(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Atlanta 10, Toronto 9 Oakland 3, Chi Cubs 1 Cincinnati 3, Chi White Sox 1 Texas 8, Cincinnati 1 San Francisco 5, LA Angels 2 Baltimore 13, Philadelphia 4 NY Yankees 12, Pittsburgh 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE Detroit 12, Minnesota 3 LA Angels 8, Kansas City 8
NATIONAL LEAGUE LA Dodgers 5, San Diego 2 NY Mets 6, Miami 3 Arizona 5, Colorado 1 St. Louis 13, Washington 4
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Indiana 122, Detroit 103 Miami 107, Cleveland 104 Sacramento 123, Toronto 89 Boston 122, Milwaukee 119 Oklahoma City 119, Utah 107 LA Clippers 116, Portland 103 Phoenix 115, Philadelphia 102 Golden State 137, Memphis 116
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Los Angeles 6, Minnesota 0 Toronto 7, Washington 3 Dallas 5, Arizona 2
(NEW YORK) — TKO, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship, will pay $335 million to settle a class action lawsuit over wage suppression, according to a company filing Wednesday.
“On March 13, 2024, TKO reached an agreement to settle all claims asserted in both class action lawsuits for an aggregate amount of $335 million payable by the Company and its subsidiaries in installments over an agreed-upon period of time,” TKO said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The settlement comes just weeks before a trial was to begin April 15.
At issue were allegations that UFC used long-term contracts to delay or prevent free agency by hundreds of fighters and coerced them into signing deals that prevented them from maximum earning potential.
The lawsuit was originally filed against Zuffa LLC, the former name of the owners of UFC, in December 2014. Zuffa was later purchased by Endeavor, which merged with World Wrestling Entertainment in April 2023 and was renamed TKO Group Holdings.
The original lawsuit included fighters Cung Le, Nathan Quarry and Jon Fitch and expanded to include fighters such as Brandon Vera and others. The lawsuit was granted class action status in August 2023.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada had denied the UFC’s motion for a summary judgment in the case on Jan. 18, opening the door to the trial beginning in April.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE San Francisco 9, Kansas City 8 Milwaukee 8, Cleveland 5 LA Angels 10, Cincinnati 6 Seattle 12, Colorado 3 Cleveland 8, Colorado 8 Philadelphia 0, Detroit 0 Miami 3, Houston 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE Boston 5, Tampa Bay 2 Baltimore 13, Toronto 8 Oakland 7, Texas 7
NATIONAL LEAGUE St. Louis 11, Miami 10 NY Mets 3, St. Louis 1 Arizona 4, Chi Cubs 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Orlando 112, Charlotte 92 Houston 137, Washington 114 New Orleans 104, Brooklyn 91 Dallas 113, San Antonio 107 Denver 115, Minnesota 112
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Detroit 4 Columbus 3 (OT) New Jersey 5, Pittsburgh 2 Philadelphia 4, Toronto 3 Winnipeg 4, NY Rangers 2 Boston 6, Ottawa 2 Carolina 4, NY Islanders 1 Colorado 4, St. Louis 3 Nashville 8, San Jose 2 Edmonton 3, Montreal 2 (OT) Minnesota 4, Anaheim 0 Los Angeles 6, Chicago 2 Tampa Bay 5, Vegas 3 Vancouver 3, Buffalo 2
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE NY Yankees 4, Philadelphia 3 Tampa Bay 7, Atlanta 3 Miami 6, Houston 5 Milwaukee 4, LA Angels 3 Washington 10, Houston 1 LA Dodgers 5, Korea 2 Oakland 3, Arizona 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE Minnesota 5, Boston 2 Final Seattle 9, Texas 5 Cleveland 8, Chi White Sox 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh 11, Philadelphia 2 San Francisco 4, Cincinnati 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Sacramento 121, Memphis 111 (OT) Cleveland 108, Indiana 103 Boston 119, Detroit 94 Philadelphia 98, Miami 91 Chicago 110, Portland 107 Minnesota 114, Utah 104 New York 119, Golden State 112 LA Lakers 136, Atlanta 105
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Washington 5, Calgary 2 Buffalo 6, Seattle 2
Bubba Watson was one of the first pro golfers to join LIV Golf. — ABC News
(NEW YORK) — For the past three years, LIV Golf has taken the world of professional golf by storm.
The newly formed professional league has already lured away superstars like Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson with unmatchable salaries and a whole new attitude — turning golf tournaments into open-air parties.
But not everyone is on board. Tiger Woods, who reportedly turned down $800 million to join LIV golf, and 24-time PGA Winner Rory McIlroy have been among LIV golf’s most vocal critics.
“What we’re doing here is incredibly additive to the sport,” said Monica Fee, Global Head of Partnerships at LIV Golf. “When you look outside and you see 20-somethings coming out to experience golf for the very first time, 30% of our fans have never come out to a golf event before. And they’re coming out to experience it through LIV. That’s good for the sport of golf.”
But with all the fanfare, LIV Golf has come under fire and controversy because it’s created and fully funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The country’s Public Investment Fund, or PIF, has reportedly poured more than $2 billion into LIV Golf, and billions more into other sports ventures as part of its plan to diversify the country’s economy beyond oil.
The PIF, which also owns a minority stake in Disney, the parent company of ABC News and Hulu, has been rapidly increasing its investments into sports and entertainment businesses. According to Global SWF, an organization that tracks sovereign wealth funds, the fund has invested $13.5 billion into sports alone since its inception.
The fund’s expansion has been called out by human rights groups and Congressional leaders who point to the Saudi government’s human rights violations, its ties to the 9/11 attacks and the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a vocal critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
“Big governments, and big corporations included, use sports-related content and the media stories tied to sports, in order to alter the information that reached their target audiences,” Sarath Ganji, the director of the Autocracy and Global Sports Initiative told Impact. “Saudi Arabia can use the media cycle of good sports stories in the United States to push out all those negative stories.”
Although the Saudi government has repeatedly denied allegations of its involvement in the 9/11 attacks, it has faced pushback from families of the victims through an ongoing class action lawsuit.
When LIV Golf was first announced in 2021, Terry Strada, chair of 9/11 Families United, said she was outraged as PGA stars started to join the new league.
“I wrote the first letter that went to Phil [Mickelson] and a few of the other players, and called them traitors,” she told Impact.
Mickelson responded to the criticism from the 9/11 families during the 2022 U.S. Open, telling reporters, “We feel the deepest of sympathies for those who have lost loved ones, friends, in 9/11.”
Mickelson also told Sky Sports Golf in June 2022, ” I don’t condone human rights violations, I don’t know how I can be any more clear.”
Former PGA pro Bubba Watson signed a multi-year contract worth more than $566 million with LIV Golf in 2022, telling Impact he has no regrets about joining the organization.
“I’m doing something that’s fun, energetic, and new. And if you’re going to grow the game of golf, this is the way, I believe, to do that,” Watson told “Impact”. “And so for me, it’s all about me and my family.”
Strada, whose husband was killed on 9/11, pushed back against Watson’s rationale.
“Weren’t they making millions on the PGAT? You didn’t have to go to LIV Golf to provide for your family. You know, that’s just another Saudi talking point,” she said.
Initially, PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan suspended players who took deals with LIV Golf and allied himself with 9/11 Families United in criticizing the Saudi government.
“Some of the early criticisms that the PGA Tour launched against the LIV Golf tour were couched in moral terms,” Ganji said.
Still, LIV Golf continued to grow, signing on more pro golfers, and putting the future of the PGA at risk, Jay Monahan told The New York Times. After months of media fights between the rival leagues, a surprise announcement was made last June, the PGA and LIV would join forces under one umbrella.
The PGA did not provide comment to Impact about the story.
In November Monahan told the New York Times, “the PGA Tour was facing an existential threat,” from the Saudi investment fund.
“I knew in the short term it was going to be difficult because it was something that was going to be a surprise to people, but I firmly believed that the decision that I was making … was the right decision for the game,” he told the Times.
Some PGA players who swore against LIV Golf, such as Rory McIlroy, said they felt blindsided by the surprise announcement.
“It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb,” he told reporters shortly after the announcement.
Strada said she was disappointed in the commissioner and felt betrayed.
“They definitely took advantage of the 9/11 story,” she said. “You have to have a strong moral compass to stand up against the Kingdom.”
Monahan responded to the criticism in a June 2023 interview with Golf Today.
“As we sit here today I understand the criticism that I’m receiving around the hypocrisy and me being hypocritical given my commentary and my actions over the past last couple of years,” he said.
But in recent months, the investment group Strategic Sports Group, or SSG, announced it would invest upwards of $3 billion into the PGA tour, creating a new for profit venture “PGA tour enterprises.” The investment could force PIF to be a minority investor in the PGA, according to experts.
Although the future of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf partnership is still uncertain, Saudi influence in the sports world continues to grow as it invests in clubs, leagues and other sports groups throughout the world.
Ganji cautioned against letting these investments distract from the Kingdom’s human rights record.
“Sportswashing is such an interesting word…the washing part at the end of it is what’s key. It implies that there was something stained, something dirty, fundamentally something problematic and wrong,” he said. “But here’s the thing: When you do something wrong as a political regime, you can’t just get rid of the stain. It’s a forever fact.”
A swarm of bees cover the spider cam after suddenly invading the court while Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Alexander Zverev of Germany were playing in their Quarterfinal match during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 14, 2024 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
(INDIAN WELLS, California) — A professional tennis match at a tournament in California was suspended Thursday due to a rare “bee invasion,” officials said.
Bees swarmed the primary showcourt Thursday afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs, during the quarter-final match between Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
The bees began to swarm Alcaraz, the defending champion, while he was serving early in the first set, according to the ATP Tour, which called the incident a “rare occurrence.”
The bees could also be seen crawling on the Spidercam.
“It’s horrendous,” an announcer said as Alcaraz was seen swatting his racquet at the bees and running off the court.
Alcaraz and Zverev ducked for cover in the locker room.
The chair umpire announced the match would be suspended until further notice.
“Play has been suspended due to bee invasion,” the BNP Paribas Open said on social media.
The winner of the match will ultimately go on to face Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
The BNP Paribas Open is the first of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments yearly.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia 6, Boston 1 Tampa Bay 3, Atlanta 1 Baltimore 5, Pittsburgh 2 Seattle 4, Milwaukee 2 Chi Cubs 3, Oakland 1 Cleveland 13, Colorado 7 Kansas City 6, Arizona 0 Washington 5, Houston 3 Texas 7, Cincinnati 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE Toronto 5, Minnesota 1 Detroit 7, NY Yankees 0 Chi White Sox 5, LA Angels 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE NY Mets 0, St. Louis 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Boston 127, Phoenix 112 LA Clippers 126, Chicago 111 Houston 135, Washington 119 Milwaukee 114, Philadelphia 105 New York 105, Portland 93 Oklahoma City 126, Dallas 119
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Buffalo 4, NY Islanders 0 Boston 2, Montreal 1 (OT) Arizona 4, Detroit 1 Carolina 4, Florida 0 Pittsburgh 6, San Jose 3 Tampa Bay 6, NY Rangers 3 Ottawa 3, Columbus 2 (SO) Toronto 6, Philadelphia 2 Minnesota 2, Anaheim 0 New Jersey 6, Dallas 2 Calgary 4, Vegas 1 Washington 2, Seattle 1
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Houston 60, TCU 45 UConn 87, Xavier 60 North Carolina 92, Florida St. 67 Arizona 70, Southern Cal 49 Iowa St. 76, Kansas St. 57 Providence 78, Creighton 73 Marquette 71, Villanova 65 NC State 74, Duke 69 Baylor 68, Cincinnati 56 South Carolina 80, Arkansas 66 Utah St. 87, Fresno St. 75 Texas Tech 81, BYU 67 Washington St. 79, Stanford 62 Colorado St. 85, Nevada 78 Duquesne 65, Dayton 57
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia 4, Detroit 1 Toronto 10, Pittsburgh 3 Seattle 8, LA Dodgers 1 Chi Cubs 8, Cleveland 3 Chi White Sox 15, Milwaukee 4 San Diego 12, Oakland 11 Atlanta 7, Baltimore 5 NY Mets 6, Houston 5 St. Louis 1, Minnesota 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE Tampa Bay 4, Minnesota 3 Boston 9, NY Yankees 4 Kansas City 3, LA Angels 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE Washington 2, Miami 1 Colorado 7, Arizona 5 Cincinnati 19, San Francisco 11
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Detroit 113, Toronto 104 Orlando 114, Brooklyn 106 Denver 100, Miami 88 Cleveland 116, New Orleans 95 Charlotte 110, Memphis 98 Chicago 132, Indiana 129 (OT) Dallas 109, Golden State 99 Portland 106, Atlanta 102 Sacramento 120, LA Lakers 107
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Edmonton 7, Washington 2 Colorado 4, Vancouver 3 (OT) St. Louis 3, Los Angeles 1 Nashville 4, Winnipeg 2
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE St. Louis 8, Boston 6 Houston 9, Miami 1 Colorado 4, Kansas City 2 Chi White Sox 14, Cincinnati 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE Detroit 1, Minnesota 0 Baltimore 12, Tampa Bay 8 Toronto 8, NY Yankees 1 Cleveland 3, Texas 0 Oakland 4, Seattle 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 1 LA Dodgers 6, San Francisco 4 Washington 4, NY Mets 1 Chi Cubs 6, Milwaukee 5 Arizona 2, San Diego 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION New York 106, Philadelphia 79 Indiana 121, Oklahoma City 111 Memphis 109, Washington 97 Houston 103, San Antonio 101 Boston 123, Utah 107 Minnesota 118, LA Clippers 100 Sacramento 129, Milwaukee 94
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Vegas 5, Seattle 4 (OT) NY Rangers 1, Carolina 0 Montreal 3, Columbus 0 Buffalo 7, Detroit 3 Ottawa 2, Pittsburgh 1 (OT) Philadelphia 3, San Jose 2 Minnesota 4, Arizona 1 Florida 4, Dallas 3 Chicago 7, Anaheim 2 Colorado 6, Calgary 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 69, Gonzaga 60
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Miami 3, Houston 0 Detroit 3, NY Mets 2 Washington 7, Minnesota 3 NY Yankees 9, Atlanta 8 Cincinnati 5, Cleveland 3 LA Angels 5 San Diego 4 Chi Cubs 5, Texas 1 Seattle 8, San Francisco 3 San Francisco 5, Chi White Sox 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE Baltimore 11, Toronto 6 Boston 7, Tampa Bay 6 Oakland 6, Kansas City 3 Toronto 6, Baltimore 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE Philadelphia 9, Pittsburgh 7 St. Louis 12, Miami 8 Colorado 3, Milwaukee 1 LA Dodgers 12 Arizona 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Milwaukee 124, L.A. Clippers 117 New Orleans 116, Atlanta 103 Washington 110, Miami 108 Houston 112, Sacramento 104 Indiana 111, Orlando 97 Oklahoma City 124, Memphis 93 Brooklyn 120, Cleveland 101 Philadelphia 79, New York 73 LA Lakers 120, Minnesota 109
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Edmonton 4, Pittsburgh 0 Minnesota 4, Nashville 3 (OT) Carolina 7, Calgary 2 Final Chicago 7 Arizona 4 Final N-Y Islanders 6 Anaheim 1
