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Lawsuit Filed vs Zion Williamson

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LOS ANGELES – (Wire Service Report) – New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson was accused of rape in a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles, the New York Post reported.

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In the suit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the woman — identified as Jane Doe — alleges Williamson sexually assaulted her twice in 2020.

The plaintiff, who claims to be the NBA forward’s ex-girlfriend, alleges there was a pattern of “abusive, controlling and threatening behavior” toward her that occurred in California, Louisiana and other states.

Williamson, 24, also is accused of threatening to have his security personnel shoot Doe in the head and have her parents killed, according to the report.

“Our client is very adamant about this — it’s not her desire or our desire to litigate this case in the press,” Doe’s attorney, Sam Taylor with the Lanier Law Firm, told the Post on Friday. “It’s a very serious case, as reflected in the allegations. Our client looks forward to her day in court where she can go and explain to a jury what happened to her, the things she endured for this defendant and getting justice.”

Williamson’s representatives did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

As of Friday afternoon, the Pelicans had not commented publicly on the allegations.

Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Duke, is a two-time All-Star with career averages of 24.7 points, 6.6rebounds and 4.3 assists in 214 games (all starts) with the Pelicans.

–Field Level Media

Blazers Not in Knight’s Future

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PORTLAND – (Wire service Report) – Nike founder and chairman emeritus Phil Knight believes it’s too late in the game for him to buy an NBA franchise. Knight, 87, issued a statement citing his age as a primary roadblock to purchasing the Portland Trail Blazers. The team is on the market and being sold by the estate of Microsoft legend Paul Allen.

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“Five years ago, when I was a younger man, I had a great interest in being a part of the Portland Trail Blazers franchise. However, at my current age, I can confirm that I no longer have interest in acquiring the team,” Knight said in a statement issued by Nike.

Allen owned the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), the Blazers and a 25 percent stake in the Seattle Sounders (MLS) when he died at age 65 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2018.

Allen bought the Blazers in 1988 for $70 million and the franchise has a valuation of more than $3.5 billion, according to Sportico. The Boston Celtics recently sold for $6.1 billion.

The Seahawks and the minority stake in the Sounders are not for sale, according to the trust’s announcement of plans to sell the NBA franchise.

His sister, Jody Allen, is the acting governor of the Blazers and executor for the Paul G. Allen Trust. Jody Allen declined Knight’s offer — made in partnership with Los Angeles Dodgers minority owner Alan Smolinsky — to buy the Blazers for more than $2 billion in 2022, according to reports.

Paul Allen’s will directs the existing trust “to eventually sell his sports holdings and direct all estate proceeds to philanthropy.”

–Field Level Media

Sovereignty in Front

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LOUISVILLE – Horse trainer Bill Mott looked like he was gliding on air as he made his way into the infield at Churchill Downs early Saturday evening. Just moments before, his horse Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby.

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He displayed a beaming smile while working through the crowd of well-wishers to get to the winner’s circle with jockey Junior Alvarado, Godolphin LLC racing manager Michael Banahan and others connected to the winner of the 151st Run for the Roses.

Godolphin, a global racing giant, celebrated its first Derby win after 26 years of trying. It was the first win for Alvarado in the Derby or any Triple Crown race, and it was the second for Mott. However, he had good reason to treat this like his first.

Six years ago, the Kentucky Derby was in limbo for 22 minutes while stewards reviewed the race. Mott’s Country House finished second to Maximum Security, but he would be named the winner after Maximum Security was deemed to have interfered with other horses. The 2019 decision ranks as one of the most controversial outcomes in the century-and-a-half history of America’s biggest horse race.

That night, Mott called the outcome “bittersweet.” This time around, there was nothing bitter about it.

“This is better,” he told reporters Saturday. “I said afterwards I want to finish first, cross the line first.”

Jim Dent, PGA Tour Pioneer, 85

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AUGUSTA – (Wire Service Report) – Jim Dent, a pioneering Black golfer, one of the PGA Tour’s longest hitters and a 12-time winner on what is now PGA Tour Champions, died at age 85 on Friday.

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Dent, who died a week before his birthday in his native Augusta, Ga., was recovering from the effects of a stroke, the PGA Tour said.

“A lot of people will remember Jim Dent for how far he hit the ball, and he really did. Yet his long-term success, especially on our tour, proved Jim was more than just long off the tee,” said PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady. “Jim was as easy going as he was competitive, and he added so much during his time as a PGA Tour Champions player. We offer our sincere condolences to his entire family.”

Dent worked as a teenager caddying at Augusta Municipal Golf Course, known at “The Patch.” He also worked at Augusta National Golf Club but in his adult years never qualified as a player for the Masters in 16 consecutive campaigns on the PGA Tour, when he never appeared in less than 22 tournaments a season.

Turning pro in 1966 and qualifying for the PGA Tour starting in 1971, Dent made the cut in 296 of 450 tour events, including 25 top-10 finishes, and earned $565,809 in official money in a different era for tournament purses.

NCAA Partners with SportsBooks

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INDIANAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The NCAA is set to forge a partnership with sportsbooks after an agreement was reached to supply data from its championship events through Genius Sports, multiple outlets reported Friday.

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Because the NCAA is not in charge of the College Football Playoff, the biggest impact from the new deal will come with information supplied through the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The agreement, which runs through 2032, does not include regular-season games.

While the NCAA has tried to keep its distance from the growing sports betting industry, the partnership with Genius Sports puts it more in line with professional sports leagues that have working relationships with the industry.

With online harassment of student athletes on the rise, NCAA president Charlie Baker spoke at a Senate hearing about the impact of sports betting and college athletics in December. The NCAA’s chief concern is with betting options tied to an individual player.

Genius Sports will now supply sportsbooks with official game data, through an authorized gaming license, while “limiting risky bet types,” and “safeguarding student-athletes,” are listed as primary goals of the London-based company.

“NCAA data will only be available to sportsbooks if they remove risky bets from their platforms and agree to fully cooperate with NCAA investigations and provide key information including geolocation data and device records,” NCAA senior vice president of external affairs Tim Buckley said in a statement, according to ESPN. “The NCAA retains the right to terminate any sportsbook data license if integrity protections are violated — ensuring real accountability.”

NCAA member schools will continue to get live game statistics for free through NCAA LiveStats, ESPN reported.

–Field Level Media

 

Green Bay’s NFL Draft Party

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GREEN BAY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Fans were amazed and appreciative that the NFL’s smallest city could host one of the league’s biggest events, the NFL draft, and their mood was brightened ever more when the hometown Packers selected a wide receiver in the first round on Thursday.

An estimated 125,000 people were gathered outside historic Lambeau Field on Thursday before the start of the draft, per local news reports. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Green Bay had a population of 105,744 in 2023.

“This is Green Bay’s Super Bowl,” said Donnie Renard Jr., who was part of a three-generation delegation that also included his father, Donnie, and 20-year-old son, Tommy.

Renard made the trip from Wabeno, Wis., about 85 miles north of Green Bay. His son is from Wausau in the center of the state, and his dad — a lifelong Packers fan — still lives in Green Bay.

“My dad’s actually been to a Super Bowl, a Pro Bowl, the Hall of Fame Game and now the draft,” said Renard, adding that they would be back on both Friday and Saturday.

All three of the Renards were pleased with the selection of Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden with the 23rd pick in the first round. The speedy Golden was timed in a blistering 4.29 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine.

“I like it,” Tommy Renard said. “We needed a true No. 1, and I think he’s going to be it.”

Golden is the first wide receiver drafted in the first round by the Packers since Javon Walker in 2002. He spent two years at Houston before transferring last season to Texas, where had 58 receptions for 987 yards and nine touchdowns.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to go in the first round,” Golden said. “And to know that they haven’t picked a receiver since 2002, it’s truly a blessing.”

Golden said he is looking forward to playing with Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who passed for 3,389 yards last season despite missing two games, and 4,159 yards in 2023. He threw for a combined 57 touchdowns over those two seasons.

“Talented quarterback, he can get outside the pocket and make plays, and he damn sure can throw the ball,” Golden said. “I’m going to let him know as soon as I see him, ‘Man, you’ve got a reliable target. You can trust me.’ But trust is built over time, so going out there, like I said, and competing, and gaining everyone’s trust, that’s where it first starts.”

Despite being from nearby Kaukauna, about 25 miles south of Green Bay, Adam Schmidt was decked in two Minnesota Vikings jerseys.

“I became a Vikings fan in kindergarten,” said Schmidt, pulling up the outer jersey to reveal an older one underneath. “… It still kind of fits. Randy Moss.”

Schmidt said he thought the first day of the draft was a huge success, despite the size of Green Bay, or maybe because of it.

“I think it was awesome. Not just for Green Bay, but the entire area,” Schmidt said. “It’s tough to host a huge event like this while still having that small-town atmosphere. It feels awesome and I think the whole community is really proud.”

–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media

Senate Subcommittee on LIV Golf

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WASH DC – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A report by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations accused the Saudi Public Investment Fund of entering negotiations with the PGA Tour only due to the threat of discovery in their antitrust lawsuit.

The report, released Friday, outlined the subcommittee’s findings from an inquiry into the June 2023 “framework agreement” for a merger between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF’s golf assets, namely LIV Golf.

US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), chair of the PSI, was among those concerned about “the Saudi government’s role in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over a cherished American institution.”

But the subcommittee’s investigation goes further back to before that shocking announcement, when LIV Golf was pursuing antitrust litigation against the PGA Tour for denying golfers the opportunity to play on both tours.

“The Subcommittee’s inquiry revealed that the first significant back and forth about a potential agreement between the PIF and the PGA Tour began with a renewed push from a representative of the PIF to broker a deal on April 14, 2023,” the report said, “and that a key term of the initial Framework Agreement entered into by the PIF and the PGA Tour involved the dismissal, with prejudice, of pending litigation between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.

“On April 7, 2023, a judge in the Northern District of California had ruled in that litigation that the PIF and its Governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, were subject to discovery and depositions by lawyers for the PGA Tour. This deposition would likely have revealed details of the PIF’s operations and Governor al-Rumayyan’s control over its commercial investments.”

Blumenthal went on to write that “U.S. defenses are inadequate to protect against increasingly sophisticated foreign influence efforts by Saudi Arabia and other malign actors and exposed loopholes within the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) that allow foreign governments to escape accountability.”

The PGA Tour and the PIF have supposedly been in negotiations for some time now, though the PGA Tour has since acquired additional funding for its new for-profit endeavor, PGA Tour Enterprises, from a coalition of sports owners and investors called Strategic Sports Group.

The PGA Tour and LIV have held meetings with President Donald Trump, an avid golfer, in recent weeks, which have not produced any material progress in the talks.

–Field Level Media

The A’s Head to Sacramento

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SACRAMENTO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Athletics (formerly of Oakland and Kansas City) formally begin the home portion of their Sacramento era when they host the Chicago Cubs on Monday night in the first-ever Major League Baseball game in the California capital.

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A’s right-hander Joey Estes (7-9, 5.01 ERA), a California native, will get the honor of making the game’s first pitch. He will be opposed by Cubs righty Ben Brown (0-1, 6.75).

All 14,014 tickets have been sold at 10,624-seat Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. Those who don’t have seats will be finding space on the lawn behind the outfield fence.

Among the other unusual aspects of the home opener will be that all A’s players will be wearing No. 24 in tribute to Baseball Hall of Fame member and franchise great Rickey Henderson. The all-time stolen base leader died in December, just days before his 66th birthday.

The A’s opened with a 2-2 split in Seattle, sandwiching 7-0 and 4-2 wins between 4-2 and 2-1 losses. A’s starting pitchers Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Osvaldo Bido and JP Sears allowed just three earned runs in 23 2/3 innings in the series.

Sears said he was just following the lead of his teammates and hopes Estes can do the same.

“It’s contagious,” he said. “You go out there and you want to do what the guys before you did, or top that. We’ve got a good group of starters that bounce off each other. We’re each different, but we can help each other out.”

Tyler Soderstrom hit three homers in the four Seattle games. Four other A’s went deep against the vaunted Seattle pitching staff, including Brent Rooker, who is excited about what he expects to experience in the team’s new temporary home.

The A’s are expected to spend three seasons in West Sacramento as they await the construction of their permanent home along the Las Vegas Strip. They will share the stadium with the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

“I think there will be an energetic atmosphere with a lot of fans who are excited for us to be there,” he said. “We’re hoping we get a combination of local longtime A’s fans and people who are maybe new to the fan base we’re hoping to bring on board. We’re excited about it.”

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Club World Cup Prize Pool at $1 Billion

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ZURICH – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The 32 teams competing in the World Cup for Clubs (not National teams) this summer will be vying for as much as a $125 million first-place check from a $1 billion prize pool. FIFA announced the financial incentives on Wednesday of the tournament scheduled to be played in June and July at venues around the United States.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement, “The distribution model of the FIFA Club World Cup reflects the pinnacle of club football and represents the biggest-ever prize money for a football tournament comprising a seven-match group stage and playoff format with a potential payout of USD 125 million foreseen for the winners.

“In addition to the prize money for the participating teams, there is an unprecedented solidarity investment program where we have a target of an additional 250 million dollars being provided to club football across the world. This solidarity will undoubtedly provide a significant boost in our ongoing efforts in making football truly global.

“Not only that, but FIFA will neither retain any funding for this tournament, as all revenues will be distributed to club football, nor will it touch FIFA’s reserves, which are set aside for global football development through the 211 FIFA Member Associations.”

Clubs’ prize money will add up throughout the event, starting at $2 million per win and $1 million per draw in the group stage.

As teams progress through the tournament, they will receive an extra $7.5 million for reaching the round of 16, $13,125,000 for getting to the quarterfinals and $21 million for advancing to the semifinals. Spots in the final are worth another $30 million, and the championship adds an additional $40 million.

Additional participation incentives will be granted to the teams, starting as low as $3.58 million for the Oceania champion, Auckland City, and going as high as $38.19 million for the biggest teams from the European federation, UEFA.

Representing Major League Soccer will be the Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami.

Matches will be played in Miami Gardens, Fla. (site of the opener between Inter Miami and Al Ahly of Egypt on June 14); East Rutherford, N.J. (site of the final on July 13); Pasadena, Calif.; Charlotte; Atlanta; Philadelphia; Seattle; Orlando; Nashville; Cincinnati and Washington.

Notable teams in field include Manchester City and Chelsea from England, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid from Spain, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund from Germany, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan and Juventus from Italy, River Plate and Boca Juniors from Argentina and Flamengo, Palmeiras and Fluminese from Brazil.

–Field Level Media

NBA Makes $154.6m Cap Projection

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) -The NBA will increase the salary cap by 10 percent for the 2025-26 season, according to multiple reports from the NBA’s annual Board of Governors meeting. The increase — the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement — is reportedly projected to bring the cap number from $140.6 million to $154.6 million. Additionally, the luxury tax threshold is projected to rise from $170.8 million to $187.9 million, per Tuesday’s report.

For teams that exceed the luxury tax, the First Apron level is projected to be $195.9 million and the Second Apron level to be $207.8 million.

It is a move that was anticipated ahead of the league’s new broadcast rights kicking in next season. This increase would mark the third time in the past four years that the salary cap has increased by 10 percent.

–Field Level Media