WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years at the helm of the league and a stewardship that has been transformative and at times tumultuous.

Engelbert is the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that resulted in the league's first set of million-dollar player salaries.

"Cathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league's 30-year history," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday when announcing Engelbert's decision. "We are grateful for Cathy's leadership and unwavering commitment to the advancement of women's basketball."

Engelbert, who turns 62 in November, told The Associated Press that she has been thinking about retiring for months.

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"When I first came to the league I intended to do this for 3 1/2 years," she said in a phone interview. "The 7 1/2 years exceeded that time. This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we've been on. Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done."

Engelbert insists that the decision to leave was solely her own and that she did not feel any pressure to step down from NBA or WNBA stakeholders.

Engelbert: Several unidentified successors on league's radar

The commissioner said she has been working on a succession plan over the last few years. While she didn't give any specifics on who might be considered for the position, Engelbert did say there are both internal and external potential candidates on the league's radar.

"It's a good time to hand it off to the next leader to take the 'W' into a better phase," she said. "I'm proud of the team we built and everything we accomplished. A leader knows when it's time to drop the mic and move on after building a powerhouse team in the league office."

Engelbert said she has mixed emotions about leaving.

"I love women's basketball and am not going anywhere yet. We'll run a real succession process in the remaining four months. If we don't find someone I'll stay on," she said. "I had no transition. I walked in the door and I was by myself as no one transitioned me into this role.

"Hopefully I can help this next leader transition in especially considering the elevation of this league."

The WNBA has grown at an exponential rate during Engelbert's tenure as commissioner, with record television ratings, strong attendance, a new long-term media rights deal and expansion to 18 teams by the end of the decade.

"I was brought in as a business leader to transform the business," she said. "I look at revenue and merchandise, viewership and attendance," she said, noting how they've all improved. "A great leader senses when it's time for someone else to come in. When I came in, this league was facing questions about our long-term viability and sustainability."

Engelbert said the growth of the league has "blown away her expectations" since she stepped into her role after leaving her previous position as president of Deloitte in 2019.

Besides the new CBA, the list of things she is most proud of includes getting charter travel for players, keeping the league going during the coronavirus pandemic, the historic media rights deal and exponential increase in the value of of WNBA franchises. In 2019, the average value of a WNBA franchise was $10 million; in 2026, it is about $460 million.

Along with the financial gains, however, turmoil and tension have accompanied the WNBA's growth.

Players say they have seen more social media vitriol directed toward them over the last few years and some don't feel the league has done enough to ensure their safety. The league also has been at the center of discussions about transgender athletes playing in the league.

Engelbert has repeatedly said the online attacks of players are unacceptable and she backs league initiatives to protect players. She also said there should be no confusion on the transgender question.

"We have no current eligibility issues in the WNBA," Engelbert said, adding that "if we did, we would have a thoughtful policy discussion with the (players' association) and the players."

While there was a strained partnership between the commissioner and players during the recent CBA negotiations, Engelbert insists she has a good relationship with them.

Talks between the commissioner and players have been complicated.

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New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBA players' union executive committee, said before the All-Star Game that there is a respect for Engelbert among the players, just not much of a relationship.

Engelbert said she is ready to do what most retirees plan: spend more time with family.

She also admitted that the online hate she receives has affected her family as well, though she did not share details of the impact.

"There have been some hard parts of that on my family with the vitriol and hate I get online," Engelbert said.

Her retirement will make her mother happy.

"My mom is turning 90 this year, and she said that 'it would be good if you were retired to spend more time with me,'" Engelbert said, laughing. "I have two children, one I barely see.

"I'm one of eight kids (and I) have five brothers. They always say can you retire so you can spend more time with us."

Come Jan. 1, her family will get its wish.

Former Fox Sports analyst Mark Sanchez plans to plead guilty to charges ahead of a trial stemming from an October 2025 fight with a truck driver outside an Indianapolis hotel, according to court records filed Thursday.

A motion asks for a guilty plea and sentencing hearing for Sanchez in Marion County Superior Court. Online records didn't indicate which charges Sanchez plans to plead guilty to.

Sanchez faces a felony battery charge, along with three misdemeanor charges, for what prosecutors have said was a fight over parking.

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The ex-NFL quarterback's jury trial was scheduled to start Tuesday. The trial had been rescheduled five times since it was initially set to begin in December. Sanchez and Fox Sports also face a civil lawsuit filed by the truck driver, Perry Tole.

A police affidavit alleges that Sanchez, smelling of alcohol, accosted Tole, who had backed his truck into a hotel's loading docks in downtown Indianapolis. Tole claims in his lawsuit that Sanchez entered the truck without permission, then physically blocked and shoved Tole, who then doused Sanchez with pepper spray.

When Sanchez advanced after being sprayed, Tole pulled a knife to defend himself, authorities said. Sanchez was hospitalized with stab wounds to his upper right torso while Tole suffered a face laceration, according to a police affidavit.

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Sanchez told police at the hospital that all he could remember was grabbing for a window, the court document said. Sanchez said he didn't know who else was involved or where the altercation happened.

Sanchez was let go by Fox Sports in November and replaced by Drew Brees. Sanchez had joined Fox Sports as a game analyst in 2021 after appearing on ABC and ESPN for two years.

Sanchez had a 10-year NFL career before retiring in 2019. He spent four seasons with the New York Jets and also appeared in games with Philadelphia, Dallas and Washington.

The Southeastern Conference filed a lawsuit against LSU and its leadership in Alabama federal court on Thursday, alleging the school had waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes against league rules.

The extraordinary step against one of the league's founding members in 1933 came as SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey testified 400 miles away in a courtroom not far from Tiger Stadium, defending the league's ability to enforce its rules as several dozen athletes try to play this fall after they turned pro.

Former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Zxavian Harris and former Cleveland Browns tight end DaeQuan Wright sat next to each other in the gallery as the hearing began, with Sankey taking the stand a short time later.. At least seven bailiffs were on hand.

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The lawsuit asks for a court injunction barring LSU from violating the SECs First Amendment rights by forcing it to associate with conduct that is contrary to the conferences purpose and mission. It was filed in northern Alabama because the SEC is based in Birmingham.

Attorneys for the athletes, the NCAA and the SEC were appearing before East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden, who scheduled the hearing concerning the status of his earlier temporary injunction preventing the NCAA from ruling recent former pros or fifth-year college athletes ineligible a stance also taken by the SEC and other Power Four conferences with formal rules adopted last week.

Jorden also wanted the NCAA to explain why it should not be held in contempt after the power conferences set up potential punishments of its member schools who place former NFL or NBA athletes on their football or basketball rosters.

The players in question also include former Denver Broncos defensive back Blake Cotton, who like Harris and Wright is hoping to join LSU and new coach Lane Kiffin.

Wright, who played for Kiffin last season at Mississippi, started practicing with at LSU this week, too late to be eligible for Saturday's home opener against Clemson under the NCAA's required seven days of practice. Harris, who also played at Ole Miss last season, has committed to LSU, while Cotton, who played at Utah last fall, has been recruited by Kiffin.

All three are among a host of athletes who've argued in lawsuits around the country that they are unfairly being denied an opportunity to spend a fifth year in college under newly adopted NCAA rules allowing for five full years of competition. In all, the NCAA says there are approximately 450 athlete plaintiffs seeking additional eligibility through litigation, with some 300 of them winning the ability to play at least for now and about 150 who have been rejected.

The athletes in the case who signed pro contracts have argued they did so only because current rules that would have allowed them another college season weren't adopted until after their decisions to leave for the chance to make an NFL roster.

The SEC filed a brief in the case on Wednesday in which it stated that the question before the judge should be a narrow one regarding whether the conference "can enforce and require its member institutions to comply with SEC rules. The SEC's proposed punishments include significant fines, up to half-season suspensions for coaches and member universities' loss of voting on privileges on league business matters.

Sankey provided an affidavit stating that SEC university presidents voted 15-0 in favor of the new rules, with LSU's Wade Rousse abstaining. Sankey also said the SEC was acting on its own and not attempting to collude with NCAA to stop Kiffin from bringing in ex-pros.

The fight over eligibility between schools and their own conferences and the NCAA has simmered for months and spilled into politics.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr reportedly sent a letter of support to Sankey, encouraging him to take all measures available to punish LSU if it added former NFL players to its 2026 roster of 105 players, which was due to be submitted to the SEC by Friday. He also criticized the judge's injunction.

It is no coincidence that the very institution set to potentially use this temporary order to flout the SECs rule is in the trial courts own backyard, Carr wrote.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also weighed in, writing in a brief that the NCAA had subjected athletes in the case to a classic bait-and-switch.

The NCAA's ever-changing rules have consequences beyond these individual athletes, said Murrill, who attended the hearing and chatted with plaintiff attorneys before the proceeding. They affect the universities that recruit them, the other student-athletes with whom they compete, and the coaches and administrators responsible for complying with an increasingly complicated set of rules.

The NBA imposed a sweeping punishment against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday for violating salary cap circumvention rules, suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year, fining the team $30 million and forcing it to forfeit five first-round draft picks.

Also, two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard was hit with a $700,000 penalty, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was banned for six months and team president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for one year.

The Clippers will give up one first-round pick in each draft from 2029-2033.

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The league came down hard on the organization after a nearly yearlong investigation led by an outside law firm.

The Clippers had said multiple times that they had done nothing wrong and expected to be exonerated.

I think that were going to be in the clear, Leonard said in April, so Im not stressing it.

At the same time, Frank said, If you know Steve and know Steves integrity, you know theres nothing to it. We believe and weve very confident were on the right side of this.

The team maintained that stance Wednesday.

We vehemently reject the NBAs findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence, the team said in a statement. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner (Adam) Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy.

The Clippers said they will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.

The league said it and the players' union agreed to confirm the penalties as final and binding on all parties. It said the outside law firm continues to receive information involving the investigation, and the league will consider further action as appropriate.

I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers' institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct, Silver said in a statement. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.

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The NBA began investigating in September 2025 whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC a company that filed for bankruptcy last year broke league rules, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre. Earlier this year, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding investors and lenders of at least $248 million.

The Clippers released a letter from Ballmer's attorney David Kelley to Silver in which he described the investigation as a witch hunt and the subsequent penalties as a gross injustice.

Kelley accused Silver of not keeping his promises that the investigation would be governed by due process and fundamental fairness as well as the burden being on the league to prove any violations through evidence.

League counsel has acknowledged in our discussions that the league does not believe there was an agreement between the Clippers and Aspiration to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard. League counsel also agreed with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a federal judge that Mr. Ballmer was a victim of Joe Sanbergs fraud not a participant, wrote Kelley, a partner in the firm O'Melveny and Myers.

Mr. Ballmers reputation has been irreparably damaged as he now finds himself embroiled not only in this heavily biased investigation, but in civil litigation, the Aspiration bankruptcy proceeding, and more, Kelley wrote.

Kelley wrote that no league rule prohibits team personnel making introductions to both sponsors and vendors in response to player requests.

Retroactively punishing the Clippers for violating a rule that never existed is hardly consistent with due process, Kelley wrote.

The league said Ballmer knowingly sought to help Leonard obtain off-court income deals, approved a business deal that he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to enter into an endorsement contract with Leonard, and for failing to create conditions under which his team followed league rules.

I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family, Leonard said in a statement issued through his new agent, Harrison Gaines.

The NBA said Leonard, through his former business manager and uncle Dennis Robertson, violated the circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for personal expenses.

I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyones part to circumvent the salary cap, Leonard said in his statement.

The league said Ballmer was suspended for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities, among other issues.

Leonard's trade to the Toronto Raptors has been on hold pending the outcome of the investigation. The Raptors had said they still want Leonard, and he apparently is just as eager to return to the team where he won an NBA title and was Finals MVP in 2019.

As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate, Leonard said in his statement.

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The Clippers and their personnel will be under a compliance and monitoring program by the league for five years and Robertson was banned from doing business with NBA teams for five years.

The league penalized Frank for his involvement with the impermissible endorsement arrangements and for approving impermissible expenses incurred by Leonard and his family. Zucker was banned for being primarily and directly culpable for the illegal endorsement arrangements and for lying to investigators. Both will lose their salaries during their bans.

It's not the first time the Clippers have run afoul of NBA rules under Ballmer, who bought the team for $2 billion in August 2014.

They were fined $250,000 a year later for violating rules against offering unauthorized business or investment opportunities to players during their courting of free agent DeAndre Jordan. A presentation to him improperly included a $200,000-per-year deal with luxury carmaker Lexus.

Ballmer, 70, was CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014.

Kroenke Sports and Entertainment has reached a deal to purchase controlling ownership of the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno, expanding its sprawling empire of teams across every major U.S. professional sport with the addition of the beleaguered baseball club.

The company led by Stan Kroenke made the surprising announcement Tuesday, saying it expects to close the transaction in early 2027. Major League Baseball, which must approve any sale, didn't immediately comment on the news.

Kroenkes company owns the NFLs Los Angeles Rams, Premier League champion Arsenal, the NBAs Denver Nuggets, the NHLs Colorado Avalanche, Major League Soccers Colorado Rapids and SoFi Stadium, along with the large Hollywood Park campus around the multibillion-dollar Inglewood arena. The conglomerate has now moved into baseball with the Angels, whose turbulent 23-year tenure under Morenos ownership will finally come to an end.

The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market," Kroenke said in a statement. "We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.

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Moreno, an outdoor advertising magnate from Arizona, bought the Angels from the Walt Disney Company in 2003. While the club had steady success in its first years under Moreno with much of the roster that won the 2002 World Series, winning five AL West titles in six seasons during the 2000s, the Halos have entered a period of decline since their most recent playoff victory in 2009.

At 53-85, the AL-worst Angels are currently headed to their 11th consecutive losing season and their 12th consecutive non-playoff season, both the longest active streaks in the majors.

Incredibly, theyve made the playoffs just once during the 16-year career of three-time AL MVP outfielder Mike Trout, who teamed with two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani for six straight seasons with no success.

In sharp contrast, Kroenke's teams consistently have been among their sports' absolute best in recent seasons.

The Rams, the Avalanche, the Nuggets and Arsenal have all won championships in their respective leagues over the past five years, and all four teams remain serious title contenders during a renaissance for an ownership group that was once criticized for its early struggles in English soccer and its decision to move the Rams from St. Louis back to Los Angeles.

A significant portion of the Angels struggles over the past two decades can be attributed to the 80-year-old Moreno, who has repeatedly inserted himself into personnel decisions while presiding over the rest of his organization with much less interest or acumen.

While he spent aggressively on payroll in his attempts to build a winner, his biggest moves usually backfired, with a series of high-profile acquisitions who produced a fraction of their anticipated impact. His acquisitions of Anthony Rendon, Gary Matthews Jr., Josh Hamilton and many others were expensive disasters, while even his landmark $240 million free-agent contract for Albert Pujols didn't result in the homers or the victories expected from the price tag.

Moreno has been roundly criticized for skimping on infrastructure, resources and support staff throughout his organization compared to other MLB teams. The Angels have also endured numerous troubles off the field during Moreno's tenure, from the drug-related death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs to numerous smaller scandals.

Despite Moreno's much-derided decision to change the franchise's name from the Anaheim Angels in an attempt to build a more national brand, the team remained a healthy box office draw to its loyal Orange County fans during most of his tenure but the fan base had lost patience in recent years. Angel Stadium's slightly smaller crowds this season have regularly chanted Sell the team! and derided Moreno by name.

The lack of success clearly began to wear on Moreno, whose children reportedly aren't interested in carrying on in the baseball business. Moreno publicly explored a sale of the Angels in 2022, only to pull the team off the market in early 2023.

Significant positive change occurred earlier this year when Moreno fired general manager Perry Minasian and hired John Mozeliak on a temporary basis to run his baseball operations. Mozeliak, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals baseball boss, has already made significant changes to reshape the long-stagnant operation while starting a rebuild of sorts after years of resistance from Moreno.

The Moreno family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years, and we believe with KSEs experience and success, they are the best next owner for the franchise, Moreno said in a statement. The Angels organization looks forward to continuing its commitment to the fans, our employees, the players and our business partners.

Moreno, a Mexican-American, was the majors' first Latino majority owner, and he remained the only one until Puerto Rico-born billionaire Jos E. Feliciano closed his purchase of the San Diego Padres last month. Latino and Hispanic players comprise roughly 30% of major league rosters.

Kroenke Sports and Entertainment will be only the fourth permanent owner of the Angels, who were founded as an AL expansion club in 1961 by early Hollywood star Gene Autry. His widow, Jackie, temporarily owned the team for a year after his death before selling it to Disney in 1999.

Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS Sports NFL analyst, said Tuesday he has pleaded no contest to a civil charge after being arrested last month in Milwaukee on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

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In a social media post, Romo blamed "dependence on pain medication" stemming from his NFL career and an "over-reliance on alcohol" while trying to get off those medications.

"As I have taught my three young sons: when you fall short, you stand up and take full responsibility," Romo said. "That is an important first step. The harder and more important step is examining the path that brought you here and making the changes necessary to move forward. That path requires honesty. None of this is an excuse. These are my failures, and I take responsibility for them."

A post shared by Tony Romo (@tony.romo)

An arrest report states a Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy stopped Romo last month at a highway interchange in Milwaukee. Romo performed poorly on field sobriety tests and was taken into custody, according to the report. He was later released after being booked and processed.

Romo spent his entire NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2016. He retired after the 2016 season and has since become the lead NFL analyst for CBS Sports.

CBS Sports president David Berson said there is no timeline for a decision about Romo's future with the network after he was placed on indefinite leave. Former NFL star J.J. Watt has been named as Romo's replacement in the interim.

Lionel Messi has ended his career as a player for the Argentine national team at 39 years old, after nearly two decades representing the national side.

Messi won the tournament in Qatar 2022 and led Argentina to the final in 2026 losing to Spain.

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"It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deeply but I understand that the time has come," Messi said on his official Instagram account. "I swear to you that I always gave it my all not just in these last few years when we won everything, but before that too; I always fought and left everything on the field for this jersey, to bring you joy and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football."

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Messi and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo are the only men in history to play in six World Cup tournaments.

The 39-year-old currently captains the Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, which he has played for since 2023.

In 2025, he led them to an MLS Cup victory, while also winning the Landon Donovan MVP award in 2024 and 2025.

FC Tulsa is teasing a major stadium project while also locking in key leadership, as the team rides a wave of record-breaking attendance.

Owner Ryan Craft addressed rumors surrounding a new stadium this week, but stopped short of sharing specifics.

"We are excited and we are exploring the vision and we do not have further details at this moment. However, I will say that we do believe Tulsan's will love what we are working on and we are activily working through the process to gain community feedback on this project through focus groups and surveys," Craft said.

The push for a new venue comes as FC Tulsa has been breaking attendance records. The team shattered the ONEOK Field record during their championship final and sold out three straight matches at the baseball stadium.

On the front office side, FC Tulsa announced the contract extension of Caleb Sewell, the team's sporting director and general manager. Sewell said the vision goes beyond infrastructure.

"Obviously you guys have heard about infrastructure and so on, but for me, it's not just that, it's about what we can make this city in terms of a sporting venue a really tough place to play, a championship contender year in and year out making sure that the locals here are able to come out on a weekend and be able to see a club and a team bring some joy and bring some fun atmosphere that you can't normally get," Sewell said.

The team says it will announce more information as it becomes available.

Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --

Golf equipment maker Callaway is severing ties with Good Good after the influential internet golf companys controversial advertisement that featured one of Good Goods co-founders pushing over a female member of their team.

Over the last several days, we have listened and reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted, Callaway said in a post on X announcing the decision. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people.

Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment.

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The advertisement posted last week showed Garrett Clark, one of the co-founders of Good Good, shoulder-checking Alexis Miestowski to the ground as she went to touch his co-branded Good Good x Callaway driver. The advertisement quickly drew immense backlash and was pulled down, with Callaway and Good Good both facing intense questions over how an ad showing a violent act against a woman would be approved and posted.

In its statement, Callaway noted that its processes failed, with the companys CEO earlier admitting that Callaway reviewed Good Goods video and approved it before it went live.

In this instance, our content review process was not comprehensive enough. We have taken appropriate internal corrective actions and significantly strengthened our approval procedures to help ensure this does not happen again, the statement read.

Callaway will donate $1 million to organizations that work to prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts, the company said.

But even still, the company said it understands many people feel harmed by the advertisement and that hurt is not easy to undo.

We sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt, disappointed, or offended by this incident, the statement read.

The backlash against Good Good, in particular, has been intense this week.

Multiple reports have indicated major golf retailers are pulling the companys merchandise from shelves, which would be a significant blow to Good Goods bottom line if it went on for a lengthy period. While the company made its name with social media videos showcasing their personalities playing golf, its merchandise sales make up a large portion of the companys revenue.

In a video posted on Wednesday, Clark apologized for his role in the ad, and on behalf on Good Good.

This is not, at all, what we stand for. The way this ad was received is not how Good Good is and not what we stand for once again. I want everyone to know that. I do not support (domestic violence), abuse or any of that, he said.

Clark offered some clarity on the idea behind the ad, likening it to the 2026 movie Obsession directed by 26-year-old YouTuber Curry Barker.

Clark explained that, like the movie, he was supposed to be obsessed with his driver and anybody who touched it would become possessed with the obsession.

Looking back, super dumb ad concept, Clark added. Terrible ad in general. Not the greatest idea. Once I watched it back and it got posted, my skin was crawling. I was cringing. I mean, even just minutes after I saw it get posted, before this surfaced anywhere online, I thought it was the worst ad known to man.

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Clark described the comments and criticism the ad received as very justified, but denounced the hate and death threats Miestowski has received in her social media direct messages.

Good Good was founded in 2020 and is one of the primarily online golf media companies that became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. The success of Good Good and other companies like it has sparked lots of discourse over whether the boisterous personalities involved in the companys videos are the best way to promote the game of golf, which traditionally promotes a very staid and demure culture.

The companys popularity has grown to the point that legacy names in the sport, such as Callaway, have tried to capitalize on its popularity with partnerships. One of the most high-profile partnerships thats now in jeopardy is The Good Good Championship, a PGA Tour event slated to take place this November in Texas.

The advertisement, and the fallout from the video, have seemingly put that event in jeopardy. Brian Rolapp, CEO of the PGA Tour, called it a fluid situation earlier this week.

We were disappointed at first. It sounds like in the last 24 hours theyve made some progress. Well continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops, he said in response to a question from CNN Sports.

The Pro Bowl is no more, the NFL announced Wednesday, ending an exhibition of the league's top players that was held in some form almost every year since 1951.

The game wasn't played in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that was the only pause in the postseason event.

"It's OK to be the first league to walk away from a competitive all-star game," NFL executive vice president Peter O'Reilly said at the owners' meeting in Atlanta.

The league said 88 players will still be named as Pro Bowlers and honored in Los Angeles after this season. Several flag football events also will take place at that time.

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"The Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL," O'Reilly said in a statement. "A Pro Bowl selection will return to its original purpose, honoring the best of the best. We want that distinction to carry even greater meaning for the players, their families, their clubs and our fans."

O'Reilly said the decision was "a shift from the game to the honor."

Troy Vincent, the league's executive vice president of football operations, said he heard from players that they "don't want competitive play" after the playoffs.

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"You come off the championship games and the viewers see the physicality of the game and you try to replicate that," Vincent said. "Frankly, it just doesn't sit well. This isn't a good representation."

The Pro Bowl has waned in popularity in recent years. Once a staple in Honolulu, the NFL has moved the event to various cities and even switched from tackle to flag football in 2023.

European soccer body UEFA is set to formally withdraw its threat to boycott FIFA competitions after receiving assurances Gianni Infantino's failed World Cup sell-off plan will not be revived.

UEFA's member federations are meeting Thursday in Monaco ahead of the Champions League draw, where they are expected to end the boycott threat, a person familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the closed-doors meeting.

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Ruling out a boycott will clear six European teams to continue preparing for the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup that kicks off Sept. 5 in Poland.

France and Spain named their squads last week for the 24-nation tournament which risked becoming an unwanted battleground in European soccer's pushback against Infantino's private investor plan. England, Italy, Portugal and host Poland also will play.

Infantino infuriated soccer leaders worldwide last month when his plan for a $20 billion subsidiary controlling FIFA commercial rights including the World Cup was revealed by British daily The Times. The spinoff was to be 20% owned by investors led by a New York fund created by Joshua Kushner.

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The FIFA president dropped his proposal within four days amid a furious backlash led by UEFA, including the boycott threat, with support from the Asian Football Confederation and North American soccer body CONCACAF. The furor was fueled by criticism of the plan and Infantino from senior FIFA officials.

UEFA then said it wanted assurances the spinoff, to be called FIFA Forward Enterprise, would not be presented in a different form. That assurance was now received, the person told the AP.

The European soccer body said Aug. 1 it had no confidence in Infantino's leadership in a clear signal it would try to stop his reelection in March next year.

FIFA previously set a Nov. 18 deadline for candidates to enter the presidential contest, four months ahead of the vote by 211 member federations in Rabat, Morocco.

Infantino had seemed sure to be reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031 until the turmoil created by his investor plan.

The 55 UEFA member federations are attending the meeting in Monaco four weeks after they united in an online call to agree the threatened boycott.

Oswaldo Pirela, a San Diego Padres minor league coach who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, was released from custody, his wife told ABC 10News Laura Acevedo.

The Athletic reported the 34-year-old father of two was released on bond Monday. A family spokesperson confirmed Pirela is home with his family.

The catching coordinator with the Padres Triple-A affiliate El Paso Chihuahuas was detained by ICE agents at El Paso International Airport on Aug. 16. Pirela was not carrying his work permit card at the time he was detained, according to The New York Times.

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Pirela's mother, Naivy Dominguez, told Acevedo that her son had an early-morning flight and was heading home to his wife and daughters in Peoria, Arizona, when he was detained.

The Times reported Pirela and his family are from Venezuela and have pending asylum applications.

In a statement following his detainment, Department of Homeland Security officials said Pirela entered the country legally on September 10, 2014, and was granted permission by the Obama administration to remain in the country until February 10, 2018. In violation of our nations laws, he overstayed his welcome. When approached by law enforcement officers, he was not in possession of legal documentation granting him status in the country.

Scripps News Group's San Diego station reached out to DHS for additional details on Pirela's release, and hours after publication of this story, responded with the following statement:

"On August 16, 2026, Border Patrol arrested Oswaldo Jose Pirela Dominguez, an illegal alien from Venezuela, at the El Paso International Airport. He entered the country legally but violated the terms of his admission. When approached by law enforcement officers, he was not in possession of legal documentation granting him status in the country. On August 24, he was released from ICE custody on bond pending his removal proceedings.

To be clear, work authorization or a pending application do NOT confer legal status in the United States.

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Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return."

We are pleased that Oswaldo Pirela has been released on bond and reunited with his family. Out of respect for his privacy and the ongoing matter, we will have no further comment at this time, the Padres said in a statement to ABC 10News.

Pirela has been with the Padres organization since 2024.

At least 1 in 4 former National Football League players who died between 2016 and 2021 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study released on Tuesday in the journal BMJ.

The study is one of the most informative estimates to date of CTE burden among former NFL players, an editorial that was published along with the study said.

CTE is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated blows to the head. It can only be diagnosed after death, although symptoms can include memory loss, impulse control problems, anxiety, depression and anger issues.

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Its most often seen in people who play sports such as football, hockey and soccer, but it has also been detected in the brains of soldiers who have been injured in explosions and in some people who experienced domestic violence. In the brain, it is marked by an abnormal buildup of the protein tau.

A separate recent analysis detected the disease in 99% of former NFL players who had donated their brains for research. However, a significant limitation of that study was that it was done in a population of people who were potentially biased because their brains had been donated by family members who may have noticed symptoms while their family members were living.

For this new study, researchers from Mass General Brigham, Boston University and the Concussion & CTE Foundation many of whom had been involved in the previous CTE research set to overcome that limitation by analyzing the total number of NFL deaths between 2008 and 2021. The researchers used death certificate data and compared it to the number of brain donors with confirmed CTE. The researchers further narrowed the time period down to 2016 and 2021, when the highest number of brain donations had been received.

Of the 878 former players who died in the time frame, 235 had donated their brains for research. Among them, 215 had been diagnosed with CTE. Many of the brain donations analyzed had been done at brain banks at Boston University and the University of California, San Francisco.

An NFL spokesperson said: The NFL continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts.

The NFL remains committed to ensuring that the NFL community has access to a robust and expanding set of resources to enhance their physical and mental well being.

We encourage former players to utilize these resources to identify and seek treatment when they are concerned about their health.

The studys lead author Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, the chair of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Mass General Brigham and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, said that repeated traumatic brain injuries are a known factor in elevated rates of neurodegenerative disease.

Similarly, we and others have shown that in NFL players, specifically, there is about a four times higher rate of death from neurodegenerative disease than the general population, he added.

The study also found dementia was common among brain donors, with researchers urging prevention measures that focus on cutting down on repetitive head impacts across all levels of the sport.

The bulk of the head impacts that these former NFL players experienced didnt occur at the NFL level. They occurred at the collegiate level and at the high school level and in many cases the youth level. And all of those cumulative hits to the head added up to result in an increased risk, said Daneshvar.

The NFLs 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement limited the number of contact practices during the season. The current CBA was ratified in 2020 and runs through March 2031.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | 1 in 3 retired professional football players believe they have CTE, study finds

The Ivy League banned full-contact tackling during practices five years later.

The Supreme Court cleared the way for the NFLs settlement of concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players in 2016.

If the changes that have been implemented at the NFL level, including reducing the amount of contact in sports practices to less than one per week, were propagated at the collegiate, high school, and youth levels, athletes would be better off, said Daneshvar, who urged current and former athletes experiencing cognitive symptoms to seek a neurodegenerative disease expert evaluation.

We know that nearly 70% of head impacts are occurring in practice. So without changing a single minute of game time at any of those levels, we can be substantially reducing the cumulative head impact burden that these individuals are experiencing throughout their lives.

San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York was arrested over the weekend in Ohio and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools.

York was arrested Sunday in East Palestine, Ohio, and was released after posting a $5,000 bond. He was sentenced to one day in jail for both offenses to be served concurrently and was credited with one day served when he pleaded no contest Monday morning. He also was fined $1,150.

Court records show that York initially was charged with engaging in prostitution, but prosecutors amended that to disorderly conduct. Records also show that York had a cellphone returned to him and that $160 that was seized was to be given to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force as part of the plea agreement. York also completed an online course.

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The 49ers and the NFL didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The 46-year-old York took over day-to-day control of the 49ers from his parents in 2008. He became the team's principal owner in 2024. After some initial struggles under York's leadership, the team has been a consistent contender since hiring coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in 2017.

The Niners have made the Super Bowl three times under York's leadership, losing in the 2012 season under coach Jim Harbaugh and the 2019 and '23 seasons under Shanahan and Lynch.

York also oversaw the building of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The team moved from San Francisco to the new stadium in 2014. The stadium has hosted two Super Bowls, a World Cup and a College Football Playoff title game.

Former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from Sunday night's Indiana-Chicago WNBA game after he was confronted by Sky guard Natasha Cloud late in the third quarter.

Freedom was sitting along the baseline. He had on a black shirt that read WOMAN noun. adult human female.

The Fever called for a timeout after Cloud scored inside with 1:22 left in the third. Cloud then did a chest bump with teammate Aicha Coulibaly before turning around and walking in Kanter's direction.

Cloud, 34, started yelling and pointing at Kanter, 34, as she approached him. A standing Kanter held his arms out and took one step on the court as security and a handful of Sky players moved in between the two.

There was just a fan incident and the security handled it, and we're just going to focus on the game, Chicago forward Azura Stevens said after the Sky's 113-90 loss.

Chicago coach Tyler Marsh said Cloud was concerned about being a distraction for the team.

I told her she wasnt, Marsh said. I told her that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected and so Tash is always going to stand on that, and we stand for Tash.

Freedom stopped near the basket to plead his case to security as he was escorted from the court area. He spun around while holding his shirt out and encouraged the crowd to respond as he walked toward the front lobby.

He had a conversation with a group of police officers before departing Wintrust Arena.

I didnt see it, we were talking about the next play in our huddle," Indiana star Caitlin Clark said, "so I think thats probably a question for Chicago.

Cloud met with team and league security after the game. She did not speak with the media.

The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been such a player in the WNBA.

Although the leagues collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.

Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls and womens sports. Freedom and Royce White, another former NBA player, have declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft, saying they identify as women.

Kanter joined a small rally in support of Cunningham outside the arena before the game.

Asked if he had a message for Kanter, Marsh praised the league and its players.

If you come to a game you should probably come to enjoy the basketball," he said, and that seems pretty simple to me. I think these players deserve that and have earned that. Being a former basketball player, you should probably understand and feel that too.

For once, things were moving fast in the nation's capital.

Washington was hosting an IndyCar race through its streets Sunday, with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump kicking off the Freedom 250 Grand Prix by leading a slow lap in the presidential limousine through the course. Soon after, the president waved the green flag to start the race and drivers began whipping through downtown, including a stretch along Pennsylvania Avenue not too far from the White House.

Im going to make a little circle in a nice, secure car, slightly slower than the ones were going to witness, but were going to have fun, Trump said in an interview on Fox shortly before the ride.

The open-wheel race, with cars whizzing past Washingtons monuments at speeds approaching 200 mph, is the latest of Trumps celebrations this year to mark Americas 250th birthday.

Trumps other events to mark the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independences signing have included a UFC fight on the White House lawn, military aircraft flyovers, a massive July Fourth fireworks show on the National Mall and a Great American State Fair that the president headlined after scores of 90s-era musical acts dropped out. The events have all had a Trumpian flair, featuring appearances from his friends and the aim of showcasing spectacle, Americana and power.

In this latest case, it was be horsepower.

Racing day brings out some of Trump's favorites

Sunday included some of Trump's favorite flourishes. One of his favorite singers, tenor Christopher Macchio, performed, The Star-Spangled Banner. A trained bald eagle was dramatically released near the start line, and it swooped and flew overhead before returning to its handler.

There were flyovers of military aircraft, which have boomed over the city during the July Fourth celebrations, among other events. One flyover Sunday involved a formation featuring a B-2 stealth bomber, which Trump frequently boasts about for its role in dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities last year.

Air Force One, escorted by four fighter jets, flew overhead as Trump did his lap. The jet was the Qatar-gifted aircraft that the president has been using as Air Force One, which has attracted scrutiny not only for Trumps acceptance of the luxury gift but because it is not equipped with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems found on older presidential jets.

The IndyCar race took place Trump has struggled to resolve the war he started nearly six months ago with Iran, a conflict that has driven up gasoline prices and exacerbated worries from officials in his Republican Party that voters in this Novembers midterm elections see the president as distracted and not focused enough on cost-of-living concerns.

Trump in his second term has increasingly seemed to focus on relishing the presidencys ceremonial aspects. That's included a healthy dose of visits to sporting events including an appearance last month at the World Cup final, where he presented the trophy to winner Spain and lingered onstage with the team as its members jumped in a hail of confetti.

Bringing Indy to DC was a longtime quest for racing series owner

From his viewing box, Trump had the honor of waving the green flag to kick off the race.

Before the race, Trump and his wife met and chatted with some of the race drivers. They then took a slow drive through the course in a small motorcade and could be seen waving at the crowd as a Marine Corps band played Stars and Stripes Forever."

IndyCar series owner Roger Penske, a longtime friend of Trumps who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from him in 2019, helped lead the effort to bring the race to Washington.

Trump told Fox on Sunday that Penske told him that he had been trying to bring the race to Washington for 20 years.

When he came to see Trump it got done in about 15 minutes and its turned out to be much bigger than we ever even thought possible, the president said, referring to himself in the third person.

Penske met Trump when he arrived at the course and later joined him in his viewing box, as did the presidents friend and UFC CEO Dana White, who helped put on the fight at the White House in June.

An executive order Trump signed earlier this year calling for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix declared that the cars and drivers inspire awe and respect in all who watch this quintessentially American sport, and the event will showcase the majesty of our great city as drivers navigate a track around our iconic national monuments in celebration of Americas 250th birthday.

Trump wanted to hear freedom roar from the powerful racing machines

Their beautiful cars are going to make freedom roar. This will be a freedom thats roaring like never before, Trump said at the White House earlier this month as he promoted the event.

Bud Denker, president of Penske Corporation and the races chair, said that Penske is paying for the vast majority of the race, including building the track and road improvements, while the District of Columbia handled some repaving.

Among the changes needed on the citys streets for the Indycar race was the welding of more than 200 maintenance hole covers to ensure the race cars dont suck them up off the road.

Sundays festivities were also the latest opportunity for Trump to revel in the way hes putting his mark on the nations capital, including large banners showing his face on government buildings, the construction of a massive White House ballroom, a gold-adorned Oval Office and botched repairs at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart has always seen the WNBA as an inclusive place that has served as a safe space for both its fans and the players. Thats been challenged lately.

The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been such a player in the WNBA. Although the leagues collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.

RELATED STORY | WNBA to discuss transgender athlete policies at league meetings

There have been small rallies and protests outside Indiana Fever games after the issue came to a head when Sophie Cunningham of the Fever said in an ESPN profile published last month that she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls and womens sports. There are rallies planned before the Liberty face the Fever on Saturday night in Brooklyn.

Knowing that rallies are happening on both sides shows the platform that the W has and the stunts for attention are just continuing to try and ride the wave that we have, Stewart told a small group of reporters Saturday morning. I want Liberty fans and even Indy fans that are going to come here tonight to be able to have this arena be a safe space.

At least three fans were asked by WNBA security personnel to cover shirts that had messages about transgender women participating in womens sports during last Sundays game at Atlanta between the Dream and the Fever. The league later said the fans should have been free to wear those shirts.

Stewart said Liberty fans specifically, but WNBA fans in general, come to games because they can feel like they can be themselves in whatever capacity that is and we dont want to lose sight of that."

RELATED STORY | WNBA growth amplifies longstanding debates over race, gender and power

The Liberty forward said everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if that stops being allowed there are much bigger issues. However, she said, trying to divide teams and players shouldn't be tolerated.

If we dont allow (free speech), we need to like really kind of go back and look at more things. I think the bigger thing is people are trying to divide us as teams, but also as teammates or as opponents," she said. "This league is incredibly inclusive and what we continue to fight for and stand up against. So, we dont want to take that platform away.

The University of Oklahoma and head football coach Brent Venables have each agreed to a two-year contract extension.

Venables' contract will now expire in January 2032. He is entering his fifth year as coach and took the Sooners to the College Football Playoffs last year.

Im incredibly grateful for the trust, belief and support of President Joe Harroz, Athletics Director Roger Denny, Chair and Special Advisor for OU Athletics Randall Stephenson and our Board of Regents, said Venables. It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma and to represent a place with such a proud tradition, an incredibly passionate and loyal fan base and expectations that match our own.

This opportunity and commitment reflect so many people. None of it would be possible without the tremendous investment, hard work and dedication of our players, coaches and staff. Im incredibly thankful for each of them and for the belief they have in what we are building together.

Most importantly, my family and I love Oklahoma. This is our home, and we are deeply grateful for the way the Oklahoma family has embraced and supported us.

Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --

Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded ESPN in 1979 after being fired from a public relations job in the World Hockey Association, died Tuesday. He was 93.

ESPN historian Mike Soltys said Rasmussen died at his Florida home from the effects of Parkinsons disease. Rasmussen announced in 2019 that he had been diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 2014.

Bill was a remarkable man a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasnt for Bills passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s key aspects of our company culture that still carry on to this day.

Rasmussen and his son Scott came up with the idea of a network carrying sports around the clock, and it would revolutionize Americans TV-watching habits. But the pair didnt stick around long. They were forced out after only a year by ESPN majority owner Getty Oil.

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Bill Rasmussens original idea was a cable channel covering only Connecticut sports. Many cable operators in the state were skeptical, but someone suggested buying satellite time to reach a national audience.

ESPN was launched on Sept. 7, 1979. George Grande welcomed viewers to the first SportsCenter broadcast before the networks first live event, a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz.

In those days, we didnt know if wed last four weeks, four years, let alone 40-some, but we knew it was special, Grande said. Bottom line was Bill Rasmussen was the true pervader of the original American dream, and he gave us all something very special that we still have today.

The Rasmussens secured financial backing from Getty Oil and a rights deal with the NCAA, and built a studio in Bristol, Connecticut, still under construction when ESPN went on the air.

The Getty investment and the deal with the NCAA occurred on the same day.

When someone tells you you cant do something, you want to prove them wrong, Bill Rasmussen said. Many, many people told us there wasnt enough sports to do a 24-hour channel. I didnt argue with anybody. I just thought they were wrong and I was right.

When the Rasmussens were forced out of ESPN in 1980, Getty owned 85% of the network. Texaco, which had acquired Getty, sold its interest in ESPN to ABC in 1984.

Bill Rasmussen and ESPN were estranged until 1999, when company executives invited him to the 20th anniversary celebration. Since then, he has been embraced and recognized for his vision of creating an all-sports network. He toured the country in 2019 for the 40th anniversary and gave speeches at Walt Disney Co. and ESPN events.

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Bill was our George Washington and a good friend, said veteran anchor Chris Berman, who joined ESPN three weeks after the network launched in 1979. He was such a grateful person and every sports fan can be grateful for Bill. He wasnt a glass half-full guy; his glass was always overflowing with optimism. He greeted everyone with a smile and we can all smile knowing Bills legacy.

Born in Chicago, Rasmussen earned degrees from DePauw University in Indiana and Rutgers University and served in the Air Force. He started an advertising services business, then worked in radio and television as a broadcaster during the 1960s.

He was hired in 1974 as public relations director for the WHAs New England Whalers in Hartford, Connecticut. The teams entire front office was fired in 1978, and Rasmussen soon turned his attention to brainstorming with his son on the creation of sports on cable TV with the help of a $9,000 credit card advance.

There was a whole lot of chutzpah and a whole lot of vision, and theyre maxed out on their credit cards. Its the American dream, said Bob Ley, one of the networks original anchors.

Rasmussen was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2025.

Rasmussen was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Lois, in 2011 and is survived by two sons, Scott Rasmussen and his wife, Laura, and Glenn Rasmussen, daughter Lynn Van Hollebeke and her husband, Louie, seven grandchildren, one great-grandson and one great-granddaughter. In addition to his wife, Bill was predeceased by his brothers Robert and Donald Rasmussen, sister Vivien and a grandson.

Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is legally contesting her siblings' plan to sell the family's remaining 17.8% minority ownership stake in the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, according to a letter obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

ESPN and The Athletic first reported that the siblings had voted to sell the family trust's remaining interest in the 17-time NBA champion team purchased by their father, Jerry Buss, in 1979. The decision would end Jeanie Buss' tenure as the Lakers' governor because that job requires at least 15% ownership of the team.

Jeannie Buss' attorney, Adam Streisand, wrote to representatives for her five siblings to state that any decision to sell the family trust's ownership stake could not be effectuated without approval of the current co-trustees, Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.

RELATED STORY | Bob Iger, Josh Kushner to buy Lakers in historic $12.5 billion deal

The letter further states that the co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner. Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.

Jeanie Buss has been the Lakers governor since Jerry Buss death in 2013, and she led the familys decision to sell a controlling stake in the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last year at a valuation of $10 billion. Walter, who is under federal investigation for tax issues, abruptly reached a deal earlier this month to flip the Lakers to Kushner and Iger at a valuation of $12.5 billion, another record for a pro sports team.

Venture capitalist Kushner and former Disney CEO Iger are reportedly buying about 65% of the team from Walter. They would own about 83% if they reach a deal with the Buss siblings and Jeanie Buss would lose the governor role that she had been slated to keep at least through 2030 under the deal with Walter.

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The Buss siblings have been in frequent conflict since their fathers death, with Jeanie firing Jim from his job as the Lakers head of basketball operations in 2017, followed a week later by a lawsuit against her brothers amid an attempt by Jim and Johnny to oust Jeanie from her role as the Lakers controlling owner.

Not all of the six Buss siblings were in favor of the sale to Walter, and Joey and Jesse were fired from their front-office jobs with the team last November.

The siblings say they voted this month to sell their family's remaining interest in the Lakers, but Jeanie Buss claims any vote is void. ESPN reported that Jeanie Buss was the only sibling who didn't support the final sale.

We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction, the Buss family said in a statement. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles, but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.

In his letter, Streisand said Joey and Jesse Buss have leaked information to ESPN for many years for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Busss chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her fathers wishes.

Jerry Buss was a chemist and real estate investor who bought the Lakers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and the Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million. The Lakers quickly entered a renaissance in which they became known for their flashy Showtime style of play while winning five NBA titles between 1980 and 1988 behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

While the NBA and professional sports became increasingly more corporate, the Lakers remained essentially a family business despite their massive profile and steady success. Jerry Buss and the Lakers have employed many of the basketball world's greatest players and coaches of the past five decades, and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to five additional championships between 2000 and 2010 before LeBron James added the 17th in 2020.

The sale agreement with Kushner and Iger still must be approved by the NBA's board of governors, and the process could take months.

Tommy John, who won 288 games during a 26-year big league career and became the first pitcher to successfully return following groundbreaking elbow surgery that later was named after him, has died. He was 83.

He died at his home in Bradenton, Florida, on Saturday night, agent Mike Maguire said Sunday. He had been in hospice care.

On Aug. 8, the New York Yankees released a social media post in which John wrote that he wanted to say goodbye to everyone, including friends and fans who followed him throughout his career, saying, I will never forget you.

The Yankees called John a bedrock of our rotation during his time in pinstripes and a longtime favorite of Yankees fans.

John was a four-time All-Star with a record of 288-231 and a 3.34 ERA during a career that stretched from 1963 to 1989. He pitched for Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees, the California Angels and the Oakland Athletics.

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Tommy was an exceptional pitcher throughout his career in Major League Baseball, and his courageous role in becoming the first to have surgery that would go on to bear his name cant be overstated, Stan Kasten, Dodgers president and CEO, said in a statement. "His impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come.

The left-hander was 31 years old when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow in 1974, a death knell for pitchers' careers to that point.

John allowed Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers team physician, to replace the ligament with a tendon from his right forearm. Jobe gave the surgery 100-to-1 odds of being successful.

John was a great pitcher, but his elbow surgery made him a baseball legend

The procedure had been done on others before, although it was usually performed on wrists and hands. John was the first pitcher to have it done on his elbow.

More than 2,600 big leaguers and thousands more amateurs have since had UCL reconstructions, better known as Tommy John surgery. Its been a godsend for many of baseballs greatest stars, including two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and even Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper.

If you put it in dollars and cents, I think theres no question that Tommy John is the most valuable reconstructive procedure there is, Dodgers team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache told The Associated Press in 2024.

Born Thomas Edward John Jr. on May 22, 1943, in Terre Haute, Indiana, he was a top baseball and basketball player at the citys Gerstmeyer High. He graduated in 1961 as valedictorian but did not give the commencement speech because of a stutter. Despite being recruited by the University of Kentucky to play basketball, John chose baseball and signed with Cleveland.

The day I left for my first job as a pitcher, my father looked at me & said: Good luck, Tommy. Just remember one thing: Whether you make it big in the big leagues or you dont, youll always just be Tommy John from Terre Haute, Indiana. Ive never forgotten those words, John wrote in his Aug. 8 post.

John recorded 2,245 strikeouts but never led either league in wins or strikeouts. He had the second-most wins of any pitcher since 1900 not to be elected to the Hall of Fame. From 1995 through 2009, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he never received more than 31.7% of the votes, falling well short of the 75% required for election.

John won more games after his eponymous surgery

Known for his longevity, John was the opening day starter for both the 1966 Chicago White Sox and the 1989 New York Yankees. He won 124 games before his UCL repair and 164 after. His final appearance came days after his 46th birthday.

While his incredible longevity and post-surgery achievements changed the fortunes and trajectory of countless athletes around the world, it also overshadowed his excellence as a pitcher, the Yankees said in a statement. We pause to remember the totality of his legacy his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer.

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John made his major league debut on Sept. 6, 1963, pitching one inning in relief for Cleveland.

He was traded to the White Sox in 1965 and worked his way into the starting rotation. The following year, he tied for the American League lead with five shutouts and in 1967, his six shutouts led the AL.

In 1971, he was traded to the Dodgers.

In 1974, John had a 13-3 record and led the National League in victories going into the All-Star break. He was pitching against the Montreal Expos when he permanently damaged the UCL in his left arm. After a month, the injury had not improved.

During the four-hour surgery on Sept. 25, 1974, Jobe made holes in the humerus and ulna bones of Johns left arm and used anchors to insert the tendon in a figure-eight pattern.

At first, Johns left hand was shriveled and he lacked feeling in several of his fingers because of damage to the ulnar nerve. Jobe performed a second procedure to reroute the nerve that was necessary to Johns full recovery.

Johns arm was in a cast for four months. He had recovered the full range of motion in his left arm by spring training of 1975, and spent that season resting, healing and rebuilding strength in his arm. John worked with fellow Dodgers pitcher Mike Marshall, who had a doctorate in kinesiology, on learning a different grip.

That September he made five appearances during an offseason instructional league, working his way up to seven innings by his final game.

John resumed pitching for the Dodgers in 1976 as the fourth starter in their rotation. He allowed three runs in five innings and took the loss in his first start against Atlanta, the first time any pitcher had started a game following UCL reconstructive surgery.

John donated the original cast from his surgery to the Smithsonian Institution in June 2022. His teammates on the 1974 Dodgers signed it, as well as Jobe and the teams Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully.

The procedure has become so widely known that in 2019, Merriam-Webster added the term to its dictionary.

John made 31 starts for the Dodgers in 1976, posting a 10-10 record, a 3.09 ERA, 91 strikeouts, 61 walks and 207 hits allowed in 207 innings.

In 1977, he won 20 games for the first time in his career, finishing with a 20-7 record. He finished second behind Philadelphias Steve Carlton in voting for the NL Cy Young Award.

John and his family had mixed feelings about the legacy of his operation

Over 50 years later, Tommy John surgery is as much a part of baseball as peanuts and hot dogs. Advanced training methods are helping pitchers of all ages throw harder than ever. They take comfort knowing a torn UCL wont necessarily end their careers.

I am sick my name is attached to a surgery happening in kids more than pros, John tweeted in July 2018.

Johns oldest son, Tommy III, became a chiropractor who wrote a book suggesting ways to prevent young athletes from having to undergo major sports-related surgery similar to what his father endured.

After his pitching career ended, John worked as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins and Yankees in the 1990s. He managed the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Bluefish from 2007-09.

John was hospitalized in December 2020 because of COVID-19 and later had Guillain-Barr syndrome, in which a persons immune system attacks their nerves. John told the New York Post in May 2022 that he was paralyzed in his lower extremities for several months.

John and his wife Sally Simmons had four children: Tamara, Tommy III, Travis and Taylor, who died of a prescription drug overdose at 28 in 2010. The couple divorced in 2013.

Besides his children, he is survived by his second wife, Cheryl, and son-in-law Patrick Mannelly, a retired NFL long snapper who played 16 years for the Chicago Bears.

The All-Star Game is returning to San Francisco in two years.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement Friday that the 2028 Midsummer Classic will be at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The 2007 game was played in the picturesque waterfront ballpark, featuring Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki's famous inside-the-park home run that bounced off the tricky wall in right-center field.

With its passionate fanbase, world-class ballpark, and rich baseball history, San Francisco will be an outstanding host for All-Star Week, which culminates in one of Major League Baseballs best traditions, the Midsummer Classic, Manfred said in a statement. "We look forward to bringing the excitement of All-Star Week and the celebration of baseball to the Bay Area.

This will mark another major sporting event for the Bay Area recently after the Super Bowl and World Cup this year and the NBA All-Star Game in February 2025.

The Giants will host the Midsummer Classic for a fourth time overall after Candlestick Park held the first All-Star Game of the 1961 season and also baseball's summer showcase in 1984.

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Oracle Park is set to become the eighth active ballpark to hold the All-Star Game multiple times, joining Fenway Park in 1946, 1961 and 1999, Wrigley Field (1947, 1962, 1990), Angel Stadium (1967, 1989, 2010), Dodger Stadium (1980, 2022), Progressive Field (1997, 2019), Coors Field (1998, 2021) and T-Mobile Park (2001, 2023).

Giants President and CEO Larry Baer said the club is incredibly honored and expressed his gratitude.

This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase our organization, our city, and the incredible passion of our fans on baseballs biggest summer stage, he said in a statement.

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Hosting the All-Star Game is more than celebrating the games brightest stars, its a chance to highlight the people, neighborhoods, and culture that make our community so special. Few cities offer the unique combination of sports, culture, innovation, entertainment, and natural beauty that defines San Francisco. We look forward to welcoming players, families, fans, and visitors from around the world for a week that will create lasting memories and have a meaningful impact throughout our region.

The Chicago Bears have at least one viable site for a new stadium in northwest Indiana and they are examining a second location as they move closer to finalizing a place for their new home.

The Bears announced in June that they were moving forward with a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. They have completed their review of what they are calling the Lost Marsh site, and they are doing their due diligence on the Wolf Lake Terminal site. They could merge the two options together in some way.

"Even though we've had occasional meetings with the state of Illinois, our sole focus at this point in time is working on a world-class stadium and mixed-use development in Hammond, Indiana," team President Kevin Warren said Thursday.

The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights about 30 miles northwest of Chicago as a potential location for an enclosed stadium. Wherever they end up, a name change is off the table.

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"We will be the Chicago Bears whether we're in Arlington or whether we're in Hammond," chairman George McCaskey said.

The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since the team's founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.

The Bears' lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall the team's headquarters in Lake Forest and Hammond is about 20 miles south of the team's lakefront stadium.

McCaskey acknowledged the "anxiety" of a move to northwest Indiana for the team's fans.

"But when I've driven that route, other than a sign telling me so, I wouldn't know that I've just crossed the state border," he said. "And as Kevin said, once people see the building, once they get in there, once they understand that our top priority from day one was a world-class stadium experience, we think we'll make that adjustment. We think Bears fans are up for that."

The Bears ramped up their focus on Indiana after a proposal to provide financial incentives for the team to build its new home in Illinois stalled in the state legislature. A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state's spring legislative session.

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McCaskey said the team has had minimal conversations with Illinois legislators since June. Asked if he was hopeful about Illinois coming up with a plan and building in Arlington Heights, McCaskey demurred.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "has said to us many times in league meetings, 'Hope is not a strategy,'" McCaskey said. "We have to deal with the here and now. We have to deal with real circumstances, and these are the real circumstances."

The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.

The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated was finalized in 2023.

In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.

But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as team president in January 2023, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago's Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson and a tepid reception from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made "significant progress" with local leaders in Arlington Heights.

Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at possible options in northwest Indiana.

"We're in regular, almost daily communication with the state of Indiana working on this," Warren said. "We have an excellent deal, a win-win partnership together. And the cost of the significance of this decision from a stadium standpoint, we will make sure that we take our time to get this right."

Americans overwhelmingly see major benefits to children playing organized sports, a new poll finds, but higher-income families are more likely to participate.

Learning teamwork and reducing screen time are among the perceived benefits of youth sports, according to the AP-Ipsos survey.

About half of U.S. parents with K-12 school-aged children say their kids play a structured sport, but participation is higher among more affluent families. About 7 in 10 K-12 parents with a household income of at least $100,000 annually say their children play organized sports, compared to about 4 in 10 parents with a lower household income.

The findings point to a key problem in youth sports: parents almost universally see participation as an important part of kids' childhood, but the out-of-pocket expenses can be significant, particularly for lower-income families.

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"There's travel, the uniforms, pitching in on the lunches," said Tanisha Curry, 51, who lives in Ohio. She has custody of her granddaughter, who plays volleyball through her school. It strains Curry's budget, but the whole family pitches in to keep the costs manageable.

"Kids don't go out and do things anymore," she said. "Getting them away from a screen, at least for an hour it's worth it."

About two-thirds of K-12 parents with at least one child playing sports estimate spending up to $2,000 annually on equipment, fees, training and travel for youth athletics. More affluent sports parents spend about the same amount yearly as less affluent sports parents, which underscores the additional financial burden for lower-income families. Some parents hope the investment will pay off beyond the social benefits, with scholarships or other opportunities.

Despite the demands and hefty cost K-12 sports parents overwhelmingly say the benefits of youth sports outweigh the drawbacks.

Jon Fassnacht, a 47-year-old dad in Pennsylvania, has seen his 9-year-old daughter push herself physically and mentally through competitive swimming. She got involved in the sport after taking swim lessons, and he has been thrilled to see her build her confidence over multiple seasons as she improves her swim times.

"It's just so good for her self-esteem to have that goal setting," Fassnacht said. "And then there's the social aspect on top of it. She's kind of shy, so to have these opportunities to meet new people outside of her school is big."

Soccer, basketball and softball or baseball are among the most commonly played sports, the poll found.

Nearly all U.S. adults say learning to deal with adversity, improving physical fitness, learning teamwork, making friends, reducing technology time and learning about hard work and commitment are "major" and "minor" benefits for children playing organized sports, the poll found.

Some of that perceived benefit may come from adults' own experiences. About three-quarters of adults who played organized sports as a child say playing sports had a "mostly positive impact" on their childhood, and about 6 in 10 say it positively influenced their adulthood.

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About three-quarters of K-12 sports parents say their children have ever played on a recreational sports team, and about two-thirds say their kids have played on a school sports team. Around half say their kids have played in specialized youth sports camps or done independent sports training, while about 4 in 10 say their kids have participated in travel or club sports teams or done private lessons.

Most K-12 sports parents face challenges when children play organized sports.

About 8 in 10 say that scheduling and logistics or the time commitment present a "major" or "minor" challenge for their household. Roughly 7 in 10 say the same about team or club fees, the amount of travel involved and the equipment or uniform costs.

In addition to the roughly two-thirds of sports parents who estimate spending up to $2,000 annually on equipment, fees, training and travel for their children's athletics, roughly 2 in 10 spend more than $2,000 but less than $5,000. Only about 1 in 10 K-12 sports parents spend more than $5,000 annually.

Kathryn Stuczynski, 37, said she and her husband budget in order to make sure they can afford the activities their 7-year-old and 13-year-old daughters are passionate about, including karate, grappling and wrestling. Stuczynski, from New York, says their household skips buying the latest iPhone or a new TV in order to keep their budget manageable.

"Giving my girls life experiences, it's priceless," she said. "I'd rather have the old phone, you know? I'm fine with that."

In general, more affluent sports parents those in households that make at least $100,000 annually spend about the same as sports households with lower incomes. Higher-income households are more likely to say they spend more than $5,000, though that is still atypical. About 1 in 10 households that make at least $100,000 spend over $5,000, compared to almost no lower-income households.

Despite the challenges, the vast majority of sports parents feel good about their children playing organized sports. About 8 in 10 sports parents say "proud" describes how they feel "extremely" or "very" well, and a similar share say that about "happy."

Relatively few K-12 athletes will go on to play at the collegiate level or earn athletic scholarships, but the poll shows many sports parents have it on their minds. About 8 in 10 sports parents say the possibility of improving college acceptance odds is at least a "minor" benefit of kids playing organized sports.

Stuczynski has seen her 13-year-old daughter excel at wrestling and believes she has the potential to get a college scholarship in the sport if she sticks with it, but she and her husband are letting their daughter's passion and competitiveness drive her future with sports.

"We would never force it," Stuczynski said. "We'll go as hard as she wants to go, basically."

About 6 in 10 sports parents say the hope of their child earning an athletic scholarship or improving their college acceptance odds plays either "a major role" or "a minor role" in the decision to enroll their kids in sports, though only about 3 in 10 say either played a "major role" in their decision.

Less affluent parents are more likely than more affluent parents to say the possibility of their child improving college acceptance odds, earning an athletic scholarship or earning NIL money played a "major" role in their decision to enroll their child in sports, while more affluent parents are more likely to say it played "no role."

Fassnacht, from Pennsylvania, hopes his daughter will continue swimming through high school because of the physical and mental benefits, but he's not expecting her to make a career of it.

"I'm more focused on the benefits to her," he said. "If she ever stops enjoying it, then we'll move on to something else."

A representative for Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has told LSU it can no longer use the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner's name, image and likeness.

ESPN got a copy of the letter that was sent to LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry and said Daniels' decision stems from the school's decision to allow cornerback D.J. Pickett to wear a No. 5 jersey. That's the number Daniels wore during his two seasons at LSU.

This would mark the first time an LSU player has worn No. 5 since Daniels' departure, though the school hadn't retired the jersey.

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"Jayden made it clear that he did not want his number given to another player, and he believed his wishes would be respected," the statement from Daniels' spokesperson said. "His Heisman Trophy-winning season and everything he accomplished on and off the field cemented his place in LSU history. To see his number given to another player is incredibly disappointing and feels like a failure to honor the significance of what Jayden accomplished at LSU."

Pickett wore a No. 3 jersey as a freshman last year but is switching to No. 5 this season. The 6-foot-5 cornerback is a former five-star recruit who had three interceptions as a freshman last season.

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LSU coach Lane Kiffin said last week that Pickett was promised the opportunity to wear No. 5 when he signed with LSU in December 2024, when Brian Kelly was coaching the Tigers. Kelly was fired in October 2025. and Kiffin was hired at the end of the regular season.

"When a kid's promised something to come to a school, he should wear it," Kiffin said during an Aug. 5 media session. "So at that point, I don't think it's really my decision. We should honor what he was told."

CBS Sports president David Berson said Tuesday he does not have a timeline for a decision about Tony Romo's future.

Romo, the network's lead NFL analyst, is on leave following his arrest last month in Wisconsin on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence.

Its an evolving situation, and therefore were still assessing, Berson said during a network event.

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Berson also told reporters the decision to place Romo on indefinite leave was intended to shift attention toward the games and away from his legal situation.

We we had to consider the impact on our image and on our brand. Thats very important to us. Whether the games, marketing, PR, social, the focus should and needs to be on our presentation and not on any other factors, he said.

Analyst JJ Watt will join play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson on CBS Sports lead NFL team during Romos absence. Their first game will be on Sept. 13, when the Minnesota Vikings host the Green Bay Packers.

Watt joined CBS in 2023. He was an analyst on The NFL Today for two seasons before teaming with Ian Eagle on the networks No. 2 crew beginning last season. Ross Tucker has been moved up to the No. 2 team. He has previously teamed with Eagle on radio broadcasts for Westwood One.

Romo, 46, has been the lead game analyst for CBS NFL coverage since 2017 after making four Pro Bowl appearances during a playing career that ran from 2004-16 and was spent entirely with Dallas.

He was arrested July 23 after he was stopped while driving south on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin. According to the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office, Romo performed poorly on field sobriety tests before getting arrested, booked and released.

He has a court date set for Sept. 21.

Romo went to high school about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee in Burlington, Wisconsin.

Matt Hasselbeck took some nasty hits to the head during his 17-year NFL career, four years at Boston College and a childhood full of sports, but the quarterback seems to have emerged from more than two decades of collisions relatively unscathed, enjoying middle adulthood with his wife and three children.

The 50-year-old knows that some of his friends and former teammates haven't been as lucky.

That's why the three-time Pro Bowl selection recently spent two days at Boston University, going through a battery of scans and tests to determine how much all those collisions affected his brain. The hope is that it will be a small step toward a goal that has eluded doctors diagnosing chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the living.

"They need guys like me they need people who are feeling good to step up to the plate and volunteer," Hasselbeck said. "I played quarterback, so I didn't take some of the hits that a lot of my teammates took.

"But the guys who were blocking for me, or playing special teams, or trying to get the ball back for me on defense, I wanted to do something. They had my back, so in a way I'd like to have their back."

A degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions and other head trauma common in military combat and contact sports, CTE has been diagnosed in more than 100 former NFL players, casting a pall over the United States' most popular sports league. Some high-profile football players diagnosed with CTE after their deaths include Hall of Famers like linebacker Junior Seau and quarterback Ken Stabler, along with former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.

Right now, CTE can only be diagnosed after death.

CTE can affect regions of the brain involved with regulating behavior and emotions. This can lead to memory loss, depression, violent mood swings and other cognitive and behavioral issues, though researchers note these symptoms can also be linked to other illnesses.

Hasselbeck's participation is just a small part of a study that Michael Alosco, co-director of clinical research at the Boston University CTE Center, hopes will expand to hundreds of participants in multiple locations. Alosco is the principal investigator in Boston and there are also sites in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida with potentially more to come.

The study seeks two types of people: Those who played professional or college football and those who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and never played contact or collision sports and have no history of repetitive head impacts.

Alosco said there are many similarities between Alzheimer's and CTE because both are degenerative brain diseases, but there are also some key differences, and mapping out those discrepancies is key to figuring out a way to diagnose CTE properly.

"We've applied what we've known worked for Alzheimer's disease, but we've learned it does not work for CTE," Alosco said. "We've really got to push discovery efforts and find the marker that's specific to the protein of CTE versus Alzheimer's because they're different.

"How we're going to get there is through the research we're doing right now."

Nicholas Ashton, the principal investigator in Phoenix, said roughly 10 patients have participated at the Arizona site. He said that currently, diagnosing CTE in the living is mostly guesswork because so many of the symptoms mimic Alzheimer's.

"The more people involved, the more information we get and the closer we get to an answer," Ashton said. "Treatments exploded with Alzheimer's once we were able to accurately diagnose. We're trying to get to the same spot with CTE."

Hasselbeck said he went through a variety of mental tests like counting backward from 100 by sevens and reciting the alphabet backward. He also had a blood sample taken, an MRI on his brain and a PET (positron emission tomography) scan that injects a small amount of safe radioactive tracer that maps out the brain's function.

The former quarterback said the procedures were eye-opening and humbling.

"I've got a healthy respect for people who are dealing with serious brain trauma, whether it's tumors or cancer," Hasselbeck said. "I walked in there feeling completely healthy and you still get a little anxious when you're doing a brain scan, an MRI. You come out and you're looking at your brain."

Hasselbeck also is donating his brain for research after he dies.

Not everyone in the study is a famous former NFL player.

Bryan Savage, a 56-year-old who lives in Maryland, is a former linebacker at Union College in Schenectady, New York an NCAA Division III school. He traveled to Boston for the study and also has committed to donating his brain.

Savage said he's lucky to be relatively healthy but that he's been diagnosed with depression and ADHD over the past few years.

"I was interested because of some of the things that I've gone through physically and mentally," Savage said. "You wonder if it's just getting older, a midlife crisis or if it's related to any brain trauma I might have had playing football."

Savage praised the researchers who were with him during the study and said he was relieved to find out his brain scans look normal for a man in his mid-50s. He's reached out to some of his former teammates, encouraging them to get involved in the study.

"I'll talk to some of my former friends and they're going through a lot of the same things," Savage said. "They'll say 'Why do I feel like this? I've never been depressed. Things that I used to be passionate about I don't care about anymore.'"

Alosco said the main reason Alzheimer's research is much more advanced than CTE research is sheer numbers: Alzheimer's research dates back decades and there have been countless people who have been studied.

By comparison, CTE research is relatively new. Volunteers like Hasselbeck and Savage are crucial to bridge the gap. The National Institutes of Health is sponsoring the current study, awarding $15 million for the research in 2025.

"The (Alzheimer's progress) is through years and years of research, of people donating their brains, and also collecting data during life," Alosco said. "While we've been studying CTE for a while, we haven't had the point where we've had all this data during life, that have also donated their brain. We need to get to that place."

He added: "I'm really hopeful about detecting CTE I don't think that's too distant. Once we can accurately diagnose, that's when we can start some treatment trials."

Hasselbeck who played in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts said he had three concussions before he even started college, one playing football, another on the basketball court and another while goofing around while ice skating. He had a few concussions during his college or NFL career, but he wasn't sure of the exact number because some might have gone undetected since there was a culture of toughness in locker rooms, particularly early in his career.

Hasselbeck's pro career spanned from 1998 to 2015 and the quarterback said there was a huge change regarding head injuries during that time. Early in his career, the only acceptable answer after a hit to the head was "I'm good," but by the mid 2010s, players were much more honest about potential concussions.

Hasselbeck's proud of that change. Now he hopes his participation in the current CTE study can continue that progress.

"I've always had a passion for making the game safer," Hasselbeck said. "I love football. One of the things I'm most proud of as an NFL guy is not just as a player, but the entire time I worked with the league and NFLPA for ways to make the game safer."

A high school football player in Arkansas had every right to be rattled after finding a venomous snake inside his helmet during practice.

The Maumelle High student felt unusual movement inside his headgear following warmups last week and brought his helmet to an assistant coach for inspection. A slithering 2-foot cottonmouth was discovered behind some padding.

The pit viper was so reluctant to exit the helmet that police officers had to pour water into it to force the snake out and into a bag. Animal services technicians arrived a few minutes later, identified the snake as a deadly cottonmouth and took it to a wooded area far from the school.

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Cottonmouths are the second-most venomous snakes found in Arkansas.

Animal services director Chris Davis said the player wore the helmet for nearly an hour and was fortunate he wasn't bitten.

"It was unreal," Davis said. "You had to kind of be there and take pictures to say this was real."

The player grabbed a different helmet and continued practice.

But the situation caused the head coach to reiterate to his team that players should examine their equipment carefully before using it, checking for insects or maybe something larger and more dangerous.