In pro sports, it all comes down to money

KEEP following the money: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman this week declared his league sees no connection between former players suffering long-term concussion issues and those players having been repeatedly punched in the head during their careers.

That makes sense the way Rob Manfred and Roger Goodell declared that FanDuel and DraftKings — league- and teams-invested, young male-targeting gambling operations — are not gambling operations.

The Nationals at Mets game on Sunday, Sept. 4, has been switched from 1 p.m. to 8:10 p.m. on ESPN’s sold-by-MLB orders.

It’s still a Mets’ Sunday Family Game, thus the kids’ run-the-bases-with-Mr. Met come-on is still on for after the game. A free black coffee to the first 10 remaining kids under 10 years old.

Despite international calls for China to cease its across-the-board governmental denial of basic human rights — including the imprisonment and disappearance of pro-democracy activists — the NBA will continue to play games and sell league merchandise in China, too lucrative a market not to aggressively cultivate.

The 2016-17 season’s All-Star Game, yanked by the NBA from Charlotte, N.C., in response to the state’s alleged insensitivity to the bathroom rights of transgenders (Aren’t there latched stalls in all public bathrooms?) is now up for grabs. How about Tiananmen Square?

As for North America, the NBA will now sell team-logo catheters at all league arenas and shopping sites.