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Tag: Compensation in sports

  • PGA Tour moves toward elite field with no cuts for 2024

    PGA Tour moves toward elite field with no cuts for 2024

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    ORLANDO, Fla. — The PGA Tour is moving toward an elite schedule in 2024 with 16 designated events — half of them with no more than 80-man fields and no cuts — along with a chance for players on the outside to play their way in.

    Still to be finalized are which events get the $20 million prize funds and details for how players can earn a spot in the field.

    Players were apprised of the changes in a memo Wednesday from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in which he wrote, “There is no doubt in my mind that we made decisions that will transform and set the future.”

    The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo, which also indicated the Player Impact Program bonus pool will be cut in half to $50 million to 10 players (instead of 20 players), with the other $50 million going to bonus pools for the FedEx Cup and the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 for leading players in the regular season.

    The part likely to cause the most divide among players is the no-cut policy for the designated events (except for the four majors and The Players Championship). One criticism of Saudi-funded LIV Golf has been its 54-hole events do not have a cut.

    Eight of the 16 designated events — the exceptions are the majors, The Players and three FedEx Cup playoff events — are guaranteed to have the best players for the entire week.

    Monahan had said at the start of the year at Kapalua that he thought a cut “is an important element to this tour” and he felt it was “absolutely an important consideration.”

    Rory McIlroy, the primary voice in player meetings geared toward reshaping the PGA Tour’s future, said precedent has been set for no-cut events such as the former World Golf Championships and events like the CJ Cup and Zozo Championship.

    “The only reason no-cut events are a big deal is because LIV has come along,” McIlroy said. “So there is precedent for no-cut events. Is there maybe going to be a few more of them? Maybe. … You ask Mastercard or whoever it is to pay $20 million for a golf event, they want to see the stars at the weekend. They want a guarantee that the stars are there.

    “So if that’s what needs to happen, then that’s what happens.”

    Ian Poulter immediately took to Twitter with a George Bernard Shaw quote: “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery — it’s the sincerest form of learning.”

    “I think in general if a company or a product doesn’t have competition the incentive to innovate is low,” said Patrick Cantlay, who serves on the PGA Tour board. “So now with competition it makes everyone want to look inside to see how they could make their product better, how they could do things better. I think the tour has done that.”

    The elite events would comprise the top 50 from the FedEx Cup the previous year, 10 players who performed the best in the fall for the early part of 2024, five leading players in points from standard tournaments, players who win PGA Tour events that year and four sponsor exemptions. They also will take anyone from the top 30 in the world if they are not already eligible.

    Monahan also said the elevated events would be spread out to avoid situations like the Honda Classic, which had two elevated events both before and after its tournament. The Honda had only three players from the top 25 in the world.

    The tour is promoting the idea that by having smaller fields for elite events — no more than 80, compared with 120 players at Bay Hill and two weeks ago at Riviera — it would strengthen the tournaments that don’t have $20 million purses because those players would need somewhere to compete.

    “If we made these fields very large in these designated events it would ruin nondesignated events that have been staples of the PGA Tour,” said Max Homa, who is part of the Player Advisory Council that advised on changes. “No one would play in half of them because it would no longer fit your schedule by any means.”

    One aspect the tour is promoting is that by not having $20 million events toward the end of the season, more players will be playing tournaments to make sure they get into the top 70 to qualify for the postseason, and then the top 50 to assure being in all the big events the following year.

    Monahan has scheduled a players meeting next Tuesday at The Players Championship to discuss any changes. For now, it has the look of a tour divided between the top players and everyone else.

    At The Players Championship last year, Monahan boldly said the PGA Tour had momentum and wasn’t about to be distracted by rumors of a rival league.

    LIV Golf began three months later with players like Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, and other major champions from the last five years soon followed.

    “It does seem like the emergence of LIV forced us as players and the executives of the PGA Tour to just look at their product,” Homa said. “They (LIV) got to make something from scratch, which is a lot easier than us building something that has been around for so long that’s been on the shoulders of someone like Arnold Palmer, who has built a lot of what we do today.”

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

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  • New NCAA president says NIL rules could protect athletes

    New NCAA president says NIL rules could protect athletes

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    As Charlie Baker takes over as NCAA president, he brings a different way of thinking about one of the more important and most polarizing issues in college athletics: Regulating how college athletes monetize their fame.

    To Baker, athletes such as quarterback recruit Jaden Rashada and Miami basketball players Hanna and Haley Cavinder are consumers who need help in a burgeoning name, image and likeness market. That market currently lacks transparency and uniformity, and the athletes would benefit from legal protections to ward off unqualified, unaccountable and even unscrupulous actors.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Baker paraphrased a quote he read recently from an athletic director: “The only thing that’s true about NIL is everybody’s lying, and whatever you hear about it, basically, don’t believe it.”

    “And I think that creates enormous challenges for student-athletes and for families,” Baker said.

    Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts, was hired in December and starts the job officially Wednesday. Getting a handle on NIL compensation is at the top of his to-do-list as it has roiled the NCAA’s vast membership of 1,100 schools like few other issues. Like his predecessor, Mark Emmert, Baker says the NCAA needs help from Congress in the form of a federal law to govern NIL.

    There had been plenty of talk and some posturing by politicians in Washington about the state of college sports before the NCAA lifted its ban on third parties paying athletes for NIL endorsements on July 1, 2021.

    Since then, there has been no significant movement on a federal bill. Meanwhile, more than 30 states have passed NIL laws, creating a patchwork of rules and regulations for schools that are competing and recruiting against one another.

    “I hope Charlie Baker brings a fresh approach to the NCAA and advises that instead of lobbying Congress, the NCAA and its member colleges should work directly with the athletes to ensure they are fairly compensated and get the health, safety, and academic protections they deserve,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has been one of the most vocal and active lawmakers in Washington, pushing college sports reform. “The NCAA doesn’t need permission from the federal government to do the right thing,”

    The NCAA enacted an interim NIL policy that leaned into general rules against pay-for-play and recruiting inducements, but lacked detail. With schools allowed only minimal involvement in their athletes’ deals, the NCAA’s inaction created a void that has been filled by boosters, lawyers and fledgling agents.

    Rashada, the blue chip quarterback from California, had a potential multimillion-dollar deal with a NIL collective run by Florida boosters fall through that led to him being released from a letter of intent by the school. He is now going to play at Arizona State.

    The first school the NCAA has punished for NIL-related violations is Miami, which received a year of probation because coach Katie Meier inadvertently helped arrange impermissible contact between booster John Ruiz and the Cavinder twins. Haley and Hanna Cavinder, top players as well as social media stars, transferred to Miami from Fresno State after last season.

    Baker said 19 months of NIL in its current state has helped reveal the pitfalls.

    “I think for the NCAA,, until you actually had NIL, it would be hard to know what it was going to look like,” Baker said. “Now we have it and the question becomes, should there be an attempt to make this more visible, more transparent, more — the word I guess I’m really looking for is easier for kids, student-athletes, families to understand what’s real and what’s not.”

    Dan Lust, a sports law attorney and professor at New York University Law School, said Baker’s framing of NIL regulation as consumer protection for the athletes is a new approach.

    “I’d say it’s a it’s a unique spin to what otherwise was a stale amateurism argument that they needed to protect the student-athletes to enable them to pursue an education,” Lust said. “But now they’ve seemingly pivoted that argument to say we need to protect the student-athletes in order to allow them to earn compensation, absent predatory agents and boosters that might otherwise get them in trouble.”

    Baker laid out priorities for his first 100 days in office, including meeting with every conference commissioner at all three divisions of NCAA athletics. The NCAA’s member schools have some 500,000 athletes competing in nearly 100 conferences.

    He said he also plans to bring in an outside firm to conduct a “state of the business” review for the association to assess its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

    The courts have presented a serious threat to the NCAA for years, and that only increased after the 2021 unanimous Supreme Court ruling in an antitrust case against the association. Two active cases, including one in Pennsylvania, could pave the way for college athletes to be considered employees of their schools.

    Baker said the fundamental challenge college sports faces is creating a system that allows what he called “revenue-positive” sports programs — big money-makers such as major college football and basketball — to operate differently from the rest of the enterprise.

    “At the same time, recognize and understand that for the vast majority of the schools and the kids there’s an investment here being made by their schools, and by their supporters in these programs,” Baker said. “And they’re doing it because they think it’s an important part of the student-development process, and I just don’t want that to get lost.”

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

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

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  • Chris Kirk, after 8-year wait, wins the Honda Classic

    Chris Kirk, after 8-year wait, wins the Honda Classic

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    PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Chris Kirk waited nearly eight years to win a PGA Tour event again. Waiting one more hole on Sunday was no problem.

    Kirk stuck his approach to the par-5 18th to tap-in range, and his birdie on the first hole of a playoff lifted him past Eric Cole for the victory at the Honda Classic on Sunday.

    Cole had a chance, playing his third shot from the sand to just outside of 10 feet for a birdie that would have extended the playoff. But it lipped out, and Kirk nudged his ball in for his fifth career win — his first since prevailing at Colonial in 2015.

    “I was obviously very, very nervous today having not won in so long,” Kirk said. “Coming down the stretch, I felt good.”

    And he’ll be the last Honda winner. The car company is ending its title sponsorship of the event after 42 years, with a new sponsor set to be in place — the PGA Tour hopes, anyway — in the coming weeks.

    They finished 72 holes tied at 14-under 266, Kirk shooting 69 on Sunday, Cole shooting 67.

    Kirk earned $1,512,000 for the win, and is now eligible to play the Masters again for the first time since 2016. Cole earned $915,600 for the runner-up finish, a check that more than doubles what the 34-year-old has earned in 14 previous tour starts.

    “I loved it. It was a lot of fun,” Cole said. “I can’t wait to get back and do it again. I didn’t have my best stuff today, and I was proud of how hard I fought.”

    Kirk went to the par-5 18th with a one-shot lead. His tee shot found the fairway. His second shot found the water, leading to bogey. Cole made par, giving Kirk new life in the playoff.

    “Bad swing at the wrong time. … Thank God it worked out,” Kirk said.

    Kirk hadn’t held a trophy since 2015. That’s not to say he hasn’t done any winning in that span.

    He walked away from the game in May 2019 because of alcoholism and depression. He struggled with anxiety, struggled to deal with pressure, even though he had a penchant for making it seem like no big deal on the golf course — he was a four-time winner, plus made a big putt to help the U.S. win the Presidents Cup at South Korea in 2015.

    The tour gave him a major medical extension for the time he missed, meaning he had a set number of tournaments to do well enough to regain his full status. He got it back by the slimmest of margins at the Sony Open in 2021.

    And now he’s a champion again.

    “I just have so much to be thankful for,” Kirk said. “I’m so grateful for my sobriety, I’m so grateful for my family, I’m so grateful for everyone that has supported throughout the past three or four years.”

    Tyler Duncan, ranked No. 360 in the world coming into the week, shot 66 on Sunday and was third at 12 under. Monday qualifier Ryan Gerard, playing the weekend for the first time on the PGA Tour, shot 67 and finished fourth at 10 under.

    Gerard’s career earnings on tour went from $0 to $411,600. His plans for the next few weeks might be changing based on this finish.

    “I’ve got to go book some flights and hotel rooms, swipe the credit card,” said Gerard, who came into the week ranked 472nd in the world. “We’ll see what happens.”

    Defending champion Sepp Straka (68) was in a group tied for ninth at 9 under, with all four of his rounds in the 60’s. Also in that group: Shane Lowry, who had a chance to win the Honda last year and finished with an even-par 70.

    “I played lovely, and I just couldn’t get it going,” Lowry said.

    DIVOTS: It was the first playoff for both Kirk and Cole. … Jhonattan Vegas had the round of the day with a 64, getting to 5 under. He started birdie-birdie-eagle, made a 50-footer for double bogey on the par-3 15th after his tee shot found the water, then made a 36-footer for another eagle to cap the round. … Billy Horschel (72) battled through sinus issues and finished 2 under for the week, after having a share of the first-round lead. The Florida native still hasn’t won a tour event in Florida, now 0 for 40.

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

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  • Chris Kirk, after 8-year wait, wins the Honda Classic

    Chris Kirk, after 8-year wait, wins the Honda Classic

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    PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Chris Kirk waited nearly eight years to win a PGA Tour event again. Waiting one more hole on Sunday was no problem.

    Kirk stuck his approach to the par-5 18th to tap-in range, and his birdie on the first hole of a playoff lifted him past Eric Cole for the victory at the Honda Classic on Sunday.

    Cole had a chance, playing his third shot from the sand to just outside of 10 feet for a birdie that would have extended the playoff. But it lipped out, and Kirk nudged his ball in for his fifth career win — his first since prevailing at Colonial in 2015.

    “I was obviously very, very nervous today having not won in so long,” Kirk said. “Coming down the stretch, I felt good.”

    And he’ll be the last Honda winner. The car company is ending its title sponsorship of the event after 42 years, with a new sponsor set to be in place — the PGA Tour hopes, anyway — in the coming weeks.

    They finished 72 holes tied at 14-under 266, Kirk shooting 69 on Sunday, Cole shooting 67.

    Kirk earned $1,512,000 for the win, and is now eligible to play the Masters again for the first time since 2016. Cole earned $915,600 for the runner-up finish, a check that more than doubles what the 34-year-old has earned in 14 previous tour starts.

    “I loved it. It was a lot of fun,” Cole said. “I can’t wait to get back and do it again. I didn’t have my best stuff today, and I was proud of how hard I fought.”

    Kirk went to the par-5 18th with a one-shot lead. His tee shot found the fairway. His second shot found the water, leading to bogey. Cole made par, giving Kirk new life in the playoff.

    “Bad swing at the wrong time. … Thank God it worked out,” Kirk said.

    Kirk hadn’t held a trophy since 2015. That’s not to say he hasn’t done any winning in that span.

    He walked away from the game in May 2019 because of alcoholism and depression. He struggled with anxiety, struggled to deal with pressure, even though he had a penchant for making it seem like no big deal on the golf course — he was a four-time winner, plus made a big putt to help the U.S. win the Presidents Cup at South Korea in 2015.

    The tour gave him a major medical extension for the time he missed, meaning he had a set number of tournaments to do well enough to regain his full status. He got it back by the slimmest of margins at the Sony Open in 2021.

    And now he’s a champion again.

    “I just have so much to be thankful for,” Kirk said. “I’m so grateful for my sobriety, I’m so grateful for my family, I’m so grateful for everyone that has supported throughout the past three or four years.”

    Tyler Duncan, ranked No. 360 in the world coming into the week, shot 66 on Sunday and was third at 12 under. Monday qualifier Ryan Gerard, playing the weekend for the first time on the PGA Tour, shot 67 and finished fourth at 10 under.

    Gerard’s career earnings on tour went from $0 to $411,600. His plans for the next few weeks might be changing based on this finish.

    “I’ve got to go book some flights and hotel rooms, swipe the credit card,” said Gerard, who came into the week ranked 472nd in the world. “We’ll see what happens.”

    Defending champion Sepp Straka (68) was in a group tied for ninth at 9 under, with all four of his rounds in the 60’s. Also in that group: Shane Lowry, who had a chance to win the Honda last year and finished with an even-par 70.

    “I played lovely, and I just couldn’t get it going,” Lowry said.

    DIVOTS: It was the first playoff for both Kirk and Cole. … Jhonattan Vegas had the round of the day with a 64, getting to 5 under. He started birdie-birdie-eagle, made a 50-footer for double bogey on the par-3 15th after his tee shot found the water, then made a 36-footer for another eagle to cap the round. … Billy Horschel (72) battled through sinus issues and finished 2 under for the week, after having a share of the first-round lead. The Florida native still hasn’t won a tour event in Florida, now 0 for 40.

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

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  • NCAA asks US appeals court to block pay for student-athletes

    NCAA asks US appeals court to block pay for student-athletes

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    PHILADELPHIA — The NCAA asked a federal appeals court on Wednesday to reject a legal effort to make colleges treat Division I athletes like employees and start paying them an hourly wage.

    Lawyers for the student-athletes said that weekly, they often spend 30 hours or more on their sport and often need money for expenses, even if they are on full scholarship. And they believe the athletes deserve a share in the millions that are spent on coaches, college administrators and facilities — and the billions that networks pay to televise college sports.

    They are not seeking pay equivalent to their market value, but only a modest across-the-board pay rate similar to those earned by work-study students, the lawyers said.

    “This does not open up a circumstance in which there’s a bidding war (for top talent),” lawyer Michael Willemin said.

    The NCAA urged the court to uphold the tradition of college athletes being unpaid amateurs. Critics of the pay-for-play scheme also fear the cost could lead schools to cut sports that don’t generate as much or any revenue while sending more resources to their profitable football and basketball programs.

    Lawyer Steven B. Katz, arguing for the NCAA, said a finding that athletes are employees “launches you on the edge of a slippery slope that rapidly takes you to someplace that you don’t want to go.”

    As an example, he said that the cost to attend some of the private colleges involved in the case is $70,000 a year. The value of a full scholarship would far outweigh the $10,000 to $15,000 the athletes might earn if they were paid a modest hourly wage, he argued.

    Katz also said the scholarships could become taxable if the students are deemed employees. And he questioned how teams would function if some students were “paid employees” on scholarship while walk-ons without a scholarship were not.

    At least one person on the panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Theodore McKee, seemed to think at least some student-athletes may be employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act — while acknowledging such a finding would create “so many practical problems.”

    Would football players at powerhouse schools earn more than swimmers at small schools? What about Division II athletes?

    “Maybe that’s where we end up — that the quarterback at the SEC school is an employee and the woman who’s running cross-country track at Alabama, they’re not an employee,” McKee said.

    When Katz raised the potential risk of back taxes being owed, McKee cut him off, saying “the case is complicated enough without us going down that” rabbit hole.

    A lower court judge had declined to dismiss the lawsuit before it went to trial, prompting the NCAA to appeal. The three-judge panel did not indicate when it would rule.

    Willemin, arguing for the students, said the NCAA burdens athletes with rigid rules on gambling, earning outside income and even social media usage, while their school teams further restrict their choices by controlling their class schedule, study halls and at times even their college major. The NCAA could loosen its grip on student-athletes and the case might go away, he suggested.

    “The NCAA has turned the idea of student-athlete on its head, even in non-revenue generating sports,” he said. “These are regulations the NCAA can change. They’ve chosen not to change them.”

    The case is just the latest one to test the NCAA’s traditional amateurism model — and comes as the organization already faces complicated issues stemming from the advent of “name, image and likeness deals that can top $1 million for the most popular college athletes.

    The NCAA also hopes that Congress might weigh in, given a series of setbacks in the courts. They include the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that lifted the ban on compensation beyond full scholarships, and lets colleges give athletes education-related benefits such as computers and study abroad program fees.

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    Follow AP Legal Affairs Writer Maryclaire Dale at https://twitter.com/Maryclairedale

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  • Fight between Magic, Timberwolves leads to 5 players ejected

    Fight between Magic, Timberwolves leads to 5 players ejected

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    MINNEAPOLIS — A fight broke out and punches were thrown during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.

    Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.

    Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.

    “This isn’t like a cool moment for me,” Rivers said after the game. “I feel embarrassed. I’m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don’t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I’m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn’t make me feel good.”

    Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.

    “You obviously want to have your teammate’s back and at the same time, you’ve got to be a professional,” said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.

    “So, that’s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don’t really know. It’s a weird dynamic. You don’t really want to be in those situations and it’s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.”

    Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit’s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.

    On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.

    “Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Pretty egregious. Then it’s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn’t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.”

    The altercation seemed to stem from talk from the Magic bench, particularly Bamba. A few moments earlier, Rivers missed a 3-point attempt in front of the Orlando bench, and Bamba and Markelle Fultz could be seen reacting to the miss.

    Rivers said he approached the 7-foot, 231-pound Bamba about his comments.

    “I’m not gonna snitch on the dude or whatever, but I just didn’t like the way he was talking to me,” said Rivers, listed at 6-4 and 200 pounds. “For no reason, too. I don’t even know that dude. I don’t know anything about him. Obviously, I just know he’s a player for the Magic. And he proceeded to talk, so that next possession, when I went down there, I just said, pretty much, ‘Just keep it respectful, bro.’”

    Rivers later added: “I went up to him and I pressed him, and at that point, it can go one of two ways. I didn’t think we were going to get in a fight. But when you stand up that fast and put your hands up — he threw a punch and missed, thankfully. At that point, I’ve got to protect myself. Ain’t no one worried about him.”

    The fight came one night after an on-court altercation between Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.

    Brooks swung and struck Mitchell in the groin area during the third quarter Thursday after the Grizzlies guard had fallen to the floor. Mitchell retaliated by throwing the ball at Brooks and then shoving him.

    Both players were ejected from Cleveland’s 128-113 win. Afterward, Mitchell accused Brooks of being a dirty player.

    The NBA announced punishments for both players Friday, with Brooks getting suspended one game without pay and Mitchell fined $20,000.

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

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  • Crypto’s ties to sports raise ethical questions

    Crypto’s ties to sports raise ethical questions

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    Sports fans who view their favorite players as role models might think twice before taking their financial advice, too.

    The bankruptcy of FTX and the arrest of its founder and former CEO are raising new questions about the role celebrity athletes such as Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Naomi Osaka and others played in lending legitimacy to the largely unregulated landscape of crypto, while also reframing the conversation about just how costly blind loyalty to favorite players or teams can be for the average fan.

    Cryptocurrencies are digital money that use blockchain as the database for recording transactions. It isn’t backed by any government or institution and it remains a confusing concept — one that at first was largely the niche of tech-savvy coding specialists, people who distrusted governments and centralized banking systems and speculators with money to risk.

    But now that risk is increasingly being taken on by investors who can’t afford to lose, and the disparity in wealth between celebrities and their fans creates an ethical dilemma: Should sports stars, or teams, or leagues, be touting products that could lead their fans to financial harm? Or should fans bear the responsibility for their own risky behavior regardless of who is encouraging it?

    “In retrospect, it was an unwise business association that put Curry and Brady together with bad company,” Mark Pritchard, a professor at Central Washington who has studied the intersection of ethics and sports, said in an email to The Associated Press. “Not sure how much due diligence was paid to the decision, but it does call to mind a Warren Buffet quote: ‘Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.’”

    The marriage between crypto and sports formed a few years ago and has only strengthened since, despite all the troubles plaguing the industry. A study by the IEG sponsorship group, for instance, found FTX and other crypto companies had spent $130 million for sponsorship in the NBA alone over the 2021-22 season; the season before, the sum was less than $2 million.

    FTX itself had numerous ties to sports before its eventual collapse: The company paid an undisclosed amount to place patches on the uniforms of MLB umpires, $135 million for the naming rights on the arena where the Miami Heat play, and another $10 million to Curry’s basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, for ad placement in its arena and throughout the Warriors organization.

    While those deals, as well as some others, cratered when FTX declared bankruptcy, plenty more live on. They include the naming rights for the home of the Lakers, which was once known as the Staples Center, but is now known as Crypto.com Arena, at the reported cost of $700 million over 20 years. There are crypto deals in cricket, soccer and Formula 1.

    Separately, dozens of athletes have endorsed crypto, and in doing so, have led some of their fans to follow suit — and others to file suit, against the likes of Curry, Brady and other high-profile personalities for using their celebrity status to promote FTX’s failed business model.

    Ben Salus, a Philly sports fan who has lost money in crypto, said he was uncomfortably surprised at the sudden increase of crypto-related signage around his favorite teams.

    “It’s a very odd transition, especially because I don’t know if the world was ready for the prominence of crypto,” Salus said. “You’re getting these big personalities backing a thing that they, or their teams, know something about, but not very much.”

    The debate has become even more complex over the past five years, with the intersection between crypto, digitized artwork offered in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), legalized sports wagering and e-gaming, along with the ever-expanding virtual-reality Metaverse — all growing more popular among large factions of sports stars and fans alike.

    “It’s a lot more connected than people think,” said Ryan Nicklin, who studies the role of crypto in sports as part of his public-relations business. “And there’s a lot more crossover from the crypto world to the gambling world and into gaming, because when you spend on one of these Metaverse games, you’re essentially gambling since you don’t know whether the value of that asset you’ve purchased is going to go up or down.”

    Crypto’s move into the public mainstream wasn’t driven by sports, but as it became a better-known commodity, sports leagues and teams and their athletes — never shy about trying to make a buck off the latest trends — got into the act.

    “A lot of endorsements have to do with an emotional attachment,” said Brandon Brown, who teaches sports and business at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. “So, it would make sense for these (crypto) companies to work with a sports team or a sports celebrity because there’s an emotional attachment that goes along with that partnership.”

    One key moment came in 2020 when a few players, including Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl lineman Russell Okung, announced they would take all or some of their multimillion-dollar salaries in crypto.

    “So many purchase Bitcoin to become cash rich,” Okung tweeted not long after the announcement. “I bought it to be free from cash.” Not long after, Bitcoin.com proudly stated that the increases in the price of Bitcoin had essentially doubled the $6.5 million portion of Okung’s salary that was paid in crypto.

    Bigger names followed. Actors Matt Damon and Larry David were among the Hollywood types. The mayors of New York and Miami made a splash when they, too, said they would take their pay in crypto.

    Aaron Rodgers, Shaquille O’Neal, Beckham Jr. and Trevor Lawrence were among a large group of high-profile athletes who also got into the act. One popular commercial involved Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brady and his then-wife, Gisele Bündchen, calling friends to talk crypto and playfully asking them: “Are you in?”

    The relationship between crypto and sports is also regenerating a debate about how athletes should use the platform they wouldn’t otherwise have but for sports. Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling, to say nothing of the racial tensions laid bare in the U.S. by George Floyd’s killing in 2020, upended the old “shut up and play” cliché, and presented many athletes with an opening to use sports to send a message.

    Curry is among those who has been unafraid to delve into some of society’s more difficult topics, speaking out after Floyd’s killing and contributing to the Players’ Tribune website where athletes blog about their views unfiltered by traditional media.

    Now, Curry is in the headlines again as one of many paid endorsers of FTX. But aside of being named in the class action lawsuit and being ridiculed on some social media sites that are heavily engaged in crypto discussions, there hasn’t been any major blowback against Curry for his investments and endorsements — and there may never be.

    “When the currency blows up, will people look poorly on the currency, or will people look poorly on Brady or Steph Curry?” Brown said. “I’d venture to say that people are likely to have such a strong connection with their sports figures that they’ll latch onto said sports figure and blame the other party, which in this case is FTX, or the currency.”

    ———

    AP Business Writer Ken Sweet contributed to this report.

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  • Foreign college athletes chase endorsement money outside US

    Foreign college athletes chase endorsement money outside US

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    PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Marta Suarez stepped in front of the white backdrop, rotated the basketball to put the logo forward and propped it against her hip. She looked into the camera and smiled, her head tilting slightly to the right.

    Flashes came in quick succession. Music streamed from a nearby Bluetooth speaker. Suarez lifted the ball onto her right shoulder and smiled again, and soon was spinning the ball on her finger from a squatted pose.

    “Get the bruises,” she quipped, pointing to a knee exposed by her cutoff jeans.

    Only a few hours had passed since the third-year forward from Spain had helped Tennessee win its Battle 4 Atlantis tournament opener. This part of the trip — in a foyer outside the Atlantis resort’s Grand Ballroom — was for herself, available only because the Lady Vols were in the Bahamas.

    College athletes from foreign countries have been left out of the rush for endorsement deals because student visa rules largely prohibit off-campus work while in the U.S. But a growing number are using a loophole when they leave the country, doing the legwork needed — but not allowed on U.S. soil — to eventually profit from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).

    At holiday tournaments in the Bahamas this fall, startup company Influxer worked with about three dozen international athletes to create photos, videos and introductory podcasts that could be used for potential deals.

    Founder and chief executive Tyler Jaynes said the sessions are something Influxer wants “to repeat over and over.” There’s no guarantee they will lead to deals for international athletes, but it’s an avenue for them to find what might be out there.

    “Having fun?” Jaynes asked Suarez during a pause in her shoot.

    “Yeah,” she said, nodding back to the speaker. “The music.”

    “Yes,” Jaynes said, “we’ve thought of everything.”

    That’s the hope for international athletes hoping to cash in on their fame like their American teammates.

    “I’m just glad right now we at least get a chance to do something, even if it’s just outside the U.S.,” said DePaul’s Brendan Favre, a graduate student guard from Switzerland. “It’s still nice to be able to do something.”

    International athletes account for roughly 14,000 of the more than 113,000 athletes across Division I, according to NCAA data. The obstacle for them to make NIL money is federal immigration law, not NCAA rules.

    The NCAA largely cleared the way in July 2021 for athletes to earn NIL money and deals worth millions have been struck across the country. But the majority of international athletes are on F-1 student visas prohibiting off-campus work except in rare exceptions such as internships or work-study programs. Violations could lead to the visa’s termination, and deportation.

    Blake Lawrence, co-founder/CEO of athlete-marketing platform Opendorse, said it is unclear exactly how much international athletes are missing out. But with their presence in men’s and women’s basketball, two of the most marketable and compensated sports, he said it takes merely “deductive reasoning” to know there is an impact.

    Now the market is evolving to address it.

    “Administrators and coaches are trying to solve this problem, and it will be solved,” Lawrence said. “It will not be as convenient as driving down the street and signing autographs. But international student-athletes that are having an impact from their community will benefit from NIL. They just might have to take a flight or a longer drive.”

    Influxer launched late last year to connect athletes with companies, with a goal of becoming a full-service NIL company with merchandising and consulting. It’s led by people familiar with college sports, including Jaynes, a former Baylor football player.

    Jaynes said Influxer has spent months talking with school compliance staffers and immigration attorneys to ensure nothing jeopardizes athlete visas. They’ve also studied state NIL laws.

    “We understand it’s a very sensitive subject with a lot of potential ramifications if not done the right way,” Jaynes said.

    Influxer paid athletes the same, unspecified amount for their time at the Bahamas sessions, Jaynes said. After creating the marketing materials, Influxer can sell them to brands for use in a brokered endorsement deal. Athletes could then receive royalties as permissible “passive” income, meaning it came through signing a licensing agreement for existing materials as opposed to a work activity such as making a commercial.

    Influxer’s first offshore shoot came in August when Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe — last season’s Associated Press men’s college basketball player of the year, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo — visited the Bahamas for the Wildcats’ exhibition tour.

    The company replicated that on a broader scale last month as teams arrived for the Battle 4 Atlantis men’s and women’s tournaments as well as games at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau. Players came and went between meals, shootarounds and games.

    Suarez and Australian teammate Jessie Rennie arrived carrying their jerseys. Favre and Canadian teammate Nick Ongenda soon followed from Baha Mar, carrying their own DePaul jerseys. Influxer staffers briefly introduced themselves, then the athletes got to work.

    Rennie sat down for a podcast focused on her background. Suarez headed to a director’s chair for a stylist to freshen her makeup and hair ahead of her photo shoot.

    Ongenda and Favre were soon joking and mugging together at the photo set before breaking off for their own sessions.

    “I love being in front of the camera on and off the court,” Ongenda said. “It’s a great experience. I’m glad they reached out and let us know about this opportunity.”

    That includes collecting photos with an eye toward versatility. With Favre, for example, some included him holding his empty hand palm up — ready for an item to be added later via photo editing software to accommodate a specific branding deal.

    “That’s great, you can put so many different things there,” Jaynes said, swiping through the shots on an iPad.

    Rennie, sidelined this year with a knee injury, has been happy to see teammates get deals. Like Suarez, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed at being unable to do the same. Still, she didn’t commit to Influxer’s shoot until having enough conversations to feel it was OK.

    “We do Tennessee photo shoots all the time,” Rennie said, “but it was nice to do something that was more about me and who I am and it’s going to be for my benefit, if that makes sense.”

    Influxer returned three days later before the men’s Atlantis tournament, with Southern California’s Australian big man, Harrison Hornery, visiting as the day’s final appointment.

    “It’s been frustrating at USC and being such a high-profile school, and all those NIL opportunities that everyone is getting,” Hornery said. “We have people come to practice and pitch us stuff all the time, and I’m just like, ‘Man, I can’t do it.’”

    “I’m not saying I need X amount of dollars to make me happy,” he added. “Just being here and getting the opportunity to do a cool shoot and then do a podcast with those guys over there — and whatever happens, happens.”

    Influxer ultimately worked with roughly 35 international athletes through the Thanksgiving holiday week, the final session coming in a Nassau studio.

    Ask Jaynes about what’s next for Influxer, and he mentions events beyond basketball such as college golf tournaments in Mexico and elsewhere in the Bahamas. Director of business development Steve McLean even imagines a large-scale media day for international athletes, complete with corporate sponsorship.

    “There’s going to be a lot of trial and error,” McLean said of future events, “and we’re open to all of it.”

    ___

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

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show that there are roughly 14,000 international athletes in Division I, not more than 100,000.

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  • Tennessee high school sports org votes to allow NIL deals

    Tennessee high school sports org votes to allow NIL deals

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The rulemaking arm of Tennessee’s high school sports oversight organization has made a change that allows student athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness.

    A news release from the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association says its legislative council voted for the change on Thursday, effective immediately.

    Students could receive payment as long it is not related to their performance, doesn’t suggest the endorsement or sponsorship of their school and doesn’t include the student in gear featuring the name or logo of their school. The change also says student athletes can get paid for giving lessons.

    Nineteen other states allow high school athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness without affecting their eligibility to play in college.

    The changes have meant elite prep athletes are now banking six and even seven figures before heading to college.

    The wave of new rules allowing high schoolers to cash in on endorsements and other deals follows a decision by the NCAA in June 2021 that cleared the way for the deals for college athletes.

    Some prep stars were already making moves in Tennessee. Shajai Jackson, a running back for Lakeway Christian Academy in White Pine, tweeted Thursday that he has struck an agreement with a local auto dealership.

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