The NFL lets players spike the ball or stage a full group dance after a touchdown. It won't let them use an object as a prop, and back in 2014 the league's head of officiating named the goalpost specifically.

On Sunday in Philadelphia, Stefon Diggs caught his first touchdown as a Washington Commander, pulling Washington within 17-15 of the Eagles with 9:59 left. Then he hugged the goalpost. The 15-yard flag pushed back a planned two-point try that would have tied it, Washington settled for a 48-yard extra point, and the Eagles won 24-22.

"As soon as I wrapped my arms around it, I was like, 'Oh, I forgot.'"

Diggs is in his 12th NFL season.

Snow place like home... On Thursday night the Detroit Lions visit the Buffalo Bills for the first regular-season game at the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, across the street from the stadium it replaced. It has a heated grass field and what New York's governor calls the "world's largest stadium snow-melt system." It holds 60,108 people, down from 71,608 in the old stadium's final season and 80,020 when that one opened as Rich Stadium in 1973. OneRepublic plays halftime.

Fewer seats, bigger Bills... Shrinkflation = the price stays the same and the box gets smaller. In Orchard Park the box got smaller and the price went up. Personal seat licenses, a one-time fee just for the right to buy season tickets, ran from $750 to $50,000. Action Network ranks the new place as the NFL's most expensive to attend, at $2,193.95 for a family of four. Parking is $132.

Quick math... Taxpayers put in $850 million of the $2.1 billion: $600 million from New York State and $250 million from Erie County. The Pegula family, which owns the Bills, is on the hook for cost overruns, which ran more than $560 million past the original estimate, and the team signed a 30-year lease.

Zoom out... Buffalo isn't alone. Two more NFL teams have big public checks lined up:

The real purchase... Fewer, pricier seats are how a modern stadium makes money. What Western New York bought with its $850 million is 30 years of the Bills in Orchard Park.

— Landen Hull

Return to sender... Kawhi Leonard won Finals MVP leading the Toronto Raptors to their only NBA title in 2019, then left for the Los Angeles Clippers that summer. On Monday the NBA approved a trade sending him back, at 35, for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and two future first-round picks. Leonard waived his entire 15% trade bonus, $7.45 million.

Sponsored content... Salary cap circumvention = a team quietly steering extra money to a player through a sponsor or business partner so it doesn't count against the cap. On Sept. 2 the NBA ruled the Clippers did it, through endorsement deals including a four-year, $28 million contract between Leonard and a company called Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC. Reporter Pablo Torre broke the story on his podcast last September.

The Ballmer drops... The league fined the Clippers $30 million, the largest fine in NBA history (the old record was $10 million), and took five first-round picks. Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO, is suspended for a year. On Sunday night he said the team had paid and would comply: "Team owners should support, not distract."

Pocket change... Forbes puts Ballmer's net worth at $155 billion, so the record fine is about 0.02% of it, roughly a $19 fine for someone worth $100,000. The suspension bars him from attending games, including at Intuit Dome, the roughly $2 billion arena he paid for himself.

Quick Sip answer: Hall of Famer Billy Williams, who hit 42 in 1970.

Bottoms up. See you Friday.