(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Boston 144, Washington 102
Dallas 118, Milwaukee 112
Denver 129, LA Lakers 118
Detroit 121, Indiana 117
New York 118, Orlando 88
Philadelphia 112, Cleveland 108
Oklahoma City 117, Phoenix 96
San Antonio 113, Portland 92
Miami 114, Toronto 109
Minnesota 139, Houston 132
Golden State 109, Sacramento 90
LA Clippers 119, New Orleans 100
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Florida 5, Buffalo 3
Ottawa 5, Detroit 2
NY Islanders 4, New Jersey 3
Vegas 3, Vancouver 2 (OT)
Minnesota 5, Washington 1
Arizona 3, Chicago 2 (OT)
Philadelphia 4, NY Rangers 3 (SO)
Edmonton 6, Anaheim 1
Seattle 4, Dallas 1
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Friday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Toronto 102 Orlando 89
Final Washington 135 Dallas 103
Final Boston 128 Indiana 123
Final Detroit 110 Oklahoma City 101
Final L.A. Clippers 153 Milwaukee 119
Final Memphis 122 Phoenix 114
Final Sacramento 122 Houston 117
Final San Antonio 130 Portland 111
Final Minnesota 136 Denver 130
Final New Orleans 114 L.A. Lakers 111
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final N-Y Islanders 3 N-Y Rangers 0
Final Buffalo 4 Nashville 3
Final Tampa Bay 5 Chicago 2
Final Ottawa 5 Detroit 2
Final OT Edmonton 6 St. Louis 5
Final Vegas 5 Seattle 2
Final Anaheim 5 Arizona 0
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Detroit 102, Philadelphia 94
Atlanta 131, Cleveland 107
Milwaukee 120, Brooklyn 119 (OT)
Chicago 135, LA Clippers 130 (OT)
Utah 122, LA Lakers 109
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
NY Islanders 5, Columbus 2
Carolina 4, Montreal 0
Florida 4, Chicago 0
Toronto 7, Winnipeg 3
Boston 8, New Jersey 1
Pittsburgh 4 Minnesota 3 (OT)
Colorado 4, San Jose 2
Los Angeles 3, Calgary 2 (SO)
Dallas 3, Anaheim 2 (OT)
(SAN JOSE, Costa Rica) — The U.S. men’s national soccer team is headed to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Despite the team’s 0-2 loss to Costa Rica on Wednesday, the U.S. qualified for the tournament in Qatar — they simply had to avoid losing by six or more goals to secure a berth.
It will be the United States’ first World Cup appearance since 2014. The team failed to qualify for the last World Cup in 2018.
We’ve waited eight years to be back in the World Cup.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Dallas 120, Cleveland 112
Washington 127, Orlando 110
Denver 125, Indiana 118
Toronto 125, Minnesota 102
Charlotte 125, New York 114
Miami 106, Boston 98
Atlanta 136, Oklahoma City 118
Sacramento 121, Houston 118
Memphis 112, San Antonio 111
New Orleans 117, Portland 107
Phoenix 107, Golden State 103
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Winnipeg 3, Buffalo 2 (SO)
NY Rangers 5 Detroit 4 (OT)
Edmonton 4, Los Angeles 3 (SO)
Arizona 5, San Jose 2
St. Louis 4, Vancouver 3
Vegas 3, Seattle 0
(NEW YORK) — With four perennial powerhouse teams set to play and a legendary coach prepared to end his career win or lose, this weekend’s Final Four showdowns of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament are casting March Madness on ticket prices.
The highest-priced pair of prized near-courtside ducats for the two games at the 78,000-seat Superdome in New Orleans were going for $18,510 each on Wednesday on the mobile ticket marketplace app, Gametime.
But even tickets for the highest level of the nosebleed sections are going for more than $1,000.
“We have seen just tremendous demand for this Final Four,” Adam Budelli, a spokesperson for StubHub, a ticket exchange and resale company, told ABC News. “This is currently the second-highest average ticket price we have seen for a Final Four in StubHub history.”
Budelli said the average ticket price to the Final Four on StubHub as of Wednesday afternoon was $1,050 while the lowest get-in-the-door ticket was $280 if fans are lucky enough to snag the few left. Budelli said about 3,400 seats in total were still available with the most expensive ticket on StubHub going for a little over $13,000.
The highest average ticket price for a Final Four in the company’s 22-year history remains the $1,260 college basketball fans paid in 2015 when the Duke Blue Devils beat the Wisconsin Badgers to win a fifth national title.
Duke is once again in the Final Four for the 17th time, including 13 under legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski. Affectionately known as “Coach K,” the 75-year-old winningest men’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history announced in June that he is retiring at the end of this season.
Krzyzewski, who has been the Blue Devils’ coach since 1980, will lead his team Saturday as they take on their home state rival the University of North Carolina for the first time ever in the annual NCAA tournament. The other Final Four game on Saturday will be between Villanova and Kansas.
The winning teams will face off on Monday night for the NCAA national title.
The combination of Coach K’s last hurrah and two games involving four of the nation’s most elite teams is providing what Budelli described as a “perfect storm” to drive up ticket sales and prices.
“There’s certainly a wide variety of factors, the biggest one being you’re talking about four traditional kind of what they call ‘blue blood’ teams that have nationwide fan bases with a history of traveling and spending money, especially on their basketball programs,” Budelli said. “And then within that, you have the match-up of Duke and North Carolina, a storied rivalry. They’ve never played (each other) in March Madness, it’s Coach K’s final year and on and on you go.”
Budelli said that all four teams have such wide fan bases that StubHub’s sales data shows people across the nation are buying tickets to the Final Four. He said that while 11% of the company’s tickets so far have been purchased by people in North Carolina, 10% of purchases have been made in New York and 9% in California and New Jersey.
“All four of these teams, regardless of their alumni base,” said Budelli, “have just a wide variety of fans because of their histories in the game.”
(AUGUSTA, Ga.) — Could Tiger Woods be gearing up for a return to the Masters?
Citing sources, ESPN reports Woods, 46, played 18 holes at Augusta National Golf Club on Tuesday.
The five-time Masters champion played alongside his son and PGA Tour pro Justin Thomas, sources told ESPN.
Woods last played in the Masters in 2020. The following year, he was involved in a car accident that left him with several injuries, including to his right leg.
The 15-time major champion is listed as an invitee on the Masters’ website. However, Woods has not officially announced whether he will be participating in the tournament, which begins at Augusta National Golf Club next week.
(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — After considering proposals to change overtime rules, NFL team owners on Tuesday agreed to make changes but only when it comes to the postseason.
The modified proposal that was approved by owners will require each team to have possession of the ball during overtime play in the postseason, before the game moves into a sudden death scenario.
The original rule, in which a team can win on the first possession of overtime if it scores a touchdown, will still stand for regular-season games.
The Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles had proposed the idea of requiring each team to have possession of the ball during overtime play — both in the regular season and playoffs — but there wasn’t enough support among owners to pass the rule as is.
Once the rule was amended to apply only in the postseason, a consensus was reached and owners voted to pass it, 29-3.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Chicago 107, Washington 94
Milwaukee 118, Philadelphia 116
Dallas 128, LA Lakers 110
Brooklyn 130, Detroit 123
LA Clippers 121, Utah 115
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
NY Rangers 3, Pittsburgh 2
NY Islanders 4, Columbus 3
Toronto 6, Boston 4
Tampa Bay 4, Carolina 3 (OT)
Florida 7, Montreal 4
Minnesota 4, Philadelphia 1
Nashville 4, Ottawa 1
Colorado 2, Calgary 1
Dallas 3, Anaheim 2
(NEW YORK) — The National Football League announced a new rule on Monday that requires all 32 teams to hire an offensive coach who is “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority” for the 2022 season.
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, the chairman of the NFL Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, said on Monday that the rule is designed to increase opportunities for women and people of color to get hired in top positions because offensive coordinator jobs have been “stepping stones” to top positions in the league, including head coach.
“We clearly do not have as many minorities in the offensive coordinator [job],” Rooney said.
“It’s really an effort to try to bring more talented minority coaches to the offensive side of the ball, both within the league and hopefully attract those talented individuals from the college ranks,” he added.
NFL chief administrative officer Dasha Smith said teams that already have a woman or a person of color in similar roles will count towards that policy, ESPN reported.
The new policy is part of a series of moves designed to boost the league’s diversity amid criticism that the league’s efforts over the past few years have fallen flat.
Since 2003, NFL teams have been required to interview at least two minority candidates when hiring for prominent positions through a policy known as the Rooney Rule. But the policy was newly expanded to include women “on all levels,” according to ESPN.
The rule does not require that the female candidates interviewed be women of color, so a team could potentially interview two white female candidates to meet the requirement.
Rooney said that since women are in the “early stages” of entering the coaching ranks, it “may be a little ways away” before including women to the definition of “minority” candidates could hinder opportunities for people of color.
“The truth of the matter is that as of today, at least, there aren’t many women in the pool in terms of head coach,” he said, according to ESPN. “We hope that is going to change over the years, but for that reason we didn’t see it as inhibiting the number of interviews for racial minorities at this point in time. Obviously, we can address that as time goes on, but for now we didn’t see that as an issue.”
In addition to the hiring mandate, The NFL announced on Monday the formation of a new diversity advisory committee to review club hiring policies and issued a statement from the 32 teams addressing efforts to diversify club ownership.
“The membership will regard it as a positive and meaningful factor if the group includes diverse individuals who would have a significant equity stake in and involvement with the club, including serving as the controlling owner of the club,” the statement said.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a memo last month, saying that the results of the NFL’s efforts to diversify the coaching staff are “unacceptable.”
“We have made significant efforts to promote diversity and adopted numerous policies and programs which have produced positive change in many areas, however we must acknowledge that particularly with respect to head coaches the results have been unacceptable,” Goodell said in the Feb. 5 memo. “We will reevaluate and examine all policies, guidelines and initiatives relating to diversity, equity and inclusions.”
The memo also acknowledged concerns expressed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who announced on Feb. 1 that he is suing the NFL over alleged racial discrimination after being fired in January, despite an 8-1 finish to the season.
Flores was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers last month as their senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach for next season, but has vowed to continue his lawsuit against the NFL in which he alleges that the league has a history of racist hiring practices, particularly when it comes to the hiring and retention of Black head coaches.
Goodell said the NFL understands Flores’ concerns and as “the legal process moves forward, we will not wait to reassess and modify our strategies to ensure that they are consistent with our values and longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”
But in its initial response to Flores’ lawsuit, the NFL said in a Feb. 1 statement that “diversity is core to everything we do” and claimed that his allegations are “without merit.”
In a league where players are more than 70% Black, there are only two minority owners and only five minority head coaches, including two Black head coaches – the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the Houston Texans’ Lovie Smith.
Tomlin, who has been outspoken on the NFL’s lack of diversity, expressed doubt at an owners meeting on Monday that the new hiring practices will lead to change, according to ESPN.
“I haven’t been in any discussions and no, I don’t have a level of confidence that would lead me to believe that things are going to be better,” Tomlin said. ”I’m more of a show me guy as opposed to a guy that sits around and talks about things.”
