MLB
The Athletic reports Major League Baseball owners are backing off their initial 50-50 revenue split plan with players for games played in empty stadiums. MLB will present a new structured economic proposal today to the Players Association. It is expected to include a choice of deferring portions of players’ prorated 2020 salaries or to hold the owners to the prorated salaries the two sides negotiated in March.
NBA
NBA sources are saying it appears the league is looking to abandon the remaining games left in the regular season and move to a 16-team playoff. Under the rumored plan, the NBA would also end the normal eight-team seeding bracket between two conferences and instead pull the top 16 teams from both the east and west. Insiders say it would be difficult for teams in the east to approve the move since it puts them at a disadvantage of playing more than one stronger club from the west to reach the title.
NHL
The NHL released a memo yesterday to permit voluntary group workouts on and off the ice early next month at team facilities. Ice sessions will be noncontact and involve up to six players, who would be required to wear a mask when entering and leaving the building. Coaches would be allowed to watch, but not participate in the informal skates. The league is hoping to return to play this summer. The Nashville Predators would be in the expanded Stanley Cup playoffs if play is resumed.
Auto Racing
NASCAR suspended three members of Denny Hamlin’s team for four races yesterday because a piece of tungsten fell off his car before the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. Crew chief Chris Gabehart, car chief Brandon Griffeth and engineer Scott Simmons were all suspended. Joe Gibbs Racing will not appeal the penalty and has already secured roster replacements for the race tomorrow night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NFL
NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent told NBC Sports the league “failed miserably” in its introduction of pass interference reviews in the 2019 season. Vincent discussed the importance of not rushing future rule changes and that the failures of the decision to implement the change in 2019 was on display during the season. The NFL competition committee declined to renew the rule last month.
Golf
Sunday’s “The Match: Champions For Charity” is now the most-watched golf telecast in cable TV history. While raising 20-million dollars for coronavirus relief, star athletes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning drew an average of five-point-eight million viewers across all Turner platforms. Peak viewership came around the midpoint of the match with over six-million viewers. The event at Medalist Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was won by Woods and Manning. It was also the number one trending topic on Twitter Sunday.