Prem Rugby clubs will be required to meet a minimum salary cap spend of £5.4m under new plans to expand the league’s commercial profile and competitiveness.

The English top-flight is moving away from a traditional promotion and relegation model to an expansion league, with expressions of interest and a tender process opening next season as it works towards a goal of adding two new teams by 2030.

As part of that move, the existing 10 clubs in the Prem will have to meet a “salary floor” in a drive to ensure close competition across the division while ensuring financial sustainability.

The move comes with the Prem actively seeking investment into both existing sides and possible new franchises, and follows major moves by Red Bull at Newcastle and James Dyson at Bath in recent months.

The salary cap is currently set at £6.4m, with a number of credits and exclusions meaning clubs can spend up to £7.8m plus one excluded player salary. While a number of clubs in the league spend close to the cap, some others are understood to currently fall short of the £5.4m figure.

While the salary floor still needs regulatory approval, it has been approved in principle by clubs following a consultation process. It will be introduced next season, although clubs will not be punished for failing to meet it until the 2029/30 season.

Any new club into the Prem shall be permitted a transition year whereby it shall be permitted to spend 25 per cent on the condition that it can present a clear plan to spend at least the full in its second Prem season.

Simon Massie-Taylor, the Prem Rugby chief executive, cautioned that the league are not necessarily looking to increase the cap in the near future.

“Our vision is to be the best league in the world,” Massie-Taylor explained.

“We are on a journey to define exactly what that means, but it doesn’t mean we are going to spend beyond everyone else and create wage inflation around the world, paying so all the Galacticos turn up. There are other aspects in terms of how we can define ourselves as the best league in the world for fans and players. Once distributions from Prem Rugby get to a certain level, then that will allow us to increase that in a sustainable way.”

The Prem’s plans were unveiled ahead of their “Big Match Bonanza” this weekend, with games being held at the Principality Stadium, Villa Park and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.

The hope is to hold up to 10 of these spread across the season in the future, with the possibility of taking the league’s semi-finals to larger, neutral venues by 2029.

“Big games are really important, as they make games bigger, and appeal to a wider fanbase.” Massie-Taylor added. “Our ambition is to have ten big games by 2030, and that includes the final and the potential for neutral playoffs.

“We see that adding to the narrative, and the general scale of the league. Big games are hard to do, so we as a league need to provide more support on that and to help market it to a wider audience. We need to manage the calendar of big games too.

“The reason you do it is because of scale. They are big games and you want to make them bigger. France do it. They’ve created a moment there and we want to explore it. It allows us to take the game on the road, and that’s what we’re seeing with Gloucester hosting a game in Birmingham this weekend, it’s a big undertaking but a big step in building a new market.

“England have a game against Fiji at the Hill Dickinson Stadium up in Liverpool, which is a great new 55,000 seater stadium, and in an area where there is clearly demand, as people are buying tickets to England-Fiji. Is that a good example of where we could host a playoff event? Maybe. There are lots of options. We’re intending to do this in 2029, deliberately because it takes time to secure venues, and find the right spot and build demand.”

Transgender women athletes are now excluded from women’s events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with US President Donald Trump’s executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females,” the International Olympic Committee said, to be determined by a mandatory gene test once in an athlete’s career.

It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic level. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, though weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 without winning a medal.

The eligibility policy that will apply from the LA Olympics in July 2028 “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category,” the IOC said.

“It is not retroactive and does not apply to any grassroots or recreational sports programs,” said the IOC, whose Olympic Charter states that access to play sport is a human right.

After an executive board meeting, the International Olympic Committee published a 10-page policy document which also restricts female athletes such as two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya with medical conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSD.

The IOC and its president, Kirsty Coventry, have wanted a clear policy instead of continuing to advise sports’ governing bodies who previously have drafted their own rules.

“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, said in a statement. “So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.”  She set up a review of “protecting the female category” as one of her first big decisions last June as the first woman to lead the Olympic body in its 132-year history.

Female eligibility was a strong theme in a seven-candidate IOC election last year – held after a furor around women’s boxing in Paris – when Coventry’s main rivals pledged a stronger policy to leading on the issue.

Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, three top-tier sports – track and field, swimming and cycling – excluded transgender women who had been through male puberty. Semenya, who was assigned female at birth in South Africa and has high natural testosterone levels, won a European Court of Human Rights judgment in her years-long legal challenge to track and field’s rules which did not overturn them.

The IOC document details its research that being born male gives physical advantages that a working group of experts believes are retained.

“Males experience three significant testosterone peaks: In utero, in mini-puberty of infancy and beginning in adolescent puberty through adulthood,” the document said.

It added this gives males “individual sex-based performance advantages in sports and events that rely on strength, power and/or endurance.”  The IOC said its expert group agreed the current gene test is “the most accurate and least intrusive method currently available.” It screened for “the SRY gene, a segment of DNA typically found on the Y chromosome that initiates male sex development in utero and indicates the presence of testes/testicles.”  Still, the mandatory gender screening – already conducted by the governing bodies of track and field, skiing and boxing – is likely to be criticized by human rights experts and activist groups.

One of the two women’s boxing gold medalists at the center of the gender controversy in Paris, Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, has passed her gene test and can return to competition, the World Boxing governing body said last week.

In the U.S., President Trump signed the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” in February last year, and pledged to deny visas to some athletes attempting to compete at the L.A Olympics. The order also threatened to “rescind all funds” from organizations that allowed transgender athletes to take part in women’s sports.

Within months the US Olympic body updated its guidance to national sports bodies citing an obligation to comply with the White House.

Michigan State has arrived to the NCAA Tournament in Worcester, Massachusetts as a No. 1 seed, looking to pave their way to the Frozen Four for the first time in the Adam Nightingale era in East Lansing. The road starts with the Spartans facing off with the No. 4 seeded UConn Huskies, the champions of the Hockey East Conference.

With the afternoon game opening the tournament, the Spartans will look to survive and advance. Follow along with updates between the Spartans and Huskies:

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Start Time: 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday

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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Michigan State hockey vs. UConn: Score updates, highlights and more

Oleksandr Usyk has stated that he has three fights remaining in the sport, with his final intended opponent being a familiar foe in Tyson Fury, who he defeated twice during 2024. Although, the unified heavyweight ruler has revealed another name whom his career could now culminate against.

Earlier this month, the undefeated Ukrainian unveiled a three-man hit list, beginning with his showdown at the Pyramids of Giza against Rico Verhoeven, then against the winner of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois and finally a trilogy contest with ‘The Gypsy King’.

However, fans were quick to point out that two major names were not present in Usyk’s plans – top-rated prospect, Moses Itauma, and WBC Interim champion and mandatory challenger, Agit Kabayel.

As a result, Usyk received some criticism for targeting a third fight with Fury and avoiding those who had earned a shot at the heavyweight throne, with Kabayel deemed by some to be the heavyweight division’s best chance of dethroning Usyk, with Fury himself backing the German to ‘take over’ the division.

In response, 39-year-old Usyk has told Daily Mail that he is open to a clash with Kabayel, with that fight potentially replacing Fury in his three-fight plan.

“I understand the Agit fans are saying you must fight him, you must fight him, but I don’t have to fight him.”

“Maybe I will fight Kabayel – maybe I don’t face Tyson Fury for a third time and I fight Kabayel instead.”

“I must live my life, I must look after my team, my children. As for fighting, I just work hard and my opponents work hard. Look, maybe it’s possible I fight Agit. All I can say is he’s a great fighter and he’s very smart.”

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Before Usyk can look too far into the future, he must overcome Verhoeven and defend his WBC heavyweight crown on Saturday, May 23.

Following the controversial final in Rabat – in which Morocco and Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz missed a Panenka penalty to win the match in the 114th minute – the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) immediately lodged a complaint with Caf and Fifa, claiming that Senegal leaving the field of play “greatly affected the normal course of the match and the players’ morale”.

Caf’s disciplinary committee initially rejected that appeal, instead issuing sanctions against both sides, including a five-match ban for Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw, on 29 January.

The FRMF said those original penalties did not “reflect the seriousness of the incidents”, and Caf’s appeal board agreed, releasing a statement on 17 March which said Senegal had contravened articles 82 and 84 of competition regulations.

Article 82 states that if a team “leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee”, they are eliminated.

Senegal’s government responded by calling for an investigation into “suspected corruption” at Caf, a claim rebuffed by the governing body’s president, Patrice Motsepe, who has been at pains to point out the appeal board’s independence.

“It is important that the decisions of our Caf disciplinary board and the Caf appeals board are viewed with respect and integrity,” he said.

The final decision on who claims the 2025 Afcon title now rests with Cas, sport’s highest judicial authority.

“To wage this moral and legal crusade, we have appointed a team of seasoned professionals with undeniable expertise,” Fall announced in Paris, flanked by members of the FSF legal team.

One of them, lawyer Seydou Diagne, called the decision to strip Senegal of their title “so blatant, so absurd, so irrational”.

“The decision of the appeals jury cannot even be considered a true decision of sporting justice,” he added.

“It is an unacceptable and intolerable attack on the fundamental rights of our national Football Federation.”

Fellow lawyer Juan Perez said: “A match that was over, whose result had been decided by the referee, now being re-refereed, administratively – that’s unprecedented. You haven’t seen anything like it. It could change the world of football.”

Caf recently updated the Afcon 2025 review on its website to list Morocco as winners, although that page now appears to have been taken down.

With Senegal refusing to relinquish the trophy, and with Saturday’s planned parade a sign of their contempt, the battle to be crowned African champions is far from over.

Manny Pacquiao is scheduled to rematch Floyd Mayweather in September, but his preparations may have already been hindered, following complications regarding his planned ‘tune-up’ fight.

Pacquiao made his professional comeback to the sport back in July, where he fought to a draw against then WBC welterweight champion, Mario Barrios.

‘Pac Man’ had been in hot pursuit of another shot at world honours, with plans to break his own world record as the oldest ever welterweight world champion, but he has now put that on ice to agree a lucrative rematch with Mayweather.

Ahead of their second encounter, Pacquiao also signed to face former WBO super-lightweight world champion Ruslan Provodnikov in a 10-round exhibition bout on Saturday, April 18, in Las Vegas.

Steve Kim recently reported that the event has been postponed and will instead take place in June. However, in an interview with Fastbreak, Pacquiao admitted that he is uncertain as to whether the contest will take place at all.

“Not sure yet… even if it’s just a tune-up fight.”

Whilst Provodnikov has not fought professionally since defeat to John Molina Jnr almost a decade ago, ‘The Russian Rocky’ has boxed in exhibitions, with his most recent outing taking place last May against a 51-year-old Jose Luis Castillo.

Mayweather is poised to fight exhibitions against heavyweight legend Mike Tyson and then Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis, before facing off with Pacquiao in less than six months’ time.

Fans are skeptical about any of the above taking place before the two icons reignite their rivalry, with the Netflix-backed event at The Sphere, Las Vegas sure to take precedence. It seems it is not worth risking a poor performance, or injury, ahead of that.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is set to commence on June 12, 2026, in Mexico City, with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa in the opening game of the tournament. However, months ahead of the official start, FIFA has surprised many fans by cancelling 2,000 hotel bookings in Philadelphia, which is one of the host cities of the tournament.

While cancelling hotel bookings in such large numbers might sound concerning from the outside, in reality, it is nothing more than a standard practice by FIFA. But why exactly were the bookings cancelled? Take a look.

FIFA trims excess bookings after initial over-allocation

The governing body had initially reserved close to 10,000 hotel rooms in Philadelphia to accommodate match officials, staff, and technical personnel. However, after reviewing its final requirements, FIFA has released a portion of these bookings back into the market.

Move termed standard procedure, not a scale-down

FIFA has said that the cancellations should not be interpreted as a reduction in planning or scale. Instead, it is part of a structured process followed in the lead-up to major tournaments.

By initially blocking a higher number of rooms, organisers ensure flexibility in accommodating various contingencies, including late additions to staff and logistical teams. The latest round of cancellations reflects a transition from provisional planning to confirmed allocations.

Philadelphia hotels absorb short-term impact

The decision has had a noticeable impact on the city’s hospitality sector, particularly in central areas. According to Ed Grose, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, four Centre City hotels were the most affected by the cancellations.

However, Grose clarified that the process was carried out within contractual agreements, with no penalties imposed on FIFA. While the development was not ideal for hotels, it does not significantly alter the broader business outlook tied to the tournament.

Fan demand expected to fill vacant inventory

Industry stakeholders remain optimistic that the released rooms will be quickly taken up by travelling fans. With the World Cup expected to draw large crowds from across the globe, demand for accommodation is likely to surge as match dates approach.

“These are rooms that will go back into the marketplace and be sold to fans,” Grose noted, indicating confidence in strong occupancy levels closer to the event.

Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is unemployed through two and a half weeks of free agency, and some believe he might join the dark side, also known as the Green Bay Packers.

The old Vikings quarterback may yet annoy Minnesota again.

That’s the latest and greatest theory from The Athletic this week. It’s not all that far-fetched.

Green Bay Shows Up in Cousins Chatter

Cousins would do himself no favors in the Minnesota court of public opinion.

The Athletic: Don’t Rule out GB for Cousins

Matt Schneidman of The Athletic sized up possible free-agent options for the Packers, and Cousins made the cut.

He explained, “Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love and Malik Willis have all been backup quarterbacks for the Packers. All three could be starting in the NFL come September. Green Bay really values the position, which might make it unlikely that Desmond Ridder or Kyle McCord — the only other quarterbacks on the roster besides Love — are in the No. 2 role come Week 1.”

“The idea of adding a proven veteran like Cousins, who can at least help the Packers tread water if Love goes down, might entice head coach Matt LaFleur. Cousins might (understandably) want to sign with a team whose starter is less entrenched than Love, but perhaps the idea of reuniting with his position coach from his first two years in the NFL (LaFleur) entices him, too.”

In addition to Ridder and McCord on the current depth chart, the Packers have also been whispered as a trade partner for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson.

Mailk Willis Gone to MIA

The Packers might’ve employed the best backup quarterback in football last year, and when that happens, other teams come knocking the following offseason, especially if the man is young. That happened to Green Bay, and the Miami Dolphins scooped Willis from free agency. Willis was also considered a Vikings quarterback solution by fans this offseason before Minnesota landed Kyler Murray for 1.3 million bucks.

Willis to Miami made all the sense in the world because the Dolphins hired an executive from the Packers front office as the new general manager: Jon-Eric Sullivan. And Miami snatched Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as its head coach to replace Mike McDaniel, who landed in Los Angeles with the Chargers as an offensive coordinator.

Therefore, it’s Willis out in Green Bay, and apparently someone like Cousins in.

Shanahan Tree Coaches Just Love Cousins

Of course, Cousins to Green Bay should not come as an utter shock to hardcore NFL fans. The Packers’ skipper, Matt LaFleur, came up in Washington as a young coach in the branches of the Mike Shanahan coaching tree, and from Shanahan’s son, Kyle, to Kevin O’Connell, to Sean McVay — all have spoken glowingly of Cousins. They love the guy.

They helped mold him with the Commanders, and Cousins’s efficient style makes their offenses hum.

LaFleur was the Commanders’ quarterbacks coach from 2010 to 2013, helping Cousins get his career off the ground amid RGIII Mania. Cousins signing in Green Bay would feel like a full-circle career moment.

Dairyland Express‘s Chris Schad on the Cousins-GB angle: “Even if the Packers appear to be the option, Cousins could decline the chance to be a backup and jump at the chance to take a broadcasting job. NBC could be an option after dropping Tony Dungy from its coverage earlier this offseason but Cousins already has gotten positive reviews for his previous work with CBS and ESPN.”

“Those hurdles make it seem unlikely that Cousins will be willing to back up Love in 2026. But if McCord and Ridder both fail to claim the job, the Packers may be one of the best opportunities on the market even without a starting job available. With the chance to fill the open spot in his memorabilia room reserved for a Lombardi Trophy, he may be willing to bend and join the Packers if his free agent tour drags on into the summer.”

Steelers, Raiders in Play for Cousins

Meanwhile, Cousins isn’t employed at the moment, but teams like the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly have him on their radar. The Raiders will presumably draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in four weeks, and some NFL media members have hinted that Las Vegas could sign Cousins as a bridge to Mendoza if Mendoza isn’t ready for Week 1.

Too, in Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers has not made a decision about his future, and if he ultimately retires, well, the Steelers would need a quarterback, and Cousins is available.

The Raiders have the former coach angle in play like LaFleur in Green Bay. Las Vegas’s new head skipper, Klint Kubiak, offensively coordinated Cousins in Minnesota.

Cousins will turn 38 later this summer.

A view of the Olympic rings (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

NEW DELHI: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided that transgender women will no longer be allowed to compete in women’s events at the Olympics, starting from the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The move brings in a stricter eligibility rule, stating that only biological females can take part, with a one-time mandatory gene test to confirm this.The IOC said the change is meant to ensure fair competition. “Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event… is now limited to biological females,” the body stated. The policy, which is not retroactive and won’t affect grassroots sports, aims to “protect fairness, safety and integrity in the female category”.IOC president Kirsty Coventry backed the decision, saying, “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat… it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.”The IOC also pointed to research suggesting that being born male can give lasting physical advantages, especially in strength, endurance and power-based sports. A gene test checking for the SRY gene has been described as “the most accurate and least intrusive method currently available”.The new rules will also affect some athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), such as runner Caster Semenya. The IOC wants a clear, unified policy instead of leaving decisions to individual sports bodies, many of which had already imposed similar restrictions.The decision comes amid growing global debate and follows a US executive order pushing for stricter rules in women’s sports. While the IOC says the policy ensures fairness, it is expected to face criticism from human rights groups and activists.