Sports

Will Global Political Events Upend The NFL’s Global Expansion Plan?

Published

1 day ago

March 22, 2025

Austin Reed

The NFL plans to stage a game in Melbourne, Australia in 2026

Will the anti-American sentiment internationally hinder the NFL?

When the National Football League’s 31 franchise owners along with the representative of the Green Bay Packers Board of Directors meet in Palm Beach, Florida for the annual owners meeting, there will be a discussion of the league’s global expansion. The NFL has plans to play three games in London, England, one in Dublin, Ireland, one in Madrid, Spain, one in Berlin, Germany and it will return to Brazil in 2025. But with the change in geo-politics how welcoming will Germany and Spain be to the NFL product? Then there is the British Commonwealth. Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth and while the NFL has a desire to be a regular fixture in London and British sports, the American treatment of Canada has gotten the attention of powerful people in London. The NFL also plans to stage a game in Australia in 2026. Australia is also a member of the British Commonwealth. What happens if there is a backlash and the NFL is caught in the geopolitical crosshairs? Does the NFL put a pause on its global expansion?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in February said. “I do think there’s potential that someday we will have an international franchise. If we do, it would not surprise me at all if a Super Bowl follows and is played there.” Given the political climate, the Super Bowl is not going to be played outside of the United States and in fact if there was a return to normalcy, there is no way political leaders would allow the NFL to play the biggest event in American sports on foreign soil. The NFL doesn’t want to pick a fight with Congress on this one. Congress created the Super Bowl in 1966. Goodell wants to see the league play 16 international games a year. Geopolitics will dictate if that is possible.

Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191

Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com

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Sports

Irving Could Be The Home Of The Dallas Mavericks

Published

2 hours ago

March 23, 2025

Austin Reed

Dallas arena

Irving politicians have a plan to allow an arena to be built in town.

Irving, Texas wants to be a major league town again and the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks franchise is the object of Irving’s desire. The Irving City Council has approved some zoning amendments that could pave the way for the construction of an arena-village. The majority of the Mavericks business is owned by Miriam Adelson, who is the largest shareholder of the Mavericks and her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, who is the Sands Corporation’s COO. The zoning changes would apply to the 182-acre property, which coincidentally, is owned by an entity connected to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

The zoning changes would allow “an arena with a minimum of 15,000 seats and/or an indoor theater with a minimum of 4,000 seats” on the property. Additionally, there could be one or more luxury hotels, spas, pools and “may include Casino Gaming if authorized by the Constitution and laws of the state of Texas” within the property. Other arena-village entities that could sprout up on the property include a convention center, heliport/air taxi pad, restaurants, food truck park and indoor recreation “including but not limited to an athletic training facility.” There is no word on how any of the proposed arena-village would be funded and it is probably too early in the arena game for costs to be released. The Mavericks ownership lease deal with Dallas for the use of the Dallas’ sports arena ends in 2031 so there is a long way to go. Prior to the NBA’s approval of the Adelson-Dumont Mavericks purchase on December 27^th, 2023, the Dallas Morning News reported that an entity connected to Sands Corporation had in July purchased 108 acres in Irving for use. There has been some speculation that the Mavericks business would leave Dallas. The franchise owners put out a statement denying the team was moving to Las Vegas. The Irving arena game is on.

Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191

Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com

Miriam Adelson

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Sports

Cooley and Kerfoot each score twice to lead Utah past Lightning 6-4

Published

13 hours ago

March 23, 2025

Austin Reed

Utah Hockey Club’s Logan Cooley (92) celebrates after his goal against the Vancouver Canucks with teammates during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Logan Cooley had two goals and an assist and Alexander Kerfoot also scored twice to lead the Utah Hockey Club to a 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Josh Doan and Nick Schmaltz also had goals, and Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves for Utah.

Brayden Point had two goals for the Lightning, and Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel also scored. Brandon Halverson made 19 stops in his first career NHL start.

Doan and Cooley — who has 21 goals this season and 41 over two NHL seasons — both scored to put Utah up 2-0 with 2:28 left in the first.

The Lightning made it 2-1 a minute later on Point’s power-play goal.

Cirelli and Guentzel both scored second-period equalizers for Tampa Bay, but Utah countered with rapid go-ahead goals each time.

Kerfoot tipped in the puck 36 seconds after Cirelli evened it at the 5:22 of the second. Then, Cooley put Utah ahead again with 2:07 left in the second, tipping in his second goal 30 seconds after Guentzel’s equalizer.

Schmaltz’s backhander put Utah up 5-3 only 70 seconds into the third.

Kerfoot’s short-handed empty netter with 55.9 seconds left restored a two-goal cushion after Point made it 5-4 earlier in the period.

Takeaways

Lightning: Tampa Bay had allowed 2.66 goals per game entering Saturday before surrendering six in Halverson’s first start.

Utah: Vejmelka made his 13th straight start, surpassing a 12-game run by the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin for the most consecutive starts by a goaltender in the NHL this season.

Key moment

Kerfoot and Cooley each generated crucial go-ahead goals following a pair of second-period equalizers from Tampa Bay.

Key stat

Utah has registered a point in 12 of its last 14 home games (9-2-3).

Up next

Tampa Bay is at Vegas on Sunday. Utah hosts Detroit on Monday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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Sports

Florida Gators take on the NCAA Champs the UConn Huskies in second round. Today at noon.

Published

17 hours ago

March 23, 2025

Austin Reed

The Gators have gone 17-4 against SEC opponents, with a 14-0 record in non-conference play. Florida averages 85.7 points while outscoring opponents by 16.5 points per game.

The Huskies’ record in Big East play is 15-7. UConn ranks second in the Big East with 9.8 offensive rebounds per game led by Tarris Reed, Jr. averaging 2.7.

Florida makes 47.3% of its shots from the field this season, which is 5.3 percentage points higher than UConn has allowed to its opponents (42.0%). UConn has shot at a 47.8% clip from the field this season, 7.8 percentage points above the 40.0% shooting opponents of Florida have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alex Condon is averaging 11.3 points and 7.8 rebounds for the Gators. Walter Clayton Jr. is averaging 3.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Hassan Diarra is averaging 7.8 points, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals for the Huskies. Alex Karaban is averaging 14.5 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Gators: 9-1, averaging 90.5 points, 38.1 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 7.2 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points per game.

Huskies: 7-3, averaging 73.2 points, 34.8 rebounds, 15.2 assists, 4.9 steals and 5.8 blocks per game while shooting 46.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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