26 of 27 games this season.
Flormarie Heredia Colon, Miami, Sr.: The 6-foot outside hitter broke the program record with 42 kills in a match against Florida State. Heredia Colon currently leads the nation in kills (779), points (881.5), kills per set (6.33) and points per set (7.17).
Eva Hudson, Kentucky, Sr.: The 6-1 outside hitter was named the SEC Player of the Year after hitting .317 with 4.54 kills per set and 504 total kills on the year. She leads Kentucky’s offense, which is hitting .295 this year.
Andi Jackson, Nebraska, Jr.: The 6-3 middle blocker averaged 2.74 kills per set on .467 hitting with 1.12 blocks per set. Jackson leads the nation in hitting percentage.
Malaya Jones, SMU, Gr.: The 6-0 right side hitter recorded team highs in kills (526) and kills per set (4.28) and had nine double-doubles, including a 27-kill, 17-dig performance vs. NC State on Nov. 29.
Kennedy Martin, Penn State, Jr.: The 6-6 right side hitter leads the Big Ten in kills (634) and kills per set (5.24) with a .319 hitting percentage. She recorded a career-best 34 kills against Ohio State on Nov. 16.
Harper Murray, Nebraska, Jr.: The 6-2 outside hitter leads the Huskers with 3.54 kills per set and is hitting .295. Murray averages 2.16 digs per set and has a team-high 34 aces.
Bergen Reilly, Nebraska, Jr.: The 6-1 junior setter was named Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Setter of the Year after averaging 10.47 assists and 2.70 digs per set. She totaled 73 kills, 67 blocks and 19 aces this season.
Elia Rubin, Stanford, Sr.: The 6-1 outside hitter leads the Cardinal with 3.98 points per set and 3.43 kills per set. Rubin recorded 12 double-doubles this season and is only the 11th Cardinal to surpass 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.
Torrey Stafford, Texas, Jr.: The 6-2 outside hitter leads the Longhorns in kills (516) and kills per set (4.69). A transfer from Pitt, Stafford has 33 aces, 261 digs and 11 double-doubles this season.

Second-team All-Americans

Rebekah Allick, Nebraska, MB, Sr.
Taylor Anderson, Purdue, S, Jr.
Lizzy Andrew, Stanford, MB, So.
Averi Carlson, SMU, S, Sr.
Suli Davis, Brigham Young, OH, Fr.
Julia Hanson, Minnesota, OH, Sr.
Logan Lednicky, Texas A&M, RS, Sr.
Ava Martin, Creighton, OH, Sr.
Brooke Mosher, Pittsburgh, S, RS-Sr.
Kassie O’Brien, Kentucky, S, Fr.
Kiara Reinhardt, Creighton, MB, Sr.
Kyndal Stowers, Texas A&M, OH, So.
Rachel Van Gorp, Iowa State, L, So.
Kenna Wollard, Purdue, OH, Jr.

Third-team All-Americans

Jaela Auguste, Florida, MB, So.
Carter Booth, Wisconsin, MB, Sr.
Ana Burilovic, Colorado, OH, Jr.
Alanah Clemente, Oregon, RS, Fr.
Cara Cresse, Louisville, MB, RS-Sr.
Grace Heaney, Purdue, RS, So.
Evan Hendrix, TCU, OH, So.
Annalea Maeder, Creighton, S, Sr.
Natalie Ring, Marquette, OH, Sr.
Maya Sands, Missouri, L, Sr.
Alexis Shelton, Oklahoma, OH, Sr.
Cari Spears, Texas, RS, Fr.
Molly Tuozzo, Kentucky, L, Jr.
Maddie Waak, Texas A&M, S, Sr.

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It didn’t take long to recognize San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was considerably more upset than usual after his team’s loss in Tuesday night’s NBA Cup final.

At the postgame news conference on Dec. 16, after falling to the New York Knicks 124-113, Wembanyama couldn’t even answer the first question before he began to cry.

“Sorry,’ he said. ‘I just lost somebody today.”

Wembanyama answered one more question before cutting the interview short.

Even though he knew about her death before the game, Wembanyama still played against the Knicks. He did not start and finished with 18 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots in 25 minutes of action.

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Carlos Alcaraz is splitting up with the former French Open champion who has coached him since he was 15 years old.

The six-time Grand Slam winner stunned the tennis world on Wednesday, Dec. 17, announcing on social media he is ending a seven-year partnership with fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. Alcaraz, 22, became the youngest player to reach No. 1 in the ATP rankings when he won his first U.S. Open in 2022 with Ferrero alongside him as he quickly became a force in men’s tennis. They most recently won the U.S. Open again in September.

Alcaraz finished with a career-best eight titles and 71 wins in 2025 and he is currently ranked No. 1 in the ATP rankings despite losing to No. 2 Janik Sinner at the ATP Finals last month in Saudi Arabia. Alcaraz also won two French Open titles and two Wimbledon titles under Ferrero.

‘After more than seven years together, Juanki and I have decided to bring our chapter together as coach and player to an end,’ Alcaraz wrote in a post translated from Spanish to English, referring to Ferrero by his nickname. ‘Thank you for turning childhood dreams into reality. We started this journey when I was barely a kid, and throughout all this time you’ve accompanied me on an incredible journey, on and off the court. And I’ve enjoyed every step of it so much with you.’

Though Alcaraz indicated the split was a mutual parting, Ferrero put out his own statement on social media addressing the situation that read, in part, ‘I wish I could have continued. I am convinced that good memories and good people always find a way to cross paths again.

‘We have been an incredible team despite the difficulties,’ wrote Ferrero, a former world No. 1 from Spain, ‘and I am sure you will continue to achieve great success.’

Neither Alcaraz nor Ferrero mentioned a specific reason or event that led to their decision to move on from their decorated run. Last year, Alcaraz hired Samuel Lopez to coach alongside Ferrero.

‘I sincerely wish you all the best in everything that comes your way,’ Alcaraz wrote. ‘I’m comforted by the knowledge that we gave our all, that we offered everything to each other. Thank you for everything, Juanki!’

The Chiefs have knocked the Bills out of the playoffs four times since 2020, acting as a major roadblock.
Despite recent comeback wins, quarterback Josh Allen acknowledged the team needs to start games faster.

Maybe the stars are aligning for the Buffalo Bills.

Go ahead, tell me how a team – and one with a suspect, 30th-ranked run defense – can rally from a 21-0 deficit on the road to beat an opponent that was seemingly on the verge of breaking out division-title swag. And this, a week after overcoming a 10-point fourth-quarter hole.

We know: The Bills are plenty resilient.

Insert Chris Berman soundbite here: No one circles the wagons like…

The Bills have had four games this season when they allowed at least 30 points, and guess what? They won all four of those games.

With Josh Allen or not that’s seriously living right.

Yet the Bills (10-4) also received quite the bonus attached to their latest triumph, the 35-31 thriller at New England:

The Kansas City Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs.

No, that hasn’t happened in a decade. You could set your clock to Patrick Mahomes, bless him, making a run at another Super Bowl.

But not now. Now, the Bills Mafia can really look to the stars.

The witch is dead. But will Bills travel yellow brick road to Super Bowl?

The Chiefs have been some kind of boogeyman to Buffalo’s (long-suffering) vision of finally winning a Lombardi Trophy. They were like Freddy Krueger, Jason and Chucky all rolled into one when it came to Buffalo’s Super Bowl-seeking nightmare.

It’s no wonder that the Bills knew better than to get giddy after they battered Mahomes and blasted Kansas City in November at Highmark Stadium. No big deal. They have repeatedly proven able (five times since 2020, to be exact) to handle Mahomes & Co. in regular-season showdowns.

It’s just that beating the Chiefs in January has been the issue, with Buffalo getting knocked out of the playoffs by that dreaded rival four times since 2020.

But it can’t happen this time because the witch is dead.

Hey, who knows what will actually go down on the yellow brick road of the upcoming playoffs? It has the potential to be wide open, like something cooked up by the ghost of Pete Rozelle, father of NFL parity. Aaron Rodgers might be in the mix. Philip Rivers? Never say never. Sean Payton and the magnificent Denver Broncos defense will surely have a say.

One glance at the dizzying lineup of playoff-clinching scenarios on tap for Week 16 emphasizes the range of possibilities. Nine teams can clinch playoff berths this week and the Broncos can even lock up a No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs by defeating the Jaguars while three other things happen: The Chargers lose or tie. The Patriots lose. The Bills lose or tie. If. If. If.

Yet one thing is now certain: The Chiefs will not end Buffalo’s season again.

Without Chiefs roadblock, a path clears for Buffalo – maybe

The Bills had a chance to advance to the franchise’s first Super Bowl since the 1990s (hello, Bruce Smith and Jim Kelly), if only they could have pulled off a last-minute rally in the AFC Championship Game at Kansas City in January. But it ended with a 32-29 loss, as Dalton Kincaid couldn’t make what would’ve been a difficult catch of Allen’s fourth-down throw. And the setback came with the officiating controversy of a spot in a scrum.

Previous heartbreak moments included the 44-yard field goal try by Tyler Bass that sailed wide right – how cruel, given Scott Norwood’s miss at the end of Super Bowl 25 – to seal a three-point loss in the 2023 AFC divisional playoff at Buffalo.

Before that, the Bills were victimized in the 2021 divisional round when Mahomes needed just 13 seconds to engineer a field goal drive that forced overtime with Harrison Butker’s 49-yard kick. Then the Chiefs won the coin toss and promptly produced a 75-yard drive capped by Mahomes’ 8-yard TD pass to Travis Kelce. Sorry, Buffalo. It wasn’t until after that episode that the NFL changed the overtime rules, allowing for both teams to at least touch the ball.

Enough of such details. The Bills in current form need not to rehash the pain.

After all, with the Chiefs out of the way, there is a clearer view of the stars that seem to be aligning in the so-called Super Bowl window for the Bills.

Maybe.

On top of the past two comeback victories, the Bills won a 44-32 shootout against the Bucs in Week 11 when the lead changed nine times. They beat the Ravens in the season opener despite trailing by 15 points with five minutes to play. And the way they pummeled Pittsburgh, rushing for a James Cook-powered 249 yards, left track marks on the Steelers defense.

You can’t blame Buffalo for feeling that this season, the final one in their rickety stadium in Orchard Park, will be something special.

Still, even with the Chiefs finished, they are warned. The Bills can’t expect to keep pulling out inspiring comebacks when the competition rises to another level in the playoffs.

“Obviously, we want to start faster,” Allen, the reigning NFL MVP, said after the win at Foxborough on Sunday. “We don’t want to continue to find ourselves in these holes that we’re finding ourselves in.”

It’s a good thing to be “battle-tested coming down the stretch,” as Allen went on to describe it.

“I’d love to find ways earlier on in the game to get things going,” he added, “so we don’t have to put ourselves in that situation.”

At least there’s one situation – facing Kansas City in the playoffs – that the Bills can thank their lucky stars that they don’t have to worry about this time around.

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on  X: @JarrettBell