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NLL Game of the Week

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Expanded Online Streaming via B/R Live

PHILADELPHIA – The National Lacrosse League and its global media partner B/R Live announced an expansion of NLL live game coverage across multiple platforms, with the launch of the NLL “Game of the Week” streaming across B/R Live domestically and Twitter and Facebook worldwide. The free streams will be available to global audiences beginning Saturday, December 14, when the New England Black Wolves visit Saskatchewan and continuing through the end of the regular season in April.

NLL

“We are thrilled to be able to augment our growing presence on B/R Live with the NLL Game of the Week,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “These games will feature some of the best matchups in our league as well as many of our greatest personalities and athletes, and are a great next step as we continue to engage our digital audience and expand the reach of all that our league, and the game of lacrosse, has to offer to both the engaged fan and the casual seeker of high octane sports action.”

Each of the NLL’s 13 teams will be featured at least once. The 20-game schedule includes the inaugural home opener of the New York Riptide on December 28, the traditional rivalry game between Buffalo and Toronto on January 18, the historic matchup between Colorado and San Diego from Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on February 1, and a key Alterna Cup game between Canadian rivals Toronto and Vancouver on February 15. The Game of the Week selections for the last four weeks of the regular season, in April 2020, will be confirmed nearer the date.

NLL Game of the Week Schedule: (All times ET).

December 14, New England at Saskatchewan, 8:30 PM
December 21, Colorado at Calgary, 9:30 PM
December 28, Saskatchewan at New York, 7:30 PM
January 4, Vancouver at Colorado, 9:30 PM
January 11, Rochester at Toronto, 7:00 PM
January 18, Toronto at Buffalo, 7:00 PM
January 24, New York at Philadelphia, 7:00 PM
February 1, Colorado vs. San Diego in Las Vegas, 10:00 PM
February 8, Colorado at Saskatchewan, 8:30 PM
February 15, Vancouver at Toronto, 7:00 PM
February 22, Vancouver at San Diego, 4:00 PM
February 29, Halifax at Buffalo, 7:00 PM
March 7, Georgia at New York, 7:30 PM
March 14, New England at Buffalo, 7:00 PM
March 21, Georgia at Saskatchewan, 10:00 PM
March 28, New England at Georgia, 7:30 PM

The NLL is North America’s largest and most premier professional lacrosse league, ranking third in average attendance for pro indoor sports, with 13 teams in key markets across North America.

Ready or Not, AAU Strikes Deal

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PITTSBURGH – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Sports Nutrition brand – Ready Nutrition (@Ready_Nutrition) was named the Official Sports Drink of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The partnership opens the door for the new sports nutrition brand to reach AAU athletes and further build on its mission of helping athletes achieve their goals.

Ready?

Ready Nutrition will be the official sports drink provider for the AAU with its proprietary sports drink products featuring all-natural and functional ingredients that help prepare athletes to compete at their highest levels. The AAU is the largest, volunteer based, multi -sport organization in the United States with nearly 700,000 athletes competing in local, regional and national championships across 41 sports.

“One of our stated goals has always been to help young athletes achieve their performance goals through best practices in sports nutrition.” said founder and president Pat Cavanaugh, a former Division 1 college athlete at the University of Pittsburgh where he was a two-time basketball captain.

“To be able to impact and assist literally hundreds of thousands of up and coming athletes as they strive to reach their athletic potential and their ultimate individual or team goals, is just an amazing opportunity for our Ready Nutrition team.”

“As President/CEO of the AAU, I strive to identify strategic partners who share in the AAU’s 130-year plus vision of providing athletic opportunities for all, in a safe, quality environment,” said Dr. Roger J. Goudy, President/CEO of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). “The health and well-being of our athletes has always been the AAU’s utmost priority.”

Mets Mull Ownership Change

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FLUSHING – The New York Mets’ owners are negotiating a deal to sell the controlling share of the team to investor Steve Cohen, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday.

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According to the reports, the Sterling Partners — the business of the Wilpon family — plan to complete the process of the sale over a five-year period, with principal owner Fred Wilpon remaining in his current position and his son, Jeff Wilpon, remaining chief operating officer during that period.

Cohen, who bought a reported 4 percent of the team in 2012, will increase his share to up to 80 percent, according to Bloomberg News, which said the team confirmed talks in a statement. Bloomberg added that the team will be valued at $2.6 billion in the transaction, and that Cohen will remain CEO of Point72 Asset Management, the hedge fund he founded in 1992.

Cohen, 63, is from Great Neck, N.Y., and has a net worth of $13.6 billion, according to Forbes. He paid a reported $20 million for his 4 percent stake in 2012.

The Wilpons currently own 52 percent of the Mets, after acquiring the controlling share of the team in 2002. They will reportedly retain a stake in the franchise after the completion of the deal with Cohen.

No Waste for Mickelson

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PHOENIX – Phil Mickelson is skipping the PGA Tour’s Phoenix stop for the first time in 31 years to compete in the Saudi Invitational on the European Tour.

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The controversial tournament in Saudi Arabia is held on the same dates (Jan. 30-Feb. 2) as the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, which Mickelson has played every year since 1989, when he was a freshman at Arizona State. He won at TPC Scottsdale in 1996, 2005 and 2013.

“I am really looking forward to playing in Saudi Arabia in January,” Mickelson said in a statement. “I watched Dustin (Johnson) win the title last year and thought the course looked like an interesting challenge. Having so many talented players on show also made it look like a much more established tournament than one in its inaugural year,” he said

“I have enjoyed my previous visits to the Middle East and am looking forward to playing in a new country and doing my bit to grow the game in the Kingdom.”

Mickelson, 49, recently fell out of the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time since 1993.

Johnson, world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Henrik Stenson and Tony Finau also have committed to play in Saudi Arabia.

The tournament is sponsored by the Saudi government and has received criticism because of the nation’s human rights record.

World Team Tennis Adds Free Agency

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CARLSBAD – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – World TeamTennis is launching a new free agency player recruitment model ahead of its 2020 season, and teams have the opportunity to sign players beginning December 2nd.

The free agency approach was designed to allow teams more freedom to assemble their rosters during the WTT recruitment window. Free agency enabled WTT to eliminate the WTT Draft, the avenue by which WTT teams typically began to fill out their rosters in March.

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“This (free agency) design gives our teams more flexibility to go after players that might be better fits for their franchises. In the draft model, teams were fairly restricted on which players they could select once their draft position rolled around. This way teams can go after whoever they feel appropriate,” said WTT CEO and President Carlos Silva.

The new recruitment model also allows teams to better target players who might have local ties or existing relationships with team executives. Teams also have the first right to protect and sign players who played for them the previous season. 

A salary cap for each WTT franchise has been put in place to help maintain parity across the league.

“Our teams have a lot of good relationships with some of the top players in the world and we wanted to leverage those relationships,” Silva said. “We have given the teams more power in recruiting as roster spots will fill up fast.”

Similar to past years, teams are required to sign four full-season players to their rosters by March 17 and can add franchise players at any time.

The 45th World TeamTennis regular season is scheduled from July 12-29, and the 2020 season will have a record level of prize money. The prize pool will increase to $5,000,000, including $1,000,000 in WTT Playoffs compensation and $500,000 to the team that wins the King Trophy.

“With the increase of prize money that we announced last month, we’ve had a number of inbound calls from some of the best players in the world. Team formats are the future of tennis and players love playing WTT,” Silva said. “We expect team rosters to be completed as early as the 2020 Australian Open for some teams.”

The WTT Playoffs return to Orleans Arena at The Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. for the second consecutive year – home of WTT’s Vegas Rollers – with WTT’s semifinals on July 31 and the WTT Final on Aug. 1.

The Springfield (Mo.) Lasers repeated as WTT champions in 2019

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