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Afternoon Edition

April 9, 2025

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President Donald Trump paused tariffs on most countries, sending sports stocks surging after a week of downward movement. Here’s the latest.

— Lisa Scherzer [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

Trump Halts Tariffs That Threatened Sports Apparel Industry [[link removed]]

USA Today

President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social account that he will place a 90-day pause on some tariffs, walking back his announcement last week.

Stocks soared because of the news.

Trump said he’s raising the tariff for Chinese imports to 125% “based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets.” He also said because “more than 75 countries” have engaged in some measure of negotiation with the U.S.—and because they have not responded to U.S. tariffs with retaliatory tariffs of their own—he’s authorizing a 90-day pause, and a “substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.”

The higher tariffs on China came after Beijing announced new tariffs on the U.S. to take effect Thursday.

On April 2, Trump said he would impose tariffs on other countries the U.S. has steep trade imbalances with, including a 20% tariff on the European Union, 36% on Thailand, and 24% on Japan. News reports emerged over the past week about a handful of leaders of various countries trying to work with the administration to mitigate some of the tariff hit.

Vietnamese leader To Lam spoke with Trump, offering to get rid of tariffs on American goods in exchange for easing the 46% tariff Trump planned to impose on it. Following Trump’s first-term tariffs, which predominantly targeted China, Vietnam has largely replaced China as the main sourcing country for athletic footwear imports [[link removed]]—which is why shares of so many retailers, including Nike, Adidas, and Lululemon saw their shares pummeled last week.

The S&P 500 index closed Wednesday more than 9% higher, the Nasdaq surged 12%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed nearly 8% higher.

Nike ended the day more than 11% higher, Adidas climbed more than 12%, Under Armour soared 14%, Lululemon increased nearly 11%, and On Holdings—which produces almost all of its sneakers in Vietnam—surged more than 15%. Amer Sports, which owns brands including Wilson, Louisville Slugger, and Salomon, closed 15% higher.

At a White House visit for auto racing champions, Trump was asked whether he’d consider exempting certain companies that would be particularly hard hit by tariffs. “There are some by the nature of the company, they get hit a little bit harder, and we’ll take a look at that,” he responded.

Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro for ING Research, wrote in a note Wednesday that any celebration was premature before deals with Europe and China—the U.S.’s most important trading partners after Canada and Mexico—were negotiated.

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LA28 Flag Football Push Pits Goodell and Players Against NFL Owners [[link removed]]

USA Football

The arrival of flag football in the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles has created a rare divide in the National Football League: Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league office united with the NFL Players Association in likely opposition with team owners over the issue of player participation.

For nearly two years, NFL leaders have been openly enthused [[link removed]] about the prospect of active players being part of the talent pool for Olympic teams, both to help promote youth participation [[link removed]] and advance the league’s expanding global ambitions [[link removed]]. As several individual stars, such as Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, have been similarly bullish about competing in Los Angeles, the union has also been publicly supportive of the concept.

Some team owners, however, have expressed injury concerns, while others have cited potential issues between the 2028 Olympics and the start of NFL training camps, both happening in late July.

“[It’s about] timing, availability, conflicts, that type of thing,” said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. “But I wouldn’t be as concerned about the injuries, not with flag.”

Jones, however, still called others’ injury worries “valid.”

Goodell, for his part, hinted at last week’s NFL annual meeting in Florida that a resolution could arrive before the start of the 2025 season—if not much sooner—while pointing to continued lobbying from individual players.

“I think that’s something we’ll continue to discuss with, not just the union, but also the clubs,” he said. “I think both of those are things that we’ll probably resolve in the next 60 days.”

Other Leagues

Additional insurance coverage could be a critical answer to help bridge the divide. Similar issues have surfaced around the World Baseball Classic, with Major League Baseball players required to have insurance to participate. Some individual players with more extensive injury histories, such as Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, have been denied coverage for the tournament, but the most recent iteration in 2023 featured many of the game’s biggest stars, including Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and Bobby Witt Jr.

The NHL and NBA, similarly, have secured the participation of top players in events such as the Olympics and hockey’s 4 Nations Face-Off, with insurance costs a significant point of negotiation there, too. Who pays for the additional coverage in the flag football situation is likely to be a major consideration.

The LA28 debate is continuing as the NFL is reviewing bids for a proposed professional flag football league [[link removed]], including one from Reddit cofounder and prominent sports investor Alexis Ohanian [[link removed]].

Masters Standing Firm on No Guaranteed Invites for LIV Players [[link removed]]

Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

AUGUSTA, Ga. — With the smallest contingent of LIV Golf players [[link removed]] (12) in this year’s Masters Tournament field since the league began, Augusta National Golf Club plans to stand firm on its qualification criteria that does not guarantee any invites for members of the controversial tour, which does not receive Official World Golf Ranking points.

“We feel we can deal with that issue, whether it’s a LIV player or a player on some other tour that might not otherwise be eligible for an invitation, that we can handle that with a special invitation,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday at his annual pre-Masters interview.

Joaquin Niemann, LIV’s top points-earner through five events in 2025, received a special invite to play in The Masters in January, before his tour’s season began. Tyrrell Hatton, who received an invite via his world ranking (currently No. 18), is the only other LIV player who hasn’t previously won The Masters or a recent major championship.

Organizers of the U.S. Open and the Open Championship (also known as the British Open) recently created new qualification methods for LIV players to potentially earn a spot in those major championships. But that hasn’t changed the strategy for Augusta National.

“Some of the issues that have been raised in connection with world golf rankings, and that is pathways for players to come and go on the LIV Tour as well as the team aspect of the LIV Golf, certainly creates some concern in that regard,” Ridley said. “As it relates to the USGA and the R&A, they certainly act independently. We respect their decisions. We are an invitational tournament.”

To Merge or Not to Merge

While Ridley said he’s not in a position to say what form a PGA Tour–LIV Golf reunion should look like, he did say he would continue to “encourage cooperation” between the rival tours.

“I’m going to continue to be saying that and encouraging the leaders of the organizations involved to try to work together to come up with a solution,” he said. “But I think we all agree that four times a year is not enough to have the great players of the game together.”

Earlier this week, 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm admitted [[link removed]] he didn’t think a merger would be coming “anytime soon.”

Both PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil are in Augusta for The Masters this week, although it’s unclear what talks, if any, the two leaders are having.

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Push

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Manchester City fans ⬆ After weeks of fan protests and a match-opening boycott, the club is hitting pause on ticket hikes [[link removed]]—freezing general-admission and single-match prices for next season. The move comes just a week after backlash over a resale deal with Viagogo.

LeBron James ⬆ Mattel, the makers of Barbie, announced Wednesday that the NBA star will be the first professional athlete to have a Ken doll released in his likeness [[link removed]]. The release comes in advance of the Ken doll’s 65th anniversary in 2026.

Masters invitees ⬆ Augusta National Golf Club revealed that phase II of its player services project will include the opening of a new players’ services building in 2026, featuring state-of-the-art fitness, physio, and locker rooms, as well as a dining room for players and their families and support teams. This year, Augusta National completed construction of a private underground parking structure for the project.

NBA referees ⬆⬇ Luka Dončić was ejected from Tuesday’s game against the Thunder after receiving his second technical foul in the fourth quarter—which equates to a $10,000 fine [[link removed]], according to Spotrac. The Lakers star argued after the game that he was talking to a fan who happened to be in the direction of referee J.T. Orr, who issued Dončić with the technical. Referee crew chief Tony Brothers said in a pool report after the game [[link removed]] that Dončić “looked directly at an official and used vulgar language.”

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For years, the powerhouse football league treated men’s basketball like an afterthought. Despite being one of the richest conferences in the nation, with an appetite for perennial success in football as well as baseball and women’s basketball, SEC men’s hoops just wasn’t breaking through. [[link removed]] The story is quite different now as the SEC sent a record 14 teams to the men’s tournament [[link removed]], seven of which made it to the Sweet 16. By the time the Final Four rolled around, the conference hadn’t just had a historic year—it earned $70 million in NCAA “units,” or prize payouts based on participation and prowess in the men’s tournament. That, in itself, was a major victory—the units system helps schools re-invest in basketball to continue building on their success [[link removed]].

Check out [[link removed]] the Business of College Sports content hub to read the full article [[link removed]], and stay up to date on all things college sports.

Editors’ Picks Luka Dončić’s Dallas Homecoming Could Deliver NBA Ratings High [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]The Lakers and Mavericks played in Los Angeles in late February. Why Santa Monica Rejected the Olympics [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Hosting beach volleyball in 2028 would ultimately cost the city money. Steve Kerr: ‘Billionaires’ to Blame for Run of NBA Coach Firings [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The Warriors coach weighed in on the stunning Mike Malone firing. DISCLAIMER

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