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☆ Athletics acquire land for Las Vegas ballpark
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Athletics president Dave Kaval said the team was pushing ahead with plans for a new stadium in Las Vegas after the process to build a waterfront ballpark in Oakland stalled. "We have a pact in Las Vegas that we think can work and has the support from the league, so we are really putting all our focus in Las Vegas and the efforts there." MLB is the latest major sport league eager to get in on the Las Vegas action. "In 2021, given the continued lack of progress, MLB instructed the A's to explore a parallel path plan with Las Vegas. "We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year."

☆ Oakland Athletics Say They Will Move to Las Vegas by 2027
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Benjamin Hoffman | Andrew Das | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement to acquire land near the Las Vegas Strip and said Wednesday that they hoped to be playing games in a new, billion-dollar retractable roof stadium on the site by 2027. The agreement on the 49-acre site in Nevada, which the team’s president, Dave Kaval, confirmed to The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday night, will seemingly end years of tense negotiations for a new stadium in the Bay Area, an investment the team said it needed to remain financially viable and competitive with its peers in Major League Baseball. “It’s obviously a very big milestone for us,” Kaval said of the potential move to Las Vegas, which would be the first relocation of a major league franchise in two decades. “We spent almost two years working in Las Vegas to try to determine a location that works for a long-term home. To identify a site and have a purchase agreement is a big step.”

☆ Mets Ace Gets 10-Game Ban for Sticky Substance on Hand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Scott Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Another unwanted, extended rest is coming for Max Scherzer, the Mets’ ace right-hander: He has been suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball for violating prohibitions on foreign substances. Scherzer, who was ejected from the Mets’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday in the fourth inning, also was fined an undisclosed amount. The punishment was announced early Thursday evening before the Mets opened their four-game weekend series in San Francisco against the Giants. Scherzer had planned to appeal the suspension, according to his agent, Scott Boras, but then he told reporters before Thursday’s game that he would instead accept the ban. According to a person familiar with the proceedings, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Scherzer filed the appeal but agreed to drop it once M.L.B.

☆ Oakland Athletics signal impending move to Las Vegas with agreement to purchase land near strip, per reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Homero De La Fuente | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics have signed a binding purchase agreement for land near the Las Vegas Strip, where the team plans to construct a Major League ballpark, according to reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and The Athletic, citing Athletics team president Dave Kaval. A general view of play between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on August 6, 2020. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty ImagesMLB commissioner Rob Manfred expressed his support on the Athletics’ plans to relocate to Las Vegas. “Welcoming the A’s to Las Vegas would be great news for Southern Nevada as well as our entire state,” Lombardo said in a statement to the Review-Journal. “The prospect of bringing new jobs, more economic development and a historic MLB franchise to Las Vegas is exciting on many levels.

☆ ‘Love is Blind’ live reunion delayed as Netflix pleads for patience
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Netflix’s highly anticipated live reunion Sunday for the season 4 cast of its reality dating show “Love is Blind” has been delayed, leaving fans waiting for over an hour. A couple minutes after its scheduled start time, Netflix tweeted: “Love is … late. — Netflix (@netflix) April 17, 2023The company isn’t used to airing live events like many of its streaming competitors. Netflix’s rivals have found success with live streaming. The company started experimenting with live broadcasts as the media landscape continues to shift.

☆ Guardiola defends City's lack of Champions League success
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Guardiola has won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and four League Cups at City but European success has eluded the manager who won the trophy twice as Barcelona manager. Under the Spanish manager, City have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for six straight seasons, with the English club's best finish being runners-up in 2021. When asked how much he wanted to win the Champions League title with City, Guardiola on Monday told reporters, "a lot". Every season the work you have to do is to stay in competitions - the Premier League, the Champions League, all the cups - the biggest goal is to stay in competitions as long as you can." On Tuesday, Guardiola and City will come up against Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel in the Champions League for the first time since the German manager's Chelsea team beat them in the 2021 final.

☆ A NBA superstar went from keeping cash in multiple bank accounts to investing in 2 sports teams and launching an ETF. Here are 4 of Giannis Antetokounmpo's business ventures.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Giannis Antetokounmpo once kept his money in half a dozen bank accounts due to the FDIC limit. The NBA star's ventures now include a sports drinks maker, two sports teams, and a sustainable ETF. Nashville SCAlong with his three brothers, Antetokounmpo invested in Nashville SC, a Major League Soccer club, earlier this year. "I've always had the dream of owning a soccer team," he continued. "I want my kids before they even get their first dollar to know how to make a dollar into two.

☆ Climate change adds to baseball's offensive boom as warmer air means about 50 more home runs per season, new study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new study from researchers at Dartmouth found at least 500 home runs since 2010 likely caused by climate change. It attributed at least 500 home runs since the 2010 season to warmer temperatures. The study from researchers at Dartmouth College offers the newest examples of how global warming could affect recreation nationwide in the future. The Dartmouth researchers acknowledge that the climate change factor is likely minor, as MLB teams hit 5,215 home runs last season, meaning the warmer temperatures only account for about 1% of the long balls. Different baseballs, faster pitches, stronger batters, and generally altered strategy with an emphasis on certain metrics like launch angle have a greater influence on home runs than climate change, the researchers said.

☆ A New Twist for the Tradition-Bound Masters: The LIV Golf Era
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alan Blinder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The mystery started in earnest last spring and lasted until autumn’s twilight. But Phil Mickelson — among the most famous frontmen for LIV Golf, the league bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — insists that he believed he would be allowed to play the 2023 Masters Tournament, which opens Thursday. Never mind any discomfort, or how on-course rivalries had transformed into long-distance furies tinged by politics, power, pride and money. No, Mickelson reasoned, tradition would prevail at Augusta National Golf Club, surely among sports’ safest wagers. “I wasn’t really worried,” said Mickelson, who spent the 2022 Masters in a self-imposed sporting exile after he effectively downplayed Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses.

☆ This could've been an email: If MLB can speed up games, bosses can shorten meetings. Here's how.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

If new rules can improve game speed, surely bosses can make meetings run more efficiently. If Major League Baseball can speed up games, surely bosses can make meetings more efficient, right? Try, for instance, forcing yourself to cut meetings by half: Your weekly meeting becomes an every-other-week meeting; your hourlong meetings become 30-minutes ones. Ask for adviceJust as MLB needs to consider the fan experience of being at the ballpark or watching a game on TV, bosses need to think about their workers' experiences in meetings, Rogelberg said. "Instead of putting people in hours of meetings without ever asking them about what they're accomplishing, you need to engage," he said.

☆ Ramadan soccer league brings a bit of joy to Gaza refugee camp
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Young Palestinian men play football during the holy month of Ramadan, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu MustafaRAFAH, Gaza Strip, April 5 (Reuters) - Soccer fans in the Gaza Strip gather to watch the specially organised Ramadan Popular League, a competition held every year in the Rafah refugee camp which is home to over 120,000 people in the southern part of the coastal enclave. "Every year during Ramadan month we come to watch this league, it brings us joy and happiness," said Issa Shaloula. "As players of clubs we come to these popular fields to please the crowds," said Ahmed El-Loulahy, who plays for Khadamat Rafah Club. "This ground is more popular than many other stadiums, it is a playground for refugees.

[1/3] Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc. CEO Renee Wilm and Terry Miller of Miller Project Management give a tour of the Las Vegas Grand Prix paddock construction site, in Paradise, Nevada, U.S., March 3, 2023. "We think this is going to the biggest sports and entertainment event of the year," Renee Wilm, the CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, told Reuters. "There is no better way for Las Vegas to draw the attention of our international customers than through Formula One," Steve Hill, CEO of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told Reuters. JUST THE BEGINNINGAnd the Las Vegas sports bonanza won't stop at the F1 finish line. Reporting by Rory Carroll in Las Vegas Editing by Christian RadnedgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ MLB roundup: Trayce Thompson's 3 HRs power Dodgers' rout
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Rangers 16, Phillies 3Mitch Garver hit a pair of three-run home runs in Texas' rout of Philadelphia in Arlington, Texas. Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman (0-1) struck out seven and walked one in six innings. Nationals starter Josiah Gray (0-1) allowed five runs on seven hits -- including three home runs -- in five innings. Gray (1-0) allowed three hits, struck out one and walked four in the second game of the three-game series. The Rays scored the seven runs on six hits, and Yandy Diaz added two runs with a home run the following inning.

☆ No Haaland, no problem as Man City thrash Liverpool 4-1 to keep up title chase
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Lori Ewing | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MANCHESTER, England, April 1 (Reuters) - Manchester City showed they can win without goal machine Erling Haaland as they put four past Liverpool at the Etihad on Saturday to keep their chase of Premier League leaders Arsenal very much alive. Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish were all on target for Pep Guardiola's side in a goal-packed return to Premier League action after the international break. "We had a chat between ourselves and with the manager (at halftime) and he said we have to stay in the game," Grealish said. "The first minute to 93 ... really really good, the way we played." Looking ahead though, the England winger insisted that the fate of the Premier League this season is still in Arsenal's hands.

☆ Baseball’s Pitch Clock Has a Hidden Benefit for Players: More Rest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The primary goal of Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock is to shave 20 or 30 minutes off of the sport’s plodding three-plus-hour games. But the rollout of the clock this season raises an intriguing side question: What difference could a spare half-hour per night make in the life of a major-league ballplayer? The answer may be a clearer mind, fresher legs and the ability to play more—not fewer—games. That could make baseball’s drive to speed up its games a counteraction to the one of the creeping trends that has detracted from the competitive and entertainment value of the sport: load management.

☆ When Every Win Means Water, Water Everywhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Andrew Keh | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

When Every Win Means Water EverywherePicture yourself at work. Teleport this scene into a sports locker room, though, and suddenly the dousing is perfectly in bounds. But like many coaches, he eventually accepted his fate, removing his shoes before entering the locker room. The athletes were unwinding in the locker room when Coach Mark Few and his assistants charged in and began sousing them with ice-cold water. Isaiah Wong, the team’s star shooting guard, said they would only consider spraying water now if they won the championship.

☆ Minor league baseball players ratify historic first collective bargaining agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jacob Lev | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Minor league baseball players ratified a historic first-ever collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with Major League Baseball, the Players Association announced on Friday. The deal will be final upon formal ratification by Major League Baseball owners. With the approval, minor league players will have their salaries and working conditions set by the CBA prior to the start of the minor league season. “The agreement represents a giant step forward in treating Minor League Players as the elite professional athletes that they are,” said MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark in a statement. Every past and present member of the MLBPA is proud today.”The minor league season is scheduled to open on Friday when Triple-A clubs start the regular season.

☆ MLB Opening Day rosters feature 269 international players
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 31 (Reuters) - The number of players born outside the United States that featured on Opening Day rosters dipped 2% to 269 compared to last year, Major League Baseball (MLB) said on Friday. The number of internationally-born players represents 28.5% of a total pool of 945 players and trails only the 2020 (291) and 2022 (275) seasons. As has been the case each year since MLB began releasing the data in 1995, the Dominican Republic led the way among countries and territories outside the United States with 104 players, its second-highest total since 2020 (110). For the third consecutive season, the Houston Astros have the most internationally-born players with 16, followed by the Minnesota Twins (15), San Diego Padres (15), Miami Marlins (13) and New York Yankees (13). Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto Editing by Christian RadnedgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ MLB, Minor Leaguers Reach Tentative Deal on First-Ever Collective Bargaining Agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A minor league baseball game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and Greensboro Grasshoppers in 2022. Minor league baseball players reached a tentative agreement with Major League Baseball on the collective bargaining agreement for minor leaguers who formed a union last year, MLB Players Association officials said Wednesday night. The five-year deal—which will go to a ratification vote by players on Thursday and to MLB owners for a vote in coming days—will at least double the pay of minor-league players and provide other benefits. Last September, MLB voluntarily recognized the union, which made the MLB Players Association the bargaining agent for minor league players.

☆ How Fanatics and MLB are planning to keep the trading card boom going
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

MLB trading card partner Fanatics has plans for new rookie card features this season as part of a bigger plan to increase the value of Topps baseball cards for collectors. "Fanatics is focused on the best experience for the fan, and collectibles is focused on the best collector experience," said Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan. After the game, the patch will be authenticated and placed directly onto their rookie card in a future Topps set. While the sports trading card industry had seen growth in recent years, the pandemic put the hobby into overdrive. Cards across sports have been selling for record prices, including a $12.6 million sale for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, the highest price ever paid for a trading card.

☆ MLB Opening Day 2023: Understanding the 3 major rule changes baseball is making this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Baseball is a game that thrives off of routine and rhythms, but this year the league is shaking things up. As teams take the field on March 30 for Opening Day of the 2023 baseball season, keep an eye out for these three major changes. Brace Hemmelgarn | Getty Images Sport | Getty ImagesPerhaps the most noticeable change for fans will be the implementation of a formal pitch clock. Batters, meanwhile, will need to be in the batters' box before the pitch clock ticks down to the eight second mark or they will be given a strike. The pitch clock has on average reduced the length of games by an average of 26 minutes, the MLB said when announcing the new rule.

☆ Want to watch MLB games? Making sense of the confusing TV and streaming landscape
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Home base planFor the baseball fan looking to watch as many games as possible, a traditional pay TV service is still the go-to place. Discovery' s TBS, as well as Fox Corp. 's broadcast and pay TV networks, take up a decent chunk of the schedule. However, as more options are introduced, regional sports networks are getting fewer games and fans have to pay more to watch all games. With a higher rate of consumers dropping pay TV bundles and opting for streaming services, many networks have created direct-to-consumer streaming app options. Few offset the pay TV losses, but at least provide an option for fans wanting to stream.

☆ Major League Baseball leans into streaming as 2023 season gets underway
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMajor League Baseball leans into streaming as 2023 season gets underwayJoe Flint, Wall Street Journal reporter, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss MLB going into streaming.

☆ Office Doom Loop: Landlords Face a Reckoning As Companies Move to Fancy Offices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

The Gas Company Tower in downtown Los Angeles has a sterling pedigree, but even that can't save it from the doom loop facing many older office towers. A huge swath of America's office market is vulnerable to these twin threats of being under-equipped with amenities and underwater financially. This behavioral shift has deeply cut into demand for office space. The amount of sublease space nationally more than doubled from 118.5 million square feet at the end of 2019 to 242.8 million square feet at the end of 2022, Colliers stated. Lenders are often reluctant, he said, to seize office buildings because of the costs and expertise required to operate the properties.

☆ YES Network launching streaming service to give non-cable viewers access to Yankees games
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The YES Network is launching a direct-to-consumer streaming service, giving non-cable subscribers the ability to watch New York Yankees games. The YES Network will charge $24.99 per month, or $239.99 annually, according to an announcement. The YES Network broadcasts games for the Yankees, the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA's New York Liberty to fans that live in the greater New York area. "We are pleased to introduce a direct subscription option," said Yes Network CEO Jon Litner in a statement. The YES Network is co-owned by the Yankees and a corsortium of other investors including Amazon and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

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