Yahoo Sports senior writer Jay Busbee reflects on the memorable moments from the year in sports – a span when a whole lot of your favorite sports took a huge, running leap into the future.

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2024 was the year that a whole lot of your favorite sports took a huge running leap into the future.

From massive new playoff structures to gargantuan viewership increases, from new broadcast formats to new ownership, this was the year that sports leveled up to set the stage for what’s next.

No sport changed on a more fundamental level than college football.

New conferences for blue chip programs, a new playoff race that brought a raft of new programs into the national championship hunt, combine that with the NIL and transfer portal disruptions, and college football is changing at its very DNA.

At the same time, women’s basketball reached new levels of popularity.

The arrival of Caitlyn Clark energized ticket sales and viewership all over the WNBA, millions discovering what longtime fans of the WA already knew.

Many of Clark’s WNBA colleagues spent their summer vacation maintaining the United States’ dominance in international play, winning Olympic gold in a thrilling last second victory over host France.

Team USA’s victory marked the final event in a transformative Olympics.

The grandeur of Paris restored glory to the severely tarnished Olympic movement.

Not every moment was gold.

But the world’s greatest athletes triumphed in the pool, on the track, in the river, and in an unforgettable location.

For all the change in 2024, many titles ended up in the hands of Blue Bloods, even if they were a Kansas City Red or Boston Green.

A Japanese star took over the great American pastime, and a Russian scoring machine began his final charge toward the great 1.

2024 was a year of Grand Slams and Hail Marys, a year of magnificent triumphs and bitter heartbreak.

Finding your favorite games and following your teams wasn’t always easy.

The fractured world of sports streaming is a story that won’t go away, but the games are always worth the effort.

Well, almost always.

The years seem to move at 3x speed, and a few years from now, we’ll probably laugh at how quaint sports were way back in 2024.

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