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LeBron's 40-point night includes praise for Zion

Published in Basketball
Wednesday, 26 February 2020 00:52

LOS ANGELES -- After treating the crowd at Staples Center to a season-high 40 points in his first matchup against star rookie Zion Williamson, LeBron James strolled to the bench in the final moments of his team's 118-109 win and enjoyed a treat of his own: some Red Vines candy.

James snacked away while nearby fans shouted "Taco Tuesday" at the Lakers' superstar who has made that slogan part of his lexicon. But on Tuesday, James served up yet another reminder this season that when the 17-season veteran faces promising young players who are hailed as future stars, he tends to still have the upper hand.

In a November matchup against Mavericks star Luka Doncic, James scored 39 points (his second most this season) to go along with 16 points and 12 rebounds. In a January matchup against Doncic, James dropped 35 points and 16 rebounds. And against Atlanta's Trae Young in November, James piled up 33 points and 12 assists.

"He's an incredible player," Williamson, who scored 29, said of James. "I mean, he handled business."

James has faced a fellow No. 1 overall pick 356 times -- and had the scoring advantage in 297 of those games, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. And it looked as if James had some extra fire for the matchup, as he tallied 17 fast-break points, his most as a member of the Lakers and tied for the third most in his career.

"Satisfaction for me always comes in a win, no matter how well I'm playing," said James, who at 35 also became the oldest player with a 40-point game at Staples Center since the late Kobe Bryant scored 60 in his final NBA game at age 37 in 2016.

But James had plenty of praise for the 19-year-old Williamson, the top pick in the 2019 draft whom James called "very explosive" and "very quick for his size."

"He's playing exceptional basketball," James added. "I think every game he's going to get better and better, just having that experience. I think today's game is a perfect fit for his game. The high pace, the way they play it fits his game. The speed, running up and down and playing at that speed, they move the ball."

Williamson made 8 of 18 shots from the field and notched his fifth straight 25-point game, tied with Doncic (2018-19) and Carmelo Anthony (2003-04) for the longest streak by a teenager in NBA history, according research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

He also made a career-high 13 free throws on 19 attempts from the line.

"They try to get it up the court and it reminds me of the Phoenix Suns back when Steve Nash was running it in that first 8 seconds," James said. "So it works perfectly. And our game is such, so many possessions now and there's so much space that it's perfect for our game. So he's doing exceptionally well with that."

Williamson bullied his way to the basket on several occasions, though his shot was also blocked five times Tuesday, his most blocked attempts in his young career.

"It was fun, he's a great player, he's got a quick first step, very explosive," said Lakers star Anthony Davis, who had 21 points and 14 rebounds. "Second jump is unbelievable. There was some times we tried to foul him when he got by us and had an easy layup or dunk and he made free throws, so he's going to continue to get better and better, obviously, this is his first year, they're fighting for a spot, but as time goes on, he gets more experience with the game, he'll be fine."

Said Lakers coach Frank Vogel: "In terms of Zion, I was crazy impressed with him when I watched him on tape and my reaction is not any different in person. He's spectacular. He's a dynamic athlete. Even with our length and the terrific rim protection and size that we have, he was still able to get to the rim and score 29 points on us. He got 29 points. It's incredible what he's doing at such a young age so early in his career."

The Lakers are 18-0 when James scores 30 points this season. According to Elias, that figure breaks a tie for the most wins without a loss in 30-point games to start a season in NBA history.

"He's delivering special performances for us all season," Vogel said. "We don't take it for granted. We are where we are in large part of what he does on a night in, night out basis."

ESPN's Dave McMenamin and Andrew Lopez contributed to this report.

Giannis: Playoff loss 'on mind' after beating Raps

Published in Basketball
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 21:48

TORONTO -- Tuesday night marked the first time since Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks came back to Scotiabank Arena since losing to the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals in May.

And after the Bucks came away with a different result this time, winning 108-97, Antetokounmpo admitted the sting of last year's defeat on the precipice of the NBA Finals has yet to fade away.

"You always remember the last time you play here, the problems you had," Antetokounmpo said after finishing with 19 points, 19 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks in 38 minutes.

"It was definitely on my mind."

The Bucks blew a 15-point lead in that postseason contest, but there was no such collapse this time around. After falling behind by as many as 12 in the first half, Milwaukee outscored Toronto 45-20 from the 2:58 mark of the second quarter through the end of the third, building an 84-71 lead that the Bucks would never relinquish.

Raptors fan Drake, meanwhile, had his own slant on Toronto's hosting of the Bucks for the first time since advancing to its first NBA Finals and later winning its first championship. In a move that could be seen as mocking Milwaukee's elaborate pregame wrestling routine -- including Antetokounmpo bringing a WWE championship belt with him on this road trip -- the rapper showed up before the game with two WWE belts, one slung over each shoulder.

When asked by TNT before the game whether he was trolling Antetokounmpo by doing so, Drake said, "Obviously."

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2:08

Giannis' double-double leads Bucks to statement win vs. Raptors

Giannis Antetokounmpo scores 19 points while bringing down 19 rebounds in Milwaukee's 108-97 win vs. Toronto.

Antetokounmpo was asked about it following Tuesday's tilt, and he said he wasn't even aware it had happened until teammate Donte DiVincenzo mentioned it to him in the locker room.

"I didn't notice that," Antetokounmpo said. "I just found out about it. Somebody told me. When I'm in the game, I'm just locked in. I'm just trying to win the game. I really don't look outside at fans or what they do and all that."

When he was informed that Drake said he brought the belts to troll Antetokounmpo, the NBA's reigning MVP replied, "That's good. He cares about me. I really don't. I'm just here to win games and help my team win. That's all."

Antetokounmpo helped the Bucks do that again Tuesday, taking advantage of Toronto's sending extra defenders at him all night by racking up those eight assists and finishing the game with a plus-13 rating. He also went 2-for-4 from 3-point range and 7-for-8 from the free throw line to make up for shooting 3-for-10 on 2s.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee improved to 8-0 this season in games on the second night of a back-to-back -- after beating the Washington Wizards in overtime Monday night -- another thing Antetokounmpo said he was unaware of before being informed of it.

"Really? I don't think we even think about it," he said. "We just come out and try to do our job. We have a winning culture. So it doesn't matter if you are hurt, it doesn't matter if you are tired -- the next guy up is ready to go. Everybody wants to play, everybody wants to win, and that's why we win games. Sometimes on a back-to-back you lose because you're tired, right? And you give up. But this team doesn't do that.

"So I think that we really don't think about, 'Oh, it's a back-to-back. We are going to win it.' We just have to go out there and do our job, which is to just win games."

Boulter beats De Lorenzo to reach third round in Mexico

Published in Tennis
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 16:19

Britain's Katie Boulter is through to the third round of the Mexico Open after coming back from a set down to beat lucky loser Francesca di Lorenzo.

Boulter, 23, defeated Di Lorenzo 2-6 6-3 6-2 after the 22-year-old American had replaced Italy's Jasmine Paolini, who withdrew through illness.

She will now face China's Lin Zhu in the last 16.

Fellow Briton Heather Watson plays Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round on Wednesday.

Boulter, who was the British number two before suffering a stress fracture in her back last year, has slipped to 394th in the world rankings after reaching a career-high 82 in February 2019.

VIDEO: The Ralph Sheheen Show – Will Buxton

Published in Racing
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 16:00

Veteran Formula One commentator and pit reporter Will Buxton stopped by The Ralph Sheheen Show Presented by Lucas Oil this week. Buxton talked about a variety of F1 topics and chatted about his new book, “My Greatest Defeat: Stories of hardship and hope from motor racing’s finest heroes.”

Catch this week’s full episode on SPEEDSPORT.com or download the podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, iHeart Radio or Spotify.

POWRi Sanctions New Mexico Motor Racing Ass’n

Published in Racing
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 17:33
POWRi is sanctioning the New Mexico Motor Racing Ass’n this year.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. – A leading auto-racing sanctioning body since 1946, the New Mexico Motor Racing Ass’n, based in Albuquerque, N.M., will now compete under the POWRi banner.

Setting a solid showing of 18 events for the season, the NMMRA will venture to three separate tracks throughout the land of enchantment extending from early April to October.  Starting the season in style on Saturday, April 4 at the newly built Vado Speedway Park. Co-sanctioning with the POWRi Lucas Oil Border Tour, all eyes will be on beautiful Vado, N.M., for this one of a kind event.  With this event marking the first of four visits to the picturesque Vado Speedway Park, other stand-alone shows will be May 5, June 13 and Aug. 8.

This next POWRi NMMRA season of speed will also see a two-night spectacular presented by Aztec Speedway on the weekend of Sept. 11-12. The high-banked three-eighths-mile will try to contain all the horsepower these traditional sprints have to offer.

Sandia Speedway, the fast and always exciting three-eighths-mile dirt oval in Albuquerque N.M., will continue to serve as the home venue for the POWRi New Mexico Motor Racing Ass’n. Hosting 12 race dates throughout the summer including the fan-favorite season finale, the eighth annual Sprint Car Stampede.

“We’re all looking forward to the start of the season, we listened to our drivers and fans on this.  Everything just made the most sense going with the POWRi team, from the points to the promotion they have everything we were after to put on the best racing possible,” said the POWRi NMMRA Series Director Steve BoneSteel.

POWRi New Mexico Motor Racing Ass’n Schedule

April 4 – Vado Speedway Park – Vado, N.M. *
April 11 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
April 25 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
May 2 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
May 9 – Vado Speedway Park – Vado, N.M.
May 30 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
June 6 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
June 13 – Vado Speedway Park – Vado, N.M.
June 20 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
July 18 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
July 25 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
Aug. 8 – Vado Speedway Park – Vado, N.M.
Aug. 15 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
Aug. 29 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
Sept. 11-12 – Aztec Speedway – Aztec, N.M.
Sept. 19 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.
Oct. 10 – Sandia Speedway – Albuquerque, N.M.

*Co-Sanctioned with POWRi Lucas Oil Border Tour Series

Wild's Parise: Games hard to play amid trade talk

Published in Hockey
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 15:21

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- For the past week, Zach Parise was carrying some extra weight with him around the ice: The Minnesota Wild were actively talking about trading him.

Now that the deadline has passed, relieving Parise's stress and ensuring he will complete an eighth season in his home state of Minnesota, the standout left wing can better focus on trying to help the Wild return to the playoffs. Beyond that, though, his future with the organization has obviously become uncertain.

"Those games were hard to play. You just don't know. Once it gets brought up to you, in your mind you're thinking, 'Am I leaving tomorrow? What's going on here?'" Parise said Tuesday, before the Wild hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets. "Now that that's over, we can just worry about here and winning and getting ourselves into that wild-card spot."

Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who's in his first year running the team, took the uncommon approach of publicly acknowledging Monday after the deadline that he had discussed a deal involving Parise.

The wrinkle with a potential deal involving Parise is that he has a no-movement clause in his contract, requiring him to approve any trade. More transparency, thus, is necessary from the front office regarding such discussions. Guerin approached him a week ago while the team was on the road, Parise said, with the possibility. Parise declined to confirm whether he told Guerin he'd waive the no-movement clause, but had he indicated disinterest the talks surely would've ended then.

That's probably why Parise was choosing his words carefully as he took questions from reporters Tuesday, realizing that acknowledging a willingness to leave could make for an awkward stay for however much longer he's with the Wild.

"I don't know how close it got. I really don't," Parise said. "I love it here. I always have. My goals here haven't changed: It's to help this team. I'm not disappointed by any means that I'm here. I really enjoy playing here."

When Parise and his longtime pal, defenseman Ryan Suter, simultaneously signed identical 13-year, $98 million contracts with the Wild on July 4, 2012, the profile and expectations of this frequently middling franchise were instantly heightened.

The additions sparked fervor anew in an already fervent fan base and laid the foundation for a sellout streak that reached 230 straight games, until ending on Oct. 20 in the second home game of this season. The Wild made the playoffs in each of the first six seasons with the Parise-Suter duo, but that run ended in 2019. They're below the cutoff again this year, too, in 11th place in the Western Conference and five points out of a spot. Since Parise and Suter arrived, the Wild have only won a playoff series twice and never advanced past the conference semifinals.

Parise again has the most goals for Minnesota (21) this season, the fifth time in eight years he has led the Wild in scoring. He was one goal off the team lead in his second season (2013-14), too. That's been part of the problem, though: Parise has long been a workmanlike scorer, excellent at rebounds and redirects while always willing to muscle his way into traffic against bigger defenders, but he's not the type of player who can take over a game or consistently create chances for others. The salary-cap space taken up by Parise and Suter has ultimately made it more difficult to build a contender around them.

The 35-year-old Parise, as he's skating toward the end of his 15th season in the NHL, has not been shy about voicing his heightened urgency to win a Stanley Cup. Just because the Wild didn't trade him this week, that doesn't mean Guerin wouldn't take another crack at it in the summer.

"There are certain moves that just require more time and a little more detail," Guerin said, speaking generally about the seed-planting process that deadline-week discussions can initiate. "Sometimes you want to get through a season with a player and revisit it. You're not unhappy with him, but you could see the potential return you could get, so you revisit it. Like I said, we'll handle that at the end of the season."

As for any disappointment in not completing the deal?

"Not at all. I'm actually kind of excited to see what this group can do," Guerin said. "I've said all along that they're getting an opportunity, a longer leash."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sources: Atlanta nearing deal for Mexico's Damm

Published in Soccer
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 18:39

Mexican winger Jurgen Damm is set to leave Tigres UANL for Atlanta United this summer on a free transfer after running down his contract, sources have told ESPN Mexico's Rene Tovar.

The same information was also reported by Record on Tuesday evening, with MedioTiempo suggesting Damm's contract with the MLS club will be three-and-a-half years.

The speedy 27-year-old has made over 200 appearances in Liga MX, but has found regular playing time difficult of late with Tigres, partly due to injury, and has opted for a change of scenery. Damm has won four Liga MX titles in his time at Tigres and has 12 caps for the Mexico national team.

"After consulting with my family, the best thing for me is to take a different direction in June and there's nothing but thanks towards this institution [Tigres]," said Damm in a press conference on Tuesday. "I'll fulfill my contract, I tried to give my best, I always tried to be professional, but what you look for is more continuity. [Tigres] gave me opportunities and I didn't make the most of them."

"I'm not going to say where [I'm going], I'm not going to speak more, I told the directors that I won't renew," he added. "It's not an economic issue. I never asked for more money."

Damm was on the verge of tears when making the announcement, having joined Tigres from Pachuca in 2015. The player, who has a German passport, was regularly linked with a move to Europe.

Tigres president Miguel Angel Garza had stated on Monday that the club intended to renew Damm's contract and that the player was open to the idea.

Damm was free to talk to clubs six months before his contract was up and will leave Tigres after the 2020 Clausura season.

Barca players chafe as squad suffers setbacks

Published in Soccer
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 16:47

NAPLES, Italy -- Midfielder Sergio Busquets criticised Barcelona for being shortsighted with their squad planning after the Catalans were held to a 1-1 draw by Napoli in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Busquets was booked in the second half and will be suspended for the return leg at Camp Nou on March 18. Teammate Arturo Vidal will also sit that game out after getting sent off at the Stadio San Paolo late on, while Gerard Pique limped off with an ankle problem in stoppage time.

Barca's small squad was already stretched. Long-term absentees Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez are unlikely to feature again this season and Barcelona manager Quique Setien named four B team players on the bench against Napoli just to make up the numbers.

"[Nelson] Semedo and I were one booking away from a ban so we were always running that risk [of suspension]," Busquets told reporters after the game.

"We hope Pique's injury is nothing serious but we will take on the second leg with what we have. We don't have a deep squad because, unfortunately, that's how it was planned."

Ivan Rakitic also suggested Barca had failed to put together a big enough squad as the cracks between the players and the club were revealed again after Lionel Messi's war of words with sporting director Eric Abidal last month.

The first-team, including Barca B winger Ansu Fati, is made up of just 20 players.

"We have a short squad but those that are in charge knew that," the Croatian midfielder said. "The solution is what it is. Those that are available will have work really hard because we have an important match in the second leg."

Pique will undergo tests on an ankle injury on Thursday, sources told ESPN, as Barca hope to have the defender available for Sunday's top of the table clash against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Full-backs Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto won't be available for the Clasico but Setien did reveal they will be fine for the Napoli game next month.

"We can win La Liga and the Champions League," the coach said as he tried to put a positive spin on the 1-1 draw and the loss of key players. "It's true we've lost Busquets and Vidal for the return game but we will recover Alba and Roberto.

"I'm one of those people that looks at things optimistically. We don't have many players, but there's no point complaining about it."

Antoine Griezmann cancelled out Dries Mertens' first-half opener against Napoli as Barca's poor form on the road in the Champions League knockout stages continued. It is now just one win in nine games.

Napoli had the better chances to win the game, with an inspired Marc-Andre ter Stegen making saves from Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon, but Setien insisted he was satisfied with the outcome.

"It was tough to create because they defended really well and took their only chance [in the first half]," he added. "The game opened up in the second half, there was more space and we were able to do some damage. It's a good result."

Chelsea's flaws laid bare by rampant Bayern

Published in Soccer
Tuesday, 25 February 2020 16:23

LONDON -- There is something particularly brutal about a heavy defeat in the Champions League. Nothing exposes a team's weaknesses quite like a dismantling by a side from another league, and Chelsea know precisely how that feels after being given a lesson by Bayern Munich at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

This was the moment when the full scale of the rebuilding job still to be done at Chelsea became apparent. Home defeats against the likes of Bournemouth and West Ham in the Premier League are one thing, but a 3-0 defeat against Bayern -- and it could have been much worse -- served only to reveal the huge gulf between the 2012 Champions League winners and Europe's elite.

- Report: Lewandowski, Bayern thrash Chelsea 3-0
- Chelsea ratings: Alonso, Rudiger 4/10 in heavy defeat

"It was a harsh lesson in the reality of Champions League football," Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said. "We have to improve in the summer, and today was a clear show that there is a lot of work to be done.

"I felt that when I came in the summer, and I still feel that today."

In some ways, this defeat could actually help Lampard get the players he wants and needs to take Chelsea to the higher level they used to take for granted. But the truth is that Hansi Flick's Bayern coasted to their Round of 16, first-leg victory following two goals from Serge Gnabry and the other from Robert Lewandowski, as the German champions made next month's second-leg at the Allianz Arena a formality.

Bayern will sail on into the quarterfinals, having injected youth and pace into the team since last season's last-16 elimination against Liverpool, but where Chelsea end up is anyone's guess. Lampard has arguably over-performed with the squad he inherited from Maurizio Sarri last summer -- a squad that lost its best player, Eden Hazard, to Real Madrid last summer and one that couldn't be strengthened due to a two-window worldwide transfer ban, which was subsequently reduced to one window on appeal.

That Chelsea are still in the Premier League top four, having won just five of their last 15 league games, highlights how well they started the season under Lampard, but reality has been biting hard for a while domestically. Bayern's performance was the equivalent of throwing a bucket of ice-cold water everyone at Stamford Bridge, just to make sure they all realise the state Chelsea are in.

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1:11

Burley: Chelsea were absolutely taken apart by Bayern

Craig Burley reacts to Bayern Munich's thumping 3-0 win at Chelsea in the Champions League.

This is a club that will always measure itself against the best in Europe. Since Roman Abramovich transformed Chelsea from also-rans into one of the continent's most powerful clubs following his arrival as owner in 2003, they have won three European trophies (one Champions League and two Europa Leagues) and lost a Champions League final on penalties. By and large, Chelsea have been a Champions League regular since 2003, but they looked like novices against Bayern, who were clinical in the second half after letting the home side off the hook during the opening 45 minutes.

"That's football at this level," Lampard said. "The levels of Bayern Munich were fantastic. They are a really strong team. Unless we had a 'bang on' night, it was going to be tough and that's what happened.

"When you have an eye-opener like tonight, no matter how young or old you are, you have to look against your direct opponent and ask what lessons you learned. But in the bigger picture, we saw the quality in their team. Lewandowski has been there a long time, and [Thomas] Muller, [Manuel] Neuer, [Jerome] Boateng: I played against all them in 2012 in the final. They have been together for a long time."

Longevity and stability are not something that this Chelsea squad has been blessed with. The young players who have been given a chance by Lampard this season -- Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James -- will be fine servants for the club for years to come, but there are still plenty of big gaps to be filled. Defense remains an issue, as does the heart of midfield, but the biggest problem seems to be in goal, where the steady (but hardly spectacular) Willy Caballero continues to be preferred ahead of the out-of-form (and club-record signing) Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The inability to spend last summer and failure to take advantage of the lifting of the transfer ban ahead of the January window has left Chelsea painfully short of the quality required to compete at this level. Lampard was without the injured N'Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi for this game and it showed. All three are doubtful to be fit for the second leg in Munich and Lampard will also be without Marcos Alonso, sent off in this game, and Jorginho due to suspension.

That said, Chelsea's challenge is not about achieving a Champions League miracle by overturning their first-leg deficit in Munich. It's about the long term and being able to build a squad capable of once again making Chelsea a heavyweight contender in the Champions League. They have some foundations in place under Lampard, but time will tell whether they are strong enough to keep their legendary former player in a job.

On this evidence, though, it will take at least two years to get close to Bayern's level. Lampard's problem is Chelsea have rarely shown such patience since Abramovich took over.

Domain, the naming-rights partner for Test cricket, is not the only brand to be exiting Cricket Australia's suite of sponsors. Mastercard and Specsavers are also on their way out, with Bupa to scale down its commitment and so lose its naming rights sponsorship of the national cricket centre in Brisbane and place on the shirts of Australian team support staff.

If this sounds like a worrying exodus for the game, it is nothing next to the climate in which CA's last broadcast rights deal was signed, a matter of weeks after the Newlands scandal. Having been front and centre of that negotiation, CA executive Stephanie Beltrame is now concocting a plan to recast the governing body's portfolio of partners in order to grow it.

Cricket is hardly doing badly: in terms of revenue raised from corporate backers it sits third in Australia behind tennis and the AFL. However, the dwarfing of all other sports revenue by the cash derived from broadcast rights means that the wider commercial realm is due a rethink, and cricket is getting its own from the very person who played a large part in growing that broadcast revenue.

As CA's head of broadcast rights, Beltrame worked assiduously towards the creation of competition in the market for a 2013 deal that included the Big Bash League for the first time and was worth some A$500 million. The next step was bigger, bolder and more lucrative still, the 2018 agreement with Fox and Seven reaping A$1.18 billion for CA. Having returned from maternity leave, Beltrame is now the executive in charge of all commercial concerns, and wants the wider picture to follow the broadcast trend.

"I prefer the term partnership than sponsorship because there's so much more to it than a one way investment," Beltrame told ESPNcricinfo. "I also want us to be able to form partnerships in other commercial areas, diversify our revenue and seek new opportunities so that we will be able to grow in the same way that we've seen growth across our media rights revenue. I have high expectations.

"From time to time we'll have a partner advise us that they're exiting despite having what they regard as quite a successful result, but we just have to respect that decision. Every partner you want to be treated in the same way when you arrive as when you leave, and exactly the same way an employee should have that - so we don't have any issues when partners go. We'd prefer they stay obviously, but you've got to respect the decision."

Among CA's other current sponsors, KFC, Toyota and Sanitarium have deals that run until 2021, and its commercial betting partner Bet365's much-debated contract expires the following year. Of Bet365, Beltrame said: "Ultimately because we still have a number of years left in the agreement, no decision has been taken about our association, whether that's to status quo, to change, so I think they're all considerations, but at this point in time we're still in a current agreement."

Chief among Beltrame's questions is to investigate, alongside the state associations, whether there is more to be wrung from the BBL, a far bigger proposition than it was at its inception in 2011. The league's current list of four partners may yet grow.

"If we believe a different model is required for BBL then we might look at changing the number of partners that can be associated with it," Beltrame said. "And then some consideration of how do you grow the pie but still provide meaningful protection and exclusivity to brands. How the BBL fits in with international cricket, how brands can opt to be involved across Australian cricket or be involved in international only or BBL only."

Where the AFL has been able to successfully build sponsorships over a long period of time through its breadth of clubs, matches, length of season and connection to the passions stirred in club members and followers, tennis' fulcrum is the Australian Open, a truly international event that sets the eyes of the world on Melbourne Park for two highly lucrative weeks. With its strong hold on the summer months, and the extra overseas eyeballs presented by its standing as a far more global game than AFL but somewhat less so than tennis, cricket should sit somewhere in between.

"The mix of how [our revenue] made up is very different, we don't have many partners, we've been quite exclusive for a long period of time," Beltrame said. "I think there's opportunities where we can create different partnerships at different levels. We can really take advantage of our national and international footprint. India's touring here, what else can we do, how can we sell directly to India? There's things we can do because of our remit as a national and international sport."

Some things, of course, are beyond anyone's control, like the extreme weather that blighted this summer's BBL almost as much as all previous events combined, or a slackening Australian economy after more than 25 years of growth. Whatever lies ahead, Beltrame wants CA to be able to adapt: "It just really starts from my perspective from reviewing what we're currently doing - looking under the hood."

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Ohtani's HR part of Dodgers' rally in G1 of NLDS

Ohtani's HR part of Dodgers' rally in G1 of NLDS

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsLOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer in his postseaso...

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