OWASSO, Okla. – Rain throughout this week along with the high percentage of wet weather predicted this weekend has forced TBJ Promotions officials to postpone the fourth annual Midget Round Up until July 5-6.

“With all the rain we’ve got and how the forecast looks we want to save everyone the time of traveling this weekend,” TBJ Promotions Founder Tony Bruce Jr. said. “Thankfully we were able to find a weekend in July where we can shift this event.”

The event continues at Airport Raceway in Garden City, Kan., where both nights will feature midgets with the POWRi Lucas Oil RMMRA Series and the POWRi Lucas Oil West Midget League as well as Winged ‘A’ Class micro sprints with the NOW600 Tel-Star Technologies Kansas Region.

The front gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. each night.

Tickets are $20 for adults on July 5 and $15 on July 6. Children ages 12-years-old and younger get in free both nights.

There is limited reserved spectator parking at the track available. To purchase a spot, call 620-287-3695.

ROSSBURG, Ohio — After 35 years of paying $50,000 to win, the famed Kings Royal sprint car race at Eldora Speedway will pay $175,000 to win on July 20.

The Kings Royal Weekend featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and all of sprint car racing’s royalty takes place July 18-20.

Eldora Speedway General Manager Roger Slack explained how the decision to increase the winner’s purse was made.  The event had paid $50,000 to win since it was introduced in 1984.

“Tony and I were talking where we were going to go with it and we had bumped the purse up everywhere but first place,” Slack told SPEED SPORT. “Second place paid $10,000 not that long ago. Our late model purses have been bumped up big-time the past few years. We’d decided and announced we were going to make it six figures for sure but we didn’t know what those six figures would be and we got talking about it and we had some different ideas in mind. Once we talked about it, Tony said if we are going to do this, we are going to be bold.”

Slack said Stewart’s love of winged sprint car racing contributed to the decision.

“It’s gonna be big and I think Tony has such an affinity for the winged sprint car guys, especially since he is racing with them so much,” Slack said. “He knows how hard those cars are to drive and what a fine line it is to be super-good at it. I think that had a lot to do with this decision.”

The popularity of dirt-track racing also played a role in the move.

“It is great for the sport and the fans that it keeps building,” Slack said. “We had the biggest crowd in the history of the Kings Royal last year. Our camping is through the roof right now and our ticket sales are ahead of last year. It is an exciting time, so let’s keep on building it. Hopefully, the economy stays well and this is something we can sustain.

“I think when you look back at the last 10 to 12 years or more, you look at how many of the Kings Royal finishes have been decided in the last few laps,” he continued. “When there is over $150,000 difference between first and second place, that makes a difference. It is already an unreal atmosphere and I can’t imagine what it can feel like.”

Slack also tipped there will be a format change for the event, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

“The Kings Royal is no points. It has its own format and there is a tweak coming to the format that we will be announcing in a few weeks,” Slack said. “There are no provisionals. It’s a one-day event. You don’t have to be here Thursday and Friday. Pennsylvania guys can run at the Grove on Friday and tow in for Saturday. That’s part of what makes it special.”

Moves like these keep the Eldora Speedway staff pushing for the next big achievement.

“It keeps pushing us,” Slack said. “It’s not just us throwing money at it. It pushes us to sell more tickets to make this work. We have to sell more tickets in what has been a rainy season so far. There is more pressure to produce. It’s not like we are going to sit back and eat pizza burgers and watch it happen.

“We are always putting ourselves in a pressure cooker.”

And sprint car racers will be in the pressure cooker on the final night of the Kings Royal.

“Sprint car racers don’t lack for confidence, so the majority of them think that they can win that $175,000,” Slack said. “That’s one thing about sprint car racers, they look at how much it is to win.”

The $175,000 winner’s share gives the Kings Royal the highest-paying winner’s purse in the sport.

Posted awards for the week, including point fund contributions and specialty awards, bring the Kings Royal weekend purse to $594,275, which is an large increase from just a few years ago when the purse monies stretched to $181,000.

To buy tickets, visit EldoraSpeedway.com or call (937) 338-3815.

The Ottawa Senators named D.J. Smith the team's new coach on Thursday. Smith, who is the 14th coach in the franchise's history, has been an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs the past four seasons.

He replaces Guy Boucher, who was fired on March 1 amid a six-game losing streak and with the team's record at 22-37-5. The Senators also had traded their top three scorers at the trade deadline -- sending Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Mark Stone to the Vegas Golden Knights.

"D.J. Smith is a winner. We believe he is the best person to drive the development and success of the Ottawa Senators," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said in a statement. "D.J is a great communicator and an exceptional strategist. His passionate approach, coupled with his ability to teach the game, is exactly what we were looking for throughout the process. We're thrilled to welcome D.J. and his family to Ottawa." In the 2017-18 NHLPA players' poll, players were asked which current NHL assistant would make the best head coach. Smith received 8.3 percent of votes, most of any assistant.

Smith, an Ottawa native, coached the OHL's Oshawa Generals for three years before joining the Maple Leafs. He was named the OHL coach of the year in 2013-14 and won a Memorial Cup title in 2015.

Smith's hiring extends the Mike Babcock coaching tree. Other Babcock assistants who went on to become head coaches include Jeff Blashill, Paul MacLean, Todd McLellan and Bill Peters.

The Senators interviewed several veteran coaches for the job, including Jacques Martin and Patrick Roy.

At 42, Smith is the second-youngest coach in the NHL. Only Chicago's Jeremy Colliton, 34, is younger.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan contributed to this report.

New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson has parlayed a career season into a new six-year contract.

The Islanders announced that Nelson had signed the new deal on Thursday. The total value of the contract is $36 million, according to multiple reports.

Nelson, 27, set career highs in points and assists this season while playing in all 82 games for the second straight year. He also had four goals in the playoffs, including two winners as the Islanders reached the second round for the first time since 2016.

He played on a one-year, $4.25 million contract this season, agreeing to that deal as a restricted free agent and avoiding arbitration.

Nelson has 124 goals and 117 assists in 480 career games, all with the Islanders after they drafted him in the first round in 2010.

Manchester United's men's and women's teams will visit a country as a combined unit for the first time when they travel to Norway for preseason friendlies in July.

United's men will take on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's hometown team Kristiansund on July 30 while the newly promoted women's side will face Valerenga the following day in Oslo, the Premier League club said on Thursday.

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"We want to hit the ground running and give ourselves a chance to challenge once the new campaign starts... the best way to do that is with some momentum behind you," Solskjaer said in a statement.

United finished a disappointing sixth in the Premier League to miss out on Champions League qualification next season. The women's team won the second-tier Championship 11 months after the team was relaunched having been scrapped in 2005.

"We can't wait, it's a fantastic city and it will be a great game. It'll be a good test for us to build into the new season. We're really thankful that they have invited us over to play in this game," women's team manager Casey Stoney said.

CHESTER, Penn. -- It's a good time to be a sports fan in Philadelphia. The city boasts a Super Bowl champion one year removed, an NBA franchise that has made the playoffs consecutive years and a Philadelphia Phillies team favored to make the World Series.

It's a city that is having a rebirth on the field and on the court, and the Philadelphia Union, tied atop Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference, are hoping to give fans from this city more reason to cheer -- beginning on Saturday, when they host the Portland Timbers (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+).

This team might actually be able to stick in the long-term, too, after a decade of struggles and inconsistency. It is a bit "of positivity" says Jim Curtin, now in his sixth season as the Union's head coach.

"As a guy who lives in the city, you can feel it. There's a more positive feel to all things Philadelphia," Curtin told ESPN FC. "There's some real winning going on. It's a real positive, and it is good for us at the early stages of the year to be a part of that."

Philadelphia is a tough sports town, a place that turned booing into an art form and has perpetually embraced the underdog. From the likes of Vince Papale of the Philadelphia Eagles to the "Broad Street Bullies" of Philadelphia Flyers fame, fans in this city are concerned almost as much with the fight and passion within their teams as they are in the results.

In the Union, this city may have found both.

To say that this has been a resurgent year for the Union is to ignore the fact that this franchise, which joined MLS in 2010, has made the postseason just three times and has yet to win a playoff game. The fact that this team has just two winning seasons as a franchise wasn't a talking point during a reshaping of their roster this offseason.

The rebuild of the Union began last summer with the appointment of Ernst Tanner as sporting director. Tanner's experience in Europe with clubs like Red Bull Salzburg, Hoffenheim and 1860 Munich focused on youth development. The Union boast one of the best academy systems in the United States, but like nearly every MLS team, they aren't at the point where they can rely solely on their academy to field a gameday roster. So Tanner scoured Europe for unheralded players with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.

Tanner plucked starting left-back Kai Wagner from the German third division and took a flyer on Kacper Przybylko, a Polish youth international coming off a bad foot injury last year. Despite the lack of star power, these imports have brought a different level of skill to the roster, but also have the fight that Philadelphia seems to embrace like no other city.

It's a meeting of need and mentality that has propelled the Union to the top of the East.

When Tanner first began texting Przybylko last fall about coming to MLS, he made no mention of the Union's middling past. Instead, the 26-year-old forward said the Union's sporting director made a pitch about creating a new future in Philadelphia for both player and club.

"Why would you talk about the past?" Przybylko said. "I don't think we would do that. We don't look at even our last game. It's all about tomorrow."

It is a mentality that permeates this roster, including the longest-tenured player on the Union.

Defender Fabinho has been with the club for seven years, a fan favorite as much for his overlapping runs as for his sheer tenacity and passion for the team. A veteran of two head coaches and multiple sporting directors, the Brazilian has seen the ups and many downs of the organization. Through it all, he has battled and clawed for the Union, a team the former Brazil U20 international said "has given me so, so much."

His 6-year-old son, Davi, was practically born at Talen Energy Stadium, he says with a laugh, noting in his next breath that the boy often cries when the Union lose.

"I think Jim and Ernst this year, especially Ernst because of his work with young guys ... they have made a difference," Fabinho said. "For me, [Ernst] is doing a lot of work with our team and especially in the beginning of the season.

"Now we can have success with Brenden [Aaronson] and a lot of the young guys are playing well and having success with the first team. Everyone asks what is the difference? For me, everyone is just giving something for this team."

Fabinho goes on, talking about the importance of competition for a spot in the starting lineup. It is a point that isn't lost on Curtin, who calls this "probably the deepest team this franchise has ever had."

There hasn't been much to cry about for Fabinho's son this year as the Union have reshaped their roster and their tactics. This was supposed to be a transitional year, Tanner told Curtin during the offseason, as the team would upend their style and philosophy. So far, it has looked anything but as the Union are legitimate contenders for the Supporters' Shield.

This Union has had erratic stretches each of the past three years, the only consistency seeming to be the exhaustion of their depth by season's end. The team has made the final of the U.S. Open Cup three times in recent years, but frustratingly lost each time.

There is hope that this time around, off to their best start in franchise history, the Union's early success will have some staying power.

The hope is that the young talent can blend with savvy signings made by Tanner. The Union historically aren't among the big spenders in MLS -- their payroll was bottom third in the league a year ago -- and they must be shrewd in how they acquire talent. The margin of error, given their payroll, is relatively small.

If the Union are going to join the likes of the area's other sports team in not just winning but also grabbing the hearts of Philadelphia sports fans, then it won't be a big-time signing that pushes them over the top. Despite being at the top of the conference, it hasn't been an easy sell at the turnstile as the Union currently are averaging 15,697 fans, down roughly 5 percent from last year's gate. Last weekend's sellout for a scoreless home draw against the Seattle Sounders is perhaps a reason for optimism that the fans are coming around.

The draw isn't just the winning soccer being played, but the collection of talent native to this market that is being integrated on the field. No team in Philadelphia boasts the integration of local talent as the Union, a direct fusion between their strong academy system and a tactical setup that values youth.

The blue-collar pressing and counter-pressing system implemented by Tanner this offseason requires a high work rate and the ability to log hard runs. Young players, Curtin says, are naturally an ideal fit for this style of play.

Already this year, the academy pipeline has paid dividends. Center-backs Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie have been regulars for the Union since last year, and midfielder Aaronson, in his first year in the league, already has 10 appearances and nine starts.

More homegrown players are coming along, something that Curtin is not shying away from.

"Our way is to build with youth, to build with players from the Philadelphia area," he said. "The investment that we've made in our school, we can put that up against any club, not just in our country but the world."

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It might be an uphill battle for the Union to gain a toehold in this city. Philadelphia has never been associated as a hotbed for the sport despite a long history of playing soccer. It was the second-largest city in the United States to not have a venue host the World Cup in 1994, and they didn't receive an MLS team until the league's 15th season.

Baseball and football rule the roost in Philadelphia, with both franchises having developed deep and passionate fan bases that often go back generations. There is hope, however, that the Union can break through.

This is a city that, at the midpoint of the past century, turned to horse racing and boxing when the Phillies and Eagles were in the cellar of their respective leagues.

Curtin, who was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and went to college locally at Villanova, understands the pulse of the city. This is a team, he argues, that will be easy for Philadelphia to get behind.

"It's no secret that Philadelphia loves to win first, but they do like to do it as an underdog," he said. "They do have the mentality that respect isn't given in this city, it is earned. I think little by little, our club is starting to earn that within the league, which is important.

"I think that so far this year, our team has certainly been emblematic of the city. Even when people didn't expect much, we've had some of our best performances. We're an underdog city."

And a club that Curtin thinks might be overlooked in the city and the league, despite their hot start. Truthfully, he is fine with that.

"Still the damn underdog," Curtin said. "That's fine."