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NFL Sunday Ticket verdict: Jury enters massive verdict against the league in class-action lawsuit nfl,sunday,ticket,verdict,jury,enters,massive,verdict,against,the,league,in,class,action,lawsuit,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl

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Following nearly a full day of deliberations, which began on Wednesday and concluded on Thursday, the jury in the federal class-action lawsuit against the National Football League and all 32 member teams involving the “Sunday Ticket” service returned with a verdict against the league.

And it is a verdict with a lot of zeros.

The jury found that the NFL and the league’s member teams violated federal antitrust law regarding the “Sunday Ticket” package on DirecTV, which required out-of-market fans to purchase the service if they wanted to see their favorite teams play.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of both classes of plaintiffs on Thursday. With respect to the commercial class of plaintiffs — which represented bars, restaurants, and taverns that purchased “Sunday Ticket” as a means of attracting customers on NFL Sundays — the NFL and the member teams were ordered to pay $96 million in damages.

Regarding the residential class of plaintiffs — individuals who purchased the “Sunday Ticket” package for use at home — the NFL and the member teams were ordered to pay $4.7 billion in damages.

Under federal antitrust laws, that damage amount is tripled, meaning the NFL is on the hook for over $14 billion in damages.

Both classes of plaintiffs, through counsel, alleged a “conspiracy” of sorts which resulted in higher prices paid by consumers. First, that the teams have agreed not to compete with each other when it comes to producing telecasts of their games, instead conveying those rights to the league, and giving the NFL “exclusive” rights to enter into broadcast agreements.

Next, the Plaintiffs allege that the NFL has entered into agreements with broadcast partners — specifically CBS and FOX — to create a “single telecast” for every Sunday afternoon NFL game. Under the agreement, according to Plaintiffs’ theory of the case, those networks are given the “exclusive” right to broadcast a limited number of games free and “over-the-air.”

The third pillar of the conspiracy, according to Plaintiffs’, is that the league then exclusively (there is that word again) licenses to DirecTV the copyrights of those telecasts, which DirecTV then bundles into NFL Sunday Ticket. This means that out-of-market fans who want to watch their favorite teams play are forced into buying the “premium offering” of NFL Sunday Ticket.

The result, according to Plaintiffs? DirecTV was able to “charge supracompetitive prices for Sunday Ticket because fans unwilling to pay for Sunday Ticket cannot, for example, purchase out-of-market games individually or by team.” Plaintiffs assert that absent this agreement — or “conspiracy” as they term it — fans would be able to access all NFL games at “lower prices.”

In a statement, the NFL indicated that they will be appealing the decision:

What might this mean for the league and its fans?

Beyond the dollar amount, which will drive the headlines, many analysts and experts theorize that this decision paves the way for single-team packages. For example, the residential class of plaintiffs, who were purchasing “Sunday Ticket” for use at home, were often fans of an out-of-market NFL team. As an example, consider a New England Patriots fan living in the Baltimore, Maryland market. The only way to watch most Patriots games is to purchase “Sunday Ticket.”

Now, that fan might theoretically have access to a “Patriots Package” as part of “Sunday Ticket.”

For the commercial plaintiffs, this could open the door to a competitive service along with “Sunday Ticket,” which could allow those establishments to pay lower prices to view broadcasts of every NFL game.

There will be more to come on this matter, including the league’s appeal and any post-trial motions, in the days and weeks to come.

Rocket Mortgage Classic: Akshay Bhatia’s low massive bogey-free start rocket,mortgage,classic,akshay,bhatia,s,low,massive,bogey,free,start,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

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Akshay Bhatia brought his momentum from finishing runner-up at the Travelers Championship to Detroit for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

He carded an 8-under bogey-free 64 at Detroit Golf Club on Thursday with six birdies and an eagle.

“I guess I missed one green today, so I got that up and down,” Bhatia said. “All in all, I hit it pretty nice with the irons and made some putts.”

Bhatia birdied two of his first four holes but would settle for seven straight pars. Then his putter got red hot for him.

In his final seven holes, the 22-year-old went 6-under, coming home in 30 shots. That included a birdie-eagle-birdie finish.

“Yeah, it’s always nice to finish like that,” he said. “This tournament’s always kind of a birdie-fest, so birdies and eagles help a lot. It’s nice to finish that way.”

Last week’s Travelers Championship was also a birdie fest. Prior to that, the U.S. Open and Memorial tournaments put players to quite the test.

For Bhatia, though, he appreciates both challenges.

“Played the U.S. Open, it was really hard. Then you come last week and this week, and you’re making a lot of birdies, so you feel like it’s pretty fun again,” Bhatia said. “I think a mix of it is really good, and I’m just happy we get to play an old-school golf course for once.”

The two-time PGA Tour winner enjoys classic golf courses like Detroit Golf Club. It fits his game well. As one of the better iron players on Tour, he likes the shot choices that come with playing this track.

“I feel like I can be creative like I normally am,” he said. “It’s also nice because these greens are pretty tricky. They have a lot of small slopes, but they’re soft, so you can still be aggressive towards a couple of these pins.”

Bhatia leads the Rocket Mortgage Classic by one shot after the first 18 holes. Taylor Montgomery and Michael Kim sit behind him at 7-under.

He plays Friday at 7:18 a.m. ET alongside Stephen Jaeger and Min Woo Lee.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

Shohei Ohtani saved from line drive to the face by Dodgers ball boy’s catch of the year shohei,ohtani,saved,from,line,drive,to,the,face,by,dodgers,ball,boy,s,catch,of,the,year,sbnation,com,front-page,mlb

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A Dodgers ball boy made the play of a lifetime on Wednesday when he made a bare-handed catch of a ball that was rocketing towards the bullpen — or perhaps more accurately, rocketing towards Shohei Ohtani’s head.

Ohtani hit the deck immediately, realizing that the errant ball was on a collision course with his face, a move that a majority of other players around him did as well. On this day the bat boy became a bat man, casually plucking it out of thin air and protecting the Dodgers’ $700M investment.

“Protecting the most important player in baseball” is right up there in the pantheon of amazing things a bat boy could achieve. If the team didn’t give this dude a bonus of a lifetime then what are we even doing here? It’s not outside the realm of possibility to think that if that ball actually made contact with Ohtani he would have missed signifiant time, but now we don’t need to worry about that.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Tour de France 2024 favorites, ranked by their chances of winning tour,de,france,favorites,ranked,by,their,chances,of,winning,sbnation,com,front-page,tour-de-france,draftkings

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The biggest event on the cycling calendar, and one of the most noteworthy sporting events in the world, is upon us: the 2024 Tour de France will start this weekend.

The 111th edition of the race will be kicked off in the Italian city of Florence on Saturday, June 29. A total of 21 stages and 2,170 miles will take riders to Nice on the French Riviera.

This year’s Tour projects to be as memorable a Grande Boucle as any in recent history. Look no further than a star-studded start list that includes some of the biggest names in the sport — including the so-called “big four” of Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel going at each other for the first time ever.

So, who will come out on top? That is anybody’s guess at this point in time, but here is our overview of who to keep an eye on over the next three weeks.

The phenomenon

Given what has transpired so far this season, there is one out-and-out favorite for this race. It’s none other than the best rider of his generation.

1. Tadej Pogačar (SLO), UAE Team Emirates: A two-time Tour de France winner already, the 25-year-old wunderkind is in the middle of what could end up being a historic season. His 2024 palmarès so far includes some dominant victories, including at the Giro d’Italia in May. Will he show any signs of fatigue after beating his competition by almost 10 minutes in the first grand tour of the season? Or was it just a three-week appetizer for what lies ahead? For what it’s worth, Pogačar himself — who changed his training regimen and personal coach since the last Tour de France — seems to think his best is yet to come. A scary thought.

The defending champion

One big reason why Pogačar is the favorite is that his main rival of the last three editions of the Tour de France was involved in a devastating crash in early April. Nonetheless, you can never count another two-time champion out either.

2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN), Visma | Lease a Bike: Vingegaard was able to beat Pogačar in back-to-back years, and at a full 100 percent should be able to challenge the Slovenian megastar yet again. The question is: will he be at a 100 percent? The Dane suffered a punctured lung as well as rib and collarbone fractures at the Tour of Basque Country less than three months ago, and hasn’t raced since. His form is a mystery, and something his rivals might want to try to exploit early on in the Tour. If the 27-year-old is able to keep things close heading into the final week, however, his superb climbing abilities might put him right back into the conversation after all.

The uncertain stars

The last three years in particular were the Pogačar and Vingegaard show, and when at their best they are a clear step above the rest of the peloton as far as stage racing is concerned. However, two other riders are actually within striking distance themselves — even though they crashed alongside Vingegaard in April.

3. Primož Roglič (SLO), Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe: Vingegaard’s former teammate still has some unfinished business in France after narrowly losing the 2020 Tour to his compatriot Pogačar and failing to finish the race in both 2021 and 2022. At age 34, however, time is running out for the ex-ski jumper. Despite being on the older side compared to his closest rivals, Roglič is still a world-class rider — something he showed in the lead-up to the Tour de France when he won the Critérium du Dauphiné, despite a serious wobble on the final stage.

4. Remco Evenepoel (BEL), Soudal Quick-Step: Evenepoel was among the riders beaten by Roglič at the Dauphiné, but he appeared to focus more on his own build-up toward the Tour de France rather than the result in that particular race. Considering that he too crashed at Basque Country, this makes sense, but it creates an aura of uncertainty around the Belgian — especially when comparing himself to the Pogačars and Vingegaards of the world in a grand tour setting for the first time. Still, the talented youngster is a realistic podium contender in this race and might even be able to push for the top spot himself due to his time-trialling capabilities.

The outsiders

It would be quite a surprise if the winner wasn’t one of the big four of Pogačar, Vingegaard, Roglič or Evenepoel. That said, anything can happen in a three-week race and teams might be forced to adapt due to crash, crack, or illness. If so, a member of this group might end up on the top step of the podium when all is said and done.

5. Carlos Rodriguez (ESP), Ineos Grenadiers: Rodriguez may lack the star power of the top-ranked riders on this list, but he is no slouch either. He finished second, first, and fourth in his last three stage races this season, and was fifth in the Tour last year. With a strong Ineos Grenadiers team supporting him, he could jump onto the podium in 2024 in case the big four show some weakness.

6. Adam Yates (UK), UAE Team Emirates: Fresh off a win at the Tour de Suisse, Yates will serve as Pogačar’s right-hand man and top lieutenant the next three weeks. He is a quality general classification racer in his own right, however, and finished third behind his captain and Jonas Vingegaard in 2023. Another podium result is not out of the realm of possibility even with a support role as his primary job.

7. Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Visma | Lease a Bike: With Vingegaard’s form best classified as “TBD” and with fellow American Sepp Kuss scratched from the Visma | Lease a Bike start list due to medical reasons, the 24-year-old Jorgenson might be part backup leader, part super domestique starting off the race. Regardless of his role, he is more than capable of a top-three finish considering how his season has been going so far: he won Paris-Nice in March, and finished only 8 seconds down to Roglič at the Dauphiné earlier this month.

8. Juan Ayuso (ESP), UAE Team Emirates: Ayuso would be a leader on most teams, but being on the one headlined by Tadej Pogačar means he too will have to work for the big boss. That doesn’t mean he will not compete for a general classification spot as well, and be kept close to the race lead as a possible break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.

9. Egan Bernal (COL), Ineos Grenadiers: One of four former Tour de France champions to start this year’s race alongside Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Ineos Grenadiers teammate Geraint Thomas, Bernal is in the middle of a good season. He has yet to win, yes, but for the first time since a career-altering crash in 2022 is competing at a top level again. A podium finish might still be out of reach, especially with Carlos Rodriguez ahead of him in the pecking order, but stranger things have happened.

10. João Almeida (POR), UAE Team Emirates: Almeida has finished in the top-10 in 13 of his 15 career stage races, including as No. 2 at the Tour de Suisse earlier this month. He is still only the fourth favorite among a stacked UAE squad, but similar to his teammate Ayuso might be kept in the running for as long as possible especially after showing some promising form in Switzerland.

11. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS), Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe: Vlasov was Primož Roglič’s top helper at the Dauphine, and himself riding a good race to finish sixth overall. It was his fourth top-10 result in a stage race this year, and he could end up making some noise at the Tour de France as well if allowed to go for his own result on top of helping protect Roglič.

The best of the rest

Despite a clear hierarchy to the list of favorites, general classification ambitions will not end with the names above. In fact, plenty of riders will consider a top-10 result as a success and could even have their eyes on the podium under the right — or wrong, depending on how you look at it — circumstances.

That being said, the chances of somebody like Felix Gall, Tom Pidcock, Geraint Thomas, Enric Mas, Jai Hindley, Mikel Landa, Simon Yates, or Derek Gee winning or even podiuming this year’s Tour de France are fairly low. That does not mean they won’t play their part in making the race exciting, but they have not shown they can consistently challenge the top dogs.

Helmut Marko hints at F1 return for Liam Lawson at VCARB helmut,marko,hints,at,f,return,for,liam,lawson,at,vcarb,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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Could Liam Lawson be headed back to the Formula 1 grid for the 2025 season?

According to recent comments from Red Bull Senior Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, that could indeed be the case, leaving veteran driver Daniel Ricciardo on the outside looking in.

Speaking with Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Marko indicated that a move in a younger direction at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team may be coming down from on high. “The shareholders have made it clear that [VCARB] is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” said the Red Bull advisor.

That could very well mean that Ricciardo is out, and Lawson is in, for 2025.

“The aim was for Ricciardo to qualify for a return to Red Bull Racing with exceptional performances. That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is off the table. We will have to put in a young driver soon,” continued Marko. “That would be Liam Lawson.”

The comments come not only days ahead of the F1 Austrian Grand Prix, but a week after Ricciardo himself indicated that he wanted to “earn” his spot at VCARB for next season. Speaking at the FIA Press Conference in Barcelona ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Ricciardo said that “I also said, I think, before the weekend in Canada that, you know, I obviously want to earn it … I obviously want to be here because I know that I still belong here and can do can do performances like I did last week. So it’s also up to me just to make sure that I can keep pulling it out. And in that case, then I’ll be very happy to stay.”

However, the orders form shareholders referred to by Marko, as well as a clause in Lawson’s contract that allows him to seek a seat elsewhere and leave Red Bull if he does not have a ride with the team, could force the organization’s hand. With the 2025 driver lineup remaining unsettled and a number of open seats available on the grid, Lawson could find more than a few potential suitors for next year should VCARB decide to retain Ricciardo.

What might that mean for Ricciardo if this is indeed the path Red Bull and VCARB take? As noted above there are still available seats for 2025, and Ricciardo remains a marketable driver with a resume that includes Grand Prix victories and recent strong performances at both VCARB and AlphaTauri a season ago. If that is not enough to keep him at VCARB, could it be enough for another team to give him a shot for next year?

Update: And now there is even more fuel to the “Lawson to VCARB” fire, with longtime and respected F1 journalist Joe Saward indicating that Lawson could be in Ricciardo’s seat before the end of the season.

Before the end of the summer, in fact:

We will know soon enough.

The Cricket World Cup is India’s to lose the,cricket,world,cup,is,india,s,to,lose,sbnation,com,front-page,cricket

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The semi-finals of the T20 Cricket World Cup begin on Wednesday, and at least on paper it looks like 2024 is India’s tournament to lose.

Unpredictability was the story of the USA/West Indies World Cup with some of the sport’s most dominant teams falling by the wayside in the group stages to set up a rather unlikely final four. Naturally the most attention is on India, who have gone a perfect 6-0 in the tournament with an astronomical +2.01 net run rate in the second group stage — but that doesn’t mean they’ll win by default.

So let’s take a look at each of the final four in this tournament and see if anyone has the firepower to stop the favorites.

Afghanistan

Key strength: Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Key weakness: Bowling

This might seem like a surprise for the uninitiated, but Afghanistan is a legitimate powerhouse in T20. While they lack the staying power to be in the test match elite, the national thrives in short-format cricket where their prolific batting can shine.

The biggest difference in this World Cup to those past is Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The 22-year-old phenom can be inconsistent, but when his bat is hot it’s very difficult to stop him. This game to the fore against Australia in the second group stage when he finished with a ludicrously efficient 60 runs off 49 balls, despite facing the best of the Aussie bowling attack. Gurbaz leads the World Cup in batting average at over 40 runs per game, and that makes him the ultimate x-factor.

That said, Afghanistan really struggle to stop their opponents from putting up big scores. This team allowed the West Indies to score 218, India put up 181 — and against the top teams in this tournament that just doesn’t lead to a recipe for success.

This team has the potential to beat South Africa in their semi-final, but after that it’s difficult to see them getting past either England or India.

England

Key strength: Batting depth
Key weakness: Bowling

England feels like a team that’s almost there, but still has a little ways to go before they can truly take the step needed to be world champions. When it comes to scoring the teams has ample depth with Harry Brook, Jos Butler and Phil Salt all being top-tier T20 batsmen, but the big issue is a lack of bowling economy.

In this tournament the England bowlers have failed to place in the Top 15 in any statistical area. Their economy has been average, there’s been no signature performance against an elite team, and the best performances from the attack have come at the expense of b-tier cricket teams like Australia and Oman.

The best way to characterize the British bowling is that it’s good enough to reach the semi-finals. However, even with their battling depth they drew a short straw by landing India in the draw. It takes a complete game that can win in every phase to best India, and right now the bowling just isn’t up to par.

India

Key strength: Bowling depth
Key weakness: Pitch management

There’s no doubt that India had a few scares on their way to the semi finals. A narrow win over Pakistan and a near-loss to the United States showed some notable holes in their armor — but it was much more about struggling to adapt to a questionable pitch in Nassau County.

India has all the batting needed to handle any team in the world, but up to this point they haven’t really needed any run-scoring heroics. The bowling attack has been so good that it’s been easy to get trapped in a vortex against them, struggling to mount any kind of run total.

Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh in particular have been phenomenal in this tournament, and represent the best 1-2 bowling attack in this tournament. When paired with the scoring potential of Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma it makes for a team poised to win it all.

So long as the next two pitches are easy for India to read they should be able to coast to the finals, where they’ll almost assuredly meet their biggest competition …

South Africa

Key strength: Quinton de Kock
Key weakness: Lack of competition

On paper South Africa have a lot of the traits needed to hang with India and win the World Cup, but the issue is that despite being so deep in this tournament their potential is semi-unknown.

It’s not their fault, but South Africa have strolled through this tournament thanks to an unbelievably easy schedule that has seen them only play one top-tier team (England) in seven games. Outside of that match they’ve been able to feast on the likes of Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Nepal, and USA. Playing the West Indies was a push, but even then we really don’t know what this team is capable of because of who they’ve dodged.

We do know, however, that Quinton de Kock is an elite T20 batter with a knack for knowing when to score in a hurry, and when he needs to play conservative cricket. A big innings from de Kock could mean South African can win against anyone, but there’s no a lot to hang your hat on here.

Predictions

  • South Africa defeats Afghanistan
  • India defeats England
  • India defeats South Africa to win the 2024 T20 World Cup

Austrian Grand Prix: Haas hoping to return to the points at Red Bull Ring austrian,grand,prix,haas,hoping,to,return,to,the,points,at,red,bull,ring,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one,2024-formula-one

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Haas last added to their account in the F1 Sprint Race at the Miami Grand Prix, when Nico Hülkenberg parlayed a tenth-place finish in qualifying for the F1 Sprint Race into a seventh-place result in the F1 Sprint Race itself, earning two critical points for the team.

With Formula 1 returning to the F1 Sprint format this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, can Haas return to the points?

It has been a difficult stretch for the team since Miami, with their best chance for points coming in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. That weekend saw Hülkenberg qualify tenth, but he finished in P11, one spot out of the points. Since then they have been left on the outside looking in, including a double DNF in Monaco due to an opening-lap collision involving Sergio Pérez.

Their recent struggles opened the door for Alpine, whose own success the past few weeks — with six points over two race weekends — has seen the French outfit climb above them in the Constructors’ Championship standings. Alpine now sits seventh in the table with eight points, one point — and place — ahead of Haas with seven points.

As Haas heads to Red Bull Ring along with the rest of the grid for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, they are hopeful that recent success at that circuit will aid their quest for points.

“It’s a short track that packs in a lot of fun,” said Hülkenberg in the team’s media preview. “The length of the circuit means it bunches us all up over qualifying, which is a challenge, but we have two opportunities as it’s a Sprint. Last year I scored points around the Red Bull Ring, so I know it can be done, and we want to be back scoring points, so that’s the mission in Spielberg.”

On the other side of the garage Kevin Magnussen — who is hoping to have his F1 future resolved “soon” — is wary that the many high-speed corners in Austria could pose a problem for the team’s VF-24.

“It’s a fun track; I’ve got some good memories from the Red Bull Ring, that’s where we’ve had our best team result so I’m looking forward to going there again,” described Magnussen. “We have quite an efficient car so hopefully with our good straight-line speed we can be good there. There’s still a fair number of high-speed corners, which is perhaps not our strength, but we seem to be pretty consistently good at most tracks. I’m just looking forward to a fun Sprint weekend.”

Haas Race Engineer Mark Slade walked through the variety of corners Red Bull Ring offers, and how each may, or may not, suit the team’s challenger.

“One of the main things about the Red Bull Ring is that it’s a very short lap so it gets busy, particularly in practice and qualifying. It’s a nice mixture of low-, medium-, and high-speed corners, and obviously in a spectacular setting so it looks amazing, and it does provide quite a significant challenge for us when setting the car up,” described Slade. “We’ve had some issues with medium-speed corners, so we’re expecting to have to manage that, it’s going to be a challenge for us, but on the other hand in low-speed corners, we’ve generally been very good at them and we think we’ve taken a step forward in high-speed corners recently. We’ll see how we get on, but we’ve got a plan of course.”

While many teams have addressed the challenges a compressed F1 Sprint week puts in front of them, Slade outlined how for a team like Haas, there are added benefits to the condensed schedule.

“There is a lot of extra work for a Sprint, especially in amongst a triple-header, but it also makes it very interesting, it’s all a part of Formula 1,” said Slade. “You have to be realistic that you’re not going to be able to do everything you’d like to do with one practice session, so you have to pick the most important points that you think are relevant to getting the best out of the car in both the Sprint and the race and work to achieve those objectives – it’s a very compressed, highly edited run plan.

“The format of a Sprint is different from previous years, so you can afford to be a little bit more experimental in the Sprint race because points only go to eighth place, and realistically we’re chasing that last points-paying position so it means we can try things that we wouldn’t necessarily have tried, knowing we can change things for the race.”

Slade and the rest of the team get their first crack at Red Bull Ring this Friday.

A quick look into Scottie Scheffler’s really massive FedEx Cup lead a,quick,look,into,scottie,scheffler,s,really,massive,fedex,cup,lead,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

A quick look into Scottie Schefflers really massive FedEx Cup
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Welcome to Playing Through’s new morning ritual: Golf Talk Today.

Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, in which the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and other professional golf tournaments.

Yesterday’s discussion on Scottie Scheffler and how much money he has won this year was mind-blowing, but let’s look into how massive his FedEx Cup lead is.

How much does the former Texas Longhorn lead his fellow PGA Tour players by? Scheffler already has $27,696,858, but if he were to win the FedEx Cup, jaws would drop at the amount of money he would take home.

The man already has six wins, two runner-up finishes, 13 top-10s, and 14 top-25s in 15 starts. One time in his 15 starts, he finished outside the Top 20, which came at Pinehurst No. 2 and the U.S. Open.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Scheffler has fallen short the last two years in Atlanta to take home the FedEx Cup crown as Viktor Hovland won it in 2023, and Rory McIlroy took it home in 2022.

The 28-year-old contented in Atlanta but has not been able to finish the drill and hoist that TOUR Championship trophy.

Could 2024 be that year for him? With a major championship and at least three FedEx Cup playoff events, how big will that lead be?

Last year, the PGA Tour shortened the playoff field in the first event. No longer is it the top 125, but the Top 70. They will take on TPC Southwind for the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.

The Top 50 will play for the BMW Championship and then the Top 30 play in Atlanta.

Since 2019, the PGA Tour has implemented a stroke-based system for the Tour Championship. The FedEx Cup points leader begins the tournament at 10-under and the strokes decrease from there.

Scheffler will likely head into Atlanta with a 10-under start, as he has the previous two years.

This year, the FedEx Cup winner will take home $25 million, which is a massive increase from last year’s $18 million.

2024 FedEx Cup standings (top 30)

*as of June 24, 2024

1: Scottie Scheffler: 5,768
2: Xander Schauffele: 3,257
3: Rory McIlroy: 2,445
4: Collin Morikawa: 2,241
5: Wyndham Clark: 2,088
6: Ludvig Åberg: 1,992
7: Hideki Matsuyama: 1,893
8: Sahith Theegala: 1,845
9: Patrick Cantlay: 1,717
10: Byeong Hun An: 1,620
11: Shane Lowry: 1,592
12: Tony Finau: 1,579
13: Matthieu Pavon: 1,558
14: Sungjae Im: 1,500
15: Akshay Bhatia: 1,422
16: Justin Thomas: 1,412
17: Sepp Straka: 1,410
18: Tom Hoge: 1,406
19: Russell Henley: 1,371
20: Christiaan Bezuidenhout: 1,370
21: Brian Harman: 1,362
22: Chris Kirk: 1,280
23: Stephan Jaeger: 1,207
24: Tommy Fleetwood: 1,203
25: Sam Burns: 1,181
26: Max Homa: 1,175
27: Thomas Detry: 1,173
28: Jason Day: 1,173
29: J.T. Poston: 1,165
30: Taylor Pendrith:

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NBA Draft 2024: How to watch, major storylines, and more nba,draft,how,to,watch,major,storylines,and,more,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-draft

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The 2024 NBA Draft will look a little different than previous versions.

The league announced back in January that this year’s installment would play out over two days. The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft — officially known as the 2024 NBA Draft Presented by State Farm — will take place on Wednesday, June 26. The 2024 NBA Draft will conclude on Thursday with the second round.

The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., home of the Brooklyn Nets, will be the site of the first round. ESPN’s Seaport District Studios in New York will host the second round.

In addition to the 2024 NBA Draft being spread out over two days, there is a slight tweak to the format. On the first night, teams will still have five minutes between draft picks. However, they will get a little more time during Thursday’s second round, as the time between selections has been doubled to four minutes.

Why the change to two nights? According to the league, it is a move to give the decision-makers a little more time while also “enhancing” the experience for fans.

“Based on feedback about the NBA Draft format from basketball executives around the league and my own experience in draft rooms, we believe that teams will benefit from being able to regroup between rounds and having additional time to make decisions during the second round,” said Joe Dumars, NBA Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations, earlier this month. “Two nights of primetime coverage will also enhance the viewing experience for our fans and further showcase the draftees.”

Here is how you can watch the 2024 NBA Draft, and what you should watch for.

How to watch

NBA fans have several ways they can watch the 2024 NBA Draft.

Round 1: Wednesday, June 26 | 8:00 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN/ESPN+

Round 2: Thursday, June 27 | 4:00 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+

According to the NBA Thursday’s coverage “ … will include a comprehensive review of the first round and in-depth storytelling about the draftees.” You can also follow along with the 2024 NBA Draft on ESPN Radio.

Major storylines of the 2024 NBA Draft

So that is how you can watch, but what are the major storylines?

The first storyline is that this draft class lacks a consensus No. 1 prospect. Unlike recent NBA Drafts — like last season when it was clear that Victor Wembyama was going to be the first player selected — the race for No. 1 is wide open. Zaccharie Risacher from France is at the moment the consensus No. 1 selection by the Atlanta Hawks — coming off the board first-overall on approximately 60% of mock drafts according to NBA Mock Draft Database — but it is by no means a guarantee that the swingman from France will go first. Other options for the first-overall selection include Risacher’s countryman Alex Sarr, as the 7-footer is seeing a bit of a pre-draft climb, Kentucky guard Reed Shepard, and Connecticut Huskies Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle.

In our most recent NBA Mock Draft, we had Clingan coming off the board first overall.

Another major storyline?

Bronny James.

The guard out of USC has eschewed pre-draft workouts, a strategy that his agent Rich Paul says is “by design.” This approach has been highlighted as perhaps Paul trying to steer James to a particular destination, something we outlined is par for the course when it comes to the NBA Draft.

And of course, there is the potential for James to land with his father, LeBron, in Los Angeles with the Lakers. Certainly, something to monitor.

Also, where does Ron Holland land? For a time it looked as if Holland might be the top player in this draft, but a stint in the G League seems to have put a dent in his draft stock.

We will have answers to these questions and more in just a few short days.

NBA Draft rankings big board for 2024

Check out Ricky O’Donnell’s top-60 NBA Draft big board for the 2024 class. Read our latest NBA mock draft here.

Jason Tatum and Matthew Tkachuk were high school friends, now they’re both champions jason,tatum,and,matthew,tkachuk,were,high,school,friends,now,they,re,both,champions,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nhl,draftkings

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The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions, winning a hard-fought Game 7 against the Oilers to win their first title in team history. It comes just after the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship — and at the center of both teams is a remarkable bond between friends.

Jason Tatum of the Celtics and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers are long-time friends, going back to their days at Chaminade Prep School in the suburbs of St. Louis. Tatum, a promising basketball player befriended Tkachuk, who wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps into the NHL (Matthew is the son of the legendary Keith Tkachuk).

The two spent time together, pushing each other, even making goofy videos together — as this assignment Tatum made for school stars Tkachuk briefly.

Tkachuk was drafted by the Flames with the 6th pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Tatum was picked by the Celtics with the 3rd pick in 2017. Now less than a decade later they’ve both won titles in the same year.

Simply amazing.