March 8, 2023

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Spring training is here — and so are Major League Baseball’s big changes [[link removed]] to keep the game moving. So far, it’s working: the new pitch clock rules have shortened game times by 24 minutes, from three hours and one minute down to two hours and 37 minutes.

Athletes Investigation Links Astroturf to Deaths of Six Former Phillies [[link removed]]

Paul Altobelli

A stunning investigation [[link removed]] by the Philadelphia Inquirer connects the astroturf at Veterans Stadium, the Philadelphia Phillies’ former home, and the deaths of six retired MLB players.

The players – Tug McGraw, Darren Daulton, John Vukovich, John Oates, Ken Brett, and David West – all played for the Phillies and all died of the aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma before the age of 60.

The Inquirer found dangerous “forever chemicals” in the turf, which was produced by Monsanto.

The team used the turf from 1977 to 2001, before switching to a surface called NexTurf. In 1982, the team sold pieces of it in sealed 4-by-4 inch bags. The Inquirer purchased four of those on eBay following West’s death in 2022 at age 57.

Samples analyzed by two separate labs found 16 types of dangerous chemicals in the turf. They are referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down and can last in the human body for years.

These chemicals have been connected to kidney and testicular cancer, among other maladies, and the brain cancer rate among the 532 Phillies who played at Veterans Stadium from 1971 to 2003 is around triple the average rate of adult men.

“We know that the liver is affected. We know that the kidneys are affected. We know the testicles are affected,” Graham Peaslee, a physicist at the University of Notre Dame, told the Inquirer. “But nobody’s ever done the study to see if the brain is affected, because glioblastoma is such a rare disease.”

Veterans Stadium was demolished in 2004.

Media Serie A Team Owner Wants to Offer Rights to Netflix, Amazon, Apple [[link removed]]

Serie A TIM

Serie A is still looking to sell a share in its media rights, but one team owner isn’t convinced it’s the right path.

Aurelio De Laurentiis, owner of top Serie A club Napoli, believes the Italian league would be better off retaining full ownership of its rights.

“I have always been against selling,” De Laurentiis told [[link removed]] Reuters.

The league attempted to sell a 10% stake in a new company housing its media rights for $2 billion in 2021. It began to officially form the company in October 2022.

Recently, Goldman Sachs, Searchlight Capital, and Apollo Global Management have all shown [[link removed]] interest in acquiring a stake in the new company.

De Laurentiis believes that the league could make better use of the content without another firm’s involvement.

“We should produce the content and then place it with the various platforms – Amazon, Netflix, Apple, DAZN, and Sky,” he said.

Bundesliga is also preparing to sell a stake in its media rights, following in the footsteps of Ligue 1 and La Liga, which have already done so.

Meanwhile, De Laurentiis also had harsh words for FIFA earlier this week.

“Did you see on Netflix what FIFA did?” he said, referring to Netflix’s “FIFA Uncovered” documentary, which explores scandals related to soccer’s global governing body. “They stole millions. They are in Switzerland, out of every European jurisdiction, and nobody controls them.”

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Athletes Congress Considers Ban on Transgender Girls in Women’s Sports [[link removed]]

Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will hold the first hearing on a bill [[link removed]] that could ban transgender women and girls from playing on women’s youth, high school, or college teams.

The bill, authored by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), would weaponize Title IX — the statute that prohibits gender discrimination in sports — against transgender women by adding language that redefines “sex” as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” has been introduced [[link removed]] on two other occasions in previous Congresses, but didn’t have legs.

This iteration, introduced in February to a Republican-controlled House, has the support of conservative advocacy groups and 43 House Republicans.

But it has been swiftly condemned by multiple women’s rights organizations, like the National Women’s Law Center. The Congressional Equality Caucus accused Republican lawmakers of pushing false [[link removed]] narratives against transgender girls and women who want to play on women’s teams.

“This is not about girls’ and women’s sports; it’s about attacking trans kids,” Equality Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (D-WI) said in a statement. “This sports ban is just the opening salvo in their larger efforts to limit the rights of and demonize the LGBTQI+ community.”

In 18 states, lawmakers have succeeded in pushing through this type of legislation.

Deals CVC Capital Invests $150M in Women’s Tennis Association [[link removed]]

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

It looks like CVC Capital loves the Women’s Tennis Association.

The WTA announced [[link removed]] Tuesday that the private equity company — which has more than $145 billion in assets under management — closed its $150 million investment for a 20% stake in WTA Ventures LLC, a new commercial vehicle for the organization, per [[link removed]] the Associated Press.

The entity, which is separate from WTA Inc., will manage the sport’s commercial activities including media rights, sponsorship, licensing, NFTs, gaming, and data.

As part of the deal, CVC will be the WTA’s commercial partner, focusing on “providing fans with more access to the sport, investing behind the tour brands, building player and tournament profiles, and investing in digital platforms and commercial capabilities.”

“The ambition is to materially grow women’s professional tennis. Grow our profile, its value, the prize money,” said Steve Simon, WTA chairman and CEO. “This arrangement is certainly going to provide for us to create more investment opportunity to our players and tournaments.”

Simon said the deal “doesn’t prohibit, in any way, from us continuing to have discussions with the ATP (men’s tennis tour) and potentially doing a bigger deal with the ATP involved.”

The WTA’s tournament ban in China is still in place, but Simon added that a decision on where the WTA Finals will be hosted will come by the end of the month.

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Conversation Starters Clemson unveiled [[link removed]] the Clemson Athletics Brand Institute, the first dedicated facility for student athlete branding and NIL education. Women’s college basketball games averaged [[link removed]] 200,000 viewers on ESPN this season, the most in nearly a decade. Manchester City star Jack Grealish is leaving Nike for a record-breaking deal [[link removed]] with Puma that will pay $11.8 million per year. Front Office Sports Today They Said What?

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

“The 2017 Astros, the conversation does not stop at the team holding up the trophy at the end of the year … When you understand how the team was actually run, I think it becomes obvious that something is going to go wrong here — and multiple things did.”

— Evan Drellich, senior writer for The Athletic and author of “Winning Fixes Everything,” on the organizational culture that led to the Houston Astros cheating scandal. For more on that and the start of the World Baseball Classic, check out the latest episode of Front Office Sports Today.

Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], and Spotify [[link removed]].

Today's Action

MLB

03:10 PM

Brewers (-110) at Reds (-110)

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07:40 PM

Trail Blazers (+380) at Celtics (-475)

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03:07 PM

Royals (-105) at Athletics (-115)

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