SOCCER
Record TV deal for EPL
The English Premier League (EPL) on Monday announced that it had agreed a record ￡6.7 billion (US$8.46 billion) domestic television rights deal for a four-year period starting from the 2025-2026 season. The current deal is reported to be worth about ￡5 billion over a three-year cycle and covers 200 matches per season. Sky Sports and TNT Sports retained their rights to show live matches, with Amazon not part of the next cycle. Sky would screen a minimum of 215 live matches per season, while TNT would broadcast 52. BBC Sport is to broadcast highlights via its Match of the Day program. A Saturday afternoon blackout, designed to protect attendances in the lower leagues, would remain, but for the first time all matches outside of those scheduled for 3pm on Saturday would be screened live.
OLYMPICS
‘No plan B’ after attack
The French government still plans to hold next year’s Paris Olympics opening ceremony on the River Seine, even after a deadly attack in the French capital at the weekend amplified existing security concerns. French Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games Amelie Oudea-Castera said that the plan could still be adapted, as media reports indicated grave concern within the security forces that the ceremony could be vulnerable to attack. A man known to the authorities as a radical Islamist with mental troubles on Saturday stabbed to death a German tourist close to the Eiffel Tower by the River Seine. “There is no plan B, we have a plan A within which we have several alternatives,” Oudea-Castera told France Inter radio. The “terrorist threat and in particular the Islamist threat exists,” she said. “It is not new and it is neither specific to France nor specific to the Games.”
ICE HOCKEY
Neck guards compulsory
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on Monday announced that it is making neck guards mandatory for all levels of competition in the tournaments it runs, including the Olympics and men’s and women’s world championships. The mandate would not apply to professional leagues, including the NHL. Any sort of mandate in the NHL would require an agreement between the league and players’ union. The IIHF’s move comes after the death of American Adam Johnson, whose neck was cut by a skate blade during a game in England in October. The exact date for the IIHF neck guard mandate to go into place is still to be determined.
RUGBY UNION
World Cup final ref quits
English referee Tom Foley, who received death threats after acting as television match official at the Rugby World Cup final, is to step away from officiating Test rugby for the foreseeable future. Foley was television match official for October’s final between South Africa and New Zealand in Paris, which the Springboks won 12-11. The 38-year-old said last month that death threats had been aimed at him and his family since the World Cup, and he had to warn his children’s school as a result. “While it is a privilege to be at the heart of some of the sport’s most iconic moments, the increasing levels of vitriol, when the demands and expectation are so high, have led me to this moment,” Foley said in a statement released by the Rugby Football Union on Monday.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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