ReportWire

Tag: Compensation in sports

  • College sports watchdog sets up tip line for confidential reporting of NIL violations

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    The College Sports Commission launched a tip line Wednesday that allows for anonymous reporting of potential violations of new rules that govern how players are paid for the use of their name, image and likeness.

    The commission’s CEO, Bryan Seeley, told The Associated Press the reporting line adds an important method of gathering information about the thousands of deals it is overseeing under terms of the $2.8 billion House settlement that reshaped college sports by allowing players to earn money. He said it is something “we’ve always been planning,” and not a reaction to some of the struggles the start-up agency has endured since opening July 1.

    “One of the foundational aspects of any compliance program is reporting methods,” Seeley said. “And it’s important to have reporting methods that people feel comfortable using, which often involves providing anonymous reporting.”

    The CSC has contracted with RealResponse, a technology company that works with various colleges, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, NFL Players Association, Major League Baseball and other sports groups. It provides different ways for people to file reports — via text, WhatsApp, web forms and more — and gives the CSC the chance to loop back with whistleblowers while shielding their identity.

    “Since NIL has become a reality, it has heightened the opportunity for bad behavior and cheating to occur in college athletics,” said David Chadwick, the founder and CEO of RealResponse. “Everyone agrees the rules need to be followed, there needs to be accountability and enforcement. The reality is that for that to happen, there have to be reporting mechanisms in place and there has to be good technology that allows people who want to report anonymously to do so.”

    Chadwick said the ability to report anonymously is especially important for colleges, where coaches, for decades, felt reluctant to publicly out rivals for cheating lest the rivals retaliate by turning the microscope on them.

    Created out of the lawsuit settlement, the CSC analyzes information about third-party NIL deals worth $600 or more that are submitted through an app called NIL Go, which was developed by Deloitte. Last month, it said it had approved nearly 6,100 deals worth about $35.4 million.

    Some school administrators and people running collectives have complained about delays in processing some of the deals.

    “Review remains slow,” Kansas State cap management and revenue sharing executive Julie Owen recently told AP, in feedback similar to that from others around the country. “The functionality of the NIL Go website is less than ideal. It makes administrators’ jobs more difficult, and providing additional information is far too complicated for student-athletes. These two should be distinguished, as CSC is not responsible for the operational side of NIL Go, which was created and operated by Deloitte.”

    Seeley said NIL Go receives a high volume of admissions “and the vast majority are getting cleared, and they’re getting cleared expeditiously.”

    “There are some deals that are submitted to NIL Go, certainly a minority of deals, that are problematic,” Seeley said. “They either have errors in data entry, or indicators of (forbidden) pay for play. There is heightened review of those deals and heightened review takes time. That is not a bug in the system. That’s a feature of the system.”

    There have also been reports about schools becoming frustrated with the slowness of the system and bypassing it altogether. Seeley said he had not been presented with specific examples of that. The new tip line is in place to collect information about those cases, if they exist, along with others that escape notice of the CSC.

    “As we build out the compliance program, I think this is a really good development,” Seeley said.

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    AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed

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    AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

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  • After ‘venting’ his frustration, Hamilton could come back stronger from F1’s break

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    Lewis Hamilton’s dream of an eighth Formula 1 title with Ferrari is spinning off track.

    His comments at the Hungarian Grand Prix in early August sparked concern among fans of Hamilton and Ferrari as the seven-time champion called himself “absolutely useless”, suggested Ferrari should consider replacing him, and hinted at deeper issues. “There’s a lot going on in the background that is not great,” Hamilton said.

    Having a four-week break before next week’s Dutch Grand Prix offers a much-needed reset, argues Michael E. Sawyer, author of a biography of Hamilton, “Sir Lewis,” published this year.

    “I think he’s venting, I think he’s down. I think the summer break couldn’t have come at a better time for him,” Sawyer told The Associated Press. “It gives him a chance to reflect and think through exactly what the approach is going to be.”

    Hamilton certainly seems to be getting away from it all. He posted pictures on social media last week in the countryside with his beloved bulldog Roscoe and the caption “DND” — seemingly short for “do not disturb”.

    Ferrari has said it still has faith in Hamilton, though F1’s former boss Bernie Ecclestone has urged him to call time on his record-breaking career. Hamilton “would be cheating himself if he goes on,” Ecclestone told the Daily Mail newspaper this month.

    So how might Hamilton find his way back to the front of the F1 field?

    All too often, he’s been off the pace in qualifying on Saturday and down the grid, meaning his typically better race pace is wasted on working his way through the midfield.

    “Every time, every time,” was Hamilton’s groan of frustration when he qualified 12th for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Teammate Charles Leclerc was on pole.

    Qualifying is the area where the break might help Hamilton most, argues Sawyer. He has competitive pace — as he showed while carving through the field on a wet track in Belgium last month — but hasn’t brought it on Saturdays.

    Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was never all about 2025.

    The team made clear that signing Hamilton was a long-term project despite his age — he turned 40 in January — and backed him when he said he needed time to adapt to a different car.

    When he hasn’t been venting about his results on track, Hamilton has emphasized his role in creating Ferrari’s car for 2026, when new F1 regulations will shake up the running order.

    Making Hamilton a core part of the 2026 car’s design philosophy means “there’s reason for him to be really optimistic about the possibilities because there’s going to be so much shifting around on the grid,” Sawyer said. “There’s going to be opportunity for someone as savvy and experienced as him to take advantage of that.”

    The worst-case scenario for Ferrari would likely be an unexpected Hamilton retirement, denting the brand’s image and leaving the team without a high-level driver to partner Leclerc next season.

    Of its two reserve drivers, Zhou Guanyu has a career-best race finish of eighth at Sauber and Antonio Giovinazzi’s last F1 race was in 2021. Ferrari could also call on Oliver Bearman, the Haas rookie.

    Still, if Ferrari’s big bet pays off, Hamilton has the potential to redefine what F1 success means once again.

    He turns 41 in January and will be racing for an eighth world title to break a tie with Michael Schumacher and stand alone in the record books. Hamilton could become the oldest race winner since 1994 and oldest champion since 1966. Sawyer believes it would best all of his other titles.

    “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” said Sawyer. “I think it would be the greatest of them all. The comeback story would be amazing.”

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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  • Will global soccer be reshaped after EU’s top court issued a major ruling in Lassana Diarra case?

    Will global soccer be reshaped after EU’s top court issued a major ruling in Lassana Diarra case?

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    The global soccer transfer market, worth more than $10 billion each season, is facing a revolutionary overhaul or a nuanced evolution following last week’s ruling by the European Court of Justice in the Lassana Diarra case.

    By ruling that some FIFA regulations on player transfers are contrary to EU legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement, the bloc’s top court has paved the way for deep changes in the sport’s economy.

    Here is a look at the key elements of the case and the possible impact of the landmark ruling.

    Lassana Diarra is a former much-traveled footballer whose career saw him play for prestigious clubs such as Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. He represented France 34 times. At one point in his career, Diarra moved to the Russian league. It’s a dispute with Lokomotiv Moscow that triggered the legal case examined by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

    Diarra signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv in 2013. The deal was terminated a year later after he was unhappy with alleged pay cuts. Lokomotiv applied to the FIFA dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the player submitted a counterclaim seeking compensation for unpaid wages. The Court of Arbitration for Sport found the Russian club terminated the contract “with just cause” and the player had to pay 10.5 million euros ($11.2 million). Diarra said his search for a new team was hampered by FIFA rules stipulating that any new club would be jointly responsible with him for paying compensation to Lokomotiv.

    Free movement is a fundamental right of workers in the European Union within the single market. On that basis, the EU’s top court said that the FIFA rules, including the one that resulted in the refusal to provide Diarra with an international transfer certificate (ITC) for a move to Charleroi, restricted his freedom of movement.

    The court also found that FIFA regulations breached the bloc’s competition law because they aim at restricting and preventing “cross-border competition which could be pursued by all clubs established in the European Union.”

    The ECJ ruling will now be referred back to the appeal court in Mons, Belgium, which will rule on the Diarra case. This could take years rather than months. Although FIFA said it was satisfied “that the legality of key principles of the transfer system have been reconfirmed,” Diarra’s lawyers claimed “total victory.”

    The judges in Luxembourg acknowledged having stability in player rosters and regularity in competitions are legitimate objectives for FIFA, but that rules must be applied proportionally.

    Some analysts have compared it to the ECJ’s 1995 decision on Belgian Jean-Marc Bosman. That ruling removed restrictions placed on foreign EU footballers within national leagues and allowed players in the bloc to move to another club for free when their contracts ended. Those principles had an obviously wider focus than the narrower scope of Diarra, about terminating a contract for cause.

    For now, the decision on Diarra does not change how the transfer market functions. But many legal experts believe that the ruling will ultimately have major effects on the sport’s economy.

    “The decision essentially says the current system is too restrictive and so will have to change,” said Ian Giles, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright law firm. “It’s entirely possible this means players will feel they can now break contracts and sign on with new clubs, without the selling club being able to hold them or demand significant transfer fees. This will likely result in reduced transfer fees and more economic power for players — but over time things will have to stabilize to allow clubs to remain economically viable.”

    It took more than five years after the Bosman ruling for updated FIFA transfer rules to be published in 2001. Some of those debates then will now be revisited.

    A major reset of transfer fee values can seriously affect many smaller market clubs. Bosman already accelerated gaps in wealth and competitive balance across European soccer, which is increasingly dominated by a small group of clubs. They can lure free-agent players with higher signing bonuses and salaries – money that previously would be more widely distributed via transfer fees.

    Spending by super-wealthy clubs can still reward smaller ones who excel at investing time and expertise in scouting and developing local and global talent: Ajax, Brighton, Genk in Belgium, which nurtured Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Leandro Trossard.

    The influential European Club Association, which represents more than 700 teams, sees potential threats to the industry’s health in the fallout from Diarra. Transfer fees and payments to clubs from former players being sold later in their career “are an efficient and effective means of wealth distribution from bigger clubs to smaller ones,” the ECA noted.

    The soccer industry is increasingly a game being played by lawyers in courts and government offices.

    FIFA is being challenged in several legal arenas, in part because it works (Diarra, Super League, agents regulations ). There is also a growing perception FIFA does not listen before launching projects and that pro-transparency reforms demanded and passed a decade ago are in decline.

    Within hours of the Diarra ruling Friday, the group of domestic leagues and player unions announced a news conference in Brussels for Oct. 14 to explain their filing to the European Commission. The complaint on competition law grounds argues FIFA adds new and bigger tournaments to the congested calendar without proper consultation.

    European Leagues and FIFPRO once had a seat at FIFA’s Football Stakeholders Committee that was a key forum for debate, including on the transfer market. FIFA paused the panel in 2021 and soon its president Gianni Infantino pushed for playing World Cups every two years. The idea was resisted by a widespread backlash. The leagues group says the Diarra ruling shows how representation at FIFA is “becoming legally essential.”

    FIFA had indicated before Friday it would consult widely on transfer market reforms it believes can focus on specific issues raised by Diarra, rather than a total overhaul.

    Diarra’s lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont — who also represented Bosman 30 years ago — sees a bigger picture. He appeared to be recruiting for a wider suit against FIFA by claiming “all professional players have been affected by these illegal rules” and could now seek compensation.

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    AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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  • UNLV QB to sit out season after agent says $100,000 promised for transfer has not been paid

    UNLV QB to sit out season after agent says $100,000 promised for transfer has not been paid

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    The convoluted way college athletes are paid for the use of their name, image and likeness and a dispute between player and coaches over money appears to have cost an undefeated team its quarterback three games into the season.

    UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka has decided to sit out the rest of the season over a $100,000 NIL payment that was promised but never paid after he agreed to transfer to the Rebels from Holy Cross last winter, Sluka’s agent told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

    “I think there was some kind of breakdown in communication,” Bob Sluka, Matthew’s father, told AP.

    Sluka’s decision sent shockwaves throughout major college football, where the old rules of amateurism have fallen, leaving schools and the NCAA grappling with how to regulate the way players can be paid. Just how much regulation is part of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement agreement involving the NCAA and the nation’s top conferences that is before a federal judge in California.

    Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, said Sluka was promised $100,000 by a UNLV assistant coach who recruited the quarterback last winter when he agreed to transfer in January.

    Both Cromartie and the company that runs UNLV’s NIL collective, which would be responsible for paying school athletes, acknowledge there was no signed agreement between the player and the organization for $100,000.

    UNLV issued a statement accusing Sluka’s representative of making “financial demands upon the university and its NIL collective in order to continue playing.”

    “UNLV athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law,” the school said. “UNLV does not engage in such activity, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sluka.”

    Bob Sluka and Cromartie insisted Matthew Sluka was not looking for anything more than was promised.

    UNLV (3-0) is scheduled to host Fresno State (3-1) in a big Mountain West game on Saturday, with both schools hoping a strong season could put them in consideration for a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Rebels have already beaten two power conference schools but now will proceed without their starting QB.

    Sluka’s transfer

    Equity Sports represents numerous NFL and college players, including Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes. Bob Sluka told AP his son signed with Equity Sports when Matthew Sluka declared his intent to switch schools and entered the NCAA transfer portal in December.

    During a recruiting trip to UNLV with his son, Bob Sluka said a discussion about NIL payments came up with offensive coordinator Brennan Marion and the Slukas informed him those could be had with Equity.

    Cromartie said he spoke with the assistant coach by phone and a promise of $100,000 was made but because Sluka was still completing his degree at Holy Cross, the quarterback could not sign a contract with a collective until after he enrolled at UNLV. Sluka did not join the team until preseason practice in August.

    Friends of Unilv, the collective that works with UNLV athletes, does not sign deals with athletes until they are enrolled, said Bob Sine, whose company Blueprint Sports oversees and operates that collective and dozens others around the country.

    But, Sine said, it is not uncommon for representatives of athletes to open discussions with the collective about NIL opportunities before the athlete is enrolled. Sine said a payment of $3,000 was made to Sluka over the summer, but nothing else.

    Things fall apart

    “In July, there was no NIL payments. There was no $100,000, I guess you could say zero dollars. He was given a $3,000 relocation fee and that was it,” said Cromartie, who added head coach Barry Odom was not involved in the initial discussions.

    Sine said the first time they heard from Cromartie was on Aug. 29 via email, and on Sept. 19 there was another email communication during which the collective offered a potential deal that would pay Sluka $3,000 per month.

    Sine said Cromartie was not registered as an agent in Nevada or with the school. They informed him he needed to do that to move forward. Sluka’s father said Cromartie was directed to speak with Odom and director of player development Hunkie Cooper.

    Cromartie said he suggested payments of $10,000 a month over the next five months and even $5,000 per month and was declined.

    Cromartie said Sluka was offered $3,000 per month by Odom and Cooper in a phone call last week.

    “At that point I think Matt felt lied to. At that point he just wanted to stand up for himself,” Cromartie said.

    Bob Sluka said his son went to see Odom on Monday before practice and the coach refused to talk to Matthew about the NIL arrangement. Bob Sluka said Matthew returned to the coach’s office after practice, but Odom was gone. Odom declined to speak with reporters following practice Wednesday.

    “It’s just the tone that they took. It didn’t have to happen. All you had to do was give Matt a hug and say, ‘Hey, Matt, we’re going to work this out with you,’” said Bob Sluka, who lives in Locust Valley on New York’s Long Island. “You’re letting your starting quarterback walk out the door. And they didn’t care. Did Barry not call the collective and say, ‘Holy crap, I’m losing my kid.’ No, he said, ‘Take it or leave it.’”

    NCAA redshirt rules allow players to retain a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season. Sluka, who played four seasons (2020-23) at Holy Cross, still has one more year of eligibility that he could use at another school next season. NCAA rules do not allow players to play for two schools within the same season.

    “I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Matthew Sluka posted on X late Tuesday. “Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program.”

    NIL headaches

    The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes being compensated for things like endorsement and sponsorship deals in 2021, but had very few detailed rules on how schools can regulate payments beyond saying the compensation cannot come directly from the school.

    State laws have created different standards around the country, and college sports leaders, including NCAA President Charlie Baker, have been lobbying Congress for a federal law to help get a handle of an unruly system that lacks transparency. The NCAA settlement of multiple antitrust lawsuits includes a plan for a new revenue-sharing system, which would allow schools to begin making direct NIL payments to athletes as soon as next year.

    “The NCAA fully supports college athletes profiting from their NIL, but unfortunately there is little oversight or accountability in the NIL space and far too often promises made to student-athletes are broken,” NCAA senior vice president for external affairs Tim Buckley said in a statement. “Positive changes are underway at the NCAA to deliver more benefits to student-athletes but without clear legal authority granted by the courts or by Congress, the NCAA, conferences and schools have limited authority to regulate third parties involved in NIL transactions.”

    The current way this all works has caused headaches for everyone involved.

    Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada, who committed to play for Florida out of high school, is suing Gators coach Billy Napier and one of the school’s top boosters after a $14 million NIL deal fell through. Rashada never played for Florida. He was released from his scholarship agreement in 2023, transferred to Arizona State where he played last year and then transferred to Georgia this offseason.

    “They’re going to have to figure out a system, just like anything else — make sure contracts are signed, or the language is done the right way,” Mahomes, who has become involved in the NIL collective at Texas Tech, his alma mater, said Wednesday when asked about Sluka’s situation.

    What now?

    UNLV went 9-5 last season and played for the Mountain West Conference championship, but the quarterback who led that team to the program’s best season in nearly 40 years, Jayden Maiava, transferred to Southern California of the Big Ten.

    Sluka was one of the top quarterbacks playing in Division I’s second tier, known as the Football Championship Subdivision. Holy Cross reached the FCS playoffs in 2021 and ’22 with Sluka as the starter.

    After a coaching change at Holy Cross — head coach Bob Chesney left to take over at James Madison — Sluka also moved on. after setting a host of school records and rushing for an NCAA Division I quarterback record 330 yards in a loss to Lafayette in 2023. Sluka has completed 21 of 48 passes for 318 yards, six touchdowns and one interception for the Rebels this season. He has also rushed 39 times for 286 yards and a touchdown, helping the Rebels beat Kansas and Houston to go 2-0 against Big 12 teams.

    Neither Sluka’s father nor his agent completely ruled out the possibility of a resolution that could have Matthew Sluka back with UNLV, but neither voiced any optimism.

    “At the end of the day, $100,000 for a quarterback that’s in a Top 25 program is actually probably on the lower tier,” Cromartie said. “The fact that he hasn’t gotten that or anything in between just speaks to the point he’s getting done unjustly and unfairly.”

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    AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, and Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

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  • NWSL and players’ union reach new collective bargaining agreement as league’s profile rises

    NWSL and players’ union reach new collective bargaining agreement as league’s profile rises

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    The National Women’s Soccer League and its players’ union have agreed to a collective bargaining agreement that will run through 2030, according to two published reports.

    Sportico and The Athletic, citing anonymous sources, reported some provisions of the new agreement will go into effect before the current CBA expires after the 2026 season.

    The current agreement was negotiated in 2022 and increased minimum salaries, introduced free agency, provided housing and transportation for players and addressed health and safety.

    No details for the new CBA were available, but they generally concern player movement, free agency and trades.

    The players’ union has not commented but posted a message on social media that said, “Any news concerning the Players’ lives will be shared directly by them, on their terms. Respect that. Stay tuned.”

    The new agreement comes as the NWSL has begun signing more international players the past year and announced a four-year media rights deal valued at $60 million per year. Prices for franchises also have escalated this year. The San Diego Wave sold for a then-NWSL record $120 million in March, and last month Angel City FC became the most valuable women’s sports team in the world when it sold for $250 million.

    More than 50 NWSL players are competing at the Paris Olympics.

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    AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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  • NBA agrees to terms on a new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal, AP source says

    NBA agrees to terms on a new 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal, AP source says

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    The NBA has agreed to terms on its new media deal, an 11-year agreement worth $76 billion that assures player salaries will continue rising for the foreseeable future and one that will surely change how some viewers access the game for years to come.

    A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that the networks have the terms sheets, with the next step being for the league’s board of governors to approve the contracts.

    The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because they weren’t at liberty to discuss such impending matters.

    The deal, which set NBA records for both its length and total value, goes into effect for the 2025-26 season. Games will continue being aired on ESPN and ABC, and now some will be going to NBC and Amazon Prime. TNT Sports, which has been part of the league’s broadcasting family since the 1980s, could be on its way out, but has five days to match one of the deals.

    The five-day clock would begin once the league sends the finished contracts to TNT.

    The Athletic was the first to report on the contracts.

    In the short term, the deal almost certainly means the league’s salary cap will rise 10% annually — the maximum allowed by the terms of the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NBA and its players. That means players like Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas’ Luka Doncic could be making around $80 million in the 2030-31 season and raises at least some possibility that top players may be earning somewhere near $100 million per season by the mid-2030s.

    It also clears the way for the next major item on the NBA’s to-do list: Expansion.

    Commissioner Adam Silver was very clear on the order of his top agenda items in recent seasons, those being preserving labor peace (which was achieved with the new CBA), getting a new media deal (now essentially completed) and then and only then would the league turn its attention toward adding new franchises. Las Vegas and Seattle are typically among the cities most prominently mentioned as top expansion candidates, with others such as Montreal, Vancouver and Kansas City expected to have groups with interest as well.

    As the broadcast rights packages have grown in total value over the last 25 years, so, too, have salaries because of how much that revenue stream ends up fueling the salary cap.

    When NBC and Turner agreed to a $2.6 billion, four-year deal that started with the 1998-99 season, the salary cap was $30 million per team and the average salary was around $2.5 million. The average salary this season exceeded $10 million per player — and it’s only going to keep going up from here.

    When that NBC-Turner deal that started a quarter-century ago expired, the next deal — covering six seasons — cost ABC, ESPN and Turner about $4.6 billion. The next was a seven-year deal, costing those networks $7.4 billion.

    The current deal, the one that will expire next season, smashed those records — nine years, nearly $24 billion.

    And now, that seems like pocket change.

    From the deal that started in 1998-99 to the one now struck to begin in 2025, the total value has climbed by about 2,800%. Factoring for inflation even between then and now, the value goes up about 1,400%.

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    AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy contributed from Los Angeles.

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    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

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  • 3 players quit Argentina women’s team in dispute over pay and conditions

    3 players quit Argentina women’s team in dispute over pay and conditions

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    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Three players quit Argentina’s women’s squad on Monday in a dispute over not being paid and conditions at a camp ahead of two friendlies.

    Goalkeeper Laurina Oliveiros, defender Julieta Cruz and midfielder Lorena Benítez, all regular starters, walked out.

    “We reached a point in which we are tired of the injustices, of not being valued, not being heard and, even worse, being humiliated,” Cruz posted on Instagram. “We need improvements for Argentina’s women’s soccer national team, and I am not only talking about finances. I speak about training, having lunch, breakfast.”

    Cruz and Benítez said during national squad training sessions they received a ham and cheese sandwich and a banana, which they consider inadequate for high-performance athletes.

    They said the Argentine Football Association told them they won’t be paid for the friendlies against Costa Rica on Friday and Monday because the games are at home in Buenos Aires.

    Benitez added their family members were being charged 5,000 pesos ($5) for match tickets.

    “And there there are millions of things we have gone through,” the midfielder added.

    Oliveros wrote on Instagram, “With a broken heart and thousands of dreams disappearing little by little. May the next generations enjoy and be happy running after the , as we were sometime ago.”

    AFA did not comment on the players’ decision.

    Estefanía Banini, considered the country’s best female player ever, supported her three former teammates. Last year, she also decided to stop playing for the national team.

    “A matter of time. Thanks for being willing to speak about it,” the Atletico Madrid midfielder said on her social media channels.

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    AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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  • This year’s NFL draft has lowest number of early entrants since 2011. That trend figures to continue

    This year’s NFL draft has lowest number of early entrants since 2011. That trend figures to continue

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    The lure of starting a pro career early apparently isn’t quite as tempting for underclassmen now as it was in the days before college stars could profit off their name, image and likeness.

    This month’s draft features 58 early entrants, the lowest number of players to enter the draft with college eligibility remaining since 2011. That includes 54 underclassmen who were granted special eligibility by the NFL and four others (Miami defensive back Kamren Kinchens, Alabama defensive back Kool-Aid McKinstry, Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy and Clemson running back Will Shipley) who earned their degrees in three years.

    That represents a dramatic shift, considering at least 100 underclassmen entered the draft ever year from 2016 to 2022. The 2021 draft had a record 100 underclassmen selected.

    “I wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers drop even more next year,” Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes said.

    The NIL policy change for college athletes took effect in the summer of 2021. The next year, 100 underclassmen entered the draft, down from 128 the previous year. That number dropped to 82 last year and tumbled again this year.

    “Some of these guys that are out now didn’t come out a year ago because they were enticed to go back for NIL money,” Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane said.

    Those NIL opportunities didn’t sway every underclassman who was thinking of leaving school early.

    Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen had arrived on campus planning to turn pro after three seasons. He said at Wisconsin’s pro day event that NIL possibilities gave him “zero” reason to rethink that plan.

    But it did play a role for other players such as Michigan offensive lineman Zak Zinter, who didn’t enter last year’s draft and instead stayed for his senior season and helped the Wolverines win a national title.

    “It’s good to not worry about stuff money-wise while you’re here playing ball and to get paid to do what you love,” Zinter said. “Nothing crazy, but it just definitely was a factor we talked about.”

    The fallout from the lack of underclassmen won’t be evident early in the draft. The first round traditionally is heavy on early entries, and that isn’t likely to change this year.

    The latest Associated Press mock draft has underclassmen getting selected with 19 of the 32 first-round picks, including eight of the top 10 selections. Twenty-five of the 30 top-10 selections over the last three drafts have been early entrants.

    The question is whether the lack of underclassmen will limit teams’ choices when they get into the later rounds.

    “I still think there’s more depth at some positions than others but I think there’s going to be a good pool,” Beane said. “I don’t see right now, like all of a sudden you get to a certain round on day three and you’re like, ‘You know, there’s nothing to pick from.’”

    While this draft doesn’t have as many younger prospects as usual, it does have more rookies approaching their mid-20s than normal, continuing a trend that started well before this year.

    The NCAA granted players who were in college during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season the opportunity for an extra year of eligibility. The age of the players who capitalized on that throws a wrinkle into the evaluation process.

    “We don’t really go into looking as a vacuum, so let’s take age specifically,” Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry said. “It’s not like, ‘OK, hey, if you’re X years old you’re off the board or we’re not going to consider you.’ Really we do try and take each player individually and consider all the circumstances, risk factors, things that make that prospect unique and ultimately place a value on that individual from there.”

    The impact is most obvious at the quarterback position. For instance, Green Bay Packers quarterback and 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford was 25 when he began his first NFL training camp. Clifford is actually 3 1/2 months older than Packers starter Jordan Love, who was drafted three years earlier.

    Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman, a possible late-round pick, will be 25 when the NFL season starts. Oregon’s Bo Nix and Tennessee’s Joe Milton are both 24. Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Florida State’s Jordan Travis turn 24 next month.

    But there are some unusually older draft prospects at other positions as well. Minnesota tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford and Florida State defensive lineman Braden Fiske are both 24.

    Fiske said he has pitched his maturity as an asset when he has spoken to NFL teams.

    “I treat it like a pro and that’s how it’s going to be when I get to the next level,” said Fiske, who spent five seasons at Western Michigan before transferring to Florida State. “There’s not going to be any questions of can I handle the pressures at the next level. There’s not going to be any questions of can I handle the long days, the film, everything that goes into it.

    “This is something I’ve been doing for a long time, and I’ve been able to handle it up to this point, and I think I’m ready to play at a high level and continue the success.”

    Future drafts eventually will stop having those older prospects as the college players who were on campus during the pandemic finally exhaust their eligibility.

    But the shortage of underclassmen figures to be something NFL teams will have to continue dealing with as long as NIL remains a factor.

    “That drop in numbers (is) not a surprise,” Holmes said. “And I don’t really foresee it changing anytime soon.”

    ___

    AP Sports Writers Larry Lage and Michael Marot contributed to this report.

    ___

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  • NCAA spent years fighting losing battles and left itself helpless to defend legal challenges

    NCAA spent years fighting losing battles and left itself helpless to defend legal challenges

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    Years of fighting losing battles have left the NCAA almost helpless to defend itself.

    The legal pile-on against the largest governing body for college sports in the Unites States continued Wednesday when attorneys general from Tennessee and Virginia filed an antitrust lawsuit that seeks to throw out the few rules the NCAA has to regulate how athletes can be compensated for name, image and likeness.

    That pushes the number of antitrust lawsuits the NCAA is actively defending to at least five.

    Denial and previous court losses — most notably a unanimous decision against the NCAA from the Supreme Court in 2021 — have flung the doors open to legal scrutiny the NCAA and so-called collegiate sports model cannot withstand.

    “The NCAA and (schools) that make up the NCAA have continuously been completely stubborn,” Florida-based sports attorney Darren Heitner said. “They have resisted change. They understand that there’s been an absolute misclassification of athletes as, quote unquote, student-athletes as opposed to employees, and they’ve continuously placed very, very stringent restrictions on the capacity for athletes to capitalize and earn money.”

    Three of the current lawsuits seek employment status for college athletes or are trying to direct more of the billions of dollars big-time college and basketball to the ones who play those sports.

    Amy Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Sports, said the NCAA’s insistence of trying to govern major college while it has no jurisdiction over its postseason and no say in how the billions in revenue it generates are spent is the root of most of the association’s problems.

    “Big revenue football operates in many ways independently from the NCAA, and the NCAA serves as its legal shield,” Perko said.

    The latest threats to the NCAA have originated from inside the house.

    The move Wednesday move by the state AGs echoed what has played out in the past two months with a multistate challenge to NCAA transfer rules.

    Overall, the response from Tennessee has become typical from schools that either end up in NCAA’s enforcement crosshairs or do not receive the result they want when dealing with the beleaguered association: Attack the NCAA’s credibility. Blame it for creating an unmanageable situation. And maybe sue.

    Coaches and administrators have lamented loosened transfers rules and unregulated NIL for the past two years, calling for the NCAA — which only acts upon the membership’s wishes — to rein it in.

    “This legal action would exacerbate what our members themselves have frequently described as a “wild west” atmosphere, further tilting competitive imbalance among schools in neighboring states, and diminishing protections for student-athletes from potential exploitation,” the NCAA said in response to Wednesday’s lawsuit.

    For a public figure, taking a stand against the NCAA is always a winning position.

    “College sports wouldn’t exist without college athletes, and those students shouldn’t be left behind while everybody else involved prospers,” Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti said. “The NCAA’s restraints on prospective students’ ability to meaningfully negotiate NIL deals violate federal antitrust law. Only Congress has the power to impose such limits.”

    College sports leaders have been lobbying federal lawmakers for going on five years, since even before the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes cashing in on their fame.

    Among the biggest reasons the university presidents who sit at the top of the NCAA’s org chart hired former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to be its president was his political savvy.

    The NCAA’s initial ask of Congress under former President Mark Emmert was for help regulating NIL. Now, that’s almost a side issue. What the NCAA needs is an antitrust exemption that will actually allow it to govern college sports without risk of being sued into oblivion.

    Lawmakers have not been in a rush to help. Baker is trying to be proactive, pushing NCAA membership to make radical changes — some that could steer the big-time revenue generating sports closer to professionalism.

    “Of course, we need some help from Congress to make this work,” Baker said this month at the NCAA convention in Phoenix. “The answer is: Yes, I know that, but I also believe that it’s important for us to give Congress some idea about what something might look like if they were to choose to support us.”

    Mounting legal pressure leads to speculation about whether the NCAA can remain viable at all. Especially, as it risks alienating schools such as Tennessee and others in the power conferences that might be just fine without it.

    “For the people who say the NCAA is destined to fail, they’re doomed. Well, it’s easy to say on the outside, but if the schools and their presidents and chancellors wish to remain part of it, and Tennessee is the only disgruntled one, let Tennessee fight the battle. We’re not getting involved,” Heitner said.

    It doesn’t appear Tennessee is leading a revolution against the NCAA, but it is chipping away at an already shaky foundation.

    ___

    AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

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  • NIL nonprofits can't lose in College Football Playoff championship

    NIL nonprofits can't lose in College Football Playoff championship

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    No matter who takes home the College Football Playoff championship Monday night in Houston, a rare nonprofit from the murky, still-developing world of Name, Image, Likeness programs is set to come out on top.

    Numerous NIL organizations, which help college athletes get compensated, have sprung up since a Supreme Court decision in 2021 allowed the National Collegiate Athletic Association to pay student athletes for use of their brands — with some restrictions. Many are for-profit organizations that funnel donations they receive to college athletes in return for work they do for the organizations, like personal appearances, signing autographs and posting on social media.

    But both Hail! Impact, an NIL organization for the University of Michigan’s Wolverines, and Montlake Futures, which supports athletes at the University of Washington, have philanthropy at their cores. They are both registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits. That’s increasingly rare in the NIL world, especially after the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance in May that NIL collectives may not qualify as tax-exempt if their main purpose is paying players rather than supporting charitable works.

    Andy Johnson, co-founder of Hail! Impact, said his group, which launched in April, worked with the IRS and believes it is the first NIL collective to be designated a charity since the agency issued its guidance about donations. When Hail! Impact receives a donation, 70% of the gift goes to one of its partner charities in its community and 30% goes to the Michigan student athletes who work at events for the charities.

    “In every team, especially a football or basketball team, there are going to be a handful of players that the market allows to go out and maximize their NIL opportunities on a commercial basis,” said Johnson, adding that Champions Circle, a for-profit group that supports Michigan student athletes, can help them sign those deals. “But that doesn’t extend to every recruit, every player …. We can address that gap.”

    Hail! Impact allows donors to support all men’s and women’s varsity sports at Michigan and will even let them pick the community charity for large enough donations. “It’s provided meaningful opportunities for non-revenue sports where someone might have a real attachment,” Johnson said. “Someone might say, ‘I want to help the softball team. These women are fantastic students and athletes and I want to give them a chance to make some money and go out and do a day of community service.’”

    Michigan’s win at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, however, launched Hail! Impact’s prospects to a new level. In the days after the win, Hail! Impact received millions in donations from happy Michigan fans, including $2 million from a single donor, Johnson said.

    And a national championship could take it even farther.

    “The idea that one game could transform our mission the way it has is incredible,” Johnson said.

    It didn’t hurt the NIL organization supporting the University of Alabama’s team either. Minutes after the Crimson Tide lost to Michigan, the NIL group Yea Alabama issued an unusual appeal.

    “To keep Alabama in the best position, we need to have the biggest, best NIL program that we can possibly have,” said Aaron Suttles, Yea Alabama’s director of content. “So consider a donation, consider a membership to Yea Alabama.”

    The funding for NIL agreements generally comes from supporters of the college and often is described in philanthropic terms like “donations” and “fundraising campaigns.” However, the philanthropic trappings don’t make for-profit NIL collectives philanthropic, said Jonathan Jensen, associate professor of sport administration at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

    “Everybody — whether you’re talking about the donors, the university, that people who work at the collective — everybody understands that this is not a philanthropic thing,” Jensen said.

    Since the IRS guidance was issued, the foundation that supports Texas A&M athletes said it was shutting down a fund it had launched earlier in 2023 to allow donors to support endorsement deals for Aggies athletes. The 12th Man Foundation will still engage in NIL activities, but using a different internal process.

    New processes and new platforms will be the norm among NIL groups for a while, as they try to find a strategy that works. Montlake Futures, which supports athletes at the University of Washington, remains a nonprofit, but last month teamed with Blueprint Sports to offer a membership program that is not tax deductible.

    Hail! Impact also lets supporters choose to have their donations go only to paying athletes, but those gifts are not tax deductible.

    In any case, both Hail! Impact and Montlake Futures are set to come out ahead simply by supporting teams in the national championship.

    Fundraising off a defeat may seem counterintuitive, Jensen said, but in fact, it draws on ideas in behavioral economics that prompt people to highly value things they already have, in this case, a football team’s winning reputation.

    “If you play on that psychology, what they’re saying is …, ‘You could lose this mantle that you’re on as being a national championship caliber team,’” Jensen said. “So you need to reach in your pocket and spend money in order to keep this distinction.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Column: Questions to contemplate for a new year on PGA Tour

    Column: Questions to contemplate for a new year on PGA Tour

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    Of the two clear signs the PGA Tour is about to embark on a new year at Kapalua, one is obvious: The magnificent view from the first tee of an 80-yard fairway that seemingly drops into the Pacific Ocean.

    The other is more bizarre: Jon Rahm sightings.

    Rahm is the defending champion at The Sentry, except that all he has been defending of late is his decision to defect to Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The total compensation is probably in the neighborhood of the entire PGA Tour prize fund for the FedEx Cup season ($402.4 million, not including the majors).

    There has been chatter about his vacation suite at Kapalua and one confirmed sighting of the Masters champion at a high-end resort up the coast at Makena.

    Such beautiful vistas, such a fractured landscape in golf, with no end in sight.

    The previous year began with LIV adding players that only ardent golf fans would recognize. Six months later came the shocking announcement of the PGA Tour’s agreement to become commercial partners with the Saudi backer of LIV Golf, contingent on finalizing the deal by the end of the year.

    Seven hours before the year ended, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan told players in a memo that there was no deal yet, only progress. Slow play strikes again.

    So the new year has the feel of the old one, except on Thursday. The Sentry has ditched the second part of its title name — Tournament of Champions — because the winners-only field now includes anyone who finished in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup.

    The only player missing is Rory McIlroy — and Rahm, who has been suspended.

    What to expect for 2024? Here are questions to contemplate:

    Whatever defines progress was slowed by Commissioner Jay Monahan taking a month away to cope with exhaustion, congressional inquiries and private equity groups wanting a piece of the action. The PGA Tour settled on Strategic Sports Group, and Monahan suggested a deal with SSG was farther along than anything with the Public Investment Fund.

    Monahan also mentioned SSG, PIF and the European tour as minority co-investors. Golf Digest reported any agreement ideally would be completed by The Players Championship in March. There is no hard deadline, and it turns out Dec. 31 was just a date on a piece of paper.

    Regardless of valuations and contributions by “minority co-investors,” the biggest question is the future of LIV Golf and how and when — or if — the best players will be competing against each other outside the majors.

    Finding a fair way to integrate is one thing. Rewarding the players who remained loyal to the tours would seem to be far more complicated.

    Still to be confirmed is whether Rahm gets his own LIV team, and there are still moving parts among the 12 existing teams. Either way, the year starts high on speculation about who will be the next to defect to LIV. Brooks Koepka leaving in 2022 and Rahm leaving in December should make it clear that no departure should be a surprise. Everyone has a number.

    Schenk had never finished higher than No. 71 in the FedEx Cup in his five years on the PGA Tour. He had played in only two majors. He started the season at No. 176 in the world.

    That adage about playing better? That applies to Schenk.

    He was runner-up twice, including a playoff loss at Colonial. He played his way into three majors. He not only qualified for the Tour Championship, he was in contention going into the second round at East Lake.

    He finished the year just short of $5 million, more than his previous five seasons combined. He is in all the signature events this year, along with all the majors.

    For players who are not in the signature events, who feel as though there is now a separate tour for the elite, they should use Schenk as inspiration. That could be them.

    Thomas is the best example that even elite players have to earn it. He didn’t in 2023, missing out on the postseason for the first time.

    He will not be suffering because of his star power. Thomas earned that from winning two majors, a FedEx Cup and three money titles. Sponsor exemptions to the signature events will not be hard to find if he needs them.

    That player a few years back was Rickie Fowler. Before him was Jordan Spieth.

    The toughest squad to make in golf is the U.S. Olympic team, even if it’s not a team event. Only four players from the top 15 in the world can go to Paris for the Summer Olympics. Going into the year, eight Americans are among the top 15.

    Xander Schauffele is one of them. He won the gold medal in Tokyo and the first step is simply getting a shot at any medal. Justin Rose won the gold in Rio de Janeiro and didn’t make it back to the next Olympics.

    It gets even more complicated with international players, particularly the likes of Cameron Smith of Australia, Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Thomas Pieters of Belgium. Olympic qualifying is based strictly on the world ranking, and LIV doesn’t get points for that. Their only chance at points is the majors, if they are even eligible for them.

    Woods gave his blessing to Joe LaCava, his caddie since late 2011, to work for Patrick Cantlay when Woods had ankle fusion surgery in April and his future was murky as ever.

    Woods is optimistic that he can play once a month, starting in February, through the majors. Rob McNamara, a longtime business associate and a second set of eyes for his swing, worked at the Hero World Challenge and is a likely candidate for Riviera.

    Woods has used an Augusta National caddie for pre-Masters practice rounds. That’s an option.

    And then there’s his son, 14-year-old Charlie. He’s strong enough and could be an interesting choice for the U.S. Open and British Open (he might not be out of school in time for the PGA Championship).

    For regular caddies, John Wood left caddying to be an on-course analyst for NBC and Golf Channel. He is tight with Woods, knows his game and could be an option for tournaments that CBS broadcasts.

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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  • Jon Rahm is leaving for LIV Golf. Here's what it means for LIV and the PGA Tour

    Jon Rahm is leaving for LIV Golf. Here's what it means for LIV and the PGA Tour

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    Jon Rahm has been saying that he plays golf for history and for legacy, not for money. And now he’s playing for the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League in a shocking departure from the PGA Tour.

    A week of speculation on social media ended with Rahm in a jacket — not the green jacket he won at the Masters this year but a black letterman’s jacket with LIV Golf across the front — as he discussed reasons for bolting during an appearance on Fox News.

    “I think the innovation and the vision of LIV Golf is what pushed me over to at least give it a chance and hear the pitch,” Rahm said in an interview with LIV broadcaster David Feherty. “Ultimately, it ended up being what I wanted to hear.”

    How much? Rahm wasn’t sharing details, but it’s a lot. Various reports put it in the neighborhood of $500 million, which includes equity in his new team. Consider the entire prize fund on the PGA Tour in 2023 was about $460 million.

    This creates as many questions as answers, from who Rahm brings with him to how it affects the PGA Tour’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on a commercial deal.

    HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS TO LIV GOLF?

    Rahm is the Masters champion, currently No. 3 in the world and has 20 victories in his seven full years as a pro. He is the biggest catch for LIV since it began in 2022.

    One of the knocks on LIV was that so many of its big names were in the twilights of their careers. Rahm is just coming into his prime, and seven of the last 14 major championship winners now are with LIV — Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.

    LIV players have won at least one major every year since 2015. Rahm gives the roster a major boost, and with a new team, that creates openings for more players to defect.

    WHY NOW?

    Rahm, Koepka and Rory McIlroy were the first players to denounce the idea of a Saudi-funded rival league even before LIV Golf was established. Since then, Rahm has spoken about his loyalty to the PGA Tour, how money doesn’t motivate him and as recently as August, he said he “laughs” when he hears rumors about him going to LIV.

    Look back to June 6, when the PGA Tour went from battling LIV Golf to a shocking announcement of its private deal to partner with the Public Investment Fund, the financial backers of LIV. Rahm said a week later, “I think the general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from management.”

    If the PGA Tour was willing to do business with the Saudis, it raises a natural question: Is there any problem with a PGA Tour star joining them?

    “Obviously, the past two years there’s been a lot of evolving on the game of golf, things have changed a lot and so have I,” Rahm said.

    Rahm is certain to lose fans over this, as have most marquee players who have gone to LIV. He said he has heard negativity before and it’s part of the business.

    WASN’T THERE AN AGREEMENT TO NOT RECRUIT PLAYERS?

    There was, but not for long. The framework agreement had a non-solicitation clause in which all sides agreed not to poach players. Just over a month later, they rescinded that clause on a request from the Justice Department over antitrust concerns.

    That didn’t seem to be a problem for the tour back then.

    The tour said in July, “While we believe the language is lawful, we also consider it unnecessary in the spirit of cooperation and because all parties are negotiating in good faith.”

    That no longer would seem to be the case.

    WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE PGA TOUR?

    For starters, the PGA Tour has lost more market shares — in the case of Rahm, a big one.

    It also can’t help the tour in its the race to reach a final agreement on the commercial deal with PIF and the European tour. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had said he would be meeting this week with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor. That meeting had already been pushed back to next week, and its status is uncertain.

    The tour has said it was narrowing down the list of U.S.-based private equity firms that wanted in on the deal. If PIF saw that as the PGA Tour having leverage, now the Saudis have big leverage in being able to snag one of golf’s biggest stars.

    One player who might benefit from this is Mackenzie Hughes. He finished 51st in the FedEx Cup. With Rahm not having PGA Tour membership next year, the tour is likely to remove him from the list, that would bump Hughes to No. 50 and make him eligible for the $20 million signature events in 2024. It also would move Carl Yuan to No. 125 to keep a full tour card.

    WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR RAHM?

    He’s a lot richer. His career earnings on the PGA Tour were at $51.5 million and he’ll be getting somewhere around 10 times that much (the length of the LIV deal was not disclosed).

    As Masters champion, he can play for life. He has a 10-year exemption to the U.S. Open as a champion (through 2031), and he has five-year exemptions to the PGA Championship and the British Open.

    Still to be determined is the Ryder Cup. The European tour is in charge of its team, and no European from LIV was on the team this year that won in Rome. McIlroy said in a Sky Sports interview that Europe would need to change the rules to get Rahm on the team for 2025.

    There’s also the possibility of Rahm keeping his European tour membership and paying fines for the tournaments he plays in LIV Golf. He can probably afford it.

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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  • Proposal to create new tier for big-money college sports is just a start, NCAA president says

    Proposal to create new tier for big-money college sports is just a start, NCAA president says

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    LAS VEGAS — NCAA president Charlie Baker said Wednesday his proposal to allow the most highly resourced schools in Division I to pay athletes through a trust fund is just a starting point as he tries to shift the association to be more proactive than reactive.

    “We need to be able to anticipate where conversations are going and to try to get this big, huge, diverse 180-committee with 2,000 members — like oh, my God! — to a place where they’re talking about stuff that’s common, and not just responding and reacting to other people’s agendas,” Baker said during an appearance at the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletic Forum.

    On Tuesday, Baker laid forth an aggressive and potentially groundbreaking vision for a new NCAA subdivision at the very top of college sports in a letter he sent to the more than 350 Division I schools.

    “Some people are going to say you’re going too far and people will say but you’re not going far enough,” Baker said. “I promise you that’s going to be where most of the dialogue on this will be in the short term.”

    Baker’s proposal would require schools that want to be a part of the new tier of D-I to pay their athletes tens of thousands of dollars per year on top of their athletic scholarships. Baker also suggested all Division I schools should bring name, image and likeness compensation for their athletes in-house through group licensing deals and remove any limits on educational benefits schools can provide for athletes.

    Baker said the proposal was formed from an amalgamation of conversations he has had with administrators and athletes from across college sports.

    Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey noted he did not see Baker’s letter until it went out Tuesday.

    He said any attempts to reform college sports will be addressed in five arenas: the courts, Congress, state legislatures, conferences and the NCAA.

    “All of those have to be part of the solution,” Sankey said.

    Baker said he believes about 100 schools might consider opting into a new subdivision.

    There are 133 schools in Division 1 ‘s highest tier, the Football Bowl Subdivision. Baker’s proposal seems targeted at about half those schools that compete in the five power conferences. That number of conferences is shrinking to four after recent realignment moves go into effect next year, but it will still encompass about 65 schools.

    Baker said the differences in budget sizes across Division I, and even into Division II and III, have traditionally caused conflicts in the NCAA. He wants the schools that have the ability to spend more on their athletes, to be free do so.

    “Recognizing that we’re trying to be supportive as to a big tent approach but, as you saw yesterday with Charlie’s memo, there’s a new reality here,” Sankey said.

    ___

    Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com.

    ___

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    AP college : https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

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  • College athlete shoe deals in NIL era get stepped on by lucrative school contracts with big brands

    College athlete shoe deals in NIL era get stepped on by lucrative school contracts with big brands

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    LINCOLN, Neb. — Harper Murray puts on her Adidas volleyball shoes when she practices or plays in a match for Nebraska, one of the top teams in the country. It’s not necessarily the brand she would choose; it’s because the German company is her school’s official supplier and athletes, coaches and staff are required to wear its products.

    Texas’s Reilly Heinrich and Virginia’s Ashley Le wear Nikes because their schools are under contract with the shoe giant. Heinrich actually wears basketball shoes bearing the familiar swoosh because she says they fit better than Nike’s volleyball shoes.

    All three also are brand ambassadors for a new volleyball shoe brand, Avoli, which they promote on social media platforms as part of their name, image and likeness compensation deals with the startup based in Portland, Oregon, also the hometown of Nike.

    The three can tout Avoli all they want, but it is highly unlikely they will ever wear the brand when they actually represent their schools in competition — a familiar and seemingly immovable hurdle for athletes in many college sports. While they now have the freedom to earn money from NIL endorsements, they remain beholden to terms of apparel contracts paying millions to their schools and nothing to them. Adidas, for example, will give Nebraska $4.85 million in cash and over $6 million in product this year, the seventh in an 11-year contract with a total value of $128 million.

    Murray, the No. 1 high school recruit last year and already one of the top players for the nation’s second-ranked team, said she accepts she must wear Adidas as part of playing for the Cornhuskers.

    “I think if I had the option to wear another shoe, I’d 100% pick Avoli,” she said. “Obviously, that’s not really an option.”

    It should be, according to Ramogi Huma, the executive director of the advocacy group College Athletes Players Association. He said college athletes should be able to wear shoes of their choice.

    Limiting athletes to the brand with which their school is affiliated creates two problems, he said. First, it prevents athletes from achieving their full NIL earning potential because they can’t wear the shoes in competition, when they get the most attention. Second, an athlete’s performance could be compromised if the shoe she’s wearing doesn’t fit properly.

    “It’s a health and safety issue,” Huma said. “If your foot is being squeezed, that’s a problem. Look at volleyball players. A lot of them are tall, and they may have wider feet than the average person. Everybody is made differently.”

    Footwear is an issue in any sport, Le said, but the movements associated with volleyball make it critical to have the right fit.

    “Volleyball is one of the most jumping-related sports,” she said. “The shoe — especially with ankle stability and the ability to move laterally and vertically without feeling in danger of hurting yourself — is very important.”

    It would be rare for a college athlete to wear a shoe other than the school sponsor’s brand.

    For example, the Adidas contract with Nebraska says if an athlete experiences injury, pain or discomfort serious enough to affect performance, Adidas will be given an opportunity to remedy the problem. If the problem persists, the athlete can wear another brand but its logo must be covered. Nike contracts have similar language. Typically, an independent physician must verify the athlete’s need for an exception.

    Missouri in 2021 considered but did not pass an amendment to its NIL state law that would have allowed athletes to wear shoes of their choice in mandatory team activities. New Mexico passed a bill last year giving athletes freedom to choose their shoes but that language was removed during the 2023 session; state Sen. Antonio Maestas, one of the original bill’s co-sponsors, said he did not know how that happened.

    Nebraska’s Murray said she has switched between volleyball and basketball shoes over the years. Heinrich said she wore volleyball shoes she didn’t really like when she was a high school and club player and settled on Nike basketball shoes at Texas because she found they gave her foot more support. Le has worn volleyball shoes since she was little, mainly because she found basketball shoes to be too heavy and wide for her.

    The athletic shoe giants all have lines of volleyball shoes, but Avoli co-founders Mark Oleson and Rick Anguilla said their brand is fully dedicated to what they believe is an underserved market. A feature of the Avoli shoe are tiny holes in the soles to provide ventilation, something young players said they wanted.

    Oleson and Anguilla, who have years of experience in various aspects of the athletic shoe business with different brands, declined to criticize their giant competitors.

    “Are they making bad volleyball shoes?” Oleson said. “I would say what we’re doing is we’re making a very specific volleyball shoe for the female athlete, how she moves, jumps, squats, pivots, dives and how she’s basically going to live throughout her entire tournament.”

    Sophie LeRoux, a spokeswoman for Adidas, said in an email that her company’s volleyball shoes are “built with a women’s first approach” and designed in collaboration with professional and amateur players. Adidas has partnerships with volleyball federations in Europe and China as well as throughout North America.

    LeRoux declined comment on the company’s sponsorship contracts with colleges. Nike did not respond to messages.

    Anguilla said Avoli is content to sell its volleyball products to younger players and is not worried about penetrating the college sponsorship market.

    “With somebody like Harper Murray or any of the athletes we’ve signed to NIL deals, they’re reaching 25, 50, 100,000 people on their social media,” Anguilla said. “When we start thinking about the audience, NIL is going to really impact the value of those all-school contracts long-term. If we can use athletes to bring awareness to our product, and if the product is great, we like that equation.”

    That doesn’t help athletes who can’t wear the shoes they would like in competition. Harper said she has no problem with Adidas shoes. She just likes the support and feel of her Avolis better.

    The matter of shoes is personal to Huma, a former UCLA football player who said he had to have foot surgery in 1996 because of ill-fitting shoes.

    Huma said college athletes should get a cut of the revenue from school apparel contracts and that, as partners with the schools, athletes could agree to wear socks, wristbands, headbands and other accessories under those contracts.

    Shoes, Huma said, are different because certain brands don’t always provide an optimal fit.

    “Wearing the same jersey isn’t going to be an issue when it comes to your health,” he said. “Shoes? That matters a lot.”

    ___

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  • Companies find digital loopholes in NIL rules to allow direct payments to college athletes

    Companies find digital loopholes in NIL rules to allow direct payments to college athletes

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    STORRS, Conn. — Two years after the NCAA cleared the way for college athletes to earn money off their fame and celebrity, digital technology is allowing some of them to get paid by their fans without having to do very much in return.

    Most deals struck by athletes under name, image and likeness guidance from schools or states are in exchange for something — an athlete endorsement on social media, for example, or an appearance at an event.

    It is now possible to pay athletes money while receiving something far less tangible: a digital non-fungible token, or NFT.

    Brent Chapman runs a platform called myNILpay. The app allows fans to choose a college athlete and send them money; the app then sends a notification to the athlete’s school email. The athlete fills out a form and the money is then transferred via Venmo or a similar payment method.

    In exchange, the fan receives a unique computer-generated piece of “art” with the athlete’s signature on it. Chapman said that serves as the quid pro quo.

    “This just gives an opportunity for fans to directly support athletes for whatever the reason they want,” he said. “Now, if a kid kicks the winning field goal, you know, a thousand people can go out and give them 50 bucks. That’s pretty cool, right? And those are the type of things that I think we’ll see happen as we get into the season and stuff.”

    RJ Cole, a former point guard at UConn and Howard University, is using the app to send money to about 50 current men’s and women’s basketball players at the two schools.

    He said he is not really interested in the NFTs; he just wants to support the players on those teams without having to set up a basketball camp or buy something from each player.

    “Now it’s easy,” he said. “A fan can just pay you right away and it’ll go right to you. I mean, I think it’s like a huge game changer.”

    Pay for play remains off limits under NCAA rules and is a longstanding pillar of amateur sports. But with millions of dollars now available to college athletes under NIL and via booster-funded collectives, the rules are under instense scrutiny.

    Joshua Frieser, a sports law attorney who specializes in NIL compensation, said the NCAA is unlikely to challenge the new app because it would have to prove the NFT the fan receives is not worth the money they paid for it.

    “There’s plenty of things where you would maybe raise an eyebrow and say, well, I don’t know if that’s actually market value, but certainly the NCAA has not at any point gotten anywhere close to actually regulating that and saying, no, that’s too much,” he said. . “And from my perspective, I don’t think they’re going to.”

    He also noted that there also is no current enforcement mechanism to ensure the pay-for-an-NFT model isn’t misused.

    What is to prevent booster groups from various schools from getting into bidding wars for recruits or players in the transfer portal? “Nothing,” Freiser said.

    And what’s to prevent a gambling criminal from paying athletes to shave points or throw a game?

    “I think it would be very hard for for anyone to really discover unless you have, you know, sort of an organized scheme where with real systematic cheating going on,” he said.

    Blake Lawrence, CEO and co-founder of Opendorse, which helps colleges and athletes navigate the NIL landscape, said he doesn’t think the idea of trading cash for NFTs will catch on. Most fans, he said, want something more tangible in exchange for sending money to athletes.

    “That’s whether it’s a physical product like a jersey or a shirt or tchotchke featuring the athlete’s name, image or likeness or a service, like an appearance at a birthday or a video shout-out they can share with their friends,” he said. “The consumer in our experience desires either a physical product or some physical effort from the athlete to create value.”

    Still, he said, that doesn’t mean that some digital assets won’t become an important part of the NIL landscape.

    Another app, called Burrst, is being launched to link athletes and consumers via blockchain, creating digital contracts that allow automatic payments once the athlete provides a good or service such as a video birthday greeting. Creator Grant Sapkin said digital trading cards are among the products the athletes can sell.

    In addition to having pictures of the athletes and statistics, these cards can also include passcodes for unique experiences, such as meet and greets. Unlike NFTs, they can be bought, sold or traded among fans as a type of investment.

    The idea is that like a physical trading card, as the athlete’s fame increases, so does the value of the card.

    “You can be part of that athlete’s journey,” Sapkin said. “And there’s different types of consumers. There’s ones that just want to support the athletes — they generally like that person. There’s other ones that want to trade it to make money and profit themselves.”

    ___

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  • Verstappen looks unstoppable as he enters the F1 break with a massive lead

    Verstappen looks unstoppable as he enters the F1 break with a massive lead

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    SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Defending Formula One champion Max Verstappen enters the mid-season break in unstoppable form, after emphatically winning the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday for an eighth straight win and 10th overall of a crushingly dominant season.

    Despite starting from sixth place he finished 22.3 seconds ahead of teammate Sergio Perez to give Red Bull an easy 1-2. It moved Verstappen ominously closer to a third straight world title and his own F1 record of 15 wins from last year.

    Verstappen is 125 points ahead of Perez after just 12 races, and his next target is matching Sebastian Vettel’s F1 record of nine straight wins with a victory at the Dutch GP when the lopsided season resumes on Aug. 27.

    “I just want to have a nice time now, have a bit of time with family and friends,” Verstappen said.

    Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished in third spot for a third podium of the season, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth for Mercedes ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

    George Russell was sixth for Mercedes, with Lando Norris (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) completing the top 10.

    Leclerc started on pole ahead of Perez, with Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. behind them. McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was on the next row alongside Verstappen — who was fastest in Friday’s qualifying but took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and had to avoid early traffic.

    “It was just about surviving turn one. I could see it was all getting really tight,” Verstappen said. “I’ve been in that position before myself so I am just going to stay out of that and it worked out. From there onwards I made the right overtakes.”

    Last year Verstappen won from 14th, and once he overtook Perez on Lap 17 of 44 his 45th career win was seemingly inevitable.

    “Really enjoyable to drive once I got in the lead,” Verstappen said. “It was again a great race.“

    Red Bull extended its record to 13 straight wins, including the final race of last season.

    Hamilton came in on the penultimate lap for a tire change and the move paid off as he took the bonus point for fastest lap from Verstappen — a very minor blip for the dominant Dutchman.

    It was yet another stellar weekend for Verstappen, who also won Saturday’s sprint race. The only issue was some more bickering with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase over radio, as they continued their spat from Friday’s qualifying.

    “Don’t forget Max, use your head, please,” Lambiase told Verstappen when he questioned why Perez was making his first tire change on Lap 14.

    Verstappen defused any talk of tension with Lambiase.

    “It’s fine. We know each other very well and we have a very good relationship,” he said. “I think it’s really important.”

    With some rain forecast, Verstappen boxed on the next lap and came out about 2 seconds behind Perez. Just minutes later he cruised past Perez and, as so often this season, the rest was just about control.

    Perez, meanwhile, pledged to stay on the podium for the rest of the season.

    “It’s been a bit of a rough patch,” the 33-year-old Mexican said. “I really need this summer break, it’s been really intense. I’ll come back really strong for Zandvoort.”

    Conditions were dry for the race start, in stark contrast to the two previous days, which were impacted by heavy rain at the 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

    Leclerc, who won his first F1 race here in 2019, made a solid start but Perez’s extra pace soon put him in front.

    “I knew it was quite crucial for my race to get Charles on Lap 1,” Perez said.

    Verstappen rose two places to fourth after Sainz bumped into Piastri on the first corner.

    Piastri had to retire, while Verstappen overtook Hamilton on Lap 6, Leclerc three laps later and made short work of Perez just before some rain fell briefly.

    Some good overtaking from Ocon moved the Frenchman up from 10th to eighth in the closing stages.

    It was an early end for Piastri, who had impressed with a second place in Saturday’s sprint race.

    A bad day for Sainz saw him retiring on Lap 25 and Leclerc moving above him in the standings.

    “Of course the race was good on my side, a shame for Carlos as we had good pace,” Leclerc said. “When you look at the Red Bulls we still have a lot of work to do … This was the best we could achieve today, no doubt.”

    After the F1 break there will be 10 races left, but most of the competition for places will be behind Verstappen.

    Alonso is one point ahead of Hamilton in third overall, with Leclerc and Russell level and Sainz seven points behind them.

    ___

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  • LeBron James says at ESPYS he will play for Lakers in upcoming season

    LeBron James says at ESPYS he will play for Lakers in upcoming season

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James will play another season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

    The 38-year-old superstar announced his intentions on stage at The ESPYS on Wednesday night after accepting the record-breaking performance award for becoming the NBA’s career scoring leader.

    At the end of last season, in which he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark, James had said he wasn’t sure if he would be back.

    Grant Hill started working on the USA Basketball roster for this summer’s World Cup many months ago, long before the first invitations were extended.

    FILE - Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (24) goes up to dunk against Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) during the first half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series April 19, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. Brooks is getting a new home with the Houston Rockets after agreeing to a four-year deal worth nearly $80 million, a source told AP. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill, File)

    The Los Angeles Lakers kept two of their best guards. And the Milwaukee Bucks kept their big man as the early trend in NBA free agency of most players staying put continued.

    Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, front, gestures during the first half of Game 5 of basketball's NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, Monday, June 12, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

    In terms of opponent seeding, Denver’s run to this NBA championship was unlike any other since the league went to the 16-team playoff format 40 seasons ago.

    Miami Heat forward Kevin Love (42) shoots against the Denver Nuggets during the first half in Game 4 of the basketball NBA Finals, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Miami. (Kyle Terada/Pool Photo via AP)

    Kevin Love missed Miami’s team flight to Denver for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He had the best possible excuse. Love and his wife, Kate Bock, became parents on Saturday.

    “In that moment I’m asking myself if I can still play without cheating the game. Can I give everything to the game still? The truth is I’ve been asking myself this question at the end of the season for a couple years now. I just never openly talked about it,” James said.

    “I don’t care how many more points I score or what I can and cannot do on the floor. The real question for me is can I play without cheating this game? The day I can’t give the game everything on the floor is the day I’ll be done. Lucky for you guys that day is not today.”

    The crowd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood let out a huge cheer.

    “So yeah, I still got something left,” James said. “A lot left.”

    He was presented his trophy by wife Savannah, sons Bronny and Bryce and daughter Zhuri. In her introductory remarks, Savannah said, “I think LeBron James is the baddest …”

    She began to say an expletive but cut herself off as Zhuri exclaimed, “Mom!”

    James later returned and was joined by Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade to honor Carmelo Anthony, who recently retired after a 19-year career.

    Earlier, Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks told the audience that he pitched much of the 2022 season with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before being diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease.

    He accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. The 34-year-old Australian was declared cancer-free in late April and returned to the mound a month later.

    “That was an eye-opener. I didn’t feel too many symptoms but I had some lumps around. It just shows you the power of the mind. When you don’t think anything’s wrong and you believe that you can do anything, you can do anything,” Hendriks said.

    “I was throwing 100 miles per hour while going through Stage 4 lymphoma and then coming back after doing eight rounds of chemotherapy and four rounds of immunotherapy and was able to get out there and throw 96 miles per hour. That isn’t physically who I am. That’s all this, that’s all mental.”

    The U.S. women’s soccer team was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for its fight to receive equal pay. The players sued U.S. Soccer in 2019 and last year reached agreement on a deal that splits men’s and women’s pay equally.

    Briana Scurry, goalkeeper for the national team from 1994-2008, saluted the 1985 team.

    “They are the foundation of this entire community of giants,” she said.

    The Buffalo Bills training staff received the Pat Tillman Award for Service, honored for saving the life of safety Damar Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest at a game in Cincinnati in January.

    The staff was greeted by a standing ovation. They huddled around Hamlin on stage, hugging him and patting his back. With his back to the audience, Hamlin bent his head and appeared to break down. He has since recovered and plans to play this fall.

    “Damar, first and foremost, thank you for staying alive, brother,” said Nate Breske, head trainer for the Bills.

    “We’re not used to having the spotlight on us. We were just doing our job, but the idea of service is definitely something that is engrained in our profession and that we take great pride in,” he told the audience.

    Breske urged support for funding for automated external defibrillators and CPR training, especially in underserved communities, as well as for athletic trainers in youth sports.

    “Learn CPR and how to use an AED because they save lives,” he said.

    Patrick Mahomes was honored as best men’s sports athlete, while skier Mikaela Shiffrin received the women’s sports honor.

    The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has won two Super Bowls in his five seasons and was named MVP of the game each time, including this past February. He turns 28 in September.

    “It was an incredible season. There was many ups, many downs,” Mahomes said. “I appreciate my teammates, my coaches, the guys that are here. I go back to camp next Tuesday, so this is a great award. But we’re going to do this thing again, we’re going to keep this thing rolling.”

    Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race in March, breaking the mark set by Ingemar Stenmark for the most such wins by any skier. She went on to win an 88th Cup race, as well as the overall season title.

    “This season was absolutely incredible and there was a lot of talk about records and it got me thinking, why is a record actually important?” Shiffrin said. “I just feel like it’s not important to break records or re-set records. It’s important to set the tone for the next generation, to inspire them.”

    Sports talk host Pat McAfee handled the opening monologue in his first major public appearance since joining ESPN in May.

    The show didn’t have its usual celebrity host as a result of the Hollywood writers strike. McAfee offered a series of hints that comedian Kevin Hart had been set for the gig but that Hart instead chose to support the Writers Guild of America.

    An ESPN spokeswoman said a production team worked with presenters on their introductory remarks. The usual pre-taped comedy sketches were absent.

    ___

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  • LeBron James says at ESPYS he will play for Lakers in upcoming season

    LeBron James says at ESPYS he will play for Lakers in upcoming season

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    LOS ANGELES — LeBron James will play another season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

    The 38-year-old superstar announced his intentions on stage at The ESPYS on Wednesday night after accepting the record-breaking performance award for becoming the NBA’s career scoring leader.

    At the end of last season, in which he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark, James had said he wasn’t sure if he would be back.

    “In that moment I’m asking myself if I can still play without cheating the game. Can I give everything to the game still? The truth is I’ve been asking myself this question at the end of the season for a couple years now. I just never openly talked about it,” James said.

    “I don’t care how many more points I score or what I can and cannot do on the floor. The real question for me is can I play without cheating this game? The day I can’t give the game everything on the floor is the day I’ll be done. Lucky for you guys that day is not today.”

    The crowd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood let out a huge cheer.

    “So yeah, I still got something left,” James said. “A lot left.”

    He was presented his trophy by wife Savannah, sons Bronny and Bryce and daughter Zhuri. In her introductory remarks, Savannah said, “I think LeBron James is the baddest …”

    She began to say an expletive but cut herself off as Zhuri exclaimed, “Mom!”

    James later returned and was joined by Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade to honor Carmelo Anthony, who recently retired after a 19-year career.

    Earlier, Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks told the audience that he pitched much of the 2022 season with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before being diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease.

    He accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. The 34-year-old Australian was declared cancer-free in late April and returned to the mound a month later.

    “That was an eye-opener. I didn’t feel too many symptoms but I had some lumps around. It just shows you the power of the mind. When you don’t think anything’s wrong and you believe that you can do anything, you can do anything,” Hendriks said.

    “I was throwing 100 miles per hour while going through Stage 4 lymphoma and then coming back after doing eight rounds of chemotherapy and four rounds of immunotherapy and was able to get out there and throw 96 miles per hour. That isn’t physically who I am. That’s all this, that’s all mental.”

    The U.S. women’s soccer team was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for its fight to receive equal pay. The players sued U.S. Soccer in 2019 and last year reached agreement on a deal that splits men’s and women’s pay equally.

    Briana Scurry, goalkeeper for the national team from 1994-2008, saluted the 1985 team.

    “They are the foundation of this entire community of giants,” she said.

    The Buffalo Bills training staff received the Pat Tillman Award for Service, honored for saving the life of safety Damar Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest at a game in Cincinnati in January.

    The staff was greeted by a standing ovation. They huddled around Hamlin on stage, hugging him and patting his back. With his back to the audience, Hamlin bent his head and appeared to break down. He has since recovered and plans to play this fall.

    “Damar, first and foremost, thank you for staying alive, brother,” said Nate Breske, head trainer for the Bills.

    “We’re not used to having the spotlight on us. We were just doing our job, but the idea of service is definitely something that is engrained in our profession and that we take great pride in,” he told the audience.

    Breske urged support for funding for automated external defibrillators and CPR training, especially in underserved communities, as well as for athletic trainers in youth sports.

    “Learn CPR and how to use an AED because they save lives,” he said.

    Patrick Mahomes was honored as best men’s sports athlete, while skier Mikaela Shiffrin received the women’s sports honor.

    The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has won two Super Bowls in his five seasons and was named MVP of the game each time, including this past February. He turns 28 in September.

    “It was an incredible season. There was many ups, many downs,” Mahomes said. “I appreciate my teammates, my coaches, the guys that are here. I go back to camp next Tuesday, so this is a great award. But we’re going to do this thing again, we’re going to keep this thing rolling.”

    Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race in March, breaking the mark set by Ingemar Stenmark for the most such wins by any skier. She went on to win an 88th Cup race, as well as the overall season title.

    “This season was absolutely incredible and there was a lot of talk about records and it got me thinking, why is a record actually important?” Shiffrin said. “I just feel like it’s not important to break records or re-set records. It’s important to set the tone for the next generation, to inspire them.”

    Sports talk host Pat McAfee handled the opening monologue in his first major public appearance since joining ESPN in May.

    The show didn’t have its usual celebrity host as a result of the Hollywood writers strike. McAfee offered a series of hints that comedian Kevin Hart had been set for the gig but that Hart instead chose to support the Writers Guild of America.

    An ESPN spokeswoman said a production team worked with presenters on their introductory remarks. The usual pre-taped comedy sketches were absent.

    ___

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  • Red Bull driver Verstappen wins Austrian GP ahead of rejuvenated Ferrari’s Leclerc in 2nd

    Red Bull driver Verstappen wins Austrian GP ahead of rejuvenated Ferrari’s Leclerc in 2nd

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    SPIELBERG, Austria — Reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen continued his relentless march toward a third straight world title with another dominating win at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.

    Verstappen started from pole position for the fourth straight race and notched his fifth straight win and seventh in nine races so far this season. He increased his championship lead to 81 points over his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

    “I think our stints were perfect so a great day, I enjoyed it a lot,” Verstappen said. “I am just enjoying driving this car and racing for this team.”

    So much so that he even got his way to come in two laps from the end for a shot at the fastest lap, despite his team’s reluctance to take the risk. Typically, he got the bonus point for it on the final lap to complete a perfect weekend after his victory from pole in Saturday’s sprint race.

    “I saw the gap and said ‘We have to pit,’” Verstappen said. “From the outside maybe it looks like a big risk, but when you’re in the car it doesn’t feel like a risk at all.”

    The victory also took the 25-year-old Dutchman onto 42 F1 wins overall, one ahead of the late Ayrton Senna and alone in fifth place on F1’s all-time list of winners.

    Charles Leclerc — last year’s winner here — finished 5.2 seconds behind Verstappen in second place with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez placing third, 17.2 behind.

    But Verstappen’s winning margin was shortened by his late pit stop, and it was another comfortable victory on his team’s home track in Spielberg.

    Making a clean start from pole, he held off Leclerc on Turns 2 and 3 and easily regained the lead from him following a pit stop at the halfway point of the 71-lap race at the Red Bull Ring.

    “Most important to me was lap one, stay in front after that (so) we could do our own race,” Verstappen said.

    It was only Leclerc’s second podium of the season, but put him in optimistic mood.

    “The upgrades we brought made me feel better. It’s looking good for the future,” Leclerc said. “Obviously, there’s still a lot to do, Max and Checo (Sergio) have a lot of pace.”

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and several other drivers received five-second time penalties for going off track limits.

    Perez started 15th and passed Sainz with 10 laps left to collect his first podium since his second place at the Miami GP two months ago.

    “It’s a good comeback,” Perez said. “It’s been a bit of a rough patch for me so now hopefully we are back and we can keep that consistency now.”

    Sainz was fourth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in sixth, Hamilton in seventh and his teammate George Russell in eighth.

    Red Bull has won all nine races, all 11 when including the two sprint races with Verstappen’s victory in Saturday’s sprint following Perez’s success in Azerbaijan.

    Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

    After a safety car came out briefly at the end of Lap 1, Verstappen got away cleanly on the restart.

    Hamilton, who had started well and was fourth in the early going, began struggling to control his car and began going off track limits.

    “I can’t keep it on the track, the car won’t turn,” said Hamilton said, who was issued repeated warnings.

    When a virtual safety car came out on Lap 15 after Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg went off the track, most teams opted to make another tire change to take advantage of pit stops costing them less time as cars on the track are forced to reduce speed.

    But Verstappen and teammate Perez stayed out.

    “I could see already a few laps before the (VSC) that we were pulling out quite a gap so I knew I would get it back,” Verstappen said. “Just following our own plan was the best way forward.”

    Drivers kept going wide of track limits on the 4.3-kilometer (2.7-mile) circuit that is known to be particularly difficult to stay within the white lines.

    “Has he got a penalty yet?” Hamilton asked about Perez, and continued complaining about other drivers going wide after his own penalty, forcing team principal Toto Wolff to intervene.

    “The car is bad, we know, please drive it,” Wolff said.

    Perez was warned by his team with 15 laps left to respect the track limits. He was right behind Sainz at that point and could not afford a time penalty.

    MINUTE’S SILENCE

    Drivers lined up on the grid for a minute’s silence in memory of 18-year-old Dutch driver Dilano van ’t Hoff, who died on Saturday after a crash at the Formula Regional European Championship at the Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium.

    F1 holds a race in Belgium on July 30.

    ___

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  • Vegas Golden Knights re-sign goalie Adin Hill to a 2-year deal on the eve of free agency

    Vegas Golden Knights re-sign goalie Adin Hill to a 2-year deal on the eve of free agency

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    The Stanley Cup champions ponied up to keep the goaltender who backstopped them to their first title, and a handful of NHL teams shed salary to prepare for free agency.

    The Vegas Golden Knights re-signed playoff hero goalie Adin Hill on Friday to a $9.8 million, two-year deal that carries an annual salary cap hit of $4.9 million through 2025. Hill is the second contributor to the Cup run to get a new deal in Vegas after Ivan Barbashev signed a $25 million, five-year contract earlier in the week.

    Hill won 11 of his 14 starts after stepping into the crease as an injury replacement for Laurent Brossoit midway through the second round. The 27-year-old journeyman — who had not played in the NHL playoffs before — led all goalies with a .932 save percentage and two shutouts.

    Other teams were busy offloading players on the eve of the start of free agency with some big-money buyouts.

    The Nashville Predators led the way by buying out Matt Duchene. The 32-year-old center had three years left on his deal at an annual cap hit of $8 million.

    Duchene is the latest veteran player to leave Nashville since former coach Barry Trotz took over as general manager, replacing longtime executive David Poile. The Predators also traded Ryan Johansen to Colorado, continuing the path of a rebuild started when Poile dealt away a handful of players before the deadline in March.

    The Winnipeg Jets also put former captain Blake Wheeler on unconditional waivers to buy out the final year of his contract. The Boston Bruins did the same with defenseman Mike Reilly, and the Detroit Red Wings took the same step with Kailer Yamomoto a day after acquiring him from the Edmonton Oilers.

    Edmonton continued the process of bringing back key players, re-signing forward Mattias Janmark to a $1 million contract for next season. Ken Holland, looking to help reigning MVP Connor McDavid win the Stanley Cup in what could be his final year as GM, has made it clear the Oilers are firmly in win-now mode, so this is likely not the end of their dealings.

    “I’m looking to win,” Holland said Tuesday. “I don’t invest in green bananas at this stage of my life.”

    Shifting into win-soon mode, the Chicago Blackhawks signed winger Corey Perry to a $4 million contract for next season, a day after acquiring his rights from Tampa Bay. That was the latest step in their plan to surround No. 1 pick Connor Bedard with experienced players, which began earlier this week with a trade with Boston for forwards Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno.

    Friday was also the deadline for teams to tender qualifying offers to restricted free agents. Over 100 did not receive one, including Carolina’s Jesse Puljujarvi, Florida’s Colin White, Minnesota’s Sam Steel and a couple of players traded in recent days: Detroit’s Klim Kostin, San Jose’s Mackenzie Blackwood.

    The New York Rangers tendered defenseman K’Andre Miller and 2020 top pick Alexis Lafrenière, among others. They did not qualify defenseman Libor Hajek, meaning he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.

    So will 21-goal scorer Daniel Sprong, who along with Morgan Geekie was not qualified by Seattle, despite having the best season of his NHL career. Also surprisingly not qualified were New Jersey forwards Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian, though the Devils could still look to bring any or all of them back at a cheaper salary.

    Wheeler won’t be back with Winnipeg and is hoping to land in the Eastern Conference after the expected end of his rocky tenure with the Jets. Incoming coach Rick Bowness stripped Wheeler of the captaincy last year in an attempt to fix the locker room culture around the Jets, and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff had been looking to trade the speedy winger who turns 37 on Aug. 31.

    Seattle re-signed goalie Joey Daccord to a $2.4 million, two-year deal, fresh off him helping the American Hockey League ‘s Coachella Valley Firebirds reach Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals.

    ___

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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