NHL targets July 10 to open camps
The NHL and the NHL Players Association announced Thursday that the league is targeting July 10 for the start of training camps for the 24 playoff teams.
The announcement, which comes three days after NHL players were permitted back into team facilities, offers further hope we could see games in August.
But the joint statement included an important caveat. It read that full-squad training camps will open July 10 “provided that medical and safety conditions allow and the parties have reached an overall agreement on resuming play.”
So the start date of training camps, which is Phase 3 of the NHL’s return-to-play protocol, could change. Still, we continue to inch toward the return of NHL hockey sometime this summer.
Pro football
The NFL extended virtual offseason programs for teams through June 26, but no further. The league said it will allow the virtual work for an additional 15 days.
• The NFL is committing $250 million over 10 years to social justice initiatives, targeting what it calls “systemic racism” and supporting “the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African Americans.”
Soccer
Premier League players will not need to wear face masks arriving at stadiums, in dressing rooms or on the substitutes’ bench when the competition’s 100-day coronavirus shutdown ends next week. Clubs agreed on match-day protocols that include splitting stadiums into red, amber and green zones to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. The season is scheduled to resume Wednesday with Aston Villa playing host to Sheffield United and Arsenal playing at Manchester City . ... Premier League players could wear “Black Lives Matter” messages on their jerseys when the competition resumes. Plans for the messages on kits are yet to be finalized.
• Dele Alli will miss Tottenham’s first game back from the Premier League’s suspension after receiving a one-match ban for a racially insensitive post on social media during the coronavirus outbreak.
• With a video game look for fans at home, the Spanish league resumed with Sevilla defeating Real Betis, 2-0, in the Seville derby.
Elsewhere
Harry Glickman, founder of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and general manager of the franchise’s only title-winning team in 1977, died Wednesday. He was 96. The team announced Glickman’s death; no cause was given. In their tweet, the Trail Blazers described Glickman as: “The father of professional sports in Oregon, a true Trail Blazer.”