* The reported selling price for the Rays: $1.7 billion. According to Forbes, the New York Yankees’ franchise is worth $8.2 billion. That sort of disparity is a way of life in Major League Baseball. That’s why a salary cap—not unlike all other major professional sports—is necessary. It means everybody has to play by the same rules. If the Rays, for example, make a bad deal and overpay for an underperforming or oft-injured player, it can hurt big time. For the Yankees—and several other big-market franchises—it’s the cost of doing business. Buy another player.
* “‘Tampering’ is such a nice term for stealing our players.”–Miami of Ohio football coach Chuck Martin.
* The Lightning will enter the upcoming 2025-26 season on a 417-game home sellout streak.
* Another $ign of the times: USF’s next athletic director will have a different title: “CEO of Athletics.” Another reminder of the pay-to-play, monitized era of what used to be amateur athletics.