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Saturday, 2 November 2024
Report: Yankees ace Gerrit Cole opts out of remaining years on contract
A big name could be headed to the free-agent market.
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has opted out of the remaining four years of his contract, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reported on Saturday.
The Yankees can nullify the opt-out by adding one year to the deal at $36 million.
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Friday, 1 November 2024
Thieves speed off with bronze statue of Formula One racing legend Gilles Villeneuve
A museum dedicated to revered Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve is racing to find its stolen bronze statue of the Quebec speedster before it gets melted down for cash.
Alain Bellehumeur, general manager of the Gilles Villeneuve Museum, says the five-foot-three inches tall statue was apparently sawed off at the ankles sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday, and he is asking the public for help locating it.
The statue was created in 1984 in tribute of Villeneuve, who participated in 67 Formula One races from 1977 to 1982, winning six before dying in a racing accident while qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at the age of 32.
In 1994 the statue was placed outside the museum dedicated to him in Berthierville, Que., about 70 kilometres northeast of Montreal, where Bellehumeur says the statue became an important part of the community’s cultural heritage.
He says the statue cost $25,000 to built in 1984 and that he is worried the thieves plan to melt it and sell the bronze.
Jules Lasalle, the man who sculpted the statue, says the theft is a major disappointment and hopes it will soon be returned.
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All fighters on 14-bout card hit the target at UFC Edmonton official weigh-ins
It was a busy weigh-in Friday ahead of UFC Edmonton with 28 fighters stepping on the scale and all successfully made weight ahead of Saturday’s Fight Night event at Rogers Place.
In the main event, former men’s flyweight champion Brandon Moreno is looking to rebound from back-to-back split decision losses when he goes up against Amir Albazi, who’s 5-0 in the UFC and returning to action following multiple surgeries.
The co-main event sees former two-time women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas taking on Erin Blanchfield in a flyweight bout that has future title shot implications.
Fan favourite and all-time UFC knockouts leader Derrick Lewis is also featured on the 14-fight card that has a plethora of Canadian talent, including Mike Malott, Marc-André Barriault, Aiemann Zahabi and Jasmine Jasudavicius.
Charles Jourdain and Caio Machado are debuting in new weight classes and neither had any issues getting down to their new respective divisional limits.
Below are the official weigh-in results and projected bout order for UFC Edmonton.
MAIN CARD
— Brandon Moreno (125.5) vs. Amir Albazi (125.5)
— Erin Blanchfield (125.5) vs. Rose Namajunas (125)
— Derrick Lewis (266) vs. Jhonata Diniz (257)
— Caio Machado (205) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205)
— Marc-André Barriault (185) vs. Dustin Stoltzfus (185.5)
— Mike Malott (170.5) vs. Trevin Giles (170)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Aiemann Zahabi (135.5) vs. Pedro Munhoz (135)
— Ariane Lipski (125) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (125)
— Charles Jourdain (135) vs. Victor Henry (135)
— Jack Shore (145.5) vs. Youssef Zalal (145)
— Alexander Romanov (261) vs. Rodrigo Nascimento (264)
— Serhiy Sidey (135) vs. Garrett Armfield (135)
— Chad Anheliger (135) vs. Cody Gibson (135.5)
— Jamey-Lyn Horth (126) vs. Ivana Petrovic (125)
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Thursday, 31 October 2024
Chiefs’ Mahomes among those trying to land WNBA team for Kansas City in 2028 expansion
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the ownership group of the Kansas City Current, who play in the National Women’s Soccer League, have been meeting with WNBA officials a bout bringing an expansion franchise to the city.
Mahomes confirmed the talks Thursday, saying that it was a “no-brainer” to try to bring women’s hoops to Kansas City.
“Obviously, we want to get basketball in Kansas City in general,” said Mahomes, who also has ownership stakes in the Royals and MLS club Sporting Kansas City. “You talk about the University of Kansas basketball, the Chiefs, whatever it is, the city is going to come out to the stadium. It’s cool we were able to get the women’s soccer team here and you see the support they have.”
The Current, who play in a $117 million purpose-built stadium near downtown Kansas City, have regularly sold out their home matches this season. They begin the NWSL playoffs as the No. 4 seed on Nov. 9 after losing just three times all season.
Mahomes and his wife, Brittany — a former soccer player — frequently attend Current and Sporting KC matches. The Chiefs quarterback was in a suite at Kauffman Stadium a few weeks ago to watch the Royals play the Guardians in the playoffs.
“I think more than anything, I know how much sports has given to me,” said Mahomes, whose unbeaten Chiefs play Tampa Bay on Monday night. “Whenever I’m done with football — whenever that is — and I have to venture into life after football, and chase kids around, I want to still be a part of it. Hopefully, we can get this WNBA team here, for life after football, so I can make an impact in sports, and show my daughter that you can chase your dream, whatever dream that is.”
The WNBA is expanding by three teams over the next two seasons with Golden State, Portland and Toronto pushing the total number of franchises to 15. And while league commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the WNBA would like to add a 16th team by the 2028 season, Kansas City is expected to have competition from St. Louis, Philadelphia and several other cities.
The league has been buoyed by young stars such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, drawing its best attendance numbers in 22 years this past season. Game 5 of its championship peaked at 3.3 million TV viewers, the most-watched WNBA game in a quarter of a century, plus 22 telecasts during the 40-game regular season topped at least a million viewers across various networks.
Kansas City has long had the infrastructure for a professional basketball franchise, building the T-Mobile Center in 2007 with the hopes of luring an NBA or NHL club to town. Those teams never materialized, but the building has remained busy hosting concerts and other sports events, including the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments each March.
Mahomes believes a WNBA franchise would be the perfect fit for the downtown arena.
“They want to expand. Just like any other business, you have to pick and choose how,” he said. “Obviously, you’ve seen the last few years the WNBA has grown. We feel like Kansas City is a great place to continue that growth, but we have to battle other cities to show them that this is the right place.”
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