What has long been rumored has now been reported as reality: LIV Golf’s team championship in Michigan has been canceled.

The season finale, which was scheduled for the end of August in Michigan, was already believed to be on the chopping block as early as July. Various reports suggested no on-site buildout at The Cardinal at Saint John’s, even as recently as this weekend. And now LIV is moving on, according to a report from The Telegraph, which said the league finally told its players it would not be held.

In recent weeks, most LIV players had little to say about the event, although Martin Kaymer told Today’s Golfer in late July that the team championship had about a 5% chance of happening. Now that reality finally arrived. Staffers were told to book travel home from next week’s event in Indianapolis rather than to Michigan, just a few hours up the road. And despite the dark clouds over its team championship, LIV itself has refused to announce it publicly. (When contacted by GOLF, the league declined to comment.) The event is scheduled to begin in two weeks.

The final LIV event of the season is now set for the greater Indianapolis area and will likely fold-in elements to finalize the season-long team competition with it. LIV Indy was a rambunctious scene just 12 months ago, setting record-breaking attendance figures in the U.S. But in 2026, it will be the 12th and final event of what was scheduled to be a 14-event season. LIV’s New Orleans tournament, originally scheduled for June, was postponed and not rescheduled. The multi-million arrangement between the league and Louisiana saw LIV receive $1.2 million from the state. As of late July, that amount had not been repaid.

This all comes amid a rollercoaster time for the league. In late April, it was confirmed that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would be pulling its funding at the end of the season. LIV executives have scrambled to create a plan they’re calling “LIV 2.0”, which would feature a trimmed down schedule —10 events instead of 14 — with “Team Majors” and half of its schedule located abroad.

Importantly, the purse sizes for LIV 2.0 are expected to decrease by a significant margin. The league, which once pulled in talent via hundred-million-dollar contracts, could see its $30 million purses from 2026 shrink to half of that for 2027.

The runway for LIV remains incredibly murky. Last week, CEO Scott O’Neil held a press conference from the league’s New Jersey event, sharing that LIV had come to an agreement with a “lead investor” that would help the league sustain its business into next year. According to various reports, that investor is BC Partners’ credit division, and the investment is not for equity of the league, but is rather a lending mechanism. When asked for comment, BC Partners declined, but the head of its credit team, Ted Goldthorpe, was on-site at the LIV event Sunday, meeting with LIV’s previous boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan and walking inside the ropes with O’Neil. 

The agreement, to this point, is simply a signed term sheet — in essence, an agreement to try and come to an agreement. Various reports marked a finalized agreement contingent upon LIV’s biggest names returning to the league for 2027. The hope internally is that a definitive agreement would be settled sometime in September. 

New Test captain Joe Root has abolished the midnight curfew imposed on the England teams – only seven months after it was introduced.

The removal is the latest update to rules surrounding the behaviour of their players – regulations that have come under scrutiny across this year.

The curfew was introduced in January after a number of late-night incidents on the tours of New Zealand and Australia.

Following the first Test of the home summer – a win against New Zealand – former Test captain Ben Stokes broke the curfew in a nightclub in London, sparking a series of events that eventually led to his retirement from international cricket.

In the aftermath of the nightclub incident, director of cricket Rob Key considered imposing a total alcohol ban on the England players.

Then-Test coach Brendon McCullum admitted to “ambiguity” surrounding the communication of the curfew, with new guidelines on it and the consumption of alcohol issued to the England players last month.

But before Root’s first Test back in charge, against Pakistan at Headingley next week, he has relaxed the rules and said: “Let’s be adults.”

The curfew has also been lifted for the white-ball team, despite no change in the leadership of the one-day and T20 sides.

Led by coach McCullum and captain Harry Brook, the limited-overs sides will also no longer have to abide by the midnight rule.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Root said: “There’s not going to be a curfew. I don’t think this needs to be a big deal, to be honest.”

A curfew was first put in place during Root’s first spell as Test captain, between 2017 and 2022, and introduced after drinking incidents on the Ashes tour of 2017-18.

It was abolished when Stokes took over as captain in 2022, only to then be reintroduced earlier this year.

Now it has been scrapped again as Root begins his second spell as captain.

McCullum has been replaced as Test coach by fellow New Zealander Stephen Fleming, although he will not be in place for the three matches against Pakistan, with Marcus Trescothick acting as the interim coach.

“My view on curfews is that I don’t think they work and if you want guys to take responsibility on the field, they’ve got to feel like they can be grown adults off it and make good, strong decisions off it,” added Root.

“And that’s for us as a team to manage well, and self-police well, for me and Flem to manage well in many ways.”

The curfew was first imposed on the white-ball team in January for their tour of Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup that followed.

It came after Brook was punched by a nightclub bouncer in Wellington and opener Ben Duckett was filmed, apparently drunk, on England’s mid-Ashes holiday in Noosa.

The curfew remained in place for the Test team in the home summer, although there was confusion surrounding the terms and how it was communicated.

Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson were out past midnight following the victory over New Zealand at Lord’s, when a member of the England security staff was punched by a Saracens rugby player.

The pair missed the second Test against the Black Caps while the incident was investigated, and were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. After he returned for the third Test, Stokes announced midway through the match at Trent Bridge it would be his last for England.

Root said: “Ultimately, you’re grown adults, you know what it takes to play for England, you know what your responsibilities are off the field and we need to make sure we don’t find ourselves with any of those situations, off the field, to manage.

“We should be known for how we play our cricket and what we do on the field. We should be on the back page of the papers, and people reading about that sort of stuff. So, that’s as much as I’ve got to say on it.

“Let’s be adults. Look after yourselves, look after each other, create a good, strong culture where you know the right time is to celebrate and enjoy a win, or to have a sensible beer or whatever. And remember you’re playing for England.”

A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board added: “We have a Test captain and coach, who are looking at how they set team standards and culture.

“As part of this, the curfew will no longer be in place. We will ensure all players have a clear understanding of expectations when they come together for the upcoming Test series.”

The removal of the curfew is a partial U-turn on behavioural guidelines that were issued last month and also recommended no alcohol be consumed on the day immediately before, during or on the day immediately after a match.

If players do choose to drink in the period before, during or after matches, it should not be in public.

They have also been strongly discouraged from drinking in private, in order to aid preparation, recovery and professionalism.

The guidelines apply only to the England senior men’s teams. All other England sides – the women, Lions and age-group teams – have their own rules. England women do not have formal rules on alcohol.

Last week, Stokes denied the England team has a problem with alcohol, but instead said “cricket has a drinking culture and that has not changed”.

Billionaire Mark Walter is reportedly selling the Los Angeles Lakers to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner for a record-breaking $12.5 billion.

“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world. We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss,” Kushner and Iger told ESPN in a statement Wednesday. “Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”

The shocking sale comes just one year after Walker acquired a controlling stake in the Lakers from the Buss family.

“Owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of the great honors of my life – an extraordinary investment, but what I will carry with me is the community, the fans, and a city that treats this team as family,” Walter, who purchased the franchise just last year, said in a statement to ESPN. “I am grateful to Jeanie Buss, the Buss family, the players, and the staff for welcoming me into this chapter. The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I have every confidence the best is still ahead.”

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Rangers are being “proactive” in seeking a new striker after Youssef Chermiti was ruled out long term, says manager Derek McInnes, who warned defensive injuries have left the club “playing with fire”.

Chermiti, 22, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in Saturday’s defeat by Hibernian, shortly after McInnes confirmed a bid had been rejected for the Portugal Under-21 cap. Galatasaray have been linked with the former Everton player.

A specialist in London will be consulted, with a possible operation next week.

Chermiti is joined on the sidelines by left-back Tuur Rommens, who has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with a groin problem suffered in the same game.

McInnes, whose side will attempt to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit at home to Jagiellonia Bialystok in their Europa League third-round qualifier on Thursday, said of Chermiti: “Obviously, really disappointing for ourselves.

“Selfishly, he’s a big part of what we wanted to do this season and he’s obviously a talented boy.

“For Youssef himself, obviously he’s very young. It’ll be difficult for him to accept and understand what’s happened to him.

“The only saving grace from our point of view as a club is the fact it’s happened in a transfer window and we’ve got the opportunity to react to that.

“The plan was for Youssef to stay in. Obviously it was a big number that was reportedly bid for him. I don’t know exactly what the figure was. Obviously the club rejected that. It’s neither here nor there now, to be honest. It’s done.

“We are obviously looking at maybe strengthening that area of the pitch. We’re trying to be quite proactive with that and seeing what is available. Number nines are normally the most difficult ones to get.”

In desperate need of new direction (again), the Atlanta Falcons unveiled new uniforms in April, creating a sleek look to match a potentially high-octane offense.

More important will be the new faces that accompany the fire attire.

Owners of the league’s second-longest postseason drought, the Falcons cleaned house after an eighth straight losing season. General manager Terry Fontenot, head coach Raheem Morris and free agent quarterback-bust Kirk Cousins were all dismissed, ushering in a new era in Atlanta.

Replacing Fontenot and Morris were no-brainers for longtime owner Arthur Blank, who picked up Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham and two-time NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski to take the reins.

“We found a coach with the right vision, focus and demeanor to lead our team into the future,” Blank said of Stefanski. “He has a great plan for his staff, and he’s learned many things during his stops in Cleveland and Minnesota (as an assistant) that have prepared him for this moment. Our objective is to win games and contend for championships every year and that is where our shared focus will remain.”

While the quarterback battle is still a question mark, there are certainly reasons for Falcons fans to be optimistic. Making a splash in his first offseason in charge, Cunningham inked superstar running back Bijan Robinson to a three-year contract extension worth up to $75 million, solidifying the 24-year-old as the highest-paid rusher in NFL history. The first-team All-Pro had 2,298 yards from scrimmage a year ago, marking the most ever by a Falcon.

Atlanta’s run-game will again anchor the offense after finishing with the league’s eighth-most rushing yards (2,138) in 2025.

Stefanski is no stranger to dominant backs, having coached Nick Chubb in Cleveland and Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. With the addition of offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and veteran offensive line coach Bill Callahan, there’s no reason why Robinson won’t flourish as the team’s best player.

“The run game is going to be as good as we make it,” Robinson said. “All five of our o-linemen are built to run the football. I’m very happy about it and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to since Bill came in. He’s had a lot of great running backs and he knows how to use them in the right situation. Stefanski and Tommy know how to call it; it’s going to be very exciting.”

Barring an unforeseen injury, running the ball won’t be an issue. Where the Falcons have to win over their fanbase will be under center.

The unprecedented decision to draft injury-plagued Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall just a month after signing Cousins to a $180 million contract in 2024 defined the Fontenot era as a major failure. Cousins’ star fizzled out quickly, while Penix has started just 12 games in two seasons and suffered a partially torn ACL in Week 11 last season.

With Cousins off to Las Vegas, Atlanta signed fellow left-hander Tua Tagovailoa to a one-year deal in March. While the Falcons still have a month to decide who will take the opening snaps in the season-opener in Pittsburgh, the starter will have a solid receiving corps to fall back on.

Despite having to acclimate with five different quarterbacks – likely to be six when Tagovailoa makes his Atlanta debut – in four pro seasons, Drake London continues to emerge as a true No. 1 wide receiver. The 25-year-old was primed for a career-year before missing five games due to injury a season ago.

London, joined by recently extended tight end Kyle Pitts and rookie third round pick Zachariah Branch, spearheads a unit that should again be among the best in the NFC South.

“I think it makes us feel good that we’re part of something that’s growing and building,” said London, who signed a four-year, $141 million deal in June. “It means they have trust in us. We’re walking in the right direction towards being legendary. It’s cool to have (the extension), but there’s work to do and we’re focused on that.”

What should give Falcons fans the most optimism heading into 2026 is what lies ahead on the schedule – and the recent trend that’s on their side.

It’s no ‘hot take’ to label the NFC South as one of, if not the easiest, divisions in the league. And it’s been that way for a while.

Of the last four division winners, the 2024 Buccaneers (10-7) were the only team to reach double-digit victories. As woeful as the Falcons have been across that stretch, they’ve finished two games out of first or closer in each of those seasons.

A division that’s perennially up for grabs, paired with the fourth-easiest 2026 schedule based on opponent win percentage (.465), a new front office, coaching staff and a returning core ready to put points on the board – there’s reason for hope in Atlanta.

FIFA has issued a statement defending its president, Gianni Infantino, against what it calls a “concerted and ongoing effort” to undermine his leadership of the organization.

The statement was released Saturday, a day after a report by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph raising questions about an exit package paid by UEFA to a female staffer who worked with Infantino when he was general secretary of European soccer’s governing body.

UEFA confirmed that a “departure payment” was made to the employee and said it was “in line” with regulations at the time.

Infantino worked at UEFA for 16 years before being elected FIFA president.

In the statement Saturday, FIFA accused Infantino’s critics of trying to weaken his authority and remove him from office without due process.

“It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its president,” the FIFA statement said. “Those who do not have the support of FIFA’s member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through FIFA’s established democratic processes.” 

 
It said some reporting has included “unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims” which shouldn’t be presented as fact.

“Change inevitably challenges established interests, but disagreement with that change cannot justify efforts to undermine the democratic mandate of FIFA’s president or the institution he was elected to lead.” 
Infantino faced intense backlash after details of his plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity were published. UEFA and two other continental confederations – North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation – rejected the plan.

He did receive backing from FIFA’s management board last Wednesday following a meeting in Morocco, and he apologized over the process. UEFA’s threat to have its 55 member countries boycott FIFA competitions until the plan was scrapped remained, with UEFA saying Thursday that the announcement “changes nothing.” 
While confirming the exit payment “was in line with the regulations that existed for departing staff at the time,” UEFA said the rules had been tightened since 2016 and currently “reflect those found in a modern, high-profile organization.

Just about every player enters training camp saying they’ve never felt better and they’re in the best shape of their life. In the case of Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer, seeing is believing. 

Mateer turned heads over the summer at the Manning Passing Academy in late June for a noticeably more muscular physique. He kept the conversation going by posting multiple shirtless pictures on Instagram: 

There was chatter in social media circles, Reddit — “is that kind of muscle good for throwing?” — and on a few podcasts that Mateer’s strapping physique would affect the fluidity and mobility of his throwing motion. 

“Is John Mateer too jacked?” Tom Fornelli asked, perhaps with a scoop of sarcasm. “I don’t know if I want my QB being too big … I’m not trying to get a body-builder quarterback. When you’re that big, you’re too tight. How are you supposed to unleash a throw down the seam with that — he’s got his pecs getting in the way!” 

Below is our attempt to discern whether bulking up could have any impact on how Mateer will steer the Sooners offense through the air. 

We asked an expert  

Mateer had an up-and-down 2025 season marred by a hand injury suffered in a late September game against Auburn. He returned in time to face Texas in the Red River Rivalry but was a diminished version of himself as a passer for most of the rest of the season until late in the year.

In the offseason, he began working out with his offensive linemen and has put on anywhere from five to 10 pounds. He enters fall camp at a listed 224. Oklahoma did not respond to a request to speak to Mateer, his QB coach or the Sooners’ strength and conditioning coordinator. 

Pat Powers is throwing out any theory that Mateer added bad muscle this summer. 

A former Northern Illinois football analytics staffer, high school football assistant coach and sports science researcher for Driveline Baseball and the NFL, Powers says from a kinematic perspective the concept of Mateer’s bulk inhibiting his ability as a passer could not be further from the truth. 

“Yeah, that’s false,” Powers said. “Basketball is a good example where if you see guys say lifting is going to make you less flexible, it’s completely untrue. It doesn’t bear out in reality. And also, any decent training program is going to take that into account and work on mobility, flexibility, and that type of fitness.”

Mateer’s listed weight isn’t in any way an outlier. Arch Manning is listed at 222, Gunner Stockton is 215 and Byrum Brown in 235. If Austin Mack wins the starting job at Alabama he’d be the heaviest starting QB in the SEC at 237 pounds. According to Powers, getting bigger can actually help Mateer.  

“Different players are going to adapt differently, and it’s not typically like oh, you put on five pounds, your elbow flexion is going to fall, or your shoulder abduction is going to decrease,” Powers said..” It changes player to player, and that’s some of where like the kind of ecological dynamics comes in, where a lot of skill adaptation is learning to how your body changes, which is why there’s such things as like de-loading weeks and lifting programs, where you’re taking a week for your body to recover and kind of adapt to the changes its made. 

“So it’s not quite a one-to-one of like this happened, so this happened. It’s more a balance of general and specific training because all the weightlifting stuff is what’s known as general fitness, and then when you get to like the actual throwing exercises, that’s specific. So it’s basically improving your general fitness gives you more capacity to both practice more and have raw inputs to improve the specific skills.” 

Ground force = rotational force 

Mateer is a former baseball player. In fact, he skipped offseason 7-on-7 football camps as a high schooler to play on the diamond. You can see the baseball background in how he throws a football – his throwing motion is much more sidearm almost as if he’s a shortstop turning a double play. But zeroing in on Mateer’s arm at all can lead you down the wrong rabbit hole. 

While you may think that throwing a baseball is one-to-one with throwing a football, consider that there is much more overlap with hitting. This was applicable to another OU quarterback years ago, Kyler Murray, who was drafted by the Oakland A’s before opting to go to the NFL. Murray told The Oklahoman “I can throw a football all day and my arm doesn’t get tired,” …”If I throw a baseball more than a certain amount of time, it’s going to get a little sore.”

The reason why has to do with what exactly is happening when a quarterback throws a football, as explained by quarterback guru Yogi Roth. 

“We got a phrase that we use at Elite 11 all the time: ‘Ground force equals rotational force,’” Roth shared during a 2015 conversation. “[Murray] has a lot of that. If you think of a baseball player when they swing, and the way they generate force with the bat or when they generate force even throwing, it’s the same as a quarterback.”

Many famous quarterbacks with the types of throwing style you might remember like Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers or Dan Marino aren’t actually doing much work with their arms. They’re using more of their core to draw rotational force from the ground and essentially fire it up through their bodies and the ball shoots off their hands almost as a byproduct. The right hip is doing most of the work. 

This also makes Mateer different from a similar example of a swole passer people had concerns about, Tim Tebow, whose arm strength wasn’t in doubt but his accuracy was because of a long, looping throwing motion. The pitfall of Tebow’s for was that it was too “armsy,” using too much of his upper body, rather than an efficient lower body. Here’s a scouting report on Tebow (who played around 235 pounds) from NFL.com:

“Release is far too slow to fit balls into spots against NFL defensive backs. Release point and mechanics (elongated, wind-mill delivery which comes out too low) likely need to be altered.” 

So what should you make of tarps-off Mateer? 

Nothing much beyond, the odds are he looks like he’s in much better shape than you do.

It doesn’t mean he’ll be too tight to go deep to Isaiah Sategna or Parker Livingstone. In fact, because Mateer runs the ball so much it might help him hold up to the wear and tear in the SEC. But there’s a lot that goes into the training and coaching of being a refined passer in the SEC, and 10ish pounds of muscle isn’t going to automatically ruin him. 

Awards futures are where the market pays you to remember. Every summer the book re-prices last year’s highlight reel, hands you the same MVP and the same rookie hype at a premium, and dares you to buy the rerun. I’d rather bet what’s coming.

Our model doesn’t grade storylines, it grades deserved records, who actually played like contenders and who performed to expectations. In 2026, that’s the whole board.

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Nearly every ticket I like sits on a team our model says ran cold last year, is better than its record and is due to rebound, but is priced like it’s still stuck in the mud.

Here is my breakdown of several NFL awards markets, including MVP:

Most Valuable Player

Josh Allen, QB, Bills (+550)

Allen will be QB1 of one of the most talked-about teams in football, so I understand the need to make him the chalk. In fact, at +4 we project Buffalo as a legit upside team overall. But this price is taxing the idea of the MVP.

Allen’s issue: Where’s his ceiling? What’s the median expectation? I’d argue it’s already near MVP levels, and to make real noise in the market from there he’d have to pull off some superman-level heroics. Pass.

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Joe Burrow, QB, Bengals (10-1)

This is the number I keep coming back to. Cincinnati is the most undervalued team on our entire luck board, a full game and a half colder than it actually played, winning six games with a roster we graded like a playoff team. Burrow is also our third-likeliest passing champ. Give a healthy Burrow 17 games with that offense, which everyone agrees has the talent to erupt but just needs to stick it out through a full season, and you’ve got a resurgence that lands him right in the middle of this race.

A Burrow bounce back is my MVP ticket. Buy.

Patrick Mahomes, QB, Chiefs (10-1)

Kansas City is the other cold team hiding in plain sight, a clear positive grade buried under a six-win season. At the same 10-1 you’re buying the identical profile as Burrow, an elite quarterback on a team our model swears was better than its record. The obvious variable is injury, and whether Mahomes comes back as the player we remember. That could be a massive catalyst for good, but it could just as easily mean performances that aren’t worthy of a trophy.

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The ceiling is there, but for the price it’s not worth the bite in my opinion. Pass.

Offensive Player of the Year

Bijan Robinson, RB, Falcons (+900)

Our third-most-likely rushing champ, and unlike Jahmyr Gibbs he’s a true bell cow. Atlanta runs its whole offense through him, and a workhorse on a full snap count is exactly the resume this award pays. Give me the back who gets the ball 40 times a game over the one splitting a backfield in Gibbs. I’m not sold that Atlanta knows what it’s doing at quarterback, which only makes Bijan’s consistency more important to this offense. If the Falcons do well, this price is a steal. Buy.

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Puka Nacua, WR, LA Rams (10-1)

Over the last seven seasons, wide receivers have won this award more than any other position, and with Nacua as our most likely receiving-yards champ — playing for a Rams team our ratings peg as the best in the league — this is an obvious click. A quarterback hasn’t won this award since 2018, so it’s going to a skill guy who has the system to get him the ball and create his own explosive plays. I took a bite at this 10-1 price. Buy.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Jeremiyah Love, RB, Cardinals (+300)

Short price, but I’m not fighting it. Arizona is a bounce-back team on our board, and a workhorse rookie back stepping into a rising offense is the purest OROY magnet there is, especially given the quarterback situation in Arizona. Volume wins this thing, and Love is walking straight into it. This award hasn’t had a direct correlation to team success; more often it’s a star inside a rebuild, and Love fits that notion perfectly. Buy.

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Comeback Player of the Year

Kyler Murray, QB, Vikings (+550)

Step one is simply getting back on the field. But if Kyler clears that hurdle, he’s got the weapons around him to make a real story. His whole career has been a story, the incredible high school run, the twist of elite college football and baseball, the hot start in the league, but it’s gone quiet lately.

In a story-based award market, that’s exactly the setup I want: Kyler Murray falling right into the funnel of media attention at a great price. Buy.

The board at a glance