Minor league players, MLB reach deal in min wage suit
Minor league players and Major League Baseball have reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging teams violated minimum wage laws.
Terms of the settlement were not filed with the court Tuesday and details were not released. Two people familiar with the negotiations, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the release of details was not authorized, said the sides in recent weeks had been discussing a possible settlement in the $200 million range.
“We are pleased to report that the parties have reached a settlement in principle in this over eightyear-old case, subject to court approval,” lawyers for the players said in a statement. “We look forward to filing preliminary approval papers with the court and cannot comment further until then.”
The suit was filed in 2014 by first baseman/outfielder Aaron Senne, a 10th-round pick of the Marlins in 2009 who retired in 2013, and two other retired players who had been lower-round selections: Kansas City infielder Michael Liberto and San Francisco pitcher Oliver Odle. They claimed violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state minimum wage and overtime requirements for a work week they estimated at 50 to 60 hours.
A trial had been scheduled to start June 1 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Several classes of players are part a of case involving laws in different states.
NHL
CANADIENS WIN DRAFT LOTTERY >> The Montreal Canadiens are not only hosting the NHL draft in July, they'll have a chance to be the headliners after winning the draft lottery.
The Canadiens followed a turbulent season in which they finished last in the overall standings by retaining the right to the No. 1 pick.
The New Jersey Devils shook up the draft order by winning the second of two lottery drawings and moving from the fifth to second slot in the draft order.
The Devils' win bumped Arizona from second to third, Seattle to fourth and Philadelphia to the fifth slot. The remaining slots from 6 to 16 remained unchanged based on where the teams finished in the standings.
Colleges
NIL EXPERT PREDICTS $50,000 MINIMUM PAY FOR POWER 5 PLAYERS >> Football
and men's basketball players on scholarship in one of the major conferences can expect to soon earn a minimum of $50,000 each year he plays because of the influx of cash from so-called booster collectives brokering name, image and likeness deals.
That prediction, based on market trends, was made this week by Blake Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of a company that helps athletes and schools navigate the ever-changing NIL landscape.
The increasing dollar amounts available to college athletes through the recent formation of collectives has drawn the attention of the NCAA, which this week released guidance for schools in the hopes of maintaining the original intent of NIL compensation.
College sports leaders are concerned some collectives have gone beyond paying athletes for activities such as endorsements and appearances and breaking the pay-for-play ban by offering cash to influence athletes' decisions on where to go to school. NCAA rules prohibit boosters from making contact with prospective recruits.
Boxing
NO CHARGES FOR MIKE TYSON FOR PUNCHING AIRPLANE PASSENGER >>
Authorities will not file criminal charges against former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson after he was recorded on video punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport last month, prosecutors announced.
The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office said it has closed the case and decided against pursuing charges based on “the circumstances surrounding the confrontation.”
“These include the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson that no charges be filed in this case,” District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said in a statement.
Police previously said that the victim had provided few details about the altercation and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Soccer
EA SPORTS AND FIFA END PARTNERSHIP, BOTH EYE NEW VIDEO GAMES >> Electronic Arts will stop making its hugely successful FIFA video game in its current name, marking a split in one of soccer's most successful and lucrative partnerships after the sides failed to strike a new licensing deal.
Instead, the California company said that EA Sports FC will be introduced from 2023 after it creates the final game in partnership with FIFA later this year.
Licensing rights for the game earn FIFA about $150 million annually — the single biggest commercial earner in its expected $7 billion total revenue from 2019-2022 — though FIFA struck a defiant tone in a statement published hours after the announcement of losing that income.
FIFA promised a “number of new non-simulation games (that) are already under production” and will launch ahead of the 2022 World Cup that kicks off in Qatar in November.
FIFA said it plans to create a “new gaming model” and cited the recent launch of its streaming service FIFA+.
8 ROUNDS IN EXPANDED CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST STAGE FROM 2024 >> A scaledback
first phase to the expanded Champions League in 2024 was approved by UEFA to quell a backlash around Europe.
The reformatted group stage has been reduced from 10 rounds to eight, and backup places for teams based on historical performance have been replaced with a qualification method that rewards the most successful nations more recently in European football.
The stage will still grow from 32 to 36 teams based around a single standings rather than eight groups.
Weeks of talks involving domestic leagues and clubs went down to the wire on Tuesday to produce the revised format that will see two additional places in the expanded format awarded to the two countries with the highest UEFA ranking based on their teams' results in European competitions the previous season. HAALAND SET FOR MOVE TO MAN CITY >> Erling Haaland looks sure to be coming home.
The future of the Norway striker, one of the rising stars of world soccer, is set to be finalized this week and the expectation is he will leave Borussia Dortmund to join Manchester City as the English club's belated replacement for Sergio Aguero.
Neither City nor Dortmund are commenting officially about the potential transfer, though Pep Guardiola dropped a massive hint on Tuesday.
“Everybody knows the situation,” the City manager said at a news conference ahead of the match against Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Wednesday, “but I should not talk because I don't like to talk about the future. Dortmund and Man City have told me I can't say anything until the deal is done.”