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🏈 The NFLPA’s no good, very bad month
The NFLPA, which hired former Screen Actors Guild chief negotiator David White as its interim executive director, hopes to begin the process of moving forward and regaining trust from the players in the wake of a disastrous month. But what got them here in the first place?
Timeline: A series of recent reports, mostly centered on now-former NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell, unearthed what ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Kalyn Kahler called “the worst crisis in the NFLPA’s 68-year history.”
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June 24: A bombshell report from journalists Pablo Torre and Mike Florio finds that the NFL and NFLPA agreed to bury a collusion grievance ruling from January that detailed how all 32 teams — backed by commissioner Roger Goodell — were encouraged to suppress guaranteed money in player contracts.
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July 10: Things go from bad to worse when ESPN reports that Howell had been working as a consultant for one of the private equity firms that is actively seeking to invest in minority stakes of NFL teams — a blatant conflict of interest.
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July 13:NFLPA leadership backs Howell amid calls for his resignation.
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July 17: Howell announces his resignation not long after it’s reported that he’d been accused of sexual discrimination in 2011 as a senior executive at Booz Allen. It’s also reported that the NFL and NFLPA had buried yet another grievance ruling from earlier this year.
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July 18: The hits keep coming, as ESPN reports that Howell’s decision to resign stemmed from an investigator discovering that he had charged the NFLPA over $3,000 for two separate strip club visits with union employees.
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July 20: NFLPA chief strategy officer J.C. Tretter, who’d been integral in hiring Howell and was at the center of the aforementioned second buried grievance, announces his resignation.
What’s next: Following White’s election on Sunday as Howell’s interim replacement, NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin said a “thorough search process for a permanent executive director” will begin soon. The question is whether this union has learned from the mistakes that got them here.
⚽️ Shared history, different directions
The Kansas City Current, already the NWSL’s best team, just got better. For that, they can thank the Utah Royals — a club whose history is inextricably woven into KC’s, but whose franchise trajectory couldn’t differ more.
Sentnor on the move: The Current acquired 21-year-old forward Ally Sentnor from the Royals last week for an intraleague record $600,000 transfer, bringing in last year’s No. 1 pick to bolster their roster for the second half of the season and continue their rise up the NWSL’s ranks.
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KC, which finished as the runner-up in 2022 and reached the semis last year, sits comfortably in first this season. They also made history last spring when they opened the world’s first stadium built for a women’s professional team, and on Monday they became the first NWSL club to launch a fully formed developmental team.
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Utah, on the other hand, is going in the exact opposite direction. Last year, the expansion team fired its coach halfway through the season, and now they’re in dead last with just 12 goals scored in 14 games. And to think, these polar opposite clubs basically stemmed from the same source.
Shared history: When NWSL founding member FC Kansas City folded in 2017, their players were transferred to an expansion team called… the Utah Royals. But three years later, following reports of a toxic and sexist workplace environment, the Royals were sold to a Kansas City-based ownership group who moved the team and renamed them the Current. Last year, Real Salt Lake’s owners launched an NWSL expansion team, bringing the Royals back to Utah.
What to watch: Their paths will cross again this Friday when Utah hosts KC in a game that could get pretty ugly, as no team this season has scored more goals than the Current nor allowed more than the Royals.
📊 By the numbers
🎾 18 years old
Victoria Mboko’s breakout season has reached new heights, as the 18-year-old from Toronto is now the youngest Canadian Open semifinalist in a decade. The wild card has dropped only one set, scored a dominant fourth-round victory over top-seeded Coco Gauff and takes on No. 9 Elena Rybakina today for a spot in her first tour-level final.
Also in Canada: Naomi Osaka upset No. 10 Elina Svitolina to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal since 2022, and Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz are set to face off in the first all-American ATP 1000 semifinal since 2010 (Andy Roddick vs. Mardy Fish).
⚾️ 103.9 mph
Diamondbacks DH Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a game-tying blast off a 103.9 mph fastball from Padres reliever Mason Miller, the fastest pitch ever homered off in the pitch tracking era (2008).
⛳️ 69 golfers
The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs begin tomorrow in Memphis, and while the top 70 players on the season-long points list qualified, No. 2 Rory McIlroy decided to skip the event to prepare for next week’s BMW Championship, leaving a field of 69 teeing off tomorrow at TPC Southwind.
💵 10% stake
ESPN and the NFL formally announced an agreement that will see the Worldwide Leader acquire NFL Network and other league-owned media assets in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN.
⚾️ 15 total bases
Shea Langeliers went 5-for-6 with three homers and a double in the A’s 16-7 rout of the Nationals, tying the record for most total bases by a catcher in a game in MLB’s modern era (since 1900).
The other side: The Nationals, who were coming off a series against the Brewers in which Milwaukee got a staggering 56 hits, are now the first team since 1932 to allow 80 hits in a four-game span.
📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Aug. 6
⚾️ Brewers at Braves | 7:15pm ET, FS1
The red-hot Brewers (69-44) are the best team in baseball despite fielding a largely anonymous roster that costs roughly one third as much as the sport’s highest payrolls. “The Brewers are so much greater than the sum of their parts, so consistently, that they could make a reasonable observer wonder whether he or she knew anything about baseball math at all,” writes The Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes.
More to watch:
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🏀 WNBA: Aces at Valkyries (10pm, NBA) … If the season ended today, Vegas and Golden State would be the last two teams in the playoffs.
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⛳️ Golf: U.S. Women’s Amateur (6pm, Golf) … The top 64 golfers from stroke play advanced to the first round of match play at Oregon’s Bandon Dunes.
Today’s full slate →
🏈 NFL trivia
Kyren Williams — who signed a three-year, $33 million extension with the Rams on Tuesday — has 26 rushing touchdowns in the last two seasons, tied for the fourth-most in the league.
Question: Which three players have more?
Hint: Two are QBs.
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
Liverpool fans covered a wall outside Anfield with messages honoring Diogo Jota ahead of Monday’s preseason friendly, their first home game since the star’s tragic death last month.
Watch: Play stopped in the 20th minute to pay tribute to No. 20
Trivia answer: Jalen Hurts (29), Derrick Henry (28), Josh Allen (27)
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