Despite major challenges created by the pandemic, the US Tennis Association is set to announce this week that it will hold the 2020 US Open with the support of the men’s and women’s tours. The tournament is expected to run as originally scheduled from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13, but without spectators, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, according to four tennis officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans had not been announced and formal government approval had yet to be secured. Even if the tournament is confirmed this week, more than two months will remain before it begins, and outside forces, including the path of the virus and global travel restrictions, may still scuttle the USTA’s plans. The field may also be thinner than usual, with athletes making individual decisions about whether to compete. ESPN is paying more than $70 million annually in rights fees to the organization mainly to televise the tournament. In a normal year, the US Open would be the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament. But the men’s and women’s tours have been shut down since March because of the public health crisis. The start of the French Open, normally the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, has been postponed until late September. Wimbledon, the oldest of the major tournaments, was canceled for the first time since 1945. The US Open singles qualifying tournaments are not expected to be played. That would reduce the number of people at the tournament site and the official hotel. But the USTA, which has committed to roughly $52 million in prize money, is providing more than $2 million apiece to the men’s and women’s tours to compensate lower-ranked players affected by the absence of qualifying.
Athletes take NCAA to court for cap on money earned
Attorneys filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in federal court that seeks to prevent the association from limiting the amount of money athletes can make off their names, images, and likenesses. The antitrust lawsuit by attorneys representing two current college athletes also seeks damages for potential past earnings athletes have been denied by current NCAA rules. Arizona State swimmer Grant House and Oregon women’s basketball player Sedona Prince are the plaintiffs. They are suing the NCAA and the Power Five Conferences — the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and Southeastern Conference — for unspecified damages. The suit seeks class-action status. The latest legal challenge comes as the NCAA is the process of changing its rules to allow college athletes to earn money from third parties for things such as social media endorsements, sponsorship deals and personal appearances. The NCAA is also seeking help from Congress in the form of a federal law regarding name, image and likeness compensation that would superseded legislation being pushed at the state level. Florida’s governor signed an NIL bill into law last week that would go into effect July 2021. The lead attorney in the latest case against the NCAA — Steve Berman from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro — is a familiar legal foe for the association. His firm has won two antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA in the past decade: The Ed O’Bannon case that challenged the NCAA’s use of athletes’ names, images, and likenesses, and the so-called Alston case that accused the NCAA and major conferences of illegally capping compensation to athletes.
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Patriots add Tyler Hughes to coaching staff
The Patriots have hired Tyler Hughes as a coaching assistant, according to ESPN. Hughes most recently served as the head football coach at Bountiful High School in Utah. His prior experience also includes two seasons as head coach at Minot State, a Division 2 school in North Dakota; nine seasons — six as offensive coordinator, two as head coach — at Snow College, a community college in Utah; and one season as offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Murray High School in Utah. Other additions to New England’s coaching staff this offseason include Jedd Fisch, who will work with the quarterbacks, and Vinnie Sunseri, whose role has yet to be announced . . . Josh Harris and David Blitzer, the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, acquired a stake of less than 5 percent in the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this year, according to two people familiar with the transaction. While no details on price were available, the pair of financiers may have paid as much as $140 million, based on the $2.8 billion value Forbes estimated for the NFL franchise last September. The deal opens a new chapter for Harris and Blitzer, two of Wall Street’s more prolific investors in professional sports. In addition to the 76ers and Devils, they own Newark’s Prudential Center and the Crystal Palace soccer club of the English Premier League. Most recently, they’ve been exploring a possible bid for the New York Mets. The Steelers are controlled by the sons of team founder Art Rooney. Other investors include hedge fund manager Rob Citrone, former Illinois governor Bruce Rauner, and John Stallworth, who played for the team in the 1970s and ’80s.
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Kevin Durant buys into Union of MLS
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has joined the ownership group of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union. Durant, a 10-time NBA All-Star, has a 5 percent ownership stake, with an option for 5 percent more in the near future, the Union announced. “I’ve always been a soccer fan and have wanted to get into it in a meaningful way. My team and I felt an instant connection with the Philadelphia Union ownership and staff and their vision for a partnership," Durant said in a statement. "While you won’t get to see me at games for now, my team and I will be taking an active role in the community where I can help give back to Chester [Pa.] and Philadelphia.” The Union and Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures, a firm he runs with sports executive Rich Kleiman, will partner to grow the team’s profile and community outreach through the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation. Durant is not the first NBA player to buy into an MLS club. Houston Rockets star James Harden joined the ownership group of the Houston Dynamo and the NWSL’s Houston Dash last year. Russell Wilson of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks owns a stake in the Seattle Sounders . . . Sky Blue FC defender Caprice Dydasco will miss the NWSL Challenge Cup after tearing the ACL in her right knee during a team training session. The team said the 26-year-old Dydasco was hurt during a drill in a small group training last week. She is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday at the Hospital of Special Surgery in New York City . . . The PGA of America has submitted plans to hold the PGA Championship on Aug. 6-9 at Harding Park without spectators, and the San Francisco Chronicle reports public health officials have approved it. An announcement was pending approval by San Francisco officials and was expected as early as Tuesday . . . NASCAR is set to allow up to 30,000 fans at the track in Bristol, Tenn., July 15 when it moves the All-Star race out of Charlotte Motor Speedway. If the expected attendance count holds, NASCAR would open to the largest gathering of sports fans in the United States in the wake of the pandemic. NASCAR allowed 1,000 fans of mostly military personal this past weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway and is expected to have no more than 4,000 fans for the Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway . . . The Vegas Golden Knights signed 33-year-old tough guy Ryan Reaves to a two-year contract extension worth $3.5 million. He’ll count $1.75 million against the salary cap in each of the next two seasons. Reaves announced the new deal in a video on the Golden Knights’ Twitter page. The 33-year-old from Winnipeg had eight goals and seven assists for 15 points — 95 short of Leon Draisaitl’s league-leading 110. Reaves did lead the NHL with 316 hits in 71 games this season.
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June 16, 2020 at 09:20AM
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US Open tennis to stick to its schedule - The Boston Globe
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