NBA commissioner Adam Silver believes the league’s global aspirations will be significantly aided by the introduction of the new In-Season Tournament — an effort specifically designed to resemble international sports.

The league on Saturday introduced the new competition, which was a key component of the newly signed labor deal with the National Basketball Players Association. Starting on Nov. 3, the tournament will involve a group stage of six five-team groups, with the six group winners and two wild cards advancing to an eight-team knockout stage in early December. The semifinals and final will be held Dec. 7 and 9 in a Final Four-type event set for Las Vegas as teams compete for the new NBA Cup.

Aimed partly at boosting the relatively slower early part of the regular-season schedule, the In-Season Tournament takes sizable influence from Cup events in European soccer.

“It’s not a new concept in sports. For those that follow, particularly international soccer, there’s a long tradition of having in-season tournaments,” said Silver, who was part of a special edition of ESPN’s “NBA Today” to unveil the competition. “So we thought, ‘what a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA,’ and it’s a perfect fit for our game.”

Players will compete for a prize pool of about $18 million, with championship team members receiving $500,000 each. Payouts will reach $200,000, $100,000, and $50,000 for players on teams losing in earlier rounds.

Specific games and broadcast plans for the In-Season Tournament will be announced next month.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will return from his medical leave next week to a new landscape as the fallout from the Saudi Arabia PIF deal continues. 

On Sunday — two days after Monahan announced his intentions to re-assume his full duties on July 17 — PGA Tour policy board member ​​Randall Stephenson resigned, according to the Washington Post. Stephenson, the former CEO of AT&T, said concerns over the Tour’s bombshell agreement led him to step down from the post he had had since 2012.

In his resignation letter, Stephenson said he intended to step down earlier but delayed his departure due to Monahan’s absence. Stephenson’s exit will be one of many major issues Monahan will face when he returns ahead of next week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

On Tuesday, a Senate hearing will examine the PGA Tour-PIF partnership. Neither Monahan nor PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be in Washington, D.C., to testify. According to the New York Times, Monahan would have considered testifying if the Senate agreed to postpone the hearing, but the committee declined.

In announcing his return, Monahan provided no more details on what initially caused him to step away on June 13, only that his health had “improved dramatically.” During Monahan’s absence, the Tour and PIF’s full framework agreement was revealed, but most questions raised by the bombshell announcement on June 6 remain unanswered. The two sides also filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuits.

The most prominent MLB All-Star Week festivities get underway Monday night with the Home Run Derby at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Two-time winner Pete Alonso is back in the bracket-style event at T-Mobile Park, but MLB’s top two home run hitters this season, Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani and Braves first baseman Matt Olson, aren’t part of the field.

While the derby’s top four seeds — Luis Robert, Alonso, Mookie Betts, and Adolis Garcia — are in the top six of home run leaders, the other participants are much further down the list. Randy Arozarena is 26th, while Julio Rodríguez (last year’s runner-up), Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Adley Rutschman are outside the top 50. Defending champion Juan Soto elected not to participate this year — but even he’s down to 31st in home runs.

Monday night’s winner will take home a $1 million prize and the Home Run Derby Chain — a three-pound necklace with 75 carats of white and yellow Swarovski Crystal embellishments.

Big Business

The popular StatCast alternate feed of the derby will return to ESPN2 with analytics-driven graphics and data, along with real-time ball-flight animations. 

ESPN’s major effort has helped the Home Run Derby to strong ratings in recent years — last year’s coverage was down just slightly from the record seven million-plus in 2021. Those numbers aren’t far off from the 7.51 million viewers Fox drew for the 2022 All-Star Game itself.

The 172 participants in this year’s Tour de France get their first rest day on Monday after completing nine of 21 stages across the country.

The two men who have won the last three editions — Jonas Vingegaard (2022) and Tadej Pogačar (2020, 2021) — sit atop the field, battling yet again for the most prestigious title in cycling. 

This year’s champion will win nearly $550,000 — more than a fifth of the total prize pool of $2.52 million.

Each year, the exact route changes, but the Tour de France has finished at Paris’ Avenue des Champs-Élysées since 1975. This year’s race actually started in Spain, with the famous Grand Depart commencing from Bilbao — race organizers reportedly charged more than $13 million to begin the event there.

By the end of the 23-day span, riders will have covered 2,115 miles and visited 12 new host towns — some paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to attract the race.

Eyes On The Road

The Tour de France has a global media presence with hundreds of broadcast partners, but NBC Sports has the U.S. rights and has extended its contract through 2029 ahead of this year’s race. While financials weren’t released, NBC had reportedly been paying $8 million per year under its previous deal.

This year, most of the live coverage is streamed on Peacock, with encore presentations on USA Network and NBC.