General
ESPN deal with Big 12 relies on streaming content, falls short of desired value for football title games
Michael Smith and John Ourand, SportsBusiness Daily
Negotiations for the Big 12’s complicated deal with ESPN did not seem so complicated when the two sides first sat down more than a year ago. The Big 12 was trying to sell the rights to three college football games — its championship games in 2019, 2021 and 2023 — and ESPN was one of the few media companies that wanted to buy them.
Discovery chief David Zaslav content to stay out of RSN business, skeptical of its future
John Ourand, SportsBusiness Daily
Under David Zaslav’s leadership, Discovery has been making big bets on sports programming internationally. But when the 21 Fox Sports-branded regional sports networks came on the market last year, Zaslav stayed on the sidelines.
Daryl Johnston: People took jobs with the AAF because we were misled
Michael David Smith, Profootballtalk.com
Daryl “Moose” Johnston, the former Cowboys fullback and current FOX commentator, also had a side gig as the General Manager of the San Antonio franchise in the Alliance of American Football. That did not end well.
A Boxing Promoter’s Trickiest Move Is Observing the Sabbath
John Eligon, The New York Times
It was 22 1/2 hours until the start of the biggest event of Dmitriy Salita’s career as a boxing promoter, the homestretch when he needed to make sure all of the kinks were ironed out: contracts, tickets, paychecks. But he turned his cellphone off, watching the time carefully.
NFL
Pro Football Hall of Fame plans massive celebration for 2020 NFL centennial
Susan Glaser, The Plain Dealer
On Sept. 17, 1920, several football-minded investors gathered inside a Hupmobile auto dealership in downtown Canton and created what would become the National Football League. The Pro Football Hall of Fame plans to mark that meeting in grand style with a multi-day Centennial Celebration in September 2020.
NBA
Lakers plan to interview Tyronn Lue, Monty Williams and Juwan Howard this week
Tania Ganguli, Los Angeles Times
The Lakers received permission to interview Miami assistant coach Juwan Howard and plan to interview Howard, Tyronn Lue and Monty Williams this week, according to people familiar with their plan but not authorized to speak publicly. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka is leading the Lakers’ coaching search and is expected to be the team’s only executive attending these meetings.
N.B.A. Photographers ‘Do It for the Gram,’ Too
Alex Wong, The New York Times
Nathaniel Butler has been an N.B.A. senior photographer since 1984. Those were the days of shooting on film and developing photos in hotel rooms after games. Today, players text Butler as they arrive at the arena so he can be in position to capture a perfect arena entrance shot for them to post on Instagram.
Without tunnel try, Steph Curry will need new pregame shot
Janie McCauley, The Associated Press
Stephen Curry’s pregame tunnel heaves have become such a spectacle at Oracle Arena that hundreds of cameras rise in the air to capture the moment. He won’t have that anymore when the Warriors move across the bay to San Francisco to Chase Center next season.
Mike Budenholzer Has Come a Long Way From Bucket of Blood Street
Michael Powell, The New York Times
A wind that would not stop tugged at flags and sent sand devils spinning into this desert town as I walked past Mr. Maestas Restaurant and the Arizona Pawnman and the Empty Pockets Saloon and came to a rise and looked across an emptiness of plain that stretched the limits of vision.
I recalled my talk a few days ago with Mike Budenholzer at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City.
Wizards’ Devin Robinson arrested after a fight with Philadelphia Eagles player Jalen Mills
Candace Buckner, The Washington Post
Washington Wizards forward Devin Robinson was arrested Saturday morning after fighting a Philadelphia Eagles player at a Northwest Washington nightclub. Robinson and Jalen Mills, a defensive back with the Eagles since 2016, got into a verbal altercation that escalated into a fight on the sidewalk near the Opera Ultra Lounge at 2:56 a.m., according to D.C. police.
MLB
Orioles’ Chris Davis breaks MLB-record slump with two-run single against Red Sox
Jacob Bogage, The Washington Post
Attention, Major League Baseball: You can stop talking about Chris Davis now. The beleaguered Baltimore Orioles first baseman finally got his first hit of the season Saturday at the Boston Red Sox, snapping an MLB record 0-for-54 streak at the plate that dated from Sept. 15.
Yasiel Puig left behind a complicated Dodgers legacy
Andy McCullough, Los Angeles Times
On the broadcast, Yasiel Puig appears as a blur. He sprints toward the right-field line at Dodger Stadium. His eyes pierce the gloaming to trace a sinking drive struck by Houston’s Alex Bregman.
NHL
Blue Jackets move to the brink of sweeping Lightning
Mitch Stacy, The Associated Press
Sergei Bobrovsky has the Columbus Blue Jackets on the brink of sweeping a playoff series that hardly anyone thought they could win. The Russian goalie shut the door when the Tampa Bay Lightning made a desperate late surge on Sunday night, preserving a 3-1 win and giving Columbus a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the NHL’s best team.
To Lead a Young Team, the Hurricanes Turn to Rod the Bod
Dave Caldwell, The New York Times
Rod Brind’Amour, the scar-faced former N.H.L. center who is the first-year coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, was talking the other day about winning and losing — specifically, how he enjoys winning less than he should, and how losing still stinks, although he used another word. “I don’t know that when I played, I had that much joy,” said Brind’Amour, who scored 452 goals in a 20-year N.H.L. career and was the captain of the Carolina team that won the Stanley Cup in 2006.
Soccer
La Liga, RSG want to boost U.S. profile of Spanish clubs
Ian Thomas, SportsBusiness Daily
La Liga and Relevent Sports Group are launching a series of events to better introduce the Spanish league clubs beyond Barcelona and Real Madrid to the North American audience.
Racing
Martin Truex Jr. erases years of frustration with breakthrough at Richmond
Michelle Martinelli, USA Today
Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need to convince himself he could run well at Richmond Raceway. He has several seasons’ worth of statistics to prove it, but he was never able to put it all together to win there.
NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson talks 2019 Boston Marathon journey
Nicole Yang, Boston.com
NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson recognizes he might need to walk back his ambitious goal for the 2019 Boston Marathon. Johnson, running his first-ever marathon on Monday, initially hoped to run the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boylston Street in under three hours.
Golf and Tennis
Tiger’s Masters Victory Is a $22 Million Win for Nike
Eben Novy-Williams, Bloomberg
Tiger Woods’s improbable Masters victory will reward the few companies that stuck with him through his struggles, and the ones that joined him when he was near the low point of his career. The 43-year-old won his fifth Masters title on Sunday by one stroke.
Adidas may have underestimated Tiger’s ability to come back — this private equity firm could win big as a result
Lauren Hirsch, CNBC
A few years ago, Adidas was struggling to find much interest in its TaylorMade golf clubs. After Tiger Woods’ historic Masters win on Sunday, it may want them back.
Tiger Woods’ Masters Win Costs Three Different Sportsbooks 7 Figures
Darren Rovell, The Action Network
Tiger Woods winning his first major in nearly 11 years cost three sportsbooks in particular dearly. William Hill, FanDuel and DraftKings each said they paid out more than $1 million.
Eye of the Tiger: How CBS covered Woods’ win at The Masters
Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
Jim Nantz was told by the late Ken Venturi after Jack Nicklaus’ 1986 Masters win that he would never see a day like that around Augusta National again. Nantz’s 34th Masters ended up being just as dramatic with Tiger Woods’ first victory in a major in nearly 11 years and his first green jacket since 2005.
Nike Celebrates Tiger Woods’ Triumphant Return and His Path to Golf’s Biggest Record
David Griner, Adweek
A year ago, Nike joined Tiger Woods’ legion of fans in celebrating his return to the Masters and to the cultural radar more broadly, after a three-year absence from the tournament. His performance at Augusta in 2018 didn’t quite live up to the hype, but the real question was whether it put him back on a path to dominance.
College Sports
LSU reinstates head coach Will Wade after meeting with school and NCAA officials
Kyle Boone, CBS Sports
LSU has reinstated men’s basketball coach Will Wade, who had been suspended since early March, after he met with LSU and NCAA officials on Friday. Wade was suspended over an alleged “offer” he made to a recruit that was caught on a wiretap in a conversation with Christian Dawkins, an ex-middleman who has been found guilty and will serve jail time for his role in the college basketball corruption scandal.
Esports
OpenAI’s Dota 2 AI steamrolls world champion e-sports team with back-to-back victories
Nick Statt, The Verge
OpenAI, the AI research organization, can claim a world first: its artificial intelligence system trained to play the complex strategy game Dota 2 has bested a world champion e-sports team. The competition was held in San Francisco today and dubbed the OpenAI Five Finals, ending the organization’s public demonstrations of its Dota-playing technology on a high note.
‘Twitch Sings’ Is the Streaming Platform’s First Video Game
Stefanie Fogel, Variety
Streaming platform Twitch is launching its first video game, it announced during its first-ever TwitchCon Europe event on Saturday. “Twitch Sings” is a free karaoke-style game developed from the ground up for streaming.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
Holy Bleep, Tiger Woods Did It
Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal
All that’s really left now in sports is for the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl. Because Tiger Woods did it.
Luke Walton’s loyalty was no match for the Lakers’ dysfunction that consumed him
Ben Golliver, The Washington Post
For a few magical weeks in the fall, Luke Walton’s Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most intriguing basketball experiments in recent memory. They flew up and down the court, utilized unconventional lineups, ran up impressive score lines and gave observers the first reason to be excited about the franchise since Kobe Bryant’s Achilles’ tendon tear.
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