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Afternoon Edition

April 8, 2025

Hope had been building that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf could merge soon, but 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm is not optimistic about that prospect.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Jon Rahm: LIV Golf–PGA Tour Union ‘Not Happening Anytime Soon’ [[link removed]]

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion who joined LIV Golf eight months after he won his second career major championship, is not optimistic that his rival league will reach a deal to reunite with the PGA Tour in the near future.

“I think we all would like to see that,” Rahm said Tuesday during his pre-Masters press conference. “But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon.”

Last week, it was revealed that the PGA Tour recently rejected a $1.5 billion investment offer from LIV’s financial backers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, according to reports from The Guardian [[link removed]] and ESPN [[link removed]]. A reported dealbreaker was that the PIF insists on LIV continuing to exist following any new pact, which the PGA Tour is not fond of.

“We don’t know,” said Rahm, who won LIV’s 2024 individual points race and its $18 million first-place prize. “No one knows. We all want a solution, and it’s hard to give one.”

Nothing to See Here

The Masters features the smallest contingent of LIV players [[link removed]] yet at 12, down from 13 last year and 18 in 2023.

It’s the first time since the Open Championship in July that all the top PGA Tour and LIV golfers are playing in the same event, but Rahm doesn’t think that elevates this week in any way.

“I don’t think you need to do anything to make the Masters any more special than it already is,” he said. “Coming here, there’s no added anything to that. Majors have always been aside from every event in the world, and when you come to one of those, it doesn’t feel any different to what it was before.”

Ahead of the Masters, defending champion Scottie Scheffler blamed LIV for the ongoing divide [[link removed]] in men’s professional golf. “If we want to figure out why the game of golf is not back together, go ask those guys,” Scheffler said.

And now just before the first major of the year teeing off, it appears no players on either side of the divide have clear answers as to what comes next.

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Thank You to Our Partners

On Friday, Front Office Sports, in partnership with Optimum Sports, hosted Courtside Collective [[link removed]] in Tampa ahead of the women’s college basketball championship.

More than 140 athletes and executives joined us at the Tampa EDITION for an afternoon of networking and panel discussions around women’s sports, media rights, brand deals, and more.

A huge thank-you to our official partners ESPN and Eli Lilly & Company for supporting the event.

Learn more about the event here [[link removed]].

NFL Gives Fans What They Want: More Throwback Uniform Games [[link removed]]

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

National Football League throwback and alternate jerseys, already a big hit with fans, are set for a marked increase in exposure during the 2025 season.

Team owners at last week’s annual league meeting in Florida approved a shift in which teams will be allowed to wear alternate uniforms as many as four times during the season, up from a prior three times per club. Critically, teams also gained approval to wear alternate helmets with primary home and road jerseys, creating many additional potential uniform combinations.

The change will also mean that particularly popular NFL throwback uniforms, such as the Kelly green of the Super Bowl LIX champion Eagles, the Buccaneers’ “Creamsicles,” and the Broncos’ “Orange Crush” jerseys, can be worn for nearly a quarter of the regular season.

Alternates and throwbacks amount to as much as 30% of all NFL jersey sales—a figure outstripping their presence on the field and showing their outsized popularity with fans. Players also have frequently lauded the alternate looks.

The change arrives as Nike recently extended its uniform rights deal with the NFL through 2038. League officials said the company will be fundamentally involved in additional changes likely forthcoming to the NFL’s uniform program. Those shifts are also intended to be notably different from the multiple missteps Nike has seen [[link removed]] with its redesign of Major League Baseball uniforms.

There will still be some guardrails in the NFL uniform expansion, however, including a prohibition on alternate jerseys in the Super Bowl.

“We talked about expanding the options that are available for teams, but also making sure there’s an understanding of the consistency that needs to be there from a brand standpoint,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “When someone turns on the TV, it’s great to see a new uniform, a new look, but you also want to know it’s the Denver Broncos, [for example].”

Reeling Manchester United Turns to Asian Tour for Revenue [[link removed]]

Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Suffering through its worst season since the formation of the Premier League more than three decades ago, Manchester United is planning a postseason tour to Asia to generate more revenue.

The club unveiled plans Tuesday for a two-match tour next month in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, happening just days after the conclusion of the 2024–2025 Premier League season. Manchester United has long enjoyed a strong following in Asia, and will look to further tap into that base of support. The trip, however, has a clear financial motivation as the club also announced in February falling revenues and the removal of an additional 100 people from its staff [[link removed]].

The matches are set to generate more than $10 million—a critical sum as Manchester United has recorded losses of more than $446 million over the past four years.

“Importantly, tour fixtures drive significant additional revenue which helps make the club stronger, allowing us to keep investing in success on the pitch,” said Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada.

The trip will also likely raise further player concerns of player health and safety amid a season that will be at least 57 matches long, spanning all competitions.

Bigger Picture

Languishing in 13th place in the Premier League, Manchester United is concluding what could be its first losing campaign since the 1992 formation of a new top flight of English pro men’s soccer. The club has traditionally dominated the league, winning eight of the first 11 titles and 13 overall. Since a third-place finish two years ago, however, its fortunes have reversed dramatically.

Manchester United will also come to the U.S. this summer for a three-match preseason tour. Such trips are much more common in European pro soccer than postseason ones.

While the Fenway Sports Group–controlled Liverpool is closing in on a second Premier League title since 2020, this year’s table has shown much more balance [[link removed]]. Nottingham Forest, playing in just its third season back in the Premier League after a quarter-century in lower tiers of competition, is in third place. Bournemouth, meanwhile, is in 10th place and is still pushing for a potential spot in the Champions League after previously falling to as low as the fourth tier of England’s soccer pyramid.

STATUS REPORT Two Up, One Down, One Push

Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

MLB batters ⬇ Despite the ongoing sales frenzy [[link removed]] and offensive numbers posted by “torpedo” bats, the leaguewide batting average through the first full week of play was .239. The figure is down one point from the comparable period last year and just above the record low average of .237 in 1968, widely known as the “Year of the Pitcher.” Analytics and rising average pitch speeds are cited as key factors in the decline. Worth noting: The MLB average of 4.4 runs scored per game is virtually identical to 2024 (4.39).

Billie Jean King ⬆ The tennis and equal rights icon became the first honoree of a new sports entertainment category [[link removed]] on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Pete Alonso ⬆ The Mets first baseman is potentially in line for a much more lucrative contract after Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. more than doubled the prior top guarantee [[link removed]] ever seen at that position. Alonso said he was “open” to a contract extension after a previous, short-term deal struck in the offseason [[link removed]], but he added, “My focus right now is doing what I can to help [us] win.” The 30-year-old Alonso is off to a strong start, posting career highs thus far in batting average and slugging.

Men’s college basketball ⬆⬇ As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,986 players have entered the transfer portal, nearly equaling the more than 2,000 in last year’s portal. This year’s portal, however, is still only halfway complete and will remain open until April 22. The unprecedented pace of player movement has provided a meaningful template for success [[link removed]] in a fundamentally reworked sport, but it also has presented vast new levels of turbulence [[link removed]].

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LOUD AND CLEAR Course Correction

Grace Smith-Imagn Images

“It almost felt like I was playing the back nine for the first time.”

—Xander Schauffele, the world’s No. 3–ranked golfer, on the surprisingly altered feel of Augusta National [[link removed]] during Masters practice rounds. The iconic course lost a significant number of trees after Hurricane Helene swept through last fall, changing sight lines and strategy—especially on holes like No. 10, where players say new gaps could invite more aggressive shots.

Editors’ Picks Nuggets Fire Head Coach in Stunner Right Before Playoffs [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Malone was with the Nuggets when they won the NBA title in 2023. Northwestern Settling Hazing Lawsuits As Fitzgerald Case Continues [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Former coach Pat Fitzgerald is suing the school for $130 million. Monica McNutt Reflects on Viral Stephen A. Smith Exchange 10 Months Later [[link removed]]by Ryan Glasspiegel [[link removed]]“This is layered for me,” McNutt said at the FOS event in Tampa. Advertise [[link removed]] Honors [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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