MLS, UNION COULD FACE WORK STOPPAGE
Major League Soccer and the union representing its players could be on a collision course toward a work stoppage after the league announced it was invoking a force majeure clause in the collective bargaining agreement the league and players reached in June.
A force majeure frees both parties from liability or obligation in the event of extraordinary circumstances. MLS said it would invoke the clause because of the ongoing impact of COVID-19, which Commissioner Don Garber said cost the league $1 billion in revenue in 2020. The clause gives the sides 30 days to work out a new CBA.
The players union called the league’s decision “tone deaf ” and said it discredits the sacrifices made by players and the “enormous challenges they overcome in 2020.”
The union said nearly 20 percent of its players tested positive for COVID-19 last season. The players also made $150 million in financial concessions, including a 5 percent salary cut, a reduction in bonuses and the players’ share of revenue from a new broadcast agreement and a one-year delay in planned salary increases.
More soccer
The Premier League is reportedly considering a twoweek pause to its season to address a surge in COVID-19 cases in England, according to the London Telegraph. Two games were postponed this week because of COVID-19, with last Monday’s game between Manchester City and Everton scrapped by an outbreak among Manchester City players and coaches and Wednesday’s Fulham-Tottenham match called off when several Fulham players tested positive.
Goalkeeper Karl Darlow pulled off a string of saves to help host Newcastle hold Liverpool to a 0-0 draw as the defending champion’s vaunted attacking trio came up empty.
Mohamed Salah missed two good chances when he had just Darlow to beat, and strikepartner Roberto Firmino saw two headers saved at St.
James’ Park.
Horse racing
Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law has been suddenly retired on the advice of a veterinarian after an X-ray revealed bone bruising in the colt’s front leg.
Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable tweeted Wednesday: “We are beyond grateful for the time we had with him.” The New York state ownership group had been expecting to race the colt as a 4-year-old next year.
But a series of X-rays revealed “severe” bone bruising to the bottom of the front leg bone. “When that happens, you can’t continue to train and race a horse without significant threat of a catastrophic breakdown,” the stable tweeted.
Tiz the Law had six wins in nine career starts and earnings of $2,735,300, according to Equibase. He retired on the same day his trainer, Barclay Tagg, turned 83. Tiz the Law was ridden by Manny Franco.
Tiz the Law finished sixth in what turned out to be his final start in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in November.
Skiing
Matthias Mayer ended Austria’s wait for its first victory of the Alpine skiing World Cup season by winning the classic downhill on the Stelvio in Bormio, Italy, in the last event of 2020.
In a spectacular race on one of the circuit’s most challenging courses, Mayer edged teammate Vincent Kriechmayr by four-hundredths of a second for an Austrian 1-2 finish.
Notable
USD’s women’s basketball team (4-3, 1-1 MW) held San Francisco (4-4, 0-2) to just 36.6 percent shooting from the field on the way to a 61-54 win inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Longtime Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, 43, signed a one-year deal the Washington Capitals, a stunning move less than a week before most NHL teams open training camp.