Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
A handful of NBA facilities are expected to open up Friday for individual workouts depending on updated stay-at-home orders across the country.
A handful of NBA facilities are expected to open up Friday for individual workouts depending on updated stay-at-home orders across the country.
A handful of NBA facilities are expected to open up Friday for individual workouts depending on updated stay-at-home orders across the country.
A handful of NBA facilities are expected to open up Friday for individual workouts depending on updated stay-at-home orders across the country.
This is a friendly reminder that anyone can get hit by identity theft, even Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta.
This is a friendly reminder that anyone can get hit by identity theft, even Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta.
This is a friendly reminder that anyone can get hit by identity theft, even Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta.
This is a friendly reminder that anyone can get hit by identity theft, even Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta.
This is a friendly reminder that anyone can get hit by identity theft, even Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta.
This is a friendly reminder that anyone can get hit by identity theft, even Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta.
NFL owners and players might be drawing close to agreeing to a new CBA.
NFL owners have been “summoned” to New York to discuss terms of a potential new collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA, according to a report from NFL Network.
The owners will hear a report on CBA negotiations and “consider terms,” NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweeted Wednesday.
The owners are meeting Thursday and players are expected to discuss the proposed new CBA during a conference call Friday. There’s a chance that the new CBA could be ratified before March 18, the start of the new league year.
Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis is attending the owners meeting as Denver’s representative, according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. While the team is under control of the Pat Bowlen Trust, Ellis is acting as the Broncos’ owner.
The proposed new CBA being discussed by owners and players includes two significant changes — an expanded playoff format and a longer regular season.
Under the new CBA, the regular season will be expanded to 17 games within the new few years. The playoffs would be expanded from 12 teams to 14 teams, with that change happening as quickly as next season.
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“He wasn’t just the owner of the team,” Atwater said of Bowlen. “He was a friend, like a mentor and like a father-figure.”
Former Broncos defensive backs Champ Bailey and Steve Atwater — two of late owner Pat Bowlen’s favorite players — reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame in back-to-back years. Bowlen was also voted into the Hall of Fame last year but he died before the induction ceremony.
After he was voted into the Hall of Fame earlier this month, Atwater was asked how special it was to share a place in Canton with Bailey and Bowlen.
“It really means a lot,” a tearful Atwater said on Feb. 6. “Mr. Bowlen was a great man. I learned a lot from him just how he interacted with people and how he never wanted the limelight. He always wanted his guys — he’d always put us up there. When he got it last year, I was hoping that he would make it to the ceremony, but obviously he didn’t.
“I was just thinking about how nice it would have been to be able to hoist him on our shoulders and carry him into the Hall of Fame on our shoulders. He would be, ‘No, put me down. Put me down! I don’t want to get this attention.’ ‘Nope, it’s your day. It’s your day, Mr. B.’ It’s definitely going to be special to have a bust in there next to Mr. Bowlen.”
Bowlen served as the team’s majority owner from 1984-2019. He had a positive influence on Atwater and many other Broncos players.
“He’s a great man that I try to live by some of his principles,” Atwater said. “Like I said, he wasn’t just the owner of the team. He was a friend, like a mentor and like a father-figure wrapped up into one. He was a great guy. It will be an honor.”
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“For us, we want to make sure that his wishes are followed,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.
During the Broncos’ end-of-season press conference, president/CEO Joe Ellis indicated that if beneficiaries would not sign off on Brittany Bowlen eventually becoming the team’s next controlling owner, the franchise might be sold to a new owner outside of Pat Bowlen’s family.
Bowlen died last June after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The team is now under control of the trust that he set up in his name. Bowlen tasked the trust with passing down ownership of the team to one of his children when a qualified candidate emerged.
During his media availability on Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the possibility of the Broncos being sold.
“It starts with what Pat Bowlen’s wishes were,” Goodell said, via The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala. “He established the trust to make sure there was an orderly transition of the franchise if something should happen to him. Unfortunately, that did, and Pat wanted to make sure the franchise was in good hands, in good management.”
Goodell didn’t have much new information to offer but he reiterated that the league aims to follow Bowlen’s plan.
“He wants his franchise, the Denver Broncos, to continue to have that success, and that’s why he set up the trust the way he did. For us, we want to make sure that his wishes are followed. I don’t think he’d be happy about the public disputes that are going on.”
The main dispute comes from Beth and Amie, two of Bowlen’s daughters, who are attempting to have the Pat Bowlen Trust removed from power through a lawsuit. The trust has previously said that Beth is not qualified or ready to take over as owner. Her sister, Brittany, is the most likely candidate to become the next owner.
“Unity is something that I think as an organization in the NFL, you have one person who makes a decision on behalf of an ownership group,” Goodell said. “That’s a vital and principal point in our ownership policy, and that is what Pat understood, he wanted that, and we need to have that in the case of all franchises. So that, at some point in time, will have to develop in the context of the Broncos.”
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The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
MLB.com reports that Crane explained Tuesday that the team will address the situation once the players are geographically together. The report follows the Astros FanFest weekend, which was this past weekend.
“We’ll all get them together and they’ll come out with a strong statement as a team and, I think, apologize for what happened and move forward,” Crane told MLB.com. “A couple of guys that have been interviewed have been holding back a little bit. We need to get them a little more time to get together.”
During FanFest, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman were the most prominent players speaking to media, but neither player addressed the scandal in a particularly apologetic manner.
Bregman called the accusations that the pair wore buzzers at the plate “just stupid,” according to Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart, and Altuve assured fans that the team would return to the World Series.
Astros pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Thursday, Feb. 13, the first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 17.
“Quite frankly, we’ll apologize for what happened, ask forgiveness and move forward,” Crane said.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
