Tag Archives: sportsbiz

LeBron’s Lakers pay tribute to Kobe Bryant with style and grace

This past Sunday, August 23, basketball great Kobe Bryant would have turned 42. His life was cut short this past January when the helicopter in which he was traveling with his daughter and seven others crashed in Calabasas, California. He may be gone, but his legacy certainly isn’t going to disappear, and the LA Lakers, where he spent his 20-year NBA career, made sure to keep him alive as they played a game against the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday. By the time the contest was over, it was apparent that the Lakers went above and beyond in order to memorialize their fallen teammate. 

 This was Game 4 of the Round 1 series between the two teams, and the Lakers have only lost one of the games so far – they certainly weren’t going to allow another defeat as they took the court and paid homage to the five-time NBA champion. From the first tip-off, the Lakers grabbed control of the game and never let go. They got off to a 15-0 start and, at one point in the first quarter, were probably a little stunned when they looked at the scoreboard and saw the tally. They were up 24-8, which happened to be the two numbers worn by Bryant during his long career with the team. 

LeBron James was a driving force for the team’s success, sinking 30 points and getting ten assists in the 28 minutes he was in the action. One of his baskets was a massive fader from well beyond the paint that sailed through the air and through the net. It’s impossible to know what he was thinking at that exact moment, but it’s likely he dedicated the shot to Bryant and his legacy. 

Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma were ready to make statements of their own, as well, adding 18 points as the Lakers would ultimately walk away with a 135-115 trampling of the Trail Blazers on what had officially been dubbed Kobe Bryant Day. The team showed no mercy from start to finish, while Portland could only scramble and try, unsuccessfully, to catch up. It was an exercise in futility from the start. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had said before the game, “We all know that [Bryant] would want us to keep our foot on the gas even though we won two in a row. That’s what we’re going to try to approach this game as.” And, that’s exactly what they did. 

LeBron’s Lakers pay tribute to Kobe Bryant with style and grace

This past Sunday, August 23, basketball great Kobe Bryant would have turned 42. His life was cut short this past January when the helicopter in which he was traveling with his daughter and seven others crashed in Calabasas, California. He may be gone, but his legacy certainly isn’t going to disappear, and the LA Lakers, where he spent his 20-year NBA career, made sure to keep him alive as they played a game against the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday. By the time the contest was over, it was apparent that the Lakers went above and beyond in order to memorialize their fallen teammate. 

 This was Game 4 of the Round 1 series between the two teams, and the Lakers have only lost one of the games so far – they certainly weren’t going to allow another defeat as they took the court and paid homage to the five-time NBA champion. From the first tip-off, the Lakers grabbed control of the game and never let go. They got off to a 15-0 start and, at one point in the first quarter, were probably a little stunned when they looked at the scoreboard and saw the tally. They were up 24-8, which happened to be the two numbers worn by Bryant during his long career with the team. 

LeBron James was a driving force for the team’s success, sinking 30 points and getting ten assists in the 28 minutes he was in the action. One of his baskets was a massive fader from well beyond the paint that sailed through the air and through the net. It’s impossible to know what he was thinking at that exact moment, but it’s likely he dedicated the shot to Bryant and his legacy. 

Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma were ready to make statements of their own, as well, adding 18 points as the Lakers would ultimately walk away with a 135-115 trampling of the Trail Blazers on what had officially been dubbed Kobe Bryant Day. The team showed no mercy from start to finish, while Portland could only scramble and try, unsuccessfully, to catch up. It was an exercise in futility from the start. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had said before the game, “We all know that [Bryant] would want us to keep our foot on the gas even though we won two in a row. That’s what we’re going to try to approach this game as.” And, that’s exactly what they did. 

Go early or strike late? The perils of the Premier League transfer window

The English Premier League only just finished and yet it’s going to be back on September 12th, in just under three weeks. Yet the transfer window opened the day after the EPL season finished, opening for business on Monday, July 27th. While the Premier League is on hiatus right now, not all transfers need to be completed before the shortened 2020/21 English Premier League season begins. In fact, the window is open for 10 whole weeks until the 5th October and a domestic trade between the Premier League and English football League can go on until 12th October.

So is it better to get bodies in now or wait until the prices are driven down?

The Early Birds

Chelsea and Arsenal have already done plenty of business, with Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner already signed by The Blues, with rumours abounding that Kai Havertz, (£70m), Ben Chilwell (£50m) and Thiago Silva (free but 35-years-old) looking to arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Go early or strike late? The perils of the Premier League transfer window

The English Premier League only just finished and yet it’s going to be back on September 12th, in just under three weeks. Yet the transfer window opened the day after the EPL season finished, opening for business on Monday, July 27th. While the Premier League is on hiatus right now, not all transfers need to be completed before the shortened 2020/21 English Premier League season begins. In fact, the window is open for 10 whole weeks until the 5th October and a domestic trade between the Premier League and English football League can go on until 12th October.

So is it better to get bodies in now or wait until the prices are driven down?

The Early Birds

Chelsea and Arsenal have already done plenty of business, with Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner already signed by The Blues, with rumours abounding that Kai Havertz, (£70m), Ben Chilwell (£50m) and Thiago Silva (free but 35-years-old) looking to arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Jazz, Clippers both favorites on Tuesday NBA odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

There had been four NBA playoff games per day from the Orlando bubble but that will change Tuesday because two Eastern Conference first-round series that would have been played that day, Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets, both ended in four-game sweeps by the better-seeded team (Celtics and Raptors) on Sunday.

Thus, both matchups Tuesday are from the Western Conference.

At 6:30 p.m. ET, the third-seeded Denver Nuggets look to avoid elimination in Game 5 against the sixth-seeded Utah Jazz. Utah is a 3-point favorite to finish things off and advance to the conference semifinals. The Jazz have covered just four of their past 22 games as favorites.

The NFL has a COVID-19 problem as teams forced to cancel practice

This is the time that everyone should be in full training mode – running drills with full pads, fine-tuning their offenses and defenses and even participating in preseason games. The NFL regular season is set to get underway in 17 days, but events over this past weekend are forcing many teams to scramble. Several had to call off practices completely over sudden surges in positive coronavirus tests, and any outbreak now would be devastating to the NFL’s plans to start on time. However, football fans – as well as the league – are breathing a sigh of relief, as it appears the positive test results were nothing more than false positives, and they were all traced back to one particular lab in New Jersey.

The Minnesota Vikings had 12 false positives over the weekend, the New York Jets had ten and the Chicago Bears had nine. The Cleveland Browns also had some, and became the first team to cancel its practices. The Jets then followed on Saturday, but practiced on Sunday, and the Bears shifted their practice from the morning to the afternoon after they determined that the results were nothing more than false positives. The Vikings decided to bench those who had tested positive and keep them out of Sunday’s practice. Other teams impacted include the Buffalo Bills, the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In trying to determine why there was a sudden spike in the number of positive cases, the NFL was able to trace the problem to a single lab in New Jersey operated by BioReference. The league issued a statement about the issue, explaining, “Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey. We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA’s health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results.”

That’s good news and bad news for the NFL. It’s great because it could mean that there won’t be any issues as the league looks to get going on September 10. However, it is still concerning, because there needs to be definitive proof of no widespread COVID-19 appearance for the season to kick off. It also could be a financial loss to the league if it has to pay for all the tests to be retaken, instead of the lab assuming that cost. 

The NFL has a new advisory committee to address COVID-19 issues

The countdown to the 2020 NFL season, hopefully, continues on schedule, and the first game will be held on September 10 if everything goes according to plan. For that to happen, the league has put together a special committee to oversee its response to issues that may arise from the COVID-19 pandemic, calling upon the assistance of individuals intimately familiar with football, but who are no longer part of the league. Their goal is to help the NFL throughout the season as it looks to prevent any major coronavirus-caused catastrophes like those seen in MLB. 

According to different sources, the NFL’s advisory committee will be working hand-in-hand with commissioner Roger Goodell to address any issue that comes up as the year progresses. The group includes former cornerback Champ Bailey, former receiver Isaac Bruce, former GM Charley Casserly, former head coach Tom Coughlin, former head coach Marvin Lewis, former safety Troy Polamalu, former GM Bill Polian and former GM Rick Smith. 

Notably, the committee doesn’t include any health officials, a point that draws a little unwanted attention to the group. While all of the members of the committee have extensive football experience, the coronavirus warrants participation by at least one or two members of the health community, and the absence of these would seem to indicate that the group will often have to seek outside opinions before certain decisions can be made, which might slow down the implementation of any policies or procedures.

The idea behind the committee’s creation is to give the commissioner assistance in making decisions related to scheduling, seeding and more. However, each has a component directly linked to COVID-19 that cannot be ignored. The members selected for inclusion needed to be external to current league or team operations in order to avoid any possible appearance of conflict of interest and propel a sense of fairness across the board in all decisions the committee makes. 

UFC Fight Night: Munhoz vs. Edgar Odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

It’s back to the UFC’s Apex facility in Las Vegas this Saturday night with a Fight Night card headlined by a bantamweight bout between American Frankie Edgar and Brazil’s Pedro Munhoz. The main card will begin at 8 p.m. ET and is available in the United States on ESPN and ESPN+.

Edgar-Munhoz has been scheduled/moved around a few times, including once because Munhoz tested positive for COVID-19. It was most recently scheduled for last weekend’s UFC 252, but then the organization decided to make it the main event of this card.

The 38-year-old Edgar (23-8) has long been a fan favorite who won the UFC’s lightweight title way back in April 2010 over BJ Penn. “The Answer” defended it twice before losing back-to-back bouts to Benson Henderson. Edgar then moved to featherweight and lost a title fight to Jose Aldo. Edgar got another shot at Aldo for the belt at UFC 200 and lost again.

AOC leads odds for 2024 Presidential Candidates

Former Vice President Joe Biden will face off against President Donald Trump in the U.S. 2020 elections. Considering though Biden’s advanced age, and the general idea that he may only be a one term president, who’s going to be running for President on the Democratic side in 2024? Although America is a democracy and anything could happen in the next four years, these things tend to build up over time, so we have a pretty good idea of who the leading candidates might be, and who the sportsbooks favor.

Leading the odds at the moment is New York Congresswoman Alexandria Occasion-Cortez (AOC). By election day 2024, AOC will barely be 35 years old, the minimum age requirement for a presidential hopeful. According to polling by YouGov, She’s got the name recognition, comparatively decent favorability ratings, so she could pull it off.

Consider though that during her push to get Bernie Sanders nominated in 2020, she tried to downplay talk she could run in 2028:

.@AOC on 2028 rumors: I’m not a person who aspires to a position, I aspire to a mission. We have a lot of problems that need addressed, but we rely too much on saviors. We can’t just swing from person to person. pic.twitter.com/CnFS1R1xbx

AOC leads odds for 2024 Presidential Candidates

Former Vice President Joe Biden will face off against President Donald Trump in the U.S. 2020 elections. Considering though Biden’s advanced age, and the general idea that he may only be a one term president, who’s going to be running for President on the Democratic side in 2024? Although America is a democracy and anything could happen in the next four years, these things tend to build up over time, so we have a pretty good idea of who the leading candidates might be, and who the sportsbooks favor.

Leading the odds at the moment is New York Congresswoman Alexandria Occasion-Cortez (AOC). By election day 2024, AOC will barely be 35 years old, the minimum age requirement for a presidential hopeful. According to polling by YouGov, She’s got the name recognition, comparatively decent favorability ratings, so she could pull it off.

Consider though that during her push to get Bernie Sanders nominated in 2020, she tried to downplay talk she could run in 2028:

.@AOC on 2028 rumors: I’m not a person who aspires to a position, I aspire to a mission. We have a lot of problems that need addressed, but we rely too much on saviors. We can’t just swing from person to person. pic.twitter.com/CnFS1R1xbx

Bucks, Lakers seek Thursday rebounds as favorites

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The 2020 NBA playoffs were always going to be unusual and memorable because they are being played in front of no fans in the Orlando bubble and home-court advantage doesn’t exist. It gives off the feeling that anything could happen, and wow did it on Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers finished with the top seeds in their respective conferences and had been the two favorites to win the NBA title essentially all season. They no longer are after both were stunned by No. 8 seeds in Game 1 of their quarterfinal series Tuesday, pushing the Los Angeles Clippers temporarily into the role of title favorites.

Milwaukee suffered one of the biggest stunners in postseason history as it was a 14-point favorite over the No. 8 Orlando Magic, who not just won Tuesday but largely dominated in a 122-110 final. Magic center Nikola Vucevic led six Orlando players in double-figure points with 35, adding 14 rebounds. He was the first Magic player to record a 35/10 game in a playoff contest since Dwight Howard did it in 2011.

Next NBA Draft Combine could go regional

The NBA has already faced – quite successfully – a number of challenges this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. After the season was suddenly halted as it entered its second half this past March, it was able to figure out an alternative to the NBA Finals, moving the top teams to Disney World in Orlando, Florida to play in what has affectionately become known as the NBA Bubble. The plan worked, and the remaining teams are now in the playoffs as they compete to see who will be the best team of this odd, 2019-20 season. If the LA Lakers keep going the way they have been, they’ll be eliminated quickly, but that’s a topic for another day. Now, it’s time to focus on other changes the NBA has to make in order to prepare for the future and allow up-and-coming stars to leave their mark on the world’s basketball league. 

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held tomorrow, adopting a virtual format similar to that used for the NFL Draft. Team representatives will participate in a large Zoom call, bringing together 14 teams that need the most help in the upcoming season. They include the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons, the Golden State Warriors, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New Orleans Pelicans, the New York Knicks, the Phoenix Suns, the Sacramento Kings, the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Wizards. 

Sports gambling fans can even place bets on who will win the lottery. Following the lottery, the NBA Draft is expected to be held on October 16 – most likely, it will be virtual, as well. Where and at what time the draft will take place hasn’t been released.

In addition to the virtual draft lottery and a potential virtual draft, there is also another first for the NBA this year. It could be considering changes to how it runs the NBA Combine, an opportunity for second-round players to show off their talents and grab attention from teams and scouts. The details haven’t been completely worked out yet, but the idea is, instead of grouping all the players together at one facility, there could be regional Combines established, reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19. 

Paid not to play: The footballers who would cost a ransom no-one can afford

The landscape of football transfers has changed, so they tell us. A summer that was predicted to be full of nine-figure fees at the start of the year now looks completely different viewed through the haze of Coronavirus headlines and COVID-19 measures.

Football may have changed, with fewer fans now involved, but the cost of failure has, if anything gone up. Because of this, players with huge contracts and mammoth weekly wages are not the attractive prospects they once were. We’re taking a look at three men who could find a move hard to come by unless they’re prepared to take a massive pay cut.

Gareth Bale

It’s hard to argue against the footballing merits of Gareth Bale. Having helped drag Tottenham Hotspur into the Champions League Places and paved the way for their development over the last few years, Bale also earned his former employers in North London a ludicrous sum of £89.2m when he switched the Lilywhite shirt of Spurs for the… er, similarly white shirt of Los Blancos.

The Northern Trust odds: PGA Tour playoffs begin

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Even though there has been just one Grand Slam tournament played this PGA Tour season due to the coronavirus shutdown, and the U.S. Open is set for September and the Masters in November, the Tour’s 2019-20 “regular season” has officially concluded – those latter two majors will be part of the 2020-21 wraparound campaign.

The three-event FedExCup playoffs begin this week with The Northern Trust at TPC Boston. The Top 125 in points following last week’s Wyndham Championship qualified for the playoffs. The Top 70 after this tournament will move on to next week’s BMW Championship outside Chicago.

While The Northern Trust has been a part of the playoffs since their debut in 2007, this is the first time TPC Boston will host. It previously hosted the Deutsche Bank Championship/Dell Technologies Championship, but the PGA Tour cut down the FedExCup playoffs after 2018 from four to three and eliminated the Dell Technologies event. TPC Boston thus joined Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey as a rotating host for this tournament. TPC Boston is a par 71 at 7,342 yards.

United stunned by Sevilla and Shakhtar shackled by Inter in Europa League semi-finals

Two great games in the Europa League saw Sevilla and Inter Milan advance to the final after dumping Manchester United and Shakhtar Donetsk out of the tournament in two fascinating ties.

Let’s take a look at both semi-finals before we predict who might eventually lift the trophy this Friday night.

Manchester United 1-2 Sevilla

Two of European football’s most successful sides met in Germany as Sevilla came from behind to beat Manchester United in their third unsuccessful semi-final of the 2019/20 season.

The NBA funded a coronavirus test project, and the results look good

This has been the year of the NBA. The basketball league has made a couple of firsts that will forever become a part of any playbook, and the hits keep on coming. The NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida has proven to be a highly successful alternative if another global pandemic comes along, although it hopefully won’t be necessary, and the league was behind a major study on a potential coronavirus test that could now have worldwide implications. Led by scientists at Yale University, a saliva-based COVID-19 test involving the NBA has just received approval by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

The test, SalivaDirect, was administered to players and staffers on various NBA teams after being approved by the league and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), with both the NBA and the NBPA also assisting with funding. Currently, a nasal swab has been the most accepted form of COVID-19 test, but it’s costly and results can take days to be received. SalivaDirect is said to be just as accurate, doesn’t require any additional components and can be read considerably sooner.

Explains Chantal Vogels, a Yale postdoctoral fellow, who led the laboratory development and validation along with adjunct assistant clinical professor Doug Brackney, “This is a huge step forward to make testing more accessible. This started off as an idea in our lab soon after we found saliva to be a promising sample type of the detection of SARS-CoV-2, and now it has the potential to be used on a large scale to help protect public health. We are delighted to make this contribution to the fight against coronavirus.”

Because the test doesn’t depend on any proprietary technology, it becomes substantially easier to use. In addition, Yale, unlike the pharmaceutical companies, doesn’t plan on using SalivaDirect as a money-maker. Instead, it will make the protocols available to diagnostic laboratories so that these can help facilitate widespread testing. These labs, however, could (and definitely will) charge for the tests, with estimated costs coming in at around $10 each.

The NBA is closer to crowning a winner as playoff brackets set

The NBA Bubble at Disney World in Orland, Florida has been everything basketball fans could have hoped for. There have been some exciting underdog wins, a few instances of players butting heads – literally – and athletes escaping to score some hot wings. As the regular season draws to a close, the playoff bracket is now set, and fans can look forward to a lot of the same hot action when the postseason begins next Monday. 

Before the postseason run to the championship can get going, there will first be a play-in tournament held for the Western Conference, which will see the Portland Trail Blazers (currently in eighth place) taking on the Memphis Grizzlies (ninth place). Because they’re only four games apart, this will be used to determine the eighth seed for the playoffs, which the Blazers can take if they win the first game on the play-in tournament. If, on the other hand, the Grizzlies take Game 1, they can end up in eighth if they then take the second game. This year, seeding isn’t as important as it has been in other seasons. There is no true “home court” advantage since everyone’s in the bubble.

Once that series is decided, the winner will take on the LA Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. The Oklahoma City Thunder are going up against the Houston Rockets, the LA Clippers take on the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets will battle the Utah Jazz, finishing out the conference semifinalists.

In the East, the layout for the first round of the playoff bracket is already set and no play-in game is needed. The Milwaukee Bucks, who lead the conference, will go up against the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat meet the Indiana Pacers, the Toronto Raptors will face the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics will take on the Philadelphia 76ers. 

The NFL has a new broadcasting home launching in Europe

Fans of American football living in parts of Europe have something to look forward to this season. Watching NFL games live can be difficult due to lack of broadcasting options, as well as time zone differences. At least one of these is controllable and is about to change. Fans in the UK and Ireland will now have much easier access to games each week, thanks to a new agreement reached between the league and major European TV broadcaster Sky. An entire channel dedicated to nothing but the NFL is about to be launched ahead of the upcoming season.

Sports Business reports that the deal will run from the upcoming season, set to get underway on September 10, through the 2024-25 season. Sky Sports NFL will provide coverage of at least five games a week, as well as some Sunday games, all playoff contests, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. There will also be additional programming thrown in to cover the gaps when live games aren’t being aired. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says in a statement, “This new five-year agreement and the launch of a dedicated Sky Sports NFL channel will undoubtedly continue our rapid growth in the UK and Ireland. We are excited that our expanded partnership with Sky will provide even more NFL content to our millions of UK and Irish fans.”

The NFL and Sky have had a working relationship in place for the past 25 years, but this is the first time the league is getting a dedicated channel on the network. It will give NFL greater exposure across the UK and Ireland, where it has held one or two games annually for the past several years. This upcoming season would have included four games if it hadn’t been for the COVID-19 debacle. England has consistently been seen as a worthwhile springboard for further league expansion into Europe.