It has been quite a year for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. He won his first MVP award in February and got married to actress and musician Hailee Steinfeld in May. Now, it’s time to add inspiration for trending sports-related cat names to his 2025 résumé.

“Josh Allen” was up 232% for sports-inspired cat names this year, according to a recent report by pet-sitting website Rover.

Allen is tied with “Jalen,” seemingly after Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, and “Manning,” presumably inspired by Texas quarterback Arch Manning — and Peyton and Eli perhaps — for the top spot.

“Luka,” after Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic, (up 51%) and “Marchy,” inspired by Florida Panthers star Brad Marchand, (up 32%) followed on the list.

Sports-related dog names followed a similar trend, with “Arch” (up 181%) leading the way followed by “Josh Allen” (also up 181%). Other athletes in the top five to inspire dog names are Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley at third (up 81%), Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg (up 31%) slotted in at four and golfer Scottie Scheffler (up 22%).

New dog names include Barkley Saquon, Cee Dee Little Lamb (Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb) and Nacua (Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua). For cats, new names featured are Catrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes), Travis Kelce, Ja’Marr (Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase) and Scottie Scheffler.

This year, Rover also highlighted city-by-city trends for sports-inspired pet names.

Even though the Mavericks traded Doncic in a blockbuster in February, he still remains popular for Dallas cat owners — “Luka” increased 139%.

Chicago showed love to Sky forward Angel Reese, with “Angel” leading the way in the Windy City for cat (up 243%) and dog (up 84%) names.

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama saw massive gains as an inspiration for pet names last season. But the focus this year shifted toward the Spurs’ legendary big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

“Tony” (up 629%) and “Manu” (up 229%) led the way for dog names, while Duncan (up 239%) dominated for cats.

The NCAA has agreed to pay $303 million to settle a class action antitrust lawsuit representing about 7,700 volunteer college coaches who alleged the organization engaged in illegal wage fixing under a rule that prohibited schools from paying them.

On average, a coach from Monday’s proposed settlement would receive about $39,200 before expenses and fees, based on the school, sport and years worked, according to the proposed settlement, which is awaiting approval by Judge William B. Shubb in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

From 1992 to July 2023, the NCAA and its schools agreed to cap the number of paid coaches for Division I sports. Certain sports teams were allowed one “volunteer coach” who would not be paid and who was restricted from receiving other benefits. The NCAA punished schools that violated that rule.

The lawsuit claimed those actions were examples of wage-fixing and “unlawful agreements in restraint of the trade and commerce,” referring to the NCAA in the complaint as a “cartel.”

“This combination and conspiracy by the NCAA and its members schools (which possess a dominant position in the relevant market) has resulted in, and will until restrained continue to result in, anti-competitive effects,” including fixing compensation “at the artificially low level of zero” and eliminating or suppressing competition for skilled labor in the market, the lawsuit states.

The proposed settlement agreement noted that “many class members will receive a six-figure amount.” The class includes volunteer coaches who, at any point from March 17, 2019, to June 20, 2023, worked for an NCAA Division I athletic program other than baseball.

Baseball coaches filed a similar lawsuit in November 2022 and reached a settlement with the NCAA for $49.25 million, with $33 million going specifically to about 1,000 coaches. Judge Shubb, who is also overseeing the current lawsuit, signed off in September. In response to that case, the NCAA dropped the rule limiting the number of paid coaches across all sports in July 2023, and coaches who had previously been designated “volunteer” could now be paid.

The second lawsuit, filed in March 2023, initially represented five former volunteer coaches as named plaintiffs, who worked in sports such as swimming, track and field, volleyball, and softball. (Volunteer coaches were not allowed in football or basketball.) One of those was Katherine Sebbane, who coached softball at the University of Pittsburgh from 2019 until 2021.

Sebbane was paid about $25,000 to run the university’s youth camps, clinics and recruiting events. But she also worked about 40 hours a week as an assistant coach, for which she was not paid. As a volunteer coach, she was also not allowed to receive other benefits, including meals and even medical care from athletic trainers.

“There was an instance where the team was catered Chick-fil-A and [a] compliance [official] was down the hall… I was verbatim told, ‘Hey, don’t go out there to grab a sandwich. Compliance is down there.’ Like, you’re not supposed to be eating with the team,” she told ESPN. “And I’m like, I’m the one who can’t afford groceries.”

While Sebbane said she willingly took the job knowing she wouldn’t be paid, she said there was an understanding in coaching circles that doing so was almost a requirement to get to the next stage and climb the ladder to a paid position. The lawsuit stated that many other volunteer coaches felt similarly.

Sebbane said she finally had to give up the job and left coaching. “There’s a lot of people that have suffered financially, and, you know, two years of financial distress, that takes, like, 10 years to catch up. I believe all of us should be compensated for our time that we put in,” she said.

In July 2023, Judge Shubb denied the NCAA’s motion to dismiss, noting that “plaintiffs have alleged facts sufficient to show a violation” of the Sherman Antitrust Act. He wrote, “it is not implausible that plaintiffs would have been paid a salary above $0 but for the NCAA’s adoption of the bylaw.”

After the settlement agreement, plaintiffs’ attorneys Dennis Stewart, Michael Lieberman and Bob Gralewski said in an emailed statement, “We are incredibly proud of this settlement which, if approved, will provide significant and meaningful compensation to thousands of hard-working coaches…We look forward to the approval process and are committed to ensuring that these funds are distributed to coaches in a fair and efficient manner.”

This was the latest in a series of lawsuits alleging antitrust behavior by the NCAA, including the recent $2.8 billion settlement agreement to compensate athletes for lost opportunities to benefit from their name, image and likeness, and to allow schools to share revenue with athletes.

NCAA president Charlie Baker addressed the volunteer coaches settlement in a memo sent to members Monday, noting the dispute with the volunteer coaches “is one of the largest remaining lawsuits we face and resolving it provides certainty and clarity for the association and our members.”

He noted that the settlement will be funded by the Division I membership and the national office, and payments likely wouldn’t start until after next summer.

“While this settlement represents a substantial financial commitment, it closes the door on claims related to volunteer coach bylaws, which were effective until June 30, 2023. It also ensures that Division I conferences and member schools are released from any claims for unpaid wages, benefits, or related damages during the Class Period,” Baker wrote.

The November international break is usually the time Arsenal begin plotting their next big transfer moves. In recent years, senior club executives have flown from London to Los Angeles at this time of year to meet with the Kroenke family to discuss plans for the next two windows.

The Gunners declined to confirm whether the meeting would take place in the same format this season, with the need for a summit reduced somewhat by various developments, not least the presence of the Kroenkes in London in mid-October when their NFL team, the Los Angeles Rams, beat the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley a day before Arsenal eased to a Premier League victory at Fulham. Josh Kroenke, the club’s co-chair, has also been an increasingly prominent presence around Emirates Stadium and the training base at London Colney.

But regardless, this remains a key planning period for a club who have eyes on their first league title since 2004, sit top of the Premier League after 11 games, and boast a 100% record from four league-phase matches in the UEFA Champions League.

So what are the issues that are being discussed?

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A year of change at the top

Last November, Arsenal were reeling from the sudden departure of sporting director Edu. The Brazilian chose to step down from his role to later head up Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ multi-club model.

Sources told ESPN there was genuine shock among staff at Colney when the decision was announced. The need for senior figures at the club to gather was therefore more pressing as the search for his replacement began, but also to safeguard against any impact on the club’s transfer strategy having lost their key actor in this field so abruptly.

There has been another recent reshuffle this year, but this time at the behest of the owners, Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE), as the club’s executive vice-chair Tim Lewis left the club at the end of September. The reshuffle saw Lewis, who became a director of Arsenal in 2020 but had worked with KSE since 2007, depart, while managing director Richard Garlick was promoted to chief executive officer. KSE’s Kelly Blaha and Otto Maly joined the board as non-executive directors alongside long-time advisor Dave Steiner, as did TV producer and director, Ben Winston, a season-ticket holder at the club for over 30 years.

Although this reshuffle surprised many outside the club, it was inevitably the product of prolonged internal conversations. Stan Kroenke still has the final say on all major club decisions but the move arguably positions his son Josh more prominently.

The upshot is a greater in-person dialogue in the period leading up to this international break. Even before that, Josh was in London for the end of the summer transfer window and also attended the Professional Football Association Awards in August. Sources have told ESPN that Winston was recently given a tour of the training ground and invited to watch a session.

The NFL-Premier League double-header last month was also unusual; Fulham asked the Premier League to play at Craven Cottage on the same weekend as the Jaguars were at Wembley before the fixtures were compiled and, by chance, that led to a cross-sport clash between KSE and Shahid Khan, owner of the Jaguars and Fulham.

Although Stan remained in the United States, Josh was present at both games along with other KSE executives. Asked about the possibility of travelling to LA, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta said on Oct. 31: “The ownership was here. We spent some very good time with Josh and the board talking about different things and they’re having a great feel as well because it was the NFL weekend as well with the Rams and we discussed a lot of things.”

Being four points clear at the top of the table no doubt decreases the urgency, too.

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New contracts in the works

That said, of course, football never stops. Arsenal are engaged in contract talks with several players, including winger Bukayo Saka and defender Jurriën Timber.

Negotiations with Saka’s representatives have been taking place for several months and sources have told ESPN that a positive conclusion is expected to be reached. Saka is away with England for World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, although Thomas Tuchel’s squad are in London all week training at Tottenham Hotspur‘s facilities before travelling to Tirana on Saturday. Saka’s new deal is expected to make him the club’s highest-paid player, on more than £300,000 a week, and cement his status as one of Europe’s most high-profile wingers.

Timber’s existing agreement does not expire until 2028, and so there is no major urgency. However, the Gunners are keen to reward the 24-year-old right back for his excellent recent form.

There has been no indication yet that Arsenal are ready to hold talks with Arteta over a new contract, but he will have 18 months left on his deal at the turn of the year. Arteta waited until he entered the final year of his previous contract before committing himself and so may look to do so again, given he sometimes views contract talks as a distraction. Arsenal are understandably open to get him to sign beyond 2027 given the progress he continues to drive.

Players out?

Arsenal spent big again in the summer to add more depth, investing around £250 million to bring in signings such as Eberechi Eze, Viktor Gyökeres and Martín Zubimendi. Consequently, they won’t want to undermine that work by trimming their squad too much.

Talk will focus on striker Gabriel Jesus, who is closing in on a return to full fitness following knee surgery which has sidelined him since January. Gyökeres was acquired to lead Arsenal’s attack and with Kai Havertz also nearing a return from his own knee operation, Jesus’ game time is likely to be limited. Jesus has publicly stated his desire to stay at the club until his deal expires in 2027, but the FIFA World Cup next summer may force a rethink if he finds minutes hard to come by. Brazil‘s No. 9 role is up for grabs but Jesus will struggle to hold down the position if he isn’t playing regularly.

According to England boss Tuchel, right back Ben White has expressed a desire to play for his country again and therefore could find himself in a similar position. He is yet to be called up by Tuchel but, having been a pivotal player in recent seasons, White has been marginalized of late as Timber has become first-choice at right back.

There may also be a decision to make on Oleksandr Zinchenko in January if he does not play under new Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche. Zinchenko is on loan at the City Ground and out of contract at the end of the season, so a recall and permanent transfer elsewhere could suit all parties in January.

Players in?

There is a degree of financial headroom for Arsenal to sign someone in January, but the big question is whether they feel the need to push again to win the title.

Arsenal held an interest in Real Madrid forward Rodrygo, who has fallen out of favor at Real Madrid. Sources told ESPN earlier this season that both the club and the Brazil international would be open to the right move. Yet with Saka established as Arsenal’s biggest star on the right wing, the addition of a player like Rodrygo would more likely impact players on the other side of the attack, such as Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli.

The Gunners chose to reward Trossard with a new contract in August which improved his salary but, significantly, did not extend his terms. Trossard has played well of late — scoring a superb goal at Sunderland just before the international break — but his future is likely to be reassessed at the end of the season.

Similarly, Martinelli will have just one year left on his deal next summer. There is no indication at the moment that Arsenal want to move Martinelli on but the contractual circumstances of both the Brazilian and Trossard mean that space could potentially be made in the squad for another winger if the right one became available.

Arsenal also like to plan next summer’s window at the same time as January, so the preferences to stick or twist in each market will likely be clarified internally in the days ahead.