The Pulse | Champions League Final Set, World Cup Price Gouging & WNBA Season Preview cover art

The Pulse | Champions League Final Set, World Cup Price Gouging & WNBA Season Preview

The Pulse | Champions League Final Set, World Cup Price Gouging & WNBA Season Preview

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The Pulse is back on Good Friends, Better Rivals, and we've got a loaded show this week.

We kick things off with the UEFA Champions League Final being set. Arsenal and PSG will meet at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest on May 30th, with Arsenal returning to Europe's biggest stage for the first time in 20 years and PSG arriving as reigning champions after edging past Bayern Munich on a dramatic 6-5 aggregate. We break down how both sides got here and what the final could look like.

Then we turn to the 2026 World Cup, which is less than a month away — and already making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The cheapest ticket for the USA's opening group stage match against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium was initially listed at $1,120, and even President Trump said he wouldn't pay it. The average ticket for the final at MetLife Stadium has climbed to nearly $10,990 — compared to roughly $1,600 for the 2022 final in Qatar. We get into who's really to blame and whether this tournament is becoming a spectacle only the wealthy can afford.

Big news out of college basketball: the NCAA announced that both the men's and women's tournaments will expand from 68 to 76 teams starting next season, the most significant change to the men's format since 1985. We talk about what this means for March Madness and whether more teams means more magic or just more noise.

The WNBA also tips off its 30th season this week. Two new expansion franchises join the league — the Toronto Tempo, the league's first Canadian team, and the Portland Fire — and A'ja Wilson returns as the reigning four-time MVP and three-time champion while a healthy Caitlin Clark looks to bounce back after a injury-shortened 2025 campaign. We preview the season and talk about the storylines worth watching.

And we take a moment to honor Ted Turner, who passed away this week at 87. Turner invented 24-hour news with CNN and pioneered national basic cable, but his fingerprints are all over the sports world too — from owning the Atlanta Braves and Hawks to transforming how sports were broadcast on television. We reflect on what he meant to sports and media alike.

It's a packed show. Let's get into it.

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