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Tag: Compensation in sports

  • Alex Killorn, J.T. Compher and Patrick Kane are among the NHL free agents to watch

    Alex Killorn, J.T. Compher and Patrick Kane are among the NHL free agents to watch

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    Stanley Cup rings have a handful of players set up for big paydays when NHL free agency opens Saturday.

    Recent champions Alex Killorn and J.T. Compher and three-time winner Patrick Kane are among the players available in the free agent market, which lost a top option Wednesday when Ivan Barbashev re-signed with Vegas.

    The 2023 free agent class includes a handful of intriguing veteran goaltenders and not a lot of top-tier defensemen.

    Here’s a look at the top free agents by position:

    FORWARDS

    ALEX KILLORN

    Coming off setting career highs with 27 goals, 37 assists and 65 points, Killorn could get the highest salary of any player who reaches unrestricted free agency. He helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21 and reach the final in 2022, playing a key role during each run.

    Killorn also turns 34 before opening night and plays a heavy style of game. Still, he’s a proven winner, much like former teammate Ondrej Palat, who cashed in last summer with a $30 million, five-year contract.

    J.T. COMPHER

    The Avalanche would love to bring back Compher, a versatile 28-year-old forward who can play center and wing and is coming off a career year with 52 points. They have some extra cap space to use because captain Gabriel Landeskog will likely spend the entire season on long-term injured reserve following knee cartilage replacement surgery.

    Plus, Colorado traded restricted free agent forward Alex Newhook to Montreal on Tuesday, so perhaps there is a road back for Compher. If not, he’ll be well compensated on the open market.

    PATRICK KANE

    The second-most prolific scorer among U.S.-born players is the most accomplished star available. He has won the Cup three times with Chicago.

    But Kane is 34 and could miss several months recovering from hip resurfacing surgery, which only Washington’s Nick Backstrom and one other player have come back from. Kane figures to be the perfect veteran addition for a growing team ready to take that next step.

    JONATHAN TOEWS

    A longtime teammate of Kane’s in Chicago, Toews and the Blackhawks are parting ways after 15 seasons. Now 35, Toews could be a depth center helping a contending team chase a championship.

    Pittsburgh could be a fit, if Toews and Sidney Crosby want to play together in the NHL after winning two Olympic gold medals together for Canada.

    DEFENSEMEN

    DMITRY ORLOV

    Another Cup winner (from the Capitals in 2018), Orlov made himself some real money with an impressive couple of months in Boston following a trade from Washington. After 19 points in 43 games with the Capitals, Orlov had 17 in 23 the remainder of the regular season with the Bruins.

    He’s soon to be 32, so he might not get the maximum eight-year deal. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility to imagine $36 million for Orlov over six seasons.

    OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON

    The 31-year-old Swede wasn’t supposed to be a free agent for four more summers. Then the Vancouver Canucks bought him out and put an intriguing player into the pool.

    Ekman-Larsson has not been at his best in recent years, but the right opportunity could allow him to recapture some of his past success.

    GOALTENDERS

    FREDERIK ANDERSEN

    On the verge of turning 33, Andersen has taken three different organizations to the playoffs over his lengthy career. He was good for Carolina this past spring, going 5-3 with a 1.83 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

    Andersen could return to the Hurricanes, but they may be in the market for a change in net. Pyotr Kochetkov is 24 and the future. Andersen can still help a contender win.

    TRISTAN JARRY

    An All-Star in 2022 with Pittsburgh, Jarry is just 28 and might still have the potential to be an above-average NHL starter. The Penguins are firmly in win-now mode with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang under contract, so they might swing big for a goalie via trade.

    Jarry is younger than Andersen and Antti Raanta and may be in line for a nice payday elsewhere.

    ___

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

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  • Minnesota Vikings releasing star running back Dalvin Cook for salary cap reasons, AP source says

    Minnesota Vikings releasing star running back Dalvin Cook for salary cap reasons, AP source says

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    MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings are parting ways with star running back Dalvin Cook for salary cap savings after his fourth consecutive season surpassing the 1,000-yard rushing mark.

    Cook has been informed he will be released, a person familiar with the team’s decision told The Associated Press on Thursday. The person spoke only on condition of anonymity because the Vikings had not announced the move.

    Cook, in just six years with the Vikings, reached third on the franchise all-time rushing list with 5,993 yards. He’s fifth in rushing attempts (1,282) and fourth in rushing touchdowns (47).

    Cook was scheduled to count more than $14.1 million against Minnesota’s salary cap, which would have been the third-highest figure for a running back in the league behind Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb. Cutting him chopped $9 million off the team’s cap charges for this year.

    The Vikings remain on the hook for more than $5.1 million in dead money for the prorated remainder of the signing bonus from the extension he signed prior to the 2020 season, according to data compiled by Over The Cap.

    Cook, who will turn 28 in August, has made the Pro Bowl for four straight years. In 2022, he started all 18 games including the playoffs, a first for him as a pro and a particular source of pride after injuries to his knee, hamstring and shoulder kept him from perfect participation over his first five seasons.

    Cook has not been present for the team’s voluntary offseason workouts. His future with the club has been unclear at best since the Vikings re-signed his backup, Alexander Mattison, to a two-year, $7 million contract seen as too luxurious for a second-stringer.

    Three of Cook’s eight career gains of 50-plus yards from scrimmage came in 2022, showing his explosiveness still exists, but he averaged a career-low 4.4 yards per rush as the Vikings struggled with their efficiency and consistency on the ground.

    They are heavily invested in their passing attack, too, with quarterback Kirk Cousins and an extension looming for wide receiver Justin Jefferson. The modern game has simply left the workhorse running back behind with more teams getting by on younger and cheaper timeshares in the backfield.

    The Vikings somewhat surprisingly brought back Mattison after he became an unrestricted free agent, and head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke about him on May 30 as if he were already the featured runner.

    “It’s been really good to see Alex Mattison take those kind of reps and really show that three-down ownership that he’s been capable of for a long time,” said O’Connell, who also declared without prompting that recent draft picks Ty Chandler (2022) and Kene Nwangwu (2021) were competition for the top backup spot during a post-practice question from a reporter about the running back situation. Dwayne McBride, a seventh-round pick this spring out of UAB, will also bring some upside to the mix.

    Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips also spoke as if Cook was as good as gone, when asked on June 6 about Chandler’s readiness for a more prominent role: “He’s going to have to be.”

    The Vikings ranked 26th in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt and tied for 27th in rushing yards per game last season.

    “We all knew that that was an area of improvement that we needed, so coming in to this year there’s more emphasis,” Mattison said last month. “It’s definitely been a little bit more of an emphasis, and it’s looking good.”

    Cook still faces a personal injury lawsuit from a former girlfriend for assault, battery and false improvement stemming from an alleged altercation that began at his home on Nov. 19, 2020. The jury trial in the civil case in Dakota County court was recently rescheduled for March 4, 2024.

    ___

    AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed.

    ___

    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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  • Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

    Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

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    CARSON CITY, Nev. — Gov. Joe Lombardo wants to help build Major League Baseball’s smallest ballpark, arguing that the worst team in baseball can boost Las Vegas, a city striving to call itself a sports mecca.

    Debate about public funding for private sports clubs has been revived with the Oakland Athletics ballpark proposal. The issue pits Nevada’s powerful tourism industry, including trade unions, against a growing chorus of mostly progressive groups nationwide raising concerns about the use of tax dollars to finance sports stadiums that could otherwise fund government services or schools.

    The debate over relocating the team from California to Nevada echoes others around the country. Politicians have approved large sums of taxpayer money going to sports clubs in Buffalo, New York; Atlanta; and Nashville, Tennessee. In Tempe, Arizona, though, voters rejected a $2.3 billion proposal that would have included a new arena for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

    The Oakland A’s organization has hired more than a dozen lobbyists to persuade lawmakers in Nevada’s normally sleepy, 60,000-resident state capital to approve the proposal to build a $1.5 billion stadium, arguing the project will create jobs, boost economic activity and add a new draw to the tourism-based economy in Las Vegas — all without raising taxes.

    Central to the pitch is the city’s newfound sports success with NFL, NHL and WNBA teams that were nonexistent or based elsewhere seven years ago.

    “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it,” Lombardo, a Republican, said in a statement.

    Those against giving professional sports teams incentive packages have said tax credits and other means of public financing aren’t beneficial. They cite growing evidence that dollars generated from the new stadium would not be spent at nearby resorts and restaurants.

    Half of the tax credits may not be paid back to the state. Much of the A’s investment in the community, including homelessness prevention and outreach, hinges on whether the ball club has money left over after stadium costs.

    “I just cannot justify giving millions of public dollars to a multibillion dollar corporation while we cannot pay for the basic services that our folks need,” Democratic Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch said.

    Last month, Lombardo’s office introduced the stadium financing bill with less than two weeks left in the legislative session.

    The bill would provide up to $380 million in public assistance, partly through $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds, which are taxpayer-backed loans, to help finance projects and a special tax district around the stadium. Backers have pledged the district will generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest.

    The A’s would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, also would contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

    In places like Buffalo and Oakland, proponents of new stadiums have argued tax incentives prevent the departure of decades-old businesses. But the debate in Nevada differs.

    The state already heavily relies on entertainment and tourism to power its economy, and lawmakers or appointed boards for years have talked about diversifying the economy to justify incentives to businesses including Tesla. Another deal that legislators are weighing would expand a film tax credit system to $190 million annually over at least 20 years to bring major film studios to Las Vegas.

    The Legislature has until Monday, when the session adjourns until 2025, to push through the stadium and film proposals, although the possibility of a special legislative session looms.

    Both proposals are far from a done deal as lawmakers prepare to vote.

    In recent decades there has been an increase in new stadium deals that are mostly — but not always — publicly funded. Two vastly different examples already are visible on the Strip.

    A last-minute bill in Nevada’s 2016 special session paved the way for $750 million in public funding from hotel room taxes for the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders and host of the upcoming Super Bowl.

    T-Mobile Arena, home to the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, opened in 2016 after MGM Resorts and a California developer covered the full $375 million price tag. On Saturday, the arena hosted the first game of the Stanley Cup.

    The A’s recently received the backing of the powerful Culinary Union, a 60,000-member group of workers on the Las Vegas Strip, after agreeing to let stadium employees unionize. It’s a key endorsement from the state’s most prominent labor group, often seen as a vital mobilizing force for Democratic campaigns in the western swing state.

    “We will support large-scale projects — whether they’re pro-teams, event centers or large companies — if they’re going to bring good union jobs with healthcare and pensions,” said Ted Pappageorge, the Culinary Union’s secretary-treasurer.

    While the debate surrounding public financing for private sports stadiums has animated governing bodies nationwide, there isn’t a debate among economists.

    Roger Noll, a Stanford University economics emeritus professor, said economists question whether bringing new stadiums to cities has a slightly negative or positive net impact without public assistance.

    To be effective, a Las Vegas stadium in Las Vegas would have to draw a substantial number of visitors who would not normally come to the city. If stadiums are another asset in an existing structure, then most of the spending there would likely be in neighboring attractions, like the Sunset Strip’s resorts and restaurants, Noll said.

    Much of the ball club’s financing also goes toward player salaries, who often don’t live in their team’s city year-round, he noted.

    “It’s not that they don’t exist, but they’re tiny,” Noll said of the economic benefits. “They can’t possibly be big enough to justify hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditure.”

    Noll, who authored a book about stadium financing, added there is “no serious contrary view” among his peers who study the topic.

    Jeremy Aguero, the founder of a firm partnering with the A’s, acknowledged the criticism at the recent hearing, but told lawmakers that Las Vegas’ tourism-driven market was different.

    In a study funded by the A’s, Aguero’s firm projected 53% of the stadium’s annual attendees would come from beyond the city, and 30% of the estimated 405,000 out-of-towners would not visit Las Vegas without stadium events.

    “They come and they stay in our hotel rooms, and they eat in our restaurants and they shop in our stores,” Aguero told lawmakers. “It drives a tremendous amount of value.”

    ___

    Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service that places journalists in newsrooms. Follow Stern on Twitter: @gabestern326.

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  • Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

    Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

    [ad_1]

    CARSON CITY, Nev. — Gov. Joe Lombardo wants to help build Major League Baseball’s smallest ballpark, arguing that the worst team in baseball can boost Las Vegas, a city striving to call itself a sports mecca.

    Debate about public funding for private sports clubs has been revived with the Oakland Athletics ballpark proposal. The issue pits Nevada’s powerful tourism industry, including trade unions, against a growing chorus of mostly progressive groups nationwide raising concerns about the use of tax dollars to finance sports stadiums that could otherwise fund government services or schools.

    The debate over relocating the team from California to Nevada echoes others around the country. Politicians have approved large sums of taxpayer money going to sports clubs in Buffalo, New York; Atlanta; and Nashville, Tennessee. In Tempe, Arizona, though, voters rejected a $2.3 billion proposal that would have included a new arena for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

    The Oakland A’s organization has hired more than a dozen lobbyists to persuade lawmakers in Nevada’s normally sleepy, 60,000-resident state capital to approve the proposal to build a $1.5 billion stadium, arguing the project will create jobs, boost economic activity and add a new draw to the tourism-based economy in Las Vegas — all without raising taxes.

    Central to the pitch is the city’s newfound sports success with NFL, NHL and WNBA teams that were nonexistent or based elsewhere seven years ago.

    “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it,” Lombardo, a Republican, said in a statement.

    Those against giving professional sports teams incentive packages have said tax credits and other means of public financing aren’t beneficial. They cite growing evidence that dollars generated from the new stadium would not be spent at nearby resorts and restaurants.

    Half of the tax credits may not be paid back to the state. Much of the A’s investment in the community, including homelessness prevention and outreach, hinges on whether the ball club has money left over after stadium costs.

    “I just cannot justify giving millions of public dollars to a multibillion dollar corporation while we cannot pay for the basic services that our folks need,” Democratic Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch said.

    Last month, Lombardo’s office introduced the stadium financing bill with less than two weeks left in the legislative session.

    The bill would provide up to $380 million in public assistance, partly through $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds, which are taxpayer-backed loans, to help finance projects and a special tax district around the stadium. Backers have pledged the district will generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest.

    The A’s would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, also would contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

    In places like Buffalo and Oakland, proponents of new stadiums have argued tax incentives prevent the departure of decades-old businesses. But the debate in Nevada differs.

    The state already heavily relies on entertainment and tourism to power its economy, and lawmakers or appointed boards for years have talked about diversifying the economy to justify incentives to businesses including Tesla. Another deal that legislators are weighing would expand a film tax credit system to $190 million annually over at least 20 years to bring major film studios to Las Vegas.

    The Legislature has until Monday, when the session adjourns until 2025, to push through the stadium and film proposals, although the possibility of a special legislative session looms.

    Both proposals are far from a done deal as lawmakers prepare to vote.

    In recent decades there has been an increase in new stadium deals that are mostly — but not always — publicly funded. Two vastly different examples already are visible on the Strip.

    A last-minute bill in Nevada’s 2016 special session paved the way for $750 million in public funding from hotel room taxes for the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders and host of the upcoming Super Bowl.

    T-Mobile Arena, home to the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, opened in 2016 after MGM Resorts and a California developer covered the full $375 million price tag. On Saturday, the arena hosted the first game of the Stanley Cup.

    The A’s recently received the backing of the powerful Culinary Union, a 60,000-member group of workers on the Las Vegas Strip, after agreeing to let stadium employees unionize. It’s a key endorsement from the state’s most prominent labor group, often seen as a vital mobilizing force for Democratic campaigns in the western swing state.

    “We will support large-scale projects — whether they’re pro-teams, event centers or large companies — if they’re going to bring good union jobs with healthcare and pensions,” said Ted Pappageorge, the Culinary Union’s secretary-treasurer.

    While the debate surrounding public financing for private sports stadiums has animated governing bodies nationwide, there isn’t a debate among economists.

    Roger Noll, a Stanford University economics emeritus professor, said economists question whether bringing new stadiums to cities has a slightly negative or positive net impact without public assistance.

    To be effective, a Las Vegas stadium in Las Vegas would have to draw a substantial number of visitors who would not normally come to the city. If stadiums are another asset in an existing structure, then most of the spending there would likely be in neighboring attractions, like the Sunset Strip’s resorts and restaurants, Noll said.

    Much of the ball club’s financing also goes toward player salaries, who often don’t live in their team’s city year-round, he noted.

    “It’s not that they don’t exist, but they’re tiny,” Noll said of the economic benefits. “They can’t possibly be big enough to justify hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditure.”

    Noll, who authored a book about stadium financing, added there is “no serious contrary view” among his peers who study the topic.

    Jeremy Aguero, the founder of a firm partnering with the A’s, acknowledged the criticism at the recent hearing, but told lawmakers that Las Vegas’ tourism-driven market was different.

    In a study funded by the A’s, Aguero’s firm projected 53% of the stadium’s annual attendees would come from beyond the city, and 30% of the estimated 405,000 out-of-towners would not visit Las Vegas without stadium events.

    “They come and they stay in our hotel rooms, and they eat in our restaurants and they shop in our stores,” Aguero told lawmakers. “It drives a tremendous amount of value.”

    ___

    Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service that places journalists in newsrooms. Follow Stern on Twitter: @gabestern326.

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  • Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

    Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

    [ad_1]

    CARSON CITY, Nev. — Gov. Joe Lombardo wants to help build Major League Baseball’s smallest ballpark, arguing that the worst team in baseball can boost Las Vegas, a city striving to call itself a sports mecca.

    Debate about public funding for private sports clubs has been revived with the Oakland Athletics ballpark proposal. The issue pits Nevada’s powerful tourism industry, including trade unions, against a growing chorus of mostly progressive groups nationwide raising concerns about the use of tax dollars to finance sports stadiums that could otherwise fund government services or schools.

    The debate over relocating the team from California to Nevada echoes others around the country. Politicians have approved large sums of taxpayer money going to sports clubs in Buffalo, New York; Atlanta; and Nashville, Tennessee. In Tempe, Arizona, though, voters rejected a $2.3 billion proposal that would have included a new arena for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

    The Oakland A’s organization has hired more than a dozen lobbyists to persuade lawmakers in Nevada’s normally sleepy, 60,000-resident state capital to approve the proposal to build a $1.5 billion stadium, arguing the project will create jobs, boost economic activity and add a new draw to the tourism-based economy in Las Vegas — all without raising taxes.

    Central to the pitch is the city’s newfound sports success with NFL, NHL and WNBA teams that were nonexistent or based elsewhere seven years ago.

    “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it,” Lombardo, a Republican, said in a statement.

    Those against giving professional sports teams incentive packages have said tax credits and other means of public financing aren’t beneficial. They cite growing evidence that dollars generated from the new stadium would not be spent at nearby resorts and restaurants.

    Half of the tax credits may not be paid back to the state. Much of the A’s investment in the community, including homelessness prevention and outreach, hinges on whether the ball club has money left over after stadium costs.

    “I just cannot justify giving millions of public dollars to a multibillion dollar corporation while we cannot pay for the basic services that our folks need,” Democratic Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch said.

    Last month, Lombardo’s office introduced the stadium financing bill with less than two weeks left in the legislative session.

    The bill would provide up to $380 million in public assistance, partly through $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds, which are taxpayer-backed loans, to help finance projects and a special tax district around the stadium. Backers have pledged the district will generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest.

    The A’s would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, also would contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

    In places like Buffalo and Oakland, proponents of new stadiums have argued tax incentives prevent the departure of decades-old businesses. But the debate in Nevada differs.

    The state already heavily relies on entertainment and tourism to power its economy, and lawmakers or appointed boards for years have talked about diversifying the economy to justify incentives to businesses including Tesla. Another deal that legislators are weighing would expand a film tax credit system to $190 million annually over at least 20 years to bring major film studios to Las Vegas.

    The Legislature has until Monday, when the session adjourns until 2025, to push through the stadium and film proposals, although the possibility of a special legislative session looms.

    Both proposals are far from a done deal as lawmakers prepare to vote.

    In recent decades there has been an increase in new stadium deals that are mostly — but not always — publicly funded. Two vastly different examples already are visible on the Strip.

    A last-minute bill in Nevada’s 2016 special session paved the way for $750 million in public funding from hotel room taxes for the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders and host of the upcoming Super Bowl.

    T-Mobile Arena, home to the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, opened in 2016 after MGM Resorts and a California developer covered the full $375 million price tag. On Saturday, the arena hosted the first game of the Stanley Cup.

    The A’s recently received the backing of the powerful Culinary Union, a 60,000-member group of workers on the Las Vegas Strip, after agreeing to let stadium employees unionize. It’s a key endorsement from the state’s most prominent labor group, often seen as a vital mobilizing force for Democratic campaigns in the western swing state.

    “We will support large-scale projects — whether they’re pro-teams, event centers or large companies — if they’re going to bring good union jobs with healthcare and pensions,” said Ted Pappageorge, the Culinary Union’s secretary-treasurer.

    While the debate surrounding public financing for private sports stadiums has animated governing bodies nationwide, there isn’t a debate among economists.

    Roger Noll, a Stanford University economics emeritus professor, said economists question whether bringing new stadiums to cities has a slightly negative or positive net impact without public assistance.

    To be effective, a Las Vegas stadium in Las Vegas would have to draw a substantial number of visitors who would not normally come to the city. If stadiums are another asset in an existing structure, then most of the spending there would likely be in neighboring attractions, like the Sunset Strip’s resorts and restaurants, Noll said.

    Much of the ball club’s financing also goes toward player salaries, who often don’t live in their team’s city year-round, he noted.

    “It’s not that they don’t exist, but they’re tiny,” Noll said of the economic benefits. “They can’t possibly be big enough to justify hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditure.”

    Noll, who authored a book about stadium financing, added there is “no serious contrary view” among his peers who study the topic.

    Jeremy Aguero, the founder of a firm partnering with the A’s, acknowledged the criticism at the recent hearing, but told lawmakers that Las Vegas’ tourism-driven market was different.

    In a study funded by the A’s, Aguero’s firm projected 53% of the stadium’s annual attendees would come from beyond the city, and 30% of the estimated 405,000 out-of-towners would not visit Las Vegas without stadium events.

    “They come and they stay in our hotel rooms, and they eat in our restaurants and they shop in our stores,” Aguero told lawmakers. “It drives a tremendous amount of value.”

    ___

    Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service that places journalists in newsrooms. Follow Stern on Twitter: @gabestern326.

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  • Pregnancy and sports a challenging combination for female professional athletes

    Pregnancy and sports a challenging combination for female professional athletes

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    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pro soccer player Jess McDonald was traded across six teams in her first five years as a single parent, making it difficult to find, let alone afford, child care in new cities. She and her then-8-month-old son were often forced to share a hotel room with a teammate — and sometimes she had no choice but to bring him with her to practice.

    “If I’d have a bad game, you know, my kid would be blamed for it at times, and it was just like, ‘Oh, was your kid up late at night?’” the U.S. Women’s National Team player said in a recent interview.

    Arizona State basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne had three children without taking maternity leave. And New York Liberty head coach and former WNBA player Sandy Brondello — acknowledging the difficulties that she would face if she got pregnant — waited to have kids until she retired as a player at age 38.

    Juggling the demands of parenthood with those of a professional sports career is just one of myriad challenges female athletes face in an industry that also has been rife with pay disparities, harassment and bullying in the 27 years since the WNBA, the first women’s professional sports league, was formed.

    The issue once again drew national attention right before the season began, when WNBA player Dearica Hamby said she had been harassed by her coach for getting pregnant during the season.

    Las Vegas Aces Coach Becky Hammon, one of the league’s marquee figures and a six-time WNBA All-Star, denied bullying Hamby; she said the player wasn’t traded to the Los Angeles Sparks because she was pregnant. The trade, she said, had “everything to do with freeing up money to sign free agents.”

    Still, Hammon said she may have made a “misstep” by asking Hamby at one point about her pregnancy, and she indicated that the rules in the WNBA “regarding pregnant players and how that looks within an organization” have to be better defined, shining a light on the balancing act of having a family and maintaining a professional sports career.

    Women have never been formally banned from the WNBA for getting pregnant; in fact, the first player to sign with the league in 1997, Sheryl Swoopes, was expecting when she did so. But pregnant athletes have encountered attitudes ranging from ambivalent to outright hostile from leagues, coaches, fellow players and sponsors throughout the years.

    As recently as 2019, Olympic runners Allyson Felix and Kara Goucher spoke out against Nike for slashing their pay and then dropping them for becoming pregnant. And it’s taken years for professional women’s leagues to provide their athletes with the support systems they need to balance their family and career obligations.

    “I’ve been walking on eggshells as a mom in this league since Day 1,” said McDonald, who last week announced her second pregnancy.

    McDonald said that back in 2012, she trained up until two weeks before giving birth; it wasn’t until last year that players in the league were guaranteed paid maternity leave. Arizona State’s Thorne told the AP she once returned to work just two days after giving birth.

    “We’re light years ahead of where we were, you know, 20-some years ago in terms of people understanding that they have to support women’s rights,” Thorne said. Still, “there is pressure on you as the athlete, as the coach, as that person, that woman either starting their family or having kids, to get back to their job” soon after giving birth.

    Under the WNBA’s most recent collective bargaining agreement, which was ratified in 2020, league members receive their full salary while on maternity leave, though each player has to individually negotiate the length of her leave. During the season, players with children under 13 can receive up to $5,000 a year for child care, and a paid-for two-bedroom apartment.

    A small number of elite, veteran athletes who have played eight or more seasons can be reimbursed up to $20,000 per year for costs directly related to adoption, surrogacy, egg freezing or other fertility treatments. Per player, the amount is capped at a total of $60,000. Compared to other industries, this is a progressive offering that is inclusive of LGBTQ+ athletes.

    “We’ve made strides and everything,” Thorne said, but she added that the leagues still have a long way to go to support athletes who become mothers.

    “There’s always this little asterisk, that it has to be after your eighth year of service to get” fertility benefits, said four-time WNBA All-Star Breanna Stewart, who plays for the New York Liberty and has a 2-year-old daughter with her wife. Stewart’s wife is pregnant with their second child now.

    Stewart said child care stipends aren’t dispensed freely without requiring something in return: She said she and other players have to submit itemized receipts for such necessities as diapers and babysitters. “If you don’t go to them, they don’t give it to you,” Stewart said. “You have to go and send invoices and it’s a little bit more complicated than it seems.”

    Facing these challenges, many women in sports, like Brondello, decide to have kids after they retire — or to forgo parenthood altogether.

    “Female athletes shouldn’t have to give up motherhood because they want to be an athlete,” said Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a sports medicine physician based in Boston and the co-chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s women’s health task force.

    Ackerman said there’s a fear that when female athletes become parents, they may not value being an athlete as much. She said that is a fallacy.

    The record books are replete with examples of female athletes who became parents and continued to perform at the highest level.

    Former tennis star Serena Williams famously won a grand slam when she was about eight weeks pregnant. Professional swimmers, runners and basketball players have all competed while pregnant: Beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings even won Olympic medals.

    Mothers “often are better athletes because they learn how to manage their time better, they understand their bodies better,” Ackerman said. “And they may be peaking even later in life.”

    ___

    AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg in New York contributed to this report.

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  • Aaron Rodgers strains calf during warmups, sits out first Jets practice open to media

    Aaron Rodgers strains calf during warmups, sits out first Jets practice open to media

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    FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers never made it past warmups in his first New York Jets practice in front of the media.

    The 39-year-old quarterback, acquired last month from Green Bay, strained a calf while participating in conditioning drills Tuesday. Rodgers watched quarterback drills and remained on the field during practice, but was without his helmet and threw no passes.

    “I don’t think it’s too serious,” Rodgers said, downplaying the injury and saying he took “a vet day.”

    He didn’t have a noticeable limp, but stretched his lower legs and ankles several times throughout the practice. Rodgers, who wasn’t wearing a wrap on either calf while he stood at the podium and spoke to reporters, was uncertain when the injury occurred.

    “I dunno,” he said with a smile. “Just running, I guess.”

    Organized team activities began Monday and Rodgers participated in practice, with the Jets tweeting photos and videos of the quarterback throwing passes. The session Tuesday marked the first with media in attendance, and a few dozen reporters showed up to watch Rodgers practice with the Jets for the first time.

    That will have to wait until next Wednesday at the earliest, when practice is next open to the media.

    New York acquired Rodgers, the No. 15 overall pick and a fifth-rounder in this year’s draft from Green Bay on April 26. In exchange, the Packers got the 13th overall selection, a second-rounder, a sixth-rounder and a conditional 2024 second-round pick that could become a first-rounder if Rodgers plays 65% of New York’s plays this season.

    The four-time NFL MVP spent his first 18 seasons in Green Bay and contemplated retirement before going on a darkness retreat in Oregon in February. Rodgers emerged wanting to continue to play — and chose to do so with the Jets. That set in motion the deal to New York.

    Since the trade, Rodgers has experienced several moments that have reaffirmed his decision.

    “It was surreal, for sure, and strange to look at my locker and see the No. 8, and to be rocking Jets gear is a little bit strange, for sure,” he said. “But every day, there’s been something that’s kind of been a little special sign or a synchronicity or just a cool moment that reminds me that I’m in the right place.”

    Rodgers has participated in voluntary workouts and practices with his new teammates, something he didn’t consistently do the past three offseasons in Green Bay.

    “He’s still a kid in an old man’s body,” coach Robert Saleh joked. “He’s having a blast.”

    With the Jets, Rodgers is reunited with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who led the Packers’ offense during the quarterback’s last two MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021. There are also several other familiar faces on the field with Rodgers, including wide receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb and offensive lineman Billy Turner. But Rodgers is also building a rapport with many new players and helping Hackett install the offense.

    “I really wanted to be around, at least for some of the beginning things, to just let them know kind of how I like to do things,” Rodgers said. “Some of the code words, some of the little adjustments, some of the ways I see the game — just sparking the conversation.”

    Rodgers’ presence has fired up many of his new teammates, who acknowledged being a bit starstruck when the quarterback first arrived.

    “It’s lit, man,” cornerback D.J. Reed said of the energy around the team.

    Saleh has particularly enjoyed watching Rodgers work and interact with the players and coaches.

    “It’s been cool,” Saleh said. “I joke around that he’s closer to a coach than he is a player at this point of his career. He’s a fantastic mind, he’s a fantastic conversation. It’s been all positive.”

    While the work on the field and in meetings has been good, Rodgers appreciates the “freedom of expression” Saleh allows players to have, balancing fun and accountability.

    Rodgers has also liked getting to know his new surroundings — from taking in Knicks and Rangers playoff games to learning where he can find the team’s mail room. He also joked the only things he previously knew about New Jersey were Teterboro Airport and the show “Jersey Shore.”

    “I was assured that was not a proper representation of this great state,” a grinning Rodgers said before later adding: “I mean, it’s been like a dream month so far.”

    NOTES: All-Pro DT Quinnen Williams isn’t participating in voluntary workouts while he awaits a contract extension. Saleh isn’t concerned it could turn into a lingering issue. “That thing will get done,” the coach said. … RB Breece Hall and OT Mekhi Becton, both returning from knee injuries last year, aren’t practicing yet. OL Alijah Vera-Tucker (torn triceps) is practicing. … Becton told Newsday he partly blamed the coaching staff for his season-ending knee injury last summer because they insisted he play right tackle instead of left — and that put extra pressure on his already surgically repaired right knee. Saleh took the high road, saying he didn’t want to get into finger pointing.

    ___

    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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  • PGA Championship promises a strong course for the strongest field

    PGA Championship promises a strong course for the strongest field

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    PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Four layers of clothes, beanies and hand warmers were everywhere on the eve of the PGA Championship, a reminder how this major will be different from the previous six at Oak Hill.

    The temperature was 37 degrees — it felt colder with a morning breeze — and it made the 7,394 yards on the scorecard of a par 70 feel even longer.

    “I still can’t believe it’s nearly middle of May and that we’re still going through 40-, 50-degree weather,” Jason Day said. “But that’s this part of the country at this time of the year.”

    Ockie Strydom of South Africa was on the 10th tee, taking practice swings and waiting for the clock to hit 7 a.m. for the course to officially open.

    “Have you no friends?” someone called out to him.

    Strydom laughed and replied, “You’d have to be crazy to play in this.”

    Such was the risk of the PGA Championship moving from August to May. The good news for Day, world No. 1 Jon Rahm, defending champion Justin Thomas and the rest of the 156-man field was Wednesday was a blip on an otherwise pleasant forecast.

    As for the difficulty, that’s not likely to change. Oak Hill, restored to the intent of famed architect Donald Ross, is likely to test everything.

    Jordan Spieth was asked to describe the rough and he took it a step further.

    “It’s about as nasty … there’s nothing that separates this from a U.S. Open,” Spieth said. “This is a U.S. Open. The fairways are firm and narrow, and the rough is thick. As far as difficulty, it feels like a U.S. Open course. Par is a nice score.”

    Jason Dufner is the only player to reach double digits under par (10-under 270) in the six majors at Oak Hill — three U.S. Opens, three PGAs. That was 10 years ago in August, when rain soaked the course and left the greens soft and vulnerable.

    This effectively is a new course — it certainly looks that way. The bunkers are deeper, with steep, nearly vertical lips. Some greens have deep rough on one side and closely mown areas on the other that send balls rolling some 20 yards away.

    Thomas went long of the 230-yard third green. He tried a flop shot back up the slope the putting surface and it kept rolling until it was back in the fairway.

    There is trouble everywhere, capable of punishing mistakes.

    “You miss greens out here, you’re going to make a lot of bogeys,” two-time PGA champion Brooks Koepka said. “You miss fairways, you’re going to be making quite a few bogeys if you’re out of position.”

    Koepka is coming off a runner-up finish at the Masters, where he had the 54-hole lead until Rahm tracked him down on the final day. He arrived at Augusta National having won a LIV Golf event in Florida.

    He is healthy again, and Koepka seemed to take his game up a notch for the majors because of the discipline it requires. That’s the word Rory McIlroy used to describe what it takes at Oak Hill, and Koepka concurred.

    “It’s a grind,” Koepka said. “A major week is always tough. It’s always going to be a tough golf course. You’ve got to plot your way around, understand where to miss it, where not to miss it. It just comes down to discipline. I feel like every time I’ve won, I’ve been super disciplined. … I think that’s a massive thing to win a major.”

    Dustin Johnson won on the Saudi-funded series last week in Oklahoma, delivering clutch birdies on the 18th in regulation and in a three-man playoff.

    He appears to be back in form, and to Johnson, it didn’t matter where he was playing or how many guys he had to beat in the 48-man fields.

    “Still playing against unbelievably good golfers,” Johnson said. “To be honest, the scores the last few tournaments we played were a lot lower than I thought they would be. You’ve got to play well every single day if you want a chance to win. The game last week, a lot of really good things. I’m driving it well, controlling the distance with the irons, starting to wedge it a lot better, and then rolled in a few putts.

    “It’s nice coming off a win, coming into this championship, and especially this golf course.”

    It all gets started Thursday, with temperatures again expected to be bone-chilling in the morning before yielding to warmer weather — certainly not August weather — later in the day and through the rest of the week.

    The PGA Championship again features the strongest field of the majors, with only the injured Will Zalatoris missing from the top 100 players in the world.

    A strong field, a strong course.

    “This is going to be a big golf course to handle,” Tony Finau said. “None of the holes I played I looked at and said, ‘I’m going to birdie this hole this week for sure.’ It’s going to be that type of test. The guys that can mentally overcome the hurdle of just trying to stay patient … you just have to play well for all four days if you’re going to win this week.”

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Ko wins Founders Cup for third time in five years, beating Minjee Lee in playoff

    Ko wins Founders Cup for third time in five years, beating Minjee Lee in playoff

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    CLIFTON, N.J. — Trailing by four shots heading into the final round of the Founders Classic, Jin Young Ko got a little inspiration about comeback wins watching fellow South Korean Sung-jae Im rally from a big deficit to win on the KPGA Tour.

    If he could do it, why not her?

    Ko overcame a pair of deficits to win the Founders Cup for the third time in five years, getting the victory on the first playoff hole Sunday when defending champion Minjee Lee three-putted for bogey.

    “He played Korea tournament this week and he won,” the 27-year-old Ko said. “He was five shot behind the lead and he made it to win, so that was inspire me.”

    Ko felt all she needed to do was play well on the tree-lined Upper Montclair Country Club.

    “This golf course is not easy. Fairways are narrow and greens are firm and windy,” Ko said. “But I shoot really, really good and, yeah I feel really good and it’s honor to get third trophy Cognizant Founders Cup.”

    In winning for the 15th time on the LPGA Tour and the second time this year, Ko shot a final round-best 5-under 67 in tough, windy conditions. She forced the playoff making a clutch downhill birdie from roughly 15 feet on No. 18 to tie for the lead. It was her third straight birdie on the hole.

    The players went back to the par 4 No. 18 for the playoff. Both players hit the green with their second shots with Lee being about 15 feet away and closer than Ko, who had a winding putt from right to left.

    Ko snuggled her birdie attempt to tap-in range and Lee went for the win, but putted it six feet past the hole, missing the par saver to the right. Ko tapped in and then ran over and hugged her caddie, David Brooker.

    Lee gave away what would have been her ninth win on tour by squandering a three-shot 54-hole lead early and then blowing a two-shot lead with three holes to play with a bogey at No. 16 and the Ko’s late birdie.

    Lee shot a final-round 1-under 71 and finished the 72-hole event at 13-under 275.

    Lee said she obviously would have preferred the win.

    “But looking back at my whole year and just kind of assessing where I am, how I did this week, I think a lot more positives than negatives,” she said. “I’m a little bit disappointed, but I think I can take more of the happy moments into my next stretch of events and the rest of the year.”

    Ko is the only player to repeat in this event, winning in 2019 and 2021. No event was held in 2020 because of COVID-19. Her three titles are the most by any winner in the event’s 12-year history.

    Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa, who won the AIG Women’s Open last year, finished third at 10 under, a shot ahead of South Korean rookie Hae Ran Ryu in the event that honors the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour.

    Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand, Aditi Ashok of India and American Angel Yin shared fifth place at 7-under — a shot ahead of Nasa Hataoka of Japan.

    Lee started the round with a three-shot lead over Yin and Ashok with Ko in a group four off the lead. Ko closed the gap to two shots with birdies at Nos. 3 and 4, and and Lee handed the other two shots back when she hit a “fat” iron at the par 3 No. 6 into the water for a double bogey.

    That created a brief three-way tie for the lead with Yin at 10-under. Yin had started the day three shots off the lead and got to 10-under with a birdie at No. 2.

    Ko briefly took the lead with a birdie at No. 7 and Lee answered from 10 feet minutes. Ko took at 1-shot with a birdie at the par-5 12th, but Lee opened a two-shot edge with birdies at 11, 12 and 15.

    Lee opened the door for Ko with a bogey at No. 16 after missing the fairway and Ko walked in with a deft downhill birdie putt at No. 18.

    Ko joins Lilia Vu as the only players with multiple wins on tour this year. She earned $450,000 from the $3 million purse and now has passed the $11 million mark in career earnings. It moves her into the top-20 on the career list, surpassing Brooke Henderson, Amy Yang and Na Yeon Choi.

    MOTHER’S DAY: Before beginning play in this week’s tournament, Brittany Lincicome looked at her course yardage book from a year ago. Written in it was ‘six months pregnant’.

    After finishing play on Sunday, the 37-year-old thought back on her past year. Her second daughter, Sophia, was born and Lincicome is back on tour. This was her fifth event and she shot a final-round 73 to finish tied for 52nd at 4 over. Her best finish was a tie for 23rd in the Chevron Championship.

    “Now having her here with me, it’s such a joy to go out and play golf, hopefully play well, but then to see her smiling face at the end of the round makes it all better.”

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • New Big Ten commish: Integrating USC, UCLA is top priority

    New Big Ten commish: Integrating USC, UCLA is top priority

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    ROSEMONT, Ill. — New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said he’s ready to lead a conference that’s on solid footing but insisted there are still hurdles to clear.

    The most immediate task, he said, is ensuring a smooth transition when Southern California and UCLA arrive next year.

    “There’s a ton of work that has to be done to make sure that we organize it properly,” he said.

    Beyond that, he said simply: “As commissioner of the Big Ten, my job is to make sure the conference is as strong in the future as it’s always been. And I’ll just leave it at that.”

    The longtime Major League Baseball and TV executive was introduced as the Big Ten’s seventh commissioner on Friday, just over two weeks after he was hired to replace Kevin Warren.

    He will lead a conference that in the past year became the first to expand its footprint from coast to coast. The Big Ten also reaped a huge financial windfall, landing about $7 billion in media rights deals through 2030 with Fox, CBS and NBC to share the rights to and basketball games.

    Petitti called the deals an “incredible platform” that’ll “require great execution.”

    “There’s a lot of work to do, to make sure our partners are successful, that the the student-athletes are getting the benefit (of the) great media deals,” he said.

    Aside from bringing UCLA and USC into the Big Ten fold when they arrive in August 2024, Petitti is arriving into a rapidly changing college sports landscape.

    He called for a “national solution” and “federal regulation” of the name, image and likeness (or NIL) arms race that began in June 2021. Lawmakers in some states are looking for schools and their fundraising arms to be directly involved in securing and paying for their athletes’ NIL deals while protecting their athletic departments from NCAA sanctions.

    “College athletics is one national ecosystem,” Petitti said. “The Big Ten competes across multiple states. We compete nationally for championships. I think that system deserves a national solution and a national system.”

    Petitti also said women’s basketball is “another huge opportunity” for growth and gave a shoutout to Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the AP Player of the Year. The women’s NCAA title game between Iowa and LSU drew its biggest viewership ever this year.

    “When you see momentum someplace, I think as a leader, your responsibility is to really double down and focus on that because there’s a great opportunity in women’s basketball game right now,” he said.

    “In terms of other bigger initiatives, I need more time on the ground before I start thinking about things specifically,” Petitti added.

    Maryland President Darryll J. Pines said there were more than 100 applicants and nominees for the job after Warren announced Jan. 12 he was leaving to become president of the Chicago Bears. The list included conference commissioners, athletic directors, school presidents, chancellors, media professionals and professional sports executives.

    Pines said the group was whittled down to about 30, then 12 to 14 were interviewed on Zoom before in-person meetings with finalists.

    “He wowed us with his knowledge of the challenges facing our industry, intercollegiate athletics, and his track record for finding innovative solutions to complex challenges,” Pines said of Petitti. “He is known as a collaborator and a person who simply simply gets things done.”

    Petitti most recently was co-CEO of The 33rd Team, billed as an NFL think tank. He has held executive positions at CBS Sports and ABC Sports, overseeing rights acquisition deals for a variety of sports leagues and college and professional sports events. He played a big role in the creation of the Bowl Championship Series.

    He also was the CEO of MLB Network from 2008-2014, leading the launch of the network that, at the time, was one of the biggest. After that, he became MLB’s deputy commissioner and chief operating officer from 2014 to 2020, and was involved in all aspects of the league — including leading broadcast and digital media, special events and social media.

    ___

    AP college : https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25

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  • Mayor: Napoli title will set off ‘big earthquake of joy’

    Mayor: Napoli title will set off ‘big earthquake of joy’

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    NAPLES, Italy — Before Gaetano Manfredi was elected mayor of Naples in 2021, he was a university professor specializing in seismic engineering — preparing and designing buildings to withstand earthquakes.

    As Manfredi rose up to become chancellor of the University of Naples Federico II, a study was commissioned to measure the impact of fans celebrating goals scored by the Napoli soccer club inside what is now known as the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

    “The engineering department building is near the stadium and there’s a seismograph there that whenever Napoli scored would record enough shaking that it nearly registered as an earthquake,” Manfredi told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

    So what magnitude might the university seismograph record when Napoli wins its first Italian league title in more than three decades? With a 17-point lead and seven games remaining, the first chance to clinch comes this weekend — a long holiday weekend for May Day (Europe’s Labor Day).

    “We can’t predict what the number will be but there will definitely be a lot of vibrations,” Manfredi said, flapping his hand up and down to simulate the trembling. “An earthquake. A big earthquake of joy.”

    The mayor isn’t exaggerating.

    Support for Napoli is akin to religion in the southern city and the team hasn’t won Serie A since Diego Maradona led the club to its only two Italian championships in 1987 and 1990.

    “The passion for soccer in Naples is one of the biggest passions in the world,” Manfredi said.

    It’s so great that Neapolitans have cast aside their superstitions about celebrating — or even mentioning — the word “scudetto,” or title, before it happens and have been decorating the city with streamers, banners, flags and life-size cardboard replicas of Napoli players — all in Napoli blue.

    The title could also be a lift socially for Naples, a city that has had problems with trash removal and crime and is seen as a poor southern cousin to the traditional northern soccer capitals of Milan and Turin.

    “If we do this thing, we’ll remain on the walls of Naples forever,” Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said — avoiding the word “scudetto.”

    Every neighborhood in the city, from the steep and narrow alleyways of the characteristic Quartieri Spagnoli to the more modern Fuorigrotta area where the stadium lies, has its own style of celebrating.

    One banner stretching over the street in the Forcella neighborhood of the historic center, which is known for its mural of San Gennaro, the city’s patron saint, reads “Scusate per il ritardo” or “Sorry for taking so long” — a reference to the title of a 1983 film directed by and starring local actor Massimo Troisi, as well as the 33 years since Napoli’s last title.

    “We’re unique. There’s no other place in the world like Naples. Naples is an open theater,” local taxi driver Giovanni Murri said, in a reference to a poem by Neapolitan playwright Eduardo De Filippo.

    A saying heard often these days in the city goes, “Celebrations in Naples are unlike anywhere else.”

    As the mayor explained: “It’s because Neapolitans are cheerful. The cheerfulness of Naples is famous around the world.”

    Added Vincenzo Masiello, who runs the ‘O Vesuvio trattoria and pizzeria in the Quartieri Spagnoli: “People are coming from all over the world to witness our joy, for something that we still can’t believe. It seems like a dream and it’s really coming true.”

    GOMORRAH’S FOOTSTEPS

    Naples has waited so long for this that the city is preparing for multiple celebrations.

    There will be the spontaneous eruption when the team clinches the title — which could go on for days, weeks, or even months.

    “Obviously we don’t know when that will happen or what will really happen,” the mayor said.

    Then an organized celebration will be held downtown in Piazza Plebiscito on June 4 after the club is awarded the Serie A trophy following the final game of the season.

    “It’s going to be like celebrating New Year’s Eve twice — actually (bigger) than New Year’s,” said Masiello, the restaurant owner.

    In order to avoid congestion downtown and a scene like the chaos when Argentina’s squad returned home with the World Cup trophy, simultaneous celebrations will be organized by the city on June 4 in different neighborhoods, including one in Scampia, the gritty northern suburb exposed as a crime-infested underworld in the “Gomorrah” book, film and TV series.

    The celebration in Scampia is slated for Piazza Ciro Esposito, which is named after a Napoli fan who died after being shot by a Roma supporter before the 2014 Italian Cup.

    “Scampia is a very lively place these days,” Manfredi said. “Compared to the times of ‘Gomorrah’ it’s changed a lot. There are often big musical festivals there. So it’s also going to be part of the party.”

    MARADONA’S LEGACY

    Even 2½ years after his death, Maradona’s legacy remains a strong attraction in Naples.

    In the Quartieri Spagnoli, a huge mural of Maradona acts as an unofficial museum to the former Argentina great.

    “It’s a problem in terms of overcrowding,” Manfredi said. “It’s a sort of secular cult, which is really appreciated.”

    The mayor said that on days of big Napoli games or in holiday periods, up to 30,000 people visit “Piazza Maradona” daily, which makes it one of Italy’s most visited attractions.

    “Even after his death, he still brings people to Naples,” said Antonio Tortora, another local taxi driver. “He’s a saint.”

    NEAPOLITAN DIASPORA

    The Napoli team and the city are working together to provide a live link to the June 4th festivities with a celebration of the big Neapolitan community in New York, with other areas of the widespread diaspora to also be included.

    Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to attend the June 4th celebration in Italy, the Naples mayor’s office said.

    “By various measures there are tens of millions of Neapolitans distributed in various communities around the world, from the U.S. to Latin America and throughout Europe,” Manfredi said. “They will all participate in this celebration.”

    The festivities will also be observed in Georgia, the home of Napoli’s dribbling revelation Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

    “I recently met with the Georgian ambassador, because there’s a strong bond now between Georgia and Naples,” the mayor said.

    SOCIAL PRIDE

    The trash removal issues and crime have scared some tourists away from Naples in recent years.

    Also, fans elsewhere in Italy constantly ridicule the city as being “dirty” in derogatory chants.

    So the title could be a lift in social terms for Neapolitans.

    “They will be more proud they are from Napoli the city,” Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka said in a recent interview with the AP.

    Unlike most other major soccer teams in Italy, Napoli has not run into financial fair play issues and the current team’s total for player salaries ranks only fifth in Serie A at 71.3 million euros ($80 million) — less than half of what perennial champion Juventus pays its players.

    “Napoli is one of the best-run clubs in the country,” Manfredi said. “There’s nothing improvisational about this title. It’s been constructed over a long period and that shows another side of Naples. Beyond the folkloristic side, there’s a city made up of well-run businesses. That, particularly, should be a matter of pride for Naples.”

    DISCOURAGING VANDALISM

    After fans began painting some of the city’s fountains and statues blue, Manfredi spoke out about protecting Naples’ monuments.

    In order to discourage vandalism, the mayor is instead promoting an initiative to light up the city’s main sites in blue at night.

    “We’ve substituted the coloring with light,” Manfredi said.

    STADIUM ISSUES

    The city owns the dilapidated Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and is hoping to renovate it with funds provided for the 2032 European Championship — if Italy’s bid to host the event wins.

    The stadium’s last major renovation was for the 1990 World Cup, with Maradona leading Argentina into the championship match after beating Italy on penalties in the semifinals at what was then known as Stadio San Paolo. There were then some minor upgrades made for the 2019 Universiade, but the upper tier of the stadium has been closed for nearly two decades because of structural issues.

    The stadium was renamed for Maradona immediately after his death in November 2020, in a decision made by previous Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris.

    “The stadium can’t be torn down because it has architectural value. So the idea is to do a major renovation,” Manfredi said, adding that the city is also working with Napoli to build a museum for the squad that would celebrate Maradona and other standouts from the team’s history.

    However, Tortora, the taxi driver, voiced the view of many fans.

    “Our stadium is a hunk of scrap metal. It’s ugly. They need to get rid of this stadium,” he said, adding that if an official museum to Maradona was built “the entire world would come.”

    MAYORAL SUPPORT

    Manfredi doesn’t hide the fact that he grew up supporting rival Juventus.

    “Now I’m the mayor of Naples,” he said with a smirk, “so I only support the (Napoli) squad.”

    ___

    Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf

    ___

    More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Gators launch ‘Florida Victorious’ to revamp, streamline NIL

    Gators launch ‘Florida Victorious’ to revamp, streamline NIL

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    GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Three months after losing blue-chip quarterback Jaden Rashada over a failed name, image and likeness deal worth nearly $14 million, the University of Florida is taking advantage of a new state law that allows colleges and coaches to facilitate NIL opportunities.

    A fundraising collective launched Tuesday, called Florida Victorious, will be able to work with the university to raise money and fund NIL deals for student-athletes. The state law passed in February gives Florida colleges a step up on some of the competition around the country, allowing universities to work directly with booster-run and financed collectives that have mostly been operating as third parties.

    That was the case for the Gator Collective, the third-party NIL group that had been working with Rashada on his now-failed deal. The Gator Collective was consolidated into Florida Victorious, along with the more exclusive Gator Guard, which had required a $1 million contribution annually.

    The university hopes the new NIL collective will bring the Gators back to their winning ways.

    Florida was one of six Power Five programs (along with Boston College, Cal, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and Stanford) to finish below .500 in both revenue-generating sports, and men’s basketball.

    Most alarming, the Gators endured consecutive losing seasons in for the first time since 1978-79.

    The nonprofit organization will work closely with the school’s University Athletic Association to raise money that should assist all 19 sports, but most notably football.

    “The NIL space is constantly evolving around the country, and we’ve seen the impact of strong NIL programs,” Florida Victorious CEO Nate Barbera told The Associated Press. “And now it’s time for us to unify these efforts.”

    Other schools, including Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas and UCF, have made similar consolidating moves in recent months.

    Ohio State’s two main foundations merged in February, and five Texas-driven collectives merged into a rebranded Texas One Fund in November.

    The deal that fell through for the 19-year-old Rashada would have paid him nearly $14 million during his college career. The collective defaulted on the contract before Rashada stepped foot on campus, prompting the four-star signee from California to ask for his release. He ended up at Arizona State.

    So far, the Rashada family has not filed a lawsuit against the Gator Collective seeking financial restitution. And the Gators have not heard from the NCAA regarding any potential investigation into what went wrong.

    Florida Victorious, founded by Miami businessman and UF alum Jose Costa of horticultural grower Costa Farms, plans to raise money from the school’s 450,000 alumni. Membership options range from $15 to $250 a month, with more than 90% of revenues going to student-athletes. Offerings include exclusive content providing an inside look at the lives of student-athletes, unique memorabilia and one-of-a-kind experiences like a dinner with members of Florida’s 1996 national championship-winning team at Hall of Fame coach Steve Spurrier’s restaurant.

    The collective has an advisory board that includes mega-donors Gary Condron and Hugh Hathcock as well as former UF quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Danny Wuerffel, former Super Bowl winner Trey Burton, UF graduate and ESPN celebrity Laura Rutledge, and former basketball standout and current ESPN analyst Patric Young.

    “We need to win on and off the field, and do it the right way,” Barbera said. “We’re building an organization that will make Gator Nation proud to support us.”

    ___

    AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25

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  • Brittney Griner working on memoir about Russian captivity

    Brittney Griner working on memoir about Russian captivity

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    NEW YORK — Saying she is ready to share the “unfathomable” experience of being arrested and incarcerated in Russia, basketball star Brittney Griner is working on a memoir that is scheduled for spring 2024.

    Griner was arrested last year at the airport in Moscow on drug-related charges and detained for nearly 10 months, much of that time in prison. Her plight unfolded at the same time Russia invaded Ukraine and further heightened tensions between Russia and the U.S., ending only after she was freed in exchange for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

    A WNBA All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury, Griner had flown to Moscow in February 2022 to rejoin UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian women’s team she has played for in the off-season since 2014.

    “That day (in February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner said in a statement released Tuesday by Alfred A. Knopf.

    “The primary reason I traveled back to Russia for work that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family, and teammates proud. After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world.”

    Griner added that she also hoped her book would raise awareness of other Americans detained overseas, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia last month and accused of espionage; businessman Kai Li, serving a 10-year sentence in China on charges of revealing state secrets to the FBI; and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive imprisoned in Russia on spying charges. Around the time Griner was released, Whelan criticized the U.S. government for not doing enough to help him.

    Russia has been a popular playing destination for top WNBA athletes in the offseason, with some earning salaries over $1 million — nearly quadruple what they can make as a base WNBA salary. Despite pleading guilty to possessing canisters with cannabis oil, a result of what she said was hasty packing, Griner still faced trial under Russian law.

    Griner’s memoir is currently untitled and will eventually be published in a young adult edition. Financial terms were not disclosed.

    In Tuesday’s press statement, Knopf said that the book would be “intimate and moving” and that Griner would disclose “in vivid detail her harrowing experience of her wrongful detainment (as classified by the State Department) and the difficulty of navigating the byzantine Russian legal system in a language she did not speak.”

    “Griner also describes her stark and surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of day-to-day life in a women’s penal colony,” the announcement reads. “At the heart of the book, Griner highlights the personal turmoil she experienced during the near ten-month ordeal and the resilience that carried her through to the day of her return to the United States last December.”

    Griner, 32, is a 6-foot-9 two-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time All-American at Baylor University, a prominent advocate for pay equity for women athletes and the first openly gay athlete to reach an endorsement deal with Nike. She is the author of one previous book, “In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court,” published in 2014.

    In February, she re-signed with the Mercury and will play in its upcoming season, which runs from May through September.

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  • Brittney Griner working on memoir about Russian captivity

    Brittney Griner working on memoir about Russian captivity

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — Saying she is ready to share the “unfathomable” experience of being arrested and incarcerated in Russia, basketball star Brittney Griner is working on a memoir that is scheduled for spring 2024.

    Griner was arrested last year at the airport in Moscow on drug-related charges and detained for nearly 10 months, much of that time in prison. Her plight unfolded at the same time Russia invaded Ukraine and further heightened tensions between Russia and the U.S., ending only after she was freed in exchange for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

    A WNBA All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury, Griner had flown to Moscow in February 2022 to rejoin UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian women’s team she has played for in the off-season since 2014.

    “That day (in February) was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner said in a statement released Tuesday by Alfred A. Knopf.

    “The primary reason I traveled back to Russia for work that day was because I wanted to make my wife, family, and teammates proud. After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world.”

    Griner added that she also hoped her book would raise awareness of other Americans detained overseas, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia last month and accused of espionage; businessman Kai Li, serving a 10-year sentence in China on charges of revealing state secrets to the FBI; and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive imprisoned in Russia on spying charges. Around the time Griner was released, Whelan criticized the U.S. government for not doing enough to help him.

    Russia has been a popular playing destination for top WNBA athletes in the offseason, with some earning salaries over $1 million — nearly quadruple what they can make as a base WNBA salary. Despite pleading guilty to possessing canisters with cannabis oil, a result of what she said was hasty packing, Griner still faced trial under Russian law.

    Griner’s memoir is currently untitled and will eventually be published in a young adult edition. Financial terms were not disclosed.

    In Tuesday’s press statement, Knopf said that the book would be “intimate and moving” and that Griner would disclose “in vivid detail her harrowing experience of her wrongful detainment (as classified by the State Department) and the difficulty of navigating the byzantine Russian legal system in a language she did not speak.”

    “Griner also describes her stark and surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of day-to-day life in a women’s penal colony,” the announcement reads. “At the heart of the book, Griner highlights the personal turmoil she experienced during the near ten-month ordeal and the resilience that carried her through to the day of her return to the United States last December.”

    Griner, 32, is a 6-foot-9 two-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time All-American at Baylor University, a prominent advocate for pay equity for women athletes and the first openly gay athlete to reach an endorsement deal with Nike. She is the author of one previous book, “In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court,” published in 2014.

    In February, she re-signed with the Mercury and will play in its upcoming season, which runs from May through September.

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  • College athlete influencers confront security concerns

    College athlete influencers confront security concerns

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    Making TikTok videos for fun evolved into a serious moneymaking venture for Nebraska track athlete Jess Gardner, who is among the many social media stars in college sports.

    A comical video of her teaching a player how to pole vault has been viewed nearly 4 million times, though the majority of her self-described “girly girl” content features her lip-syncing or performing skits while dressed in her track uniform, sweat clothes or stylish outfits. Pretty common stuff for social media influencers.

    The number of Gardner’s TikTok followers has climbed to nearly 210,000 over the past four months — in addition to her 115,000 on Instagram — and with that has come something else: Gardner has become mindful of staying safe because of the possibility of an overzealous fan becoming menacing; she said eight of every 10 of her followers are male.

    As has been the case with other female athletes who are monetizing their social media followings, it’s typical for her looks to be the subject of comments on her videos, comments that can range from genuinely complimentary to inappropriate — or worse.

    “As a woman, thinking in the future, if I had a son and they were commenting those kinds of things on a young girl’s video, I would be ashamed of my son,” Gardner said. “Not all the comments are like that. Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of very nice people who follow me, a lot of very nice comments.

    “But some of the ones that are more alarming, like I just think, what is going on in your life? I can’t take it personal,” she said. “I have to understand their perception of me is a reflection of their experiences and their life and that type of stuff. What happened or what’s going on that you see a video of me in a winter coat and that’s where your mind is going?”

    LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, who has 11 million TikTok and Instagram followers, was in the headlines earlier this year when a swarm of boys and young men showed up at a meet in Utah. They at one point formed a gauntlet outside the arena. Dunne later asked her fans to show respect for her and her teammates, and the incident prompted LSU to assign security personnel to travel with the team.

    John Muffler of Florida-based Aequitas Global Security said athletes who have experienced sudden popularity as influencers must understand they are at risk of attracting followers with nefarious intentions. Muffler, a retired U.S. Marshals Service chief inspector, specializes in risk mitigation and threat assessment and has written about problems influencers can encounter.

    As with all influencers, Muffler said, college athletes with rising public profiles need to be aware of their surroundings and never post anything that would offer a clue about their location.

    Muffler discourages sending direct messages to followers the influencer does not know and urges caution in general replies to comments. Something as innocent as a smiley face emoji could trigger what’s known as a parasocial relationship, meaning the follower imagines he or she knows or is friends with the influencer.

    “Most people are going to be fine and normal about following you,” Muffler said, “but it can be perceived as an invitation to others — and those are the ones you need to worry about. They’re the ones that show up in your lab class or outside your dorm.”

    Hanna Cavinder, who along with sister and fellow Miami basketball player Haley are among the top college athlete influencers by any measure, said she lives a more private life than most would assume given the twins’ prolific and lucrative use of social media.

    “People will always question, ‘Well, why don’t you post your teammates more on TikTok? Or why aren’t you posting your sisters more or your family and stuff?’” she added. “And this is why — I don’t want them to deal with stuff that we’ve had to learn and grow and adapt to, like hate comments and stuff like that. That took a while to get used to, people just talking down on you for no reason.”

    Gardner said she started making TikToks last year with her roommate and they were surprised at how many views they generated. With college athletes now able to cash in on their celebrity, Gardner began looking for ways to monetize them and now partners with about 15 brands, most of them catering to women.

    Her potential annual earnings from the effort are projected to be $111,000, which ranks No. 3 among Division I female track athletes, according to On3.com.

    Gardner said she has received handwritten letters signed by men — one contained jokers from a deck of cards — and thrown them away. She had heard about the Dunne situation in Utah but didn’t give it much thought until a teammate told her a group of males was looking for her during an indoor meet in Lincoln.

    “That kind of stuff … is definitely scary,” she said during an interview in Nebraska’s indoor track facility. “As you can see in this building, we’re a little less separated than the basketball or or volleyball team would be at a game. The stands are right there. That was definitely unsettling.”

    Gardner said she spoke with her coaches and people in the athletic department who said they were aware of her large social media following and assured her security measures were in place to keep her safe.

    University spokeswoman Leslie Reed said campus police have not seen an increase in athlete security concerns directly attributable to social media prominence.

    “We have always had high-profile athletes on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus and we address issues as they arise,” Reed said in a statement.

    ___

    AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

    ___

    AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • March Madness: Athletes balance privacy, online profile

    March Madness: Athletes balance privacy, online profile

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    Aliyah Boston recalls her parents prodding her to be more active on social media, to extend her brand as her basketball prowess began to draw national attention.

    She said she would be more active — and then post just one photo in two months, which is no way for an athlete influencer to earn big money in the era of name, image and likeness compensation.

    Eventually, the South Carolina superstar saw the light — and the green.

    “With the NIL, my mom and my dad were like: this is the time for social media to continue to brand yourself,” Boston said. “That’s when I really started to post more.”

    The NIL age has opened a vast new world of earning potential for athletes. Social media platforms, once solely windows into smaller worlds, are now heavily trafficked gateways to wider audiences and revenue streams. Social media also turbocharged March Madness, an event that already had communal elements — think bracket and office pool — before the internet even existed.

    Taking advantage of this chaotic social media explosion to cash in requires a bit of savvy, discernment and engagement — lots of engagement.

    “Some things you think will go viral and it goes nowhere,” said Jeffrey Weiner, senior vice president of sports marketing firm GSE Worldwide. “Some things you think are silly and no one’s going to care about and it goes viral. You never know. You shouldn’t worry about the ‘like’ numbers and things like that. Just post, post, post.”

    Finding the right fit is key when it comes to NIL deals.

    If an athlete hawks something they don’t believe in, it will show in their posts. No one is going to buy a product or solicit a business if the person promoting it appears to be going through the motions or comes off as a used car salesman — unless that’s the schtick they’re going for.

    “I don’t want my page to turn into full of advertisements and me shoving things down people’s throats,” said Nebraska pole vaulter Jess Gardner, who has partnered with about 15 different brands and has more than 300,000 combined followers on TikTok and Instagram.

    “That’s not why people are coming to my page,” she said. “I make fun and lighthearted content, and so I can do that if I’m working with brands I actually love. That’s where I want to take the NIL route.”

    Personality sells.

    The tendency when promoting a product is to switch personalities, like a TV anchorperson shifting to an on-air persona. Many of the most successful influencers find a balance, staying true to their identity while still promoting the product.

    Authenticity with a dash of amusement is the best bet.

    “End of the day it’s a video distribution platform and it allows athletes to showcase their personality however they see fit,” said Julian Valentin, head of customer success for NIL platform Opendorse. “I always say with student athletes to only do what you’re comfortable with.”

    That’s the way Shaylee Gonzales approaches it.

    The Texas guard has 206,000 TikTok followers on, 93,000 more on Instagram. Her posts are a mix of basketball, fashion, personal life and products she has deals with.

    “The more you are yourself, the more people will like to follow you and feel like they know you,” she said. “I love posting things that I enjoy doing or hobbies I like to do.”

    Find the right balance of business and whimsiness and social media opens the the NIL revenue stream.

    Miami twin basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder are social media sensations who have cashed in on their online fame. Hanna Cavinder noted that the twins carefully choose what they post online.

    “Everybody thinks they know you, but they only know the things you want to show them,” she said. “Obviously, I love connecting with my audience and my fans and being organic. They love the twin thing, so we love sharing that. But honestly, I live a more private life than people think.”

    “You pick and choose what you want people to see,” she added. “And that’s just kind of how I go about it. Now, social media is more of my business, not more of my life.”

    With more than 4.4 million followers on their shared TikTok account alone, they have become millionaires through NIL deals.

    Those deals will likely increase during March Madness, especially after the Hurricanes upset No. 1 seed Indiana in the NCAA Tournament.

    “I think what I love the most is it’s setting me up so much for the future,” Haley Cavinder said. “And name, image and likeness, all athletes, especially female athletes, if you use it the right way and to your advantage and you remain consistent, it’ll help you in the future.”

    That’s what got Boston’s attention — well, after her parents noticed first.

    The All-American has promoted Buick, Crocs, Orange Theory, Under Armour and Six Star Nutrition, among other brands. She will likely be one of the WNBA’s top draft picks and could have a lucrative overseas career as well, but has already set a firm financial foundation.

    “I have people in my corner who help me be able to work with brands, agencies,” she said. “It’s been smooth.”

    And lucrative.

    ___

    AP National Writer Eddie Pells, AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds and AP Sports Writer Eric Olson contributed.

    ___

    AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • College hoops staffs specialize to meet roster, NIL demands

    College hoops staffs specialize to meet roster, NIL demands

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    Kelvin Sampson has been around college basketball long enough to remember when preseason practices started in October following a true offseason, teams remained largely intact for multiple seasons and players weren’t permitted to pursue endorsement deals.

    It might as well be a different planet now.

    The way Houston’s coach sees it, the top-tier programs must evolve to better manage recruiting, the transfer portal and roster demands, and athlete compensation deals.

    “Absolutely, you have to,” the 67-year-old Sampson said as March Madness headed to Sweet 16 weekend. “To (manage) those kinds of things, you’ve got to have specialization on your staff.”

    That means bolstering support staffs, much like how analysts and quality control staffers have become common across college football. Specialized roles for recruiting, scouting or analytics. Adding special assistants to aid head coaches, general managers to navigate the new era of players profiting from use their name, image and likeness (NIL), even creative-content staffers to pump out videos or social media to promote the program’s brand.

    If anything, staffs are starting to resemble their counterparts in the pros.

    “I’ve got three – I guess there are four of them now – former (graduate assistants) and managers that work in the front office at the (NBA’s) Phoenix Suns,” Kansas State first-year coach Jerome Tang said before clinching a Sweet 16 appearance. “Those guys told me that the four guys that are on the bench across the country are probably the same. It’s the next level that separates you.”

    March Madness resumes Thursday, and there are examples of these increasingly specialized staffs on teams still chasing a national title.

    Six teams — Houston, Xavier, Texas, Arkansas, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic — have an assistant or special assistant to the head coach, often designed as catch-all helpers who shoulder administrative duties while potentially taking on tasks such as breaking down film. Tang and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo each has a chief of staff.

    Top overall seed Alabama has a director of scouting and analytics. Fellow Southeastern Conference team Tennessee has someone overseeing analytics.

    Titles vary. The goal doesn’t.

    “I have people on my staff in charge of something with one of our kids 24 hours a day,” Sampson said. “And it’s all built around relationships. You know, these kids can transfer today and not even have to tell the coach. They can just go to the compliance office. … So in order to combat those kinds of things, it’s more and more important that you’re involved in their daily lives.”

    Kevin Sutton joined Kansas State’s staff as director of strategies, working with game plans, scouting and film review. He is part of a broader effort to deal with roster management in the portal era, when rosters change dramatically from one year to the next.

    “It’s the college version of free agency and it’s something that goes on all the time and it continues to grow on a daily basis,” Sutton said. “We have to retain our players. … So having a larger to staff to be able to be involved in the current players’ lives and then have an eye on what’s happening outside of your program in terms of the transfer portal.”

    Juggling that with the core goal – winning games — isn’t easy, either.

    For Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, that meant stopping game-prep work last year for recruiting Zooms on the eve of beating No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga to reach a second straight regional final.

    “I think it was five, maybe four (Zooms), before we played Gonzaga the night before, up until maybe 11:15, 11:30 at night doing Zooms when you are trying to make an Elite Eight, playing in a Sweet 16 game,” he said.

    Musselman, whose team is fresh off beating 1-seed and reigning national champion Kansas, has a 14-person support staff beyond his three assistants and the goal of being “at the forefront of analytics.” That includes a director of internal operations, director of scouting, recruiting coordinator, assistant director of recruiting and scouting, and seven graduate assistants.

    Consider it the trickle-down of NBA influence into college ranks.

    “Players watch the NBA guys, they want to be like them, play like them, be in an offense like them,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team reached the tournament’s second round. “Then you look at staffs. And as universities try to keep up and provide the best for their student-athletes, then you’re getting into analytics. You’re getting into nutrition. You’re getting into player development.”

    That has included the very-pro-sounding role of GM, arriving at Duke and DePaul as an NIL resource to players.

    Daniel G. Marks fills a similar role as the first chief program strategist at Howard, which reached the NCAA tourney for the first time since 1992. He spent nine seasons with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, including the 2020-21 championship season.

    Marks said he is coming with an open mind to work with coach Kenny Blakeney.

    “Even when coming up with a title for my job, it’s like: What’s a title that other people are going to say, ‘Oh, that’s interesting, what does he do?’” he said. “(Blakeney) wants programs across the country to look at Howard and say … ‘How can we learn that and emulate that?’”

    Those were all things Duke’s Jon Scheyer considered in building his first staff to replace retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Notably, the 35-year-old added former Elon head coach Mike Schrage as special assistant to provide experience, then hired former Nike and NBA staffer Rachel Baker as general manager.

    Guard Jeremy Roach said the setup gave players “so many people who can help us out.” And it helped Duke win an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title before falling in the NCAA second round.

    The challenge for Scheyer and his peers? Be ready for whatever comes next.

    “Communication’s really important and just being current,” Scheyer said. “I’m not even talking age. I’m talking current in terms of understanding what these guys are going through, their families.

    “It’s so much more than it used to be. … We have the staff to do that. We’ve done an amazing job while still getting a feel for each other. So that’s something where we have to be better next year, because it can be all different next year.”

    ___

    AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell, Stephen Hawkins and Eric Olson contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronbeardap

    ___

    AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • HBCU commissioners working together on NIL, sports growth

    HBCU commissioners working together on NIL, sports growth

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    When Jacqie McWilliams sat at a table with other college sports leaders three years ago to discuss name, image and likeness, she thought about what the life-changing legislation would look like for historically Black colleges and universities.

    With less government funding and fewer resources than Power Five schools, historically Black schools have a harder time recruiting top athletes. NIL, with little uniformity in how it is enforced across states, schools and regions, has widened that gap.

    So, the commissioners of the four major HBCU conferences — the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) — recently agreed to work more closely together in partnering with professional sports leagues including the NBA and NFL to increase the value of HBCUs and send more athletes to the pros.

    “We are doing it in collaboration knowing that we have strength as a collective,” said SIAC Commissioner Anthony Holloman. “We know when we play our conferences, compete, it’s a game, but on all other days we are rooting for each other.”

    McWilliams, who is in her 10th year as commissioner of the CIAA, a league composed of 12 HBCUs in Division II, has seen NIL make way for schools to help student athletes turn their creativity into money.

    The Gulf Coast Athletic conference (GCAC), an HBCU league in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, partnered with the NIL marketing company Athlyt and the media company Urban Edge network to create NIL deals for student athletes.

    “That’s helping us to now enhance a lot of things, our conference operations,” said GCAC Commissioner Dr. Kiki Barnes, “and what we’re able to do for our student athletes.”

    They’re now finding those opportunities amid the backdrop of unprecedented attention for HBCUs.

    Men’s basketball athletes from HBCUs Texas Southern and Howard will compete on the NCAA’s national stage this week.

    The Tigers, who won the SWAC’s conference tournament, will face Fairleigh Dickinson in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament Wednesday evening, with the winner advancing to face No. 1 seeded Purdue in the first round. Howard, winner of the MEAC conference tournament, will take on another No. 1 seed in Kansas on Thursday. Norfolk State’s women’s basketball team defeated Howard in the MEAC conference tournament to advance and face overall No. 1 South Carolina Friday.

    Deion Sanders, now Colorado’s coach, helped fuel a resurgence of HBCU popularity when he was at Jackson State University in Mississippi.

    Dr. J. Kenyatta Cavil, a professor at Texas Southern who focuses on HBCU athletics, said Sanders’ star power, coupled with the racial reckoning following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, allowed more resources to pour into Black schools.

    “Some people have their popularity, but (Sanders) openness to provide his thoughts, a sound bite, which everybody was driven to see ‘What does this mean?’” Cavil said. “And it really shot HBCU programs into this atmospheric rise.”

    The SWAC conference, which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), leads all HBCU conferences in total NIL earnings, ranking 21st in athlete compensation, according to data compiled by the NIL technology and marketing company Opendorse.

    Jackson State’s popularity is a big reason for that. The school led the FCS in attendance last season, drawing over 42,000 attendees per game.

    Sanders’ son Shedeur, formerly Jackson State’s starting quarterback before he transferred to Colorado, became the first HBCU athlete to land a partnership with the sports fuel drink Gatorade last year.

    “Obviously we haven’t gotten into the collectives that some of the major institutions have been able to garner,” said SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland, “but it levels the playing field at least slightly, knowing that a student athlete could come to one of our HBCU institutions and still benefit from the name, image and likeness process.”

    McClelland said the introduction of NIL coupled with the rise of the transfer portal has brought more athletes to his league, which is also comprised of popular HBCU Grambling State and in 2021 added Florida A&M and Bethune Cookman University.

    Texas Southern, for example, has several transfers on its men’s basketball roster, including its second-leading scorer John Walker III. Walker, who averaged 12.6 points this season as a graduate student, transferred to the Tigers after spending his freshman season at Texas A&M.

    “Even if you decide to go to a Power Five school straight out of high school, and you change your mind to say, ‘Hey, I think I want to play immediately … I want to have these opportunities as a freshman or as a sophomore.’ The transfer portal now allows student athletes to do so,” McClelland said.

    Some HBCU conferences haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to NIL.

    MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills said her conference has partnered with influencers to educate athletes on the responsibilities of signing marketing deals, but overall, her focus is on upgrading facilities, providing more athlete scholarships and being able to fully fund Olympic sports teams.

    “It’s other things that we need to prioritize before we prioritize name, image, and likeness,” Stills said.

    Stills added that her league doesn’t have the financial capital to compete in the NIL space in the same way as bigger schools anyway, which she sees as a negative affect for recruitment.

    “We don’t call up the alumni and say, ‘Hey, I want $12 million for all the student athletes for NIL,” Stills said. “We can’t do that. So it’s the difference of widening that gap. Student athletes look at where they want to go to school based on what the NIL deal could be at that particular school. So it definitely puts us at a disadvantage.”

    McWilliams doesn’t believe it’s necessarily a goal for HBCUs to compete monetarily with their Power Five counterparts, adding that the playing field will never be completely even anyway.

    Holloman said the transfer portal is one of the toughest aspects in college sports to navigate because it has made it much easier for schools with larger budgets and better facilities to pluck the talent that they develop at smaller schools.

    But that is a reality that is not new for HBCUs.

    “The NIL, the transfer portal, who will it benefit the most, and who will it hurt the most?” McWilliams said. “It could help us. But it could hurt us. But we’ve been dealing with that for a hundred and sixty-something years.”

    ___

    AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • Athletes sue Ivy League over its no-scholarship policy

    Athletes sue Ivy League over its no-scholarship policy

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    HARTFORD, Conn. — A pair of basketball players from Brown allege in a federal lawsuit that the Ivy League’s policy of not offering athletic scholarships amounts to a price-fixing agreement that denies athletes proper financial aid and payment for their services.

    The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut by attorneys representing Grace Kirk, a member of Brown’s women’s team, and Tamenang Choh, who played for the men’s team from 2017 through 2022. They are seeking class-action status to represent all current and former athletes at the eight Ivy League schools dating back to those recruited since March 2019.

    The suit argues Ivy League schools illegally conspired to limit financial aid and not compensate athletes for their services.

    “In either case, regardless of whether considered as a restraint on the price of education, the value of financial aid, the price of athletic services, or the level of compensation to Ivy League athletes, the Ivy League Agreement is per se illegal,” the lawsuit states.

    Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Penn don’t offer merit scholarships of any kind, including athletic scholarships. The policy, which dates back to 1954, makes the Ivy League the only Division I athletic conference that prohibits member schools from offering any athletic scholarships

    Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris defended the policy in a statement responding to the legal action, noting there are a wide variety of options when it comes to opportunities available to college-level athletes.

    “The Ivy League athletics model is built upon the foundational principle that student-athletes should be representative of the wider student body, including the opportunity to receive need-based financial aid,” she said. “In turn, choosing and embracing that principle then provides each Ivy League student-athlete a journey that balances a world-class academic experience with the opportunity to compete in Division I athletics and ultimately paves a path for lifelong success.”

    But attorneys for the Brown athletes point out that other elite academic schools, such as Stanford and Duke, do offer athletic scholarships.

    “These schools are not part of the Ivy League, but they demonstrate they can maintain stellar academic standards while competing for excellent athletes, and without agreed upon limits on price,” the lawsuit said.

    The suit also argues that Ivy League schools have a major influence over the path that a small pool of people who are both elite students and elite athletes can take, so by not offering athletic scholarships, the league is artificially suppressing the market for those students.

    “The natural, foreseeable, and intended result of the Ivy League Agreement is that Ivy League athletes have paid more for their education and earned less in compensation or reimbursement than they would have in the absence of the agreement,” the lawsuit said.

    ___

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Athletes sue Ivy League over its no-scholarship policy

    Athletes sue Ivy League over its no-scholarship policy

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    HARTFORD, Conn. — A pair of basketball players from Brown allege in a federal lawsuit that the Ivy League’s policy of not offering athletic scholarships amounts to a price-fixing agreement that denies athletes proper financial aid and payment for their services.

    The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut by attorneys representing Grace Kirk, a member of Brown’s women’s team, and Tamenang Choh, who played for the men’s team from 2017 through 2022. They are seeking class-action status to represent all current and former athletes at the eight Ivy League schools dating back to those recruited since March 2019.

    The suit argues Ivy League schools illegally conspired to limit financial aid and not compensate athletes for their services.

    “In either case, regardless of whether considered as a restraint on the price of education, the value of financial aid, the price of athletic services, or the level of compensation to Ivy League athletes, the Ivy League Agreement is per se illegal,” the lawsuit states.

    Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Penn don’t offer merit scholarships of any kind, including athletic scholarships. The policy, which dates back to 1954, makes the Ivy League the only Division I athletic conference that prohibits member schools from offering any athletic scholarships

    Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris defended the policy in a statement responding to the legal action, noting there are a wide variety of options when it comes to opportunities available to college-level athletes.

    “The Ivy League athletics model is built upon the foundational principle that student-athletes should be representative of the wider student body, including the opportunity to receive need-based financial aid,” she said. “In turn, choosing and embracing that principle then provides each Ivy League student-athlete a journey that balances a world-class academic experience with the opportunity to compete in Division I athletics and ultimately paves a path for lifelong success.”

    But attorneys for the Brown athletes point out that other elite academic schools, such as Stanford and Duke, do offer athletic scholarships.

    “These schools are not part of the Ivy League, but they demonstrate they can maintain stellar academic standards while competing for excellent athletes, and without agreed upon limits on price,” the lawsuit said.

    The suit also argues that Ivy League schools have a major influence over the path that a small pool of people who are both elite students and elite athletes can take, so by not offering athletic scholarships, the league is artificially suppressing the market for those students.

    “The natural, foreseeable, and intended result of the Ivy League Agreement is that Ivy League athletes have paid more for their education and earned less in compensation or reimbursement than they would have in the absence of the agreement,” the lawsuit said.

    ___

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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