EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — John Harbaugh and the New York Giants are working to finalize an agreement to make him their next head coach, and barring a setback, a deal is expected, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday night.

The deal is not final and contract numbers still are being negotiated, with one source telling Schefter: “There still is a lot to work through.”

But barring any setbacks, Harbaugh is ready to accept the Giants’ deal and the team is expected to hire him as soon as possible, sources said.

New Real Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa took responsibility for the team’s “painful” 3-2 Copa del Rey defeat to second-tier Albacete on Wednesday, defending his decision to rest a number of senior players.

A 94th-minute winner from Jefte Betancor gave Albacete — currently 17th in the second division — their first win over Madrid, after Gonzalo García looked to have forced extra time at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte with a 91st minute header.

Arbeloa took charge of Madrid on Tuesday, stepping up from coaching the reserve team after the departure of Xabi Alonso.

“At this club a draw is bad, a tragedy, so imagine a defeat like this,” Arbeloa said in his postmatch news conference. “It’s painful, especially against a lower division team. … Obviously we have to improve.

“I’m responsible, I take the decisions: the team, how we want to play, the substitutions. We’ll try to recover our morale and physically, and improve for the game on Saturday [against Levante in LaLiga].”

Madrid’s Copa exit came only three days after they were beaten by Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a result that preceded Alonso’s removal as coach.

Arbeloa left several key players out of the squad for the trip to Albacete, including Thibaut Courtois, Jude Bellingham, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Álvaro Carreras, Rodrygo and Kylian Mbappé, who has been struggling because of a knee sprain.

“I was convinced the squad was the right one, and I still think that,” Arbeloa said. “We have an extraordinary squad, with great players. It isn’t easy for them to do everything I’ve asked of them after just one day [in the job]. We have a lot of players to get back to their best physical level.

“I don’t regret anything. I’d pick the same team again.”

Madrid had previously progressed only to the round of 16 of the Copa, needing an Mbappé brace to beat third-tier Talavera de la Reina 3-2 in December.

“I think we’ve hit rock bottom today,” defender Dani Carvajal told reporters. “We’ve been knocked out by a second-division team. Congratulations to them. From tomorrow we’ll all do some self-criticism, individually and collectively. There’s still time to turn the season around.”

Said Arbeloa: “If people want to describe this as a failure I’d understand it. For me, failure lies on the way to success. … I don’t fear that word. I’ve failed a lot in my life, I’ve suffered defeats in cups, I’m excited about getting to Valdebebas tomorrow and working with the players, to [play] much better on Saturday.”

The new coach cited the need for his squad to improve physically, and refused to view the cup elimination as a positive in terms of reducing the workload going forward.

“Losing is never a relief at Real Madrid,” Arbeloa said. “Obviously it can have some positive consequences, but it wasn’t our objective to lose today. Physically we have a big margin to improve, that’s what [fitness coach] Antonio [Pintus] is here for, I think we need that.”

Emotional scenes at the final whistle saw Albacete’s players perform a lap of honor, while former Madrid defender Jesus Vallejo — who sat out Wednesday’s game because of injury — left the field in tears.

“It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever experienced in football,” matchwinner Betancor said. “It’s what you dream about.

“Nine years ago I wanted to leave football. Now, by dreaming, and working hard, look where we are. I think we deserved it.”

The NCAA asked a federal regulatory body Wednesday to stop prediction markets from offering trades on college sports until more safeguards are in place.

In a letter addressed to the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, NCAA president Charlie Baker said the growth of prediction markets poses a threat to the well-being of student-athletes as well as the integrity of competition.

“I implore you to suspend collegiate sport prediction markets until a more robust system with appropriate safeguards is in place,” Baker wrote.

Baker identified several areas where he believes prediction markets need additional safeguards: age restrictions, advertising restrictions, robust integrity monitoring, the involvement of national governing bodies such as the NCAA, restrictions on prop bets, harm reduction resources and anti-harassment measures.

Kalshi, a leading prediction market company, uses IC360, a firm that monitors the betting market for irregularities and works with sports leagues, including the NCAA. Baker acknowledged that some prediction markets monitor for integrity concerns but said “heightened levels of review that don’t exist in many prediction markets” are needed, such as tracing the geolocation of bettors. He also said prediction market operators are not required to report integrity concerns to other operators through an intermediary — a requirement for sportsbooks in most states.

He added that the NCAA is willing to work with the CFTC to develop these protections, which exist for legal sportsbooks.

ESPN has reached out to the CFTC and the Coalition for Prediction Markets, which represents many of the largest operators, for comment.

Baker also discussed the request in a speech Wednesday at the 2026 NCAA Convention.

“So-called prediction markets are offering what anyone can see is unregulated betting on college games,” he said. “We need federal regulators to stabilize this market.”

In his speech, Baker referenced the steps Kalshi had taken to offer markets on the transfer portal as an example of why the NCAA needs federal intervention. In December, Kalshi notified the CFTC that it was self-certifying markets on whether college athletes would enter the transfer portal. Though Kalshi said it has no immediate plans to begin offering trading on the portal, the decision drew sharp criticism from the NCAA.

Prediction markets, which allow users to trade on the yes/no outcome of events, including sports, have increased in popularity over the past year. While traditional sportsbooks operate in 39 states and the District of Columbia, where the betting age is usually 21, prediction markets are available in all 50 states to users 18 and older.

Oversight of prediction markets is a hotly contested legal issue. State gambling regulators, which oversee traditional sportsbooks, are locked in legal battles in multiple states with leading prediction market companies.

Those companies say they are not sportsbooks because users are not going up against the house but instead trading contracts with other users on the opposite side of the proposition. While bookmakers charge a vig, or commission, on losing wagers, prediction markets make money from a transaction fee, similar to a broker, and have no stake in the result.

Major sports leagues have so far been split on the question of prediction markets. The NFL has expressed its concern about the industry’s rise to Congress, while the NHL and UFC have inked deals with Kalshi and prediction market company Polymarket.