Earthquakes strike 10-year stadium name deal with PayPal
The San Jose Earthquakes have struck a naming-rights deal with Silicon Valley brand PayPal in a move that could elevate the Major League Soccer team’s profile in the Bay Area and beyond.
The Quakes announced Monday they have a 10-year agreement with the digital pioneer to rename their stadium PayPal Park that also will increase touchless payment this season.
“It is going to be a total game-changer as far as how the sport is perceived in this market and how our stadium is perceived on a national level,” said Jared Shawlee, the Earthquakes chief operating officer.
The team had gone three years without a namingrights deal after original sponsor Avaya withdrew from its $20-million, 10year agreement because of bankruptcy issues.
The Quakes declined to release the financial terms of the PayPal deal but Shawlee said it falls within the top half of MLS naming-rights agreements. He also said it is an increase from the Avaya terms.
Shawlee said the Quakes wanted to strike a partnership with PayPal once it was on the hunt for a new naming-rights deal for their 18,000-seat stadium that opened in 2015. PayPal is located about two miles from the stadium.
ORGANIZATIONS TO TEST CONCUSSION SUBSTITUTES
U.S. Soccer, Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League
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are joining a trial program that will allow teams two additional substitutes for suspected concussions in each match.
The International Football Association Board, which sets the rules for the game, approved the trial for concussion substitutes last December. It is expected to run through August 2022.
Starting this season, teams can make two substitutions for suspected concussions. That’s in addition to the five substitutions already allowed because of the coronavirus. Normally teams are allowed three total substitutions.
Men’s college basketball
UNC NAMES HUBERT DAVIS AS ROY WILLIAMS’ SUCCESSOR
North Carolina promoted assistant Hubert Davis
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to replace Roy Williams as the Tar Heels’ new head coach, the university announced Monday. Davis, 50, will be formally introduced during a news conference today.
Davis has been an assistant to Williams for the past nine years in Chapel Hill. Williams, 70, announced his retirement last Thursday after winning three national championships in 18 years as the Tar Heels’ head coach.
NFL
JETS TRADE DARNOLD TO PANTHERS FOR
Sam Darnold was the face of a hopeful franchise, a promising playmaker who might just be the New York Jets’ quarterback for at least the next decade.
It took only three years for that dream to fizzle and fade into disappointment.
Darnold was traded to
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the Carolina Panthers, ending months of speculation and a stint in New York that was marked by a few flashes of brilliance, inconsistent play and unfortunate injuries.
New York announced it acquired a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft and secondand fourth-round picks in the 2022 draft.
MLB
Wire services
The Nationals and Atlanta Braves will make up their game that was postponed Monday because of Washington’s coronavirus outbreak as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday.
Major League Baseball announced the change Monday while Washington’s players were working out at Nationals Park.
Four players on the Nationals have tested positive for COVID-19 and seven more have been placed under quarantine after contact tracing determined they potentially were exposed.
Hockey
DEATH OF ‘MIRACLE ON ICE’ STANDOUT PAVELICH RULED
Last month’s death of “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey standout Mark Pavelich was ruled a suicide, a Minnesota medical examiner said Monday.
The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in Anoka County said in a news release that the 63-year-old Pavelich died of asphyxia. His body was found March 3 at the Eagle’s Healing Nest in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
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