Rigorous testing protocol at heart of return of NHL
Nick Foligno watches Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s coronavirus briefings and appreciates the value of the information.
It is part of the reason the Columbus captain supports NHL players undergoing daily testing if the season resumes.
“Testing is a must because it’s the only way you’re going to know and feel confident every time you step on the ice that everyone is in the same boat as you and you can play the game to the best of your ability,” Foligno said.
The first major North American professional sports league to announce a format for its potential return to competition also has a comprehensive COVID-19 testing strategy. There are screening protocols in place for voluntary workouts and training camp in the hands of individual teams. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly also said the NHL plans to test all players every day when games start happening.
“We will have a rigorous daily testing protocol where players are tested every evening and those results are obtained before they would leave their hotel rooms the next morning, so we’ll know if we have a positive test and whether the player has to self-quarantine himself as a result of that positive test,” Daly said. “It’s expensive, but we think it’s really a foundational element of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Each test costs approximately $125, the league said, and Commissioner Gary Bettman estimated 25,000-35,000 will be needed to get through the playoffs — a price tag, he concedes, of “millions of dollars.” But athletes have plenty of concerns about risking their health to get back to work, and regular testing is something players insisted on.
“You need testing at a level sufficient to be confident that you’re going to be on top of anything which might happen,” NHL Players’ Association executive director Don Fehr said. “If that turns out to be daily, and that’s available, that’s OK. That would be good. If it turns out that that’s not quite what we need and we can get by with a little less, that’s OK.”
MLB
PLAYERS OFFER 114-GAME SEASON,
NO MORE PAY CUTS >> Major League Baseball’s players proposed a 114game regular season, up from 82 in management’s offer, and no additional pay cuts beyond the one the agreed to in March, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no details were announced.
Opening day in the coronavirus-delayed season would be June 30 and the regular season would end Oct. 31, nearly five weeks after the Sept. 27 conclusion that MLB’s proposal stuck to from the season’s original schedule. The union offered scheduling flexibility to include more doubleheaders.
Mixed martial arts
JONES TO GIVE UP UFC TITLE IN
MONEY DISPUTE >> Jon “Bones” Jones tweeted that he’s giving up his UFC title in a pay dispute.
“To the light-heavyweight title — veni, vidi, vici,” tweeted Jones, using the Latin phrase of “I came, I saw, I conquered,” attributed to Julius Caesar. Asked if was giving up his title, he tweeted “Yes.”
When one of Jones’ 2.3 million Twitter followers suggested he was hurting himself more than the UFC, Jones replied: “I hurt myself every time I walk out there and take a punch to the head and not feel my pay is worth it anymore.”
Jones, 32, had been eyeing a fight with heavyweight Francis Ngannou, but said the UFC did not want to pay him enough.
UFC president Dana White said the fighter wanted “crazy” money, citing demands of $15 million, $20 million and $30 million.
BURNS BEATS WOODLEY IN LAS VE
GAS >> Gilbert Burns dominated former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley to win a unanimous decision Saturday night in the mixed martial arts promotion’s return to Las Vegas.
Brazilian heavyweight Augusto Sakai eked out a split-decision victory over Bulgaria’s Blagoy Ivanov in the penultimate bout of the UFC’s first show in its hometown since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The event was held without fans at the UFC Apex, a small gym with broadcast facilities on the promotion’s corporate campus. The UFC used minimal personnel to stage the fight, and the promotion said everyone involved was subject to strict health and safety protocols.
The 33-year-old Burns (19-3) dominated on his feet and on the ground, finishing his first mainevent bout with likely the biggest win of his career and his sixth straight victory since July 2018.
NBA
SMITH BEATS UP MAN HE CLAIMS
VANDALIZED HIS TRUCK >> Longtime NBA player J.R. Smith said he beat up a looter in Los Angeles because the man broke the window in his truck during protests in the area. The video showing Smith kicking and punching the man was released by TMZ Sports, and Smith addressed the incident via a different video.
“He didn’t know whose window he broke and he got his (expletive) whooped,” Smith said of the man.
Smith’s vehicle was parked in a residential area.
The video shows Smith kicking a man on the ground multiple times. When the man finally gets up, Smith delivers a powerful right punch to the man’s face. The man proceeds to scurry away.
Smith, 34, said his display of violence was solely due to the truck incident and wasn’t related to racial tension that has been soaring since George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on Monday.
Smith, who is currently an NBA free agent, ranks 13th in NBA history with 1,929 career 3-pointers.
Protests
GERMAN SOCCER PLAYERS HAVE THEIR SAY >> Jadon Sancho joined protests across German soccer this weekend by lifting his jersey after scoring to reveal a T-shirt with the handwritten message “Justice for George Floyd” on the front.
Sancho was shown a yellow card for his gesture which came after he scored the second goal for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn on Sunday.
COLLEGE HALL DAMAGED >> The College Football Hall of Fame is boarded up and assessing damage from a destructive night of protests in downtown Atlanta.
The facility’s most valuable trophies and artifacts were moved to a secure facility in case additional trouble breaks out amid nationwide unrest over the death in Minneapolis of a handcuffed black man.
Kimberly Beaudin, the hall’s chief executive director, said that the extensive glass facade of the nearly 95,000-square-foot building was shattered Friday night. Rioters also broke into the street-level gift shop, stole merchandise and left it “pretty trashed,” she added.
JORDAN SPEAKS OUT >> Michael Jordan released a statement saying black people and minorities “have had enough” of the racism in the United States.
Jordan, the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, said he understands the outrage around the nation.
“I am deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry,” Jordan’s statement began. “I see and feel everyone’s pain, outrage and frustration. I stand with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We have had enough.”
Obituary
HALL OF FAME BOXER COKES DIES AT 82 >> Curtis Cokes, the Hall of Fame welterweight who became Dallas’ first world champion in 1966, has died. He was 82.
Erwin “Sparky” Sparks, Cokes’ partner at the Home of Champions gym, told The Dallas Morning News that Cokes died Friday after a week in hospice.
Cokes fought 80 times from 1958 to 1972, finishing 62-14-4.