(NEW YORK) — The SEC has officially offered the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma invitations to join the conference starting on July 1, 2025
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey gave the news to the presidents of both schools during a video conference.
“Today’s unanimous vote is both a testament to the SEC’s longstanding spirit of unity and mutual cooperation, as well as a recognition of the outstanding legacies of academic and athletic excellence established by the Universities of Oklahoma and Texas,” said Commissioner Sankey in a statement. “I greatly appreciate the collective efforts of our Presidents and Chancellors in considering and acting upon each school’s membership interest.”
The announcement comes after the conference voted in favor of extending invitations. At least three-fourth of the 14 schools in the conference needed to approve of the move.
On Monday, the two schools issued a joint statement saying that they notified the Big 12 that the schools will not renew their grant of media rights in 2025.
“Providing notice to the Big 12 at this point is important in advance of the expiration of the conference’s current media rights agreement,” the statement said. “The universities intend to honor their existing grant of rights agreements. However, both universities will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape as they consider how best to position their athletics programs for the future.”
The following day, the schools sent a letter to Sankey asking for invitations to the conference.
(New York) — Nearly 88% of NFL players have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, a week after the league announced that teams could face potential forfeits and lost paychecks for outbreaks among unvaccinated players.
On Thursday, NFL Communications Director Brian McCarthy said on Twitter that 87.9% of players have gotten at least one shot. Among the leagues’ 32 teams, 19 of them have more than 90% of players partially vaccinated, and seven have more than 95%, he said.
The partial vaccination rate among NFL players overall is up from over 75% a week ago, when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell warned teams that outbreaks may result in having to forfeit games during the regular 18-week season.
If a game is canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated players and it can’t be rescheduled, the team with the outbreak will have to forfeit the game, and players on both teams won’t get paid, he said in a memo to the athletes.
The NFL is striving to have at least 85% of players on each team vaccinated. Vaccination is not required among players, per an agreement with their union, the NFL Players Association.
Teams just opened training camps this week, during which COVID-19 protocols include daily testing and mask requirements for players who are not fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated players are tested every two weeks.
The NFL Players Association told “Good Morning America” Saturday that the union agreed with the league’s new protocols, but would support any athlete who doesn’t want to get vaccinated.
“We know that vaccinations have reduced infection rates and so we feel good about this, but still want you to make the choice for yourself,” Benjamin Watson, vice president of the association, told ESPN’s Matt Barrie.
“If a player does not want to get vaccinated, we will stand by him 100%,” he said.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill told reporters on the first day of training camp Wednesday he felt the league was unjustly forcing them to get vaccinated.
“The NFL has made it clear what they want to happen,” he said, adding he was in the process of getting fully vaccinated. “If you don’t fall in line, they’re going to try and make your life miserable because of the protocol. I wouldn’t have gotten the vaccine without the protocols that they are enforcing on us. I think it’s a personal decision for each of us.”
(NEW YORK) — The New York Jets have announced rookie quarterback Zach Wilson has signed his rookie contract.
According to ESPN, Wilson signed a four-year, $35.15 million contract that is fully quaranteed. The contract includes a fifth-year team option.
Wilson has missed the first two days of the Jets training camp.
“Every rep is important, so my concern is that it’s two days too many for him,” head coach Saleh told reporters before the news of the contract. “As far as the installs go and the way we’re preparing the rest of the team, that doesn’t concern me. But this young man has a chance to do something special around here that hasn’t been done in a while and every rep matters for him.”
The Jets have only two other quarterbacks the roster with Mike White and James Morgan. Neither players have appeared in a regular season game.
(NEW YORK) — The New York Yankees have acquired outfielder Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers in a trade, the team announced Thursday.
The Yankees sent shortstop Josh Smith, second baseman Ezequiel Duran, second baseman/outfielder Trevor Hauver and right handed pitcher Glenn Otto to Texas. All four our top thirty prospects in the Yankees farm system.
New York gets Gallo, left handed pitcher Joely Rodriquez and cash considerations.
“We are incredibly excited to add two players that will really help us,” said manager Aaron Boone before Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay. “I’m thrilled [Gallo] coming to join the fold. This is obviously a tremendous player, hopefully people are talking about what a tremendous all-around player… We got a lot better today.”
Boone said Gallo will be with the team on Friday.
Gallo is batting .223 with 25 home runs and 88 RBIs. His home runs rank sixth in the American League this season.
(TOKYO) — Sunisa Lee won gold in the gymnastics all-around at the Tokyo Olympics, making her the fifth American female gymnast in a row to win the Olympic all-around title.
The Minnesota-based Lee, 18, went into the all-arounds with a medal already in her pocket, having been part of the U.S. team that won silver Tuesday.
Lee competed in the all-around competition Thursday alongside fellow American Jade Carey, who finished in eight place.
Lee and Carey’s teammates, including Simone Biles, who withdrew from the individual competition to focus on her mental health, were seen Thursday in the stands in Tokyo cheering on Lee and Carey.
Here are five things to know about Lee, America’s newest gold medal-winning gymnast.
1. Lee made history as a Hmong-American:
Lee is the first Hmong-American to compete for Team USA and the first to win a gold medal at the Olympics.
One of six children, Lee was born and raised in Minnesota, a state that has one of the largest Hmong populations in the nation.
The Hmong people lived in southwestern China for thousands of years and then migrated to countries including Laos and Thailand. During the Vietnam War, the Hmong living in Laos partnered with American forces, which led to them being retaliated against once the United States left in the early 1970s.
Many families eventually resettled in the U.S., including Lee’s father, John, who moved to Minnesota from Laos at the age of 7 with his 10 siblings and their parents, according to ESPN.
Lee told People magazine earlier this year that she knows making gymnastics history as a Hmong-American “means a lot to the Hmong community … and to just be an inspiration to other Hmong people [means] a lot to me too.”
2. Lee is the youngest competitor on the US gymnastics team:
Lee is the youngest person on this year’s team at 18 years old, but is no stranger to high-stakes competition. A first-time Olympian, Lee is the national bar champion and has taken gold for beam at several national championships and at the 2019 World Championships.
3. Lee’s family watched her compete from Minnesota:
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Lee’s family was not able to travel to Tokyo to watch her in person.
Instead, the family gathered in their home state of Minnesota to watch Lee win the gold.
Among the family members celebrating was Lee’s dad, who was paralyzed from the chest down after falling from a ladder while helping a neighbor cut a tree branch in 2019. The accident took place just days before Lee competed at the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships.
It was Lee’s dad who helped her get her start in gymnastics by building a wooden balance beam that still sits in the family’s backyard.
“[He tells me] to go out there and do my best and to just do what I do,” Lee told People about her dad’s pep talks.
4. Lee survived a broken foot, family tragedy before the Olympics:
When the Olympics were postponed one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lee considered quitting the sport. But, with her family’s encouragement, continued her training, according to ESPN.
Then in June 2020 she broke her foot, and later over the summer, her aunt and uncle both contracted COVID-19 and died.
“It’s been a tough year, but I’m super proud of myself,” Lee told ESPN earlier this month. “After COVID and quarantine, I was unmotivated because we had so much time off and I felt I wasn’t good enough anymore. But now I’ve been a lot better mentally and you can see it in my gymnastics.”
5. Lee’s next stop post-Olympics is college:
After the Olympics, Lee plans to attend Auburn University in Alabama.
ABC News’ Alexandra Svokos and Aryana Azari contributed to this report.
(TOKYO) — Cruising into the medal rounds Thursday, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic could be on his way to making men’s tennis history at this year’s Olympic Games.
Every year, tennis players have the opportunity to achieve a Grand Slam by winning all four majors: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
But every four years — or, well, five years, in this case — they have the opportunity to achieve a “Golden Slam.” That means winning all four majors and the Olympics.
It’s only ever been achieved once, by Steffi Graf in 1988. No man has ever completed a Golden Slam.
Djokovic, at the very least, is close to it. So far this year, he has won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. The U.S. Open takes place at the end of summer.
On Thursday, Djokovic beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals in Tokyo. He will go on to face Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the semifinal.
A Grand Slam is rare enough. No men’s tennis player has done it in a calendar year since Rod Laver in 1969 — though Djokovic did hold all four titles simultaneously from 2015 to 2016.
He’s facing a somewhat limited field in Tokyo as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Matteo Berrettini, who Djokovic beat in the Wimbledon finals to tie Nadal and Federer’s majors record, will not be competing.
Despite that — and despite the Serbian athlete’s general dominance over the last two years — it won’t exactly be a walk in the park as Djokovic’s competition in the tournament included Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, Zverev and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, among others.
Djokovic has made no secret of his ambitions, telling Montenegro’s MINA news agency before the Games, according to USOpen.org, “I am inspired to play my best tennis and confident that I can win the gold medal after a tremendous run so far this season.”
While he acknowledged the Olympics and U.S. Open would be “demanding,” he added, “But I am full of confidence and motivated to represent Serbia in the best possible way. I am yearning for a medal in Tokyo, hopefully gold, and then I’ll go to New York aiming to complete it all.”
Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images
(TOKYO) — Each day, ABC News will give you a roundup of key Olympic moments from the day’s events in Tokyo, happening 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time. After a 12-month delay, the unprecedented 2020 Summer Olympics is taking place without fans or spectators and under a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sunisa Lee wins gold
Sunisa Lee won the gold medal after a tremendous performance in the individual all-around competition. Lee’s teammate Simone Biles cheered her on from the stands as Lee delivered a strong floor exercise routine to seal the win.
Biles withdrew from the competition Wednesday so she could “focus on her mental health,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement Wednesday. Biles’ replacement in the competition, Jade Carey, finished in 8th place.
Caeleb Dressel wins gold in 100m freestyle, sets Olympic record
U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel won his first individual gold medal after a record-setting time of 47.02 seconds in the 100m freestyle. Fellow swimmer Robert Finke took home the gold in the 800m freestyle event, increasing Team USA’s gold medal count to 13.
COVID-19 cases at Tokyo Olympics rise to 198, Tokyo sees record number of cases
There were 24 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 among people at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, including U.S. pole vaulter Sam Kendricks and two other athletes staying in the Olympic village. The total now stands at 198, according to data released by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.
The surrounding city of Tokyo reported a record high of 3,865 new cases on Wednesday, a seven-day average increase of 161.9%, according to data released by the Tokyo metropolitan government.
Heat continues to be a factor, tennis matches moved to later afternoon
The heat index hit 99 degrees on Wednesday, causing athletes, including the world’s second-ranked tennis player, Daniil Medvedev, to seek medical attention. The matches were moved from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time to avoid the hottest part of the day, the International Tennis Federation announced in a statement.
Djokovic 2 games away from Golden Slam
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the top ranked tennis player in the world, is two games away from achieving a Golden Slam after defeating Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-0. A player would have to win all four major events and the Olympics in a calendar year, a triumph only ever attained by Germany’s Steffi Graf.
(TOKYO) — Sunisa Lee has won gold in the gymnastics all-around at the Tokyo Olympics.
Americans have now won gold in the women’s gymnastics all-around for the last five Olympic Games, starting with Carly Patterson in 2004, Nastia Liukin in 2008, Gabby Douglas in 2012 and Simone Biles in 2016.
Lee went into the all-arounds with a medal already in her pocket, having been part of the U.S. team that won silver Tuesday.
An event initially thought to be a showcase for the all-time great, the all-around field was blown wide open with Simone Biles’ withdrawal.
Each nation is only allowed up to two athletes to compete in the individual gymnastics event. After the qualifying event this past weekend, Biles, who came in first, and Lee were set to be the Americans in the final. Biles’ withdrawal opened up a spot for Jade Carey.
Carey came in ninth in the qualifier overall — rankings that included Biles and a third Russian Olympic Committee gymnast ahead of her.
Lee, meanwhile, came in third behind Biles and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. The difference between Lee’s and Andrade’s scores was 0.23 points; the difference between Carey’s and Andrade’s scores was 1.13.
The Minnesota-based Lee went into the all-arounds with a medal already in her pocket, having been part of the U.S. team that won silver Tuesday.
The first Hmong American Olympian, Lee, 18, reached victory with a strong performance in her signature event, uneven bars, and a strong vault.
Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won silver, bringing home the first gymnastics medal for a Brazilian woman. Angelina Melnikova, a Russian athlete competing under the ROC, won bronze.
An event initially thought to be a showcase for the all-time great, the all-around field was blown wide open with Simone Biles’ withdrawal.
Each nation is only allowed up to two athletes to compete in the individual gymnastics event. After the qualifying event this past weekend, Biles, who came in first, and Lee were set to be the Americans in the final. Biles’ withdrawal opened up a spot for Jade Carey.
Carey ultimately finished the event in eighth place, with a powerful performance on her stronger apparatus, vault, but a fall on beam.
Carey came in ninth in the qualifier overall — rankings that included Biles and a third Russian Olympic Committee gymnast ahead of her.
Lee is a phenom on uneven bars, while Carey is strong on vault. In the qualifier, they both scored over 15 points on those respective apparatuses, accounting for two of the five above-15 scores on any apparatus from any athlete in that event.
After the individual all-around, Lee has qualified to compete in the uneven bars and balance beams event finals, and Carey has qualified for the vault and floor event finals. Carey qualified for the Olympics as an individual, not part of the team competition.
Biles had a misstep on vault at the start of the team competition and withdrew from the rest of competition. USA Gymnastics announced her withdrawal from the all-around event on Wednesday.
“After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health,” USAG said in a statement.
The organization added that Biles “will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether or not to participate in next week’s individual event finals.”
She was in the stands with the rest of the Team USA gymnasts cheering Lee and Carey on Thursday.
(TOKYO) — Candy Jacobs has spent the last eight days inside a tiny, spartan hotel room in Tokyo — unable to see friends, skate board or even breathe fresh air. It’s a far cry from the open-air Ariake Urban Sports Park where the Dutch street skater expected to spend her time during the Olympics.
The 31-year-old’s nightmare stay in Tokyo began with a simple spit test at Tokyo’s airport on July 21. Positive follow-up tests confirmed she would have to be taken immediately to quarantine — and miss the women’s street skateboarding event she had been training to compete in for years.
She tested positive despite the fact that she took PCR tests four days in a row — all negative — before leaving from the Netherlands and has been fully inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine.
“I was in a sports bubble [in the Netherlands], didn’t see anyone, then went to the airport, flew here, got here,” Jacobs told ABC News’ James Longman over Zoom from her quarantine room. “Did the spit test at the way to the airport [and waited] really long. And then they found out the spit tested positive.”
Jacobs has been told a man on her flight to Japan tested positive for COVID, the only explanation for her positive test. “We can never be sure 100%. But looking back, that’s probably the spot where it happened,” she said.
After days of pushing to get some fresh air, her embassy intervened and officials allowed her and six other quarantining guests to stand together in a room with an open window for 15 minutes. She said the whole experience has been horrific and depressing.
There are speakers in the rooms, which tell them when they have to take their temperature, blood oxygen level and when they must go down to collect their food.
“I’m trying to hang in there. You know, it’s actually been super tough,” Jacobs told ABC News. “There’s no space. There’s not even like a little. I found the emergency door has like a little gasp of air coming through it. And sometimes when I get to pick up my food, I’ll stand there for a minute.”
“It went from the Olympic dream to this real quick,” she added.
She has suffered from a loss of taste and smell, a common symptom of COVID, and some lethargy, but is otherwise fine, Jacobs said.
“I try to just be active and I try to do a kickflip every day in my room,” she said, adding the carpet is too thick for her skateboard to roll. “I try to work out as much as I can when my body is like feeling up for it. But I’m noticing the first two or three days I was super active, and then at one point — it’s also from lacking outside air — your body just is going on standby mode.”
Skateboarding was held for the first time in the Olympics in Tokyo. The women’s street competition, for which Jacobs was scheduled to compete, was held on Monday. The podium was dominated by a group of teenagers, with 13-year-olds Momiji Nishiya of Japan and Rayssa Leal of Brazil winning gold and silver, respectively. Funa Nakayama, 16, of Japan, rounded out the podium with bronze.
Jacobs is currently ranked No. 8 in the world and would have been a medal contender. She said she watched the competition alone in her hotel room. While she said she was happy to see the event, and root on her Dutch teammate Roos Zwetsloot — who finished fifth — the reality sank in once it was over.
“Even though this is the scenario you’re in, you still have a little bit of hope that someone made a mistake and someone’s going to go and be like, ‘OK, we figured something out,'” Jacobs said. “So when that drops away, it was like, ‘OK, so now it gets really tough,’ because this is a moment — it’s never going to be the first time skateboarding ever in the Olympics.”
“And every time someone’s going to talk about the Olympics, this is going to be what they think of when they see me,” she continued. “And they’re not going to think about how good of a skateboarder I am or that historic moment in time. You’re going to think, ‘Oh, yeah, that was the moment she tested positive for COVID.'”
There have been 174 positive COVID cases at the Olympics, as of Wednesday, though most positive tests have been by contractors and “games-concerned personnel.” Seventeen, including Jacobs, have been athletes. She was the eighth athlete to test positive.
Jacobs expects to be released from the quarantine on Friday. She said she will immediately depart the city, flying home to Europe.
She is already turning her attention to the next games.
“I’m going to prepare for Paris 2024, so I have a long way to go,” Jacobs said.
(TOKYO) — Caeleb Dressel set a new Olympic record in swimming at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Florida-based swimmer can count himself among the greats after the 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday, which he swam in 47.02.
Dressel was visibly emotional at the conclusion of the race, telling NBC in an interview immediately after getting out of the pool, “It’s a really tough year, just really hard, so to have the results show up, I mean, it really came together, so I’m happy.”
In addition to setting the Olympic record, Dressel finished with the gold medal. Australian Kyle Chalmers was close behind, finishing in 47.08, and Kliment Kolesnikov, an athlete from Russia, won the bronze in 47.44.
Dressel went into the race already having won one medal in Tokyo as part of the U.S. 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.
He had a successful Olympic debut in 2016, earning a gold medal along with a team medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, in which Dressel handed off to swimming legend Michael Phelps.
But Dressel really made a name for himself in 2019, when he smashed a world record previously held by Phelps, who retired after the games in Rio, in the 100-meter butterfly.
The 24-year-old has faced many comparisons to Phelps as he emerges as a powerhouse in the swim world, although Dressel specializes in sprints — shorter, faster races.
Dressel came to Tokyo having qualified for three individual events, the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly, in addition to relay team possibilities.
During the Olympic trials in June to secure his individual spots, he set a record for the fastest 100-meter butterfly swum on American soil.
