The Oakland Athletics are a charter member of the American League, a franchise that dates to 1901, and in their nomadic century-plus of existence they've bounced from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland. Now, they'll head to Las Vegas. With a pair of rubber stamps from the Nevada Assembly and Senate on Wednesday, all that is needed to make the Las Vegas A's a reality are approval from the governor of Nevada and the owners of the other 29 Major League Baseball teams, both at this point formalities.

They are the second team to move to Vegas from Oakland since the NHL's Golden Knights became the city's first major sports franchise. However, the A's path to the desert hasn't had the twists and turns like the route of the Raiders. Comparing and contrasting the two offers a fascinating study in a city's embrace of an MLB team next to one in the NFL and reminds that no matter how much politicians try to squeeze sports franchises and restrict the use of public tax dollars, in the end, the allure of having a new team always outweighs the alternative.

The background

Raiders: ​​The Raiders, who moved back to Oakland in 1995 after a 13-year sojourn in Los Angeles, had long been hoping for never-to-come-to-fruition improvements to the Oakland Coliseum, but by the mid-2010s had mostly given up hope. The team initially hoped to be part of a plan in which the Oakland Coliseum was demolished, replaced by a baseball stadium for the A's in the northeast parking lot, a Raiders football stadium in the southwest lot and a hotel with restaurants, shops and bars in the middle. The A's nixed it.

Then the Raiders' eyes turned to Los Angeles, in a joint plan to share a stadium with the Chargers in Carson. Though it was originally backed by an NFL owners committee, the plan was scuttled in favor of the Rams' move from St. Louis to Inglewood, California, with the Chargers joining the Rams in L.A. Raiders owner Mark Davis said his team finished third in a three-team race.

The Raiders -- who had already put together a pair of stadium proposals in two years -- then focused on Las Vegas, all the more prepared to put together their plans. -- Paul Gutierrez

A's: For more than 20 years, the A's have been trying to extricate themselves from the same dingy, plumbing-challenged, possum-infested Oakland Coliseum from which the Raiders ran. First, they wanted to go to San Jose and were blocked by the San Francisco Giants, who invoked their territorial rights. Then they wanted to build a new stadium in Oakland, and between organizational blundering and governmental intransigence, that failed, too. Whether it was flirtations with Fremont or all the different sites in the Oakland area, whatever the A's considered, they always wound up in the same place: limbo.

That changed in May 2021, when Major League Baseball allowed the A's to pursue potential relocation outside of the Bay Area. A's owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval focused on Las Vegas, and while A's officials spoke publicly about "parallel paths" -- one in Vegas, one in Oakland -- the decades of botched efforts to remain in the Bay, where they'd been since 1968, suggested that perhaps they weren't so parallel after all. While the project to build a waterfront stadium at the Howard Terminal site in Oakland had more momentum than past efforts, a confluence of factors -- chief among them, the success of the Golden Knights and Raiders in Las Vegas and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred waiving a $1 billion relocation fee for the A's -- made a move their primary path. -- Jeff Passan

The announcement

Raiders: On April 28, 2016, Davis announced in a meeting of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which boasted the star power of international soccer star and Las Vegas Sands Corp. pitchman David Beckham, that he was pledging $500 million toward the construction of a $1.4 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium near the Las Vegas Strip. Davis said he hoped to turn the Silver State into the Silver and Black State.

"We have made a commitment to Las Vegas at this point in time, and that's where it stands," Davis said that day. "If Las Vegas can come through with what we've been talking about, and we can do a deal here, then we're going to be the Las Vegas Raiders."

When less than a year later, NFL owners voted 31-1 in favor of letting the Raiders relocate from Oakland (the Miami Dolphins were the lone dissenting vote), an ashen-faced Davis seemed stunned at the inevitable conclusion. Making his way to lunch at the Arizona Biltmore resort, where the owners meetings were occurring, Davis was stopped by the likes of NFL Hall of Famer John Elway to offer congratulations, and Davis' first two calls to share the news were to his mother Carol and then-UNLV president Len Jessup. After all, the Rebels would be "sharing" the stadium with the Raiders.

"My father always said, 'The greatness of the Raiders is in its future,'" Davis said. "And the opportunity to build a world-class stadium in the entertainment capital of the world is a significant step toward achieving that greatness. ... The Raiders were born in Oakland, and Oakland will always be part of our DNA." -- Gutierrez

A's: All of this started April 20, when the A's announced they'd entered a "binding agreement" to purchase a 49-acre parcel of Las Vegas land on which they would construct a new $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium to open in 2027. The city of Oakland, already forlorn after the Golden State Warriors' move to San Francisco and the Raiders' to Vegas, were facing the extinction of professional sports in its city.

Then again, it almost felt like Oakland had lost the A's already. The team that prided itself on being competitive despite miserly payrolls had gone from "Moneyball" to "Major League," trading all of its best players in a fire sale that foretold a terrible 2023 season. On the day of the announcement that they would move to Las Vegas, a city that sells dreams of winning, the A's were an MLB-worst 3-16. The A's pledged to contribute $1 billion toward a $1.5 billion project, leaving $500 million to wheedle in public funding.

Despite the support of Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and other government officials, the timing of the announcement left the team with a finite window to secure funding: The Nevada Legislature's 2023 session would end in early June. And only a few weeks after the A's laid out their plans, when in mid-May they left behind their "binding agreement" and pivoted to a smaller site on the Las Vegas Strip, it left some wondering if the A's had missed their window. -- Passan

The governmental approval process

Raiders: On top of the $500 million pledged by Davis for the new stadium, Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson pledged an additional $150 million. The remaining $750 million would be raised by public taxes. "We're going to make them an offer they can't refuse," Davis often quipped of the Nevada government. Four and a half months after his announcement, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee voted unanimously to recommend and approve $750 million for the stadium on Sept. 15, 2016. The Nevada Senate voted 16-5 on Oct. 11, 2016, to approve the funding bill, titled Senate Bill 1. It barely passed, as the bill needed 14 votes. On Oct. 14, the Nevada Assembly passed it, 28-13, and two days later, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the bill into law. The Raiders, in the midst of a 12-4 season and their first playoff appearance since 2002, were riding a wave of goodwill, both on the field and in the political spectrum: The same party controlled the governor's mansion and the state legislature at the time. -- Gutierrez

A's: Less than two weeks after the A's shifted sites, the Nevada Legislature introduced a bill that would put $380 million in public money toward a new stadium. The bill, called the Southern Nevada Tourism Innovation Act, was for $120 million less than the A's were seeking -- and would need a majority vote from the 21-person Senate followed by the same in the 42-person Assembly before being signed into law by Lombardo.

In a hearing, Democrats who control the Senate grilled the two men the A's hoped would sell their vision: Las Vegas tourism executive Steve Hill and Jeremy Aguero, an analyst whose projections for the A's invited even more skepticism. The A's are seeking a 30,000-seat stadium, which would be the smallest in MLB, and Aguero projected attendance at 28,000. Only one team in MLB this year, Atlanta, fills its stadium to a higher percentage of capacity than Aguero's projected 93.3% for the A's.

The Senate's dubiousness did not last. After Lombardo mandated a special session, a new bill was introduced and included two non-baseball-related, Democrat-backed provisions that Lombardo, a Republican, had previously vetoed as well as minuscule concessions from the A's -- including a suite at the new stadium for community groups and a $2 million pledge a year for the same. On Tuesday, the Senate passed the new bill by a 13-8 vote. A day later, after a few minor amendments of its own, the Nevada Assembly did the same. And now Lombardo, long a proponent of the Las Vegas A's, needs only the swoop of his signature to make it law. -- Passan

The build timeline

Raiders: In an emotional ceremony paying tribute to the 58 lives lost in the Oct. 1 mass shooting less than two miles away, the Raiders broke ground on Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 13, 2017. The team would hold its first practice in its new home on the corner of Al Davis Way and Dean Martin Drive less than three years later, on Aug. 21, 2020. Davis, lording over the scene from beneath the 95-foot tall Al Davis Torch on the Los Angeles Coliseum peristyle-inspired end of the stadium with lanai doors that open to the Strip, addressed the team. "Welcome to the Death Star," Davis said, "where our opponents' dreams come to die."

It had been an awkward three-year farewell to Oakland, as the Raiders played three lame-duck seasons at the Coliseum, sharing it with the A's, who had removed several sections of Raiders season-ticket holders seats to the Raiders' dismay. The team also saw its Coliseum rent triple at the same time that money from stadium naming rights was lost. And while Davis said he hoped to leave the Bay Area with a Super Bowl championship before departing for the desert, the Raiders were a combined 17-31 in their last three years in Oakland (they went 12-12 at home). Fans booed quarterback Derek Carr off the field in the Oakland finale, a dispiriting loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and threw trash and food at players as they left the field the final time. Carr said it was time for some "fresh air." -- Gutierrez

A's: In 2014, after getting stonewalled in their attempt to move to San Jose, the A's signed a 10-year extension on their lease at the Coliseum (it expires after the 2024 season). The team says it plans to spend the 2025 and 2026 seasons at Las Vegas Ballpark -- the 10,000-capacity stadium that houses its Triple-A affiliate -- before moving into the new stadium for the 2027 season.

Timelines, of course, are met most easily when there is a deal in place. (There isn't.) Or when there are plans for a stadium. (Public officials have seen only renderings.) Or when an organization has approval to move, and that timing is entirely unclear: While the plan was for MLB owners to vote on the A's moving to Las Vegas at the owners' meetings this week, that vote is now off. A 2027 opening for the new Vegas park remains the goal. But much like the lack of forethought led to the legislature's public disillusionment, the longer the A's take to firm up their plan, the less likely a well-executed one becomes. -- Passan

The public response

Raiders: Fans gathered at the iconic WELCOME TO FABULOUS LAS VEGAS sign at the southern end of the Strip and celebrated after the vote was announced in 2017. And while Davis made the decision to not allow fans into Allegiant Stadium in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Raiders have averaged 61,590 fans in 17 regular-season home games since -- despite some continued COVID restrictions in 2021 (they averaged 62,045 in eight games last season, when no restrictions were in place).

It is a decidedly more mellow atmosphere than in Oakland, where Raider Nation and the Black Hole cut an imposing image. Allegiant has a true Las Vegas club vibe, with halftime concerts befitting a Super Bowl halftime show, from Santana to Ice Cube to John Fogerty performing. Alas, while the Raiders did a pre-move study to show that most season-ticket holders would be Raiders fans, Las Vegas is a destination city, and those personal seat licenses and accompanying seats are expensive. So if/when the team is not doing well, it's easy enough for those fans to recoup some of those costs by selling seats to visiting fans, as evidenced by Bears fans overtaking Allegiant Stadium in 2021 and Broncos, Chiefs and 49ers supporters doing the same last year. -- Gutierrez

A's: To be clear, this is not like when the Raiders, an iconic brand in the dominant American sport, were coming to Vegas. Nor is it like the Golden Knights, who built their identity around becoming the first major professional sports team in Las Vegas.

Here is the reality about the A's. Even after a recent seven-game winning streak, they are 19-50 -- on pace to go 45-117 this season. They have the lowest payroll in baseball, and it's not really close. Fisher, their owner, is widely regarded inside the game as one of the worst in the sport, loath to devote the proper resources -- payroll, infrastructure, manpower and other areas -- to winning. The team's farm system can't provide immediate help. Las Vegas, which could have potentially gotten an expansion franchise, instead stands to inherit a team whose problems go well beyond a dreadful stadium.

Though there are plenty in Las Vegas who want the A's to come -- casinos, commerce wonks, labor unions -- the loudest voices belong not to the advocates but the aggrieved. Oakland fans are livid. They believe that if Fisher would sell the team, the new owner could work with Mayor Sheng Thao and make Howard Terminal a reality. Fans gathered Tuesday at the Coliseum for a so-called reverse boycott, when more than 27,000 fans showed up and feted Fisher with booming, relentless chants of "Sell the team." They were there to say that Oakland is a baseball city and that their refusal to show up to the stadium isn't an indictment on the fan base. It's the natural reaction to an owner who treats them like John Fisher does. -- Passan

Irish sprinter looks back at the successful defence of his European indoor 400m title in Birmingham in March 2007

Before that year, I was a full-time student in Dublin and training in the evenings. Looking back, you could probably argue that athletics was more of a hobby at the time, as opposed to something that I wanted to make a career out of.

But I moved to Loughborough and everything changed in terms of my approach to training. Now, I was in an environment where it was all on my doorstep. I could literally walk to training, come home, grab something to eat and go back for a session in the afternoon. 

I was doing a Masters as well, but the main reason I went to Loughborough was that I wanted to give running a go. I wanted to really see what I could do with a full-time approach.

It probably added a bit of spice at that point. “You’ve made a move, you’re in a new environment, training with better athletes … is this going to work?” The initial plan was not to guarantee or confirm that I’d do indoors in 2007 and just see how the winter progressed. 

Training was going well. I had a great benchmark from working alongside Martyn Rooney. If I was staying up with him, I knew I was relatively in good shape so by the time January came around, my coach Nick Dakin said: “Let’s see where we’re at.” So we found a race in Düsseldorf.

I broke the Irish record and it was a massive relief that everything, all the decisions I’d made, it was all working. I thought I’d try and defend my [European Indoor] title. I went: “Let’s go to Birmingham.”

I got a taxi there. I wasn’t going to go in the day before or two days before and sit in the hotel and think about my races. I wanted to stay in my own bed. It’s one of the joys of having a championship on your doorstep.

With the 400m, you’re looking at two rounds in one day. That’s always a challenge. I was strong – more a 400m-600m athlete, as opposed to a 200m-400m athlete – and I had done a good bit of work. I was riding a wave of confidence because I knew I was in form. 

I wasn’t looking too far ahead. It was very much about the first round. You’ve got to attack the first 200m and put yourself in that position to own that race and own that lane. If you don’t set up your championship from round one, particularly in a 400m, you’re then liable to get poor lanes and poor draws. 

I knew who the heavy hitters were. Because I had posted the fastest time in Europe that year, I knew I’d be seeded so that gave me a bit of confidence just to go out and run my own race and tick that box. Then it’s a case of getting back to the hotel, get your massage, get your recovery and start it straight away when you come off the track. 

Sometimes after a race, you have those nice few moments where the nerves are gone, and then you start talking to people. Before you know it, you’ve spent an hour talking nonsense. I was very disciplined on that. I got out of there. 

To do back-to-back runs in a short space of time can be physically but also emotionally demanding so you have to manage that and manage the people around you. There’s a process.

I’d already raced Bastian Swillims, the German athlete, in Düsseldorf and I beat him. He’d improved since then and I knew he was probably going to be closest to me. I watched him in the first semi and he ran 45.92. It was quick. I thought: “S***, I’m going to have to up my game.” 

I got a text from the team manager saying the lane draw was out and I was in lane five. I remember thinking: “Yes, I have him” and it’s great when you get that nice and early because then you can really plan your race. There’s an element of visualisation.

In the final, Swillims went off really hard through the first 200m. Johan Wissman and Rob Tobin were there as well. I had to make sure that I was second at the bell. I chopped Wissman. This all happens in 400s. It’s rough and tumble, you have to sharpen the elbows. Then I could try and get as close to Swillims as possible. I was going down the back straight, telling myself to get on his shoulder.

On the top bend, I was thinking: “Will I go? No. Hold on.” Then I attacked over the last 50 metres. It was close, just a tenth of a second in it, but you look for that momentum. I probably gained a centimetre at one point but it was enough to drive me to get him with a time of 45.52.

Sometimes when I was asked what my best race was I’d say coming sixth in the World Championships final in 2009 but that has changed as time has passed.

The thing that I dreamt of as a kid was doing a lap of honour and getting on the podium. I watched on TV when the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan and others were wearing an Irish vest. The sweetest times in my career are those moments when you win a championship. You win a race that means an awful lot. 

READ MORE: AW’s greatest race series

Championships are few and far between and the one in Birmingham sticks with me because there’s something about winning when you’re going in with that level of expectation and pressure. 

I’d made a lot of changes there and you’re always going to get people thinking “why is he doing this? Should he have gone here and not there?” but I backed myself in terms of that decision. 

To come out in a championship, fairly soon after making those life-changing decisions, and to win in a really good time as well, that is probably one of the things that really gives me a lot of pride. I was able to perform at my very best when it really mattered. 

LOS ANGELES – As the unanswered questions mount about the PGA Tour’s “framework” agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), the circuit is set for a new round of grilling next week at the Travelers Championship.

Following a contentious player meeting last week at the RBC Canadian Open, the Tour plans to hold another player meeting next Tuesday at TPC River Highlands, according to a notice sent to players late Wednesday.

“This will provide a further opportunity to receive feedback and answer questions from the membership,” read the notice from executive vice president and president Tyler Dennis and chief operating officer Ron Price. “We look forward to sharing additional information as we work through the framework agreement.”

Adam Scott echoed the thoughts of many Wednesday at the U.S. Open when he was asked about the agreement and what it means for the Tour going forward.

“I have to wait and see; I can’t make a [a judgement] on a handshake agreement. The best thing for me to say is I have to wait to see what these definitive [agreements] are,” Scott said. “In the details that we have, it’s a handshake framework. That doesn’t mean much to me, so I reserve judgement.”

Many players have adopted a similar wait-and-see approach to the agreement, but it remains to be seen when any of those “details” will be available.

The player meeting notice also briefly addressed commissioner Jay Monahan’s condition following Tuesday’s news that he was recuperating from a “medical situation.” The day-to-day operation of the Tour was shifted to Dennis and Price as Monahan recovers.

“We’d like to reiterate our support for Jay as he recuperates. We know he and his family are grateful for the prayers and support following last evening’s announcement,” the notice read.

LAS VEGAS -- United States interim manager B.J. Callaghan said he likes what he's seen out of new arrival Folarin Balogun, but declined to say whether the Arsenal forward would start in Thursday's Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Mexico.

Balogun, 21, pledged his international future to the U.S. last month, having been also eligible to represent England and Nigeria. Given that he scored 22 goals in 39 league and cup appearances while on loan at Ligue 1 side Stade de Reims this season, expectations are immense that Balogun will provide exactly the goalscoring threat that the U.S. team needs.

And Callaghan indicated that, so far, Balogun had made a strong first impression.

"We've had a lot of conversations with him prior to coming into camp, sort of setting the expectations," Callaghan said about Balogun at Wednesday's pregame news conference. "I can tell you that he's been welcomed [with] open arms from the group. He's integrated himself great into the group on the field.

"I think the things that you see him do at his club that made him have such a great season this season are the same things that we're seeing him pick up when he comes into our environment. So again, a great first 10 days for him, but I also want to emphasize that it's just the first days of what we hope is a long national team career for 'Balo'."

Callaghan is the second interim manager that has had to step into the U.S. team in the last six months. Anthony Hudson succeeded Gregg Berhalter on an interim basis after Berhalter's contract wasn't renewed at the end of 2022.

Hudson managed the U.S. for five games, but then left to take the managerial post with Qatari side Al-Markhiya. Despite the turnover, Callaghan, who has been on the U.S. staff since 2019, hopes the familiarity that exists between him and the team will help carry the side on Thursday.

"I feel like we have such a close group that have been together for a long period of time. A large majority of these guys have been with us and we've been with them for over four years," Callaghan said. "So I think it's been pretty status quo and operating as normal.

"Of course, I'm up front and having to make final decisions. But I think the culture that we've built and the ownership that everyone takes in this environment in terms of the brotherhood and the preparation, it's all just been sort of a shared load and I couldn't be happier with the way the preparation has gone, the ownership that the team and the staff have taken."

For Callaghan, matching up against Mexico amounts to a pressure-packed initial foray into management, especially given the recent success that the U.S. has had against El Tri, claiming two titles with the 2021 Nations League and Gold Cup and going unbeaten in the last five encounters.

But the U.S. interim coach stressed that these are the types of games that everyone wants to take part in.

"We have the ambition to try to perform against the highest levels of international football," Callaghan said. "And as we look down the line to 2026, games like this of high intensity, high stakes, rivalry type, knockout type games, these are the moments that we want to prove to ourselves that we can handle, that we can prepare for, and that we can perform well in.

"Specifically to Mexico, we have a great respect for them and we do understand that there's a rivalry and the rivalry can ebb and flow with results, but that never changes the way that we approach an opponent of their caliber."

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The Oakland Athletics cleared a major hurdle for their planned relocation to Las Vegas after the Nevada Legislature gave final approval on Wednesday to public funding for a portion of a proposed $1.5 billion stadium with a retractable roof.

The deal that backers said will help further establish Las Vegas as the new "entertainment and sports capital of the world" still needs the governor's signature, and MLB still must approve the A's move to the Las Vegas Strip, but both are expected.

The Assembly approved the final version of the bill with $380 million in taxpayer money on a 25-15 vote after making minor changes to the measure the Senate approved on a 13-8 vote Tuesday just hours before the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup.

The Senate accepted the changes with no debate on a voice vote Wednesday night and sent it to the governor's desk as an "emergency measure" adopted during the special legislative session that convened with Democratic majorities in both houses June 7. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo had proposed the stadium spending plan.

The governor's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comments Wednesday night from The Associated Press. The A's said in a statement released by the team that they look forward to "Lombardo's signature as our next step" as they "work to bring the Athletics to Las Vegas."

The $380 million in public funding would mainly come from $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds. Backers have pledged that the creation of a special tax district around the proposed stadium -- that would be the smallest in Major League Baseball -- would generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest. The plan would not directly raise taxes.

The Nevada plan had revived the national debate over public funding for private sports clubs. A's representatives and some Nevada tourism officials have said the measure could add to Las Vegas' growing sports scene and act as an economic engine. But a growing chorus of economists and some lawmakers have warned that such a project would bring minimal benefits when compared to the hefty public price tag.

Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch, D-Reno, said Wednesday night she couldn't support the public financing given a lack of funding for Nevada's overcrowded classrooms, inadequate child-care services and "people sleeping on the streets."

"No amount of amendments are going to change the fact we are giving millions of public dollars to a billionaire," she said.

Under the deal approved Wednesday, the A's would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, would also contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs. The final version of the bill shifted some money that had been targeted for homeless programs to funds for low-income housing.

The Legislature's vote is a victory in the A's troubled search to replace Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since arriving from Kansas City for the 1968 season. The team previously sought to build a stadium in Fremont, California, as well as San Jose and finally the Oakland waterfront -- all ideas that never materialized.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said after the vote that California's Legislature had passed three pieces of legislation to support construction of a new A's ballpark at Howard Terminal.

"The A's have been part of Oakland for more than half a century, and they belong in this city," she said in a statement. "There is no city that has worked harder to meet the needs of a team than Oakland."

The new 30,000-seat baseball stadium is planned along the Las Vegas Strip not far from the Knights' T-Mobile Arena and another stadium that's home to the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, who also left Oakland for Vegas in 2020.

A last-minute bill in Nevada's 2016 special session had paved the way for $750 million in public funding from hotel room taxes for the Raiders $2 billion Allegiant Stadium.

No public money was spent on the arena for the expansion hockey team.

In places like Buffalo and Oakland, proponents of new stadiums have argued tax incentives prevent the departure of decades-old businesses. But the debate in Nevada differed. The state already heavily relies on entertainment and tourism to power its economy, and lawmakers or appointed boards for years have talked about diversifying the economy to justify incentives to businesses including Tesla.

Assemblywoman Shea Backus, D-Las Vegas, said in addition to creating 14,000 construction jobs and permanent jobs subject to collective bargaining, major league baseball will build on the excitement surrounding the Raiders, the Golden Knights and the WNBA's Aces in a city that had no major professional sports before 2016.

"With the Aces winning a national championship last year and the Golden Knights securing the Stanley Cup just last night, it is clear Las Vegas is clearly becoming the entertainment and sports capital of the world," she said.

The 123rd U.S. Open begins Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, California. The GolfChannel.com writers weigh in with their predictions:

Who wins the 132nd U.S. Open?

RYAN LAVNER: Brooks Koepka. An easy pick, perhaps – his major record this year, his major record in general – but it’s also the wisest one. The major in which he’s historically performed the best is the Open, and now he’s playing some of the best golf of his career. At a place that will heighten the importance of distance control and smart course management, Koepka is primed for major No. 6.

REX HOGGARD: Jon Rahm. The Spaniard won the last West Coast Open in 2021 at Torrey Pines and appears uniquely qualified to complete the California double this week. The Masters champion has been solid all season and his iron play (he ranks third on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approach the green) is a perfect fit for Los Angeles Country Club.

BRENTLEY ROMINE: Xander Schauffele. I ranked Scottie Scheffler No. 1 at the start of the week, but his putter is worrying me more by the day. So, I’ll go with Schauffele, who has a sparkling track record at U.S. Opens, combines lethal long irons with great putting, and is long overdue to win one of these major trophies.

What will be the winning score?

LAVNER: 8 under. A dry forecast should allow the USGA complete control over the setup. That makes it easy to imagine a gentler start to the week (with a huge field and what is expected to be painfully slow pace of play), then tightening the screws over the weekend with that familiar “thud” of the greens.

HOGGARD: 8 under. Despite concerns that the rough isn’t long enough and the players hit the ball too far, the North Course will hold up to the modern game. In fact, the bigger concern should be the USGA’s history of stepping over the line with overly difficult setups, but if officials toe the line, the venerable layout will deliver.

ROMINE: 12 under. There will be a ton of variance in the scoring, but the handful of players who bring their A-games will be rewarded with lots of birdie opportunities.

Who is your sleeper pick (outside OWGR top 25)?

LAVNER: Rickie Fowler. Fowler was the last man out a year ago, unable to crack the field as the first alternate, but now he could be a significant factor. Lost for years with his swing, Fowler is among the best ball-strikers on Tour this season and comes into golf’s most demanding test with consecutive top-10 finishes. Plus, LACC’s ruggedness and interesting green complexes should appeal to his creative side.   

HOGGARD: Rickie Fowler. Fowler’s resurrection has been impressive to watch, and his consistency is unmatched this season, with top-20 finishes in seven of his last eight starts. Getting himself back into contention at a major is the next logical step in his comeback.

ROMINE: Rickie Fowler. In great form, striking it well, a creative chipper around the green and an absolute killer of par 3s, which LACC has five of them. Pick him and look brilliant.

Hole you're most looking forward to watching?

LAVNER: 15^th hole. The par 3 could play anywhere from 78 yards to 124 yards – a range that, obviously, the best players in the world are expected to be able to hit it close. But it won’t be that simple. The O-shaped green, sure to be rock-hard by the weekend, will repel any shot that isn’t perfectly struck or in the proper landing area. It's a tiny hole that’s reminiscent of Merion’s 13^th at the 2013 Open; an untimely bogey here (or worse!) could doom a player’s chances come Sunday.

HOGGARD: No. 15. Rahm spoke for the masses earlier this week when asked about the par-3 15th hole, which can play from 80 to 145 yards depending on the tee and hole location. “Very rarely are you going to have a hole that short where the best players in the world are going to be thinking about going 20 feet long left to use that slope to at least hit the green, and that's something beautiful,” Rahm said. “It's a hole that gives you a lot to think about.”

ROMINE: No. 15 on Saturday. The short par 3 is expected to play as the shortest one-shotter in U.S. Open history, likely at 78 yards. Even with lob wedges in their hands, these players are going to find this fun, little hole extremely devilish. We could see everything from holes-in-one to incredible up-and-downs to more than a few disasters.

Who will be the low LIV finisher?

LAVNER: Koepka. Already praised Koepka, so the bonus pick here is Cam Smith, whose game is sharper than it was a few months ago and should feel right at home at a course that has evoked Australia’s sand belt. LACC’s width will negate some of Smith’s wildness, and his nifty short game should bail him out from some of the dicey spots players are inevitably going to find themselves. 

HOGGARD: Brooks Koepka. The uncertainty around the LIV players returning to major championships is gone thanks in large part to Koepka’s play in the first two Grand Slam starts, which included a victory at the PGA Championship and a runner-up showing at the Masters. Koepka has his familiar swagger back, and L.A.C.C. will produce the kind of chaos he loves.

ROMINE: Mito Pereira. I could take the popular route and go with Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith, but how about another player I’m really high on. Pereira has been a top-5 iron player in recent months and I’m betting on him to lead the field in greens hit in regulation, which is a great recipe for being in the mix at a U.S. Open.

Who is this week's "Michael Block"?

LAVNER: Sahith Theegala. To be clear, Block is not ranked 28^th in the world, as Theegala is. But we’re putting him here for three reasons: Theegala has yet to prove himself on this type of stage; he grew up 50 miles away; and he has a magnetic personality that could stir the crowds into a frenzy if he makes a run. 

HOGGARD: Eric Cole. No one could have predicted Michael Block’s Cinderella week at the PGA Championship, but if you’re looking for a story to cheer for, check out Cole. The 35-year-old Tour rookie came up just short in a playoff at the Honda Classic, and he finished tied for sixth last week at the RBC Canadian Open.

ROMINE: Eric Cole. A feel-good story, the 35-year-old Cole cut his teeth on the mini-tours for years and experienced tragedy with the sudden death of his brother last year before making it to the PGA Tour, where he’s posted three top-10s this season, including a playoff loss at Honda.

Who will finish as low amateur?

LAVNER: Michael Thorbjornsen. The rising senior at Stanford has flashed against the pros before, most notably at last year’s Travelers, where he finished fourth, the best Tour finish by an amateur in six years. In his third Open start, he fully knows what to expect.

HOGGARD: Maxwell Moldovan. Emotions overwhelmed the Ohio State junior at the Springfield, Ohio, qualifier after losing an eight-hole playoff for the final qualifying spot into the U.S. Open, but he made it to L.A.C.C. as an alternate and is poised to improve on his performance last year at The Country Club.

ROMINE: Michael Brennan. His move to left-hand low after a disappointing fall at Wake Forest has done wonders. He won twice in the spring, including the ACC Championship, and has the ball-striking chops to hang with Sarge and Thor.

LOS ANGELES – Where was Maxwell Moldovan when he found out he was receiving one of the final three spots in this year’s U.S. Open field? P.F. Chang’s.

The Ohio State senior, who will return to school for a fifth year this fall, was first alternate after losing in an eight-hole playoff at the Springfield, Ohio final qualifier last Monday, and last weekend he headed to the West Coast to get in some practice at Los Angeles Country Club just in case he got the call.

On Sunday evening, his phone buzzed. On the other line was Robbie Zalzneck, the USGA’s senior director of player services, who kept things brief.

“Hey, just making sure your phones on,” Zalzneck said.

Five seconds after hanging up, Zalzneck rang Moldovan again, this time saying, “You better answer this one because you’re in.”

Moldovan, along with New Mexico’s Bastien Amat and former Cal standout Michael Kim, were the final three alternates into the 156-player field. This week marks Moldovan’s second straight U.S. Open appearance as he holed a 4-footer for birdie in last year’s final qualifier to punch his ticket to The Country Club, where he missed the cut.

“That feeling when I got the call was the same feeling when I made that putt last year,” Moldovan said.

Prior to Zalzneck delivering the good news, Moldovan had been hopeful but still emotional after a tough playoff defeat in Springfield, where he saw Dylan Wu get one spot in extra holes before Alex Schaake stiffed his approach on the eighth playoff hole, tapping in his birdie after Moldovan failed to drop a 10-footer. Earlier in the day, Moldovan horseshoed out a 3-footer on his 36^th hole that would’ve avoided the playoff.

“It was a disappointing end to a long day,” Moldovan said. “But knowing in the past how alternates have typically had a chance, especially out of Springfield, I wasn’t completely defeated.”

After a few spins around LACC, Moldovan, a second-team All-American for the Buckeyes this past season and the No. 19 amateur in the world, feels like the iconic layout fits his game. The fairways are wide with the penalty for missing them severe, so his ball-striking figures to give him plenty of opportunities to hit his second shots from the short grass, and as a result, find greens and hope to get hot with the putter.

If that happens, Moldovan could become the second straight Springfield alternate to hold the lead at a U.S. Open. Asked if he knew which player briefly led at The Country Club after finishing his first round a year ago (and then ended up T-14), Moldovan didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Yeah, it was Nick Hardy,” Moldovan said.

Bingo.

Golfer Rickie Fowler said he is hopeful of becoming an investor in Leeds United following last week's announcement that the second-tier English club would be taken over by the investment arm of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

Leeds said Friday that 49ers Enterprises, which already owned 44% of the club, had reached an agreement to purchase the remaining 56% stake held by current owner Andrea Radrizzani's Aser Ventures.

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Speaking ahead of this week's U.S. Open in Los Angeles, Fowler said that he, along with fellow PGA Tour golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, were eager to be a part of the new ownership group.

"There is the group that's moving forward with being involved with Leeds. Myself, J.T. [Thomas] and Jordan [Spieth] potentially will be a part of it," he told Sky Sports.

The trio have seemingly been turned onto Leeds by fellow golfer Matt Fitzpatrick's Leeds-supporting caddie Billy Foster, though Fowler said Foster wasn't involved in the initial discussions.

"It's cool to have those opportunities," Fowler added. "I know we are looking into it. It will be fun if we get to be a part of it. If not, we'll continue to root for Leeds to see if we can help out Billy.

"Obviously they got relegated, but to be able to go to a Premier League game, Champions League. I feel like, obviously you call it football over there, we call it soccer here, it's a massive sport.

"I feel like it's continuing to get bigger in the States, but since I haven't been to a game I don't have the true appreciation until I've actually been able to go and be there and feel that energy."

Leeds were relegated from the Premier League following a tumultuous season that saw them led by four different managers -- including American Jesse Marsch, who was fired in February. They finished second from bottom in the standings on 31 points and will now compete in the EFL Championship next season.

Former Crystal Palace manager and Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira is interested in the vacant United States men's head-coaching job, sources told ESPN.

Sources added that the United States Soccer Federation has already made contact with Vieira, but talks haven't progressed following the initial approach. Other managers are also in contention, but Vieira is keen on the challenge to take over the job last held on a full-time basis by Gregg Berhalter.

Having studied the recent results of the USMNT and the makeup of the current squad, the 1998 World Cup champion with France says that there is great potential there and would like the opportunity to take the team on the journey to the 2026 edition of the tournament on home soil.

Vieira, 46, left Palace in March amid a run of poor results and the team in danger of relegation after going winless in 12 straight games. He also coached New York City FC in MLS from 2016 to '18 and Ligue 1 club Nice from 2018 to '20 before taking the job at Palace.

Previous USMNT coach Anthony Hudson, who took over the team on an interim basis in January after Berhalter's contract expired following the World Cup, stepped down at the end of May and was replaced by B.J. Callaghan, also an interim coach.

Berhalter, 49, has been in limbo since the end of 2022 and in the wake of an investigation into allegations of domestic violence against him from 1992 involving his now-wife, Rosalind, when they were students at the University of North Carolina.

The investigation concluded that the Berhalters responded truthfully during the investigation, confirming that the incident took place, with the USSF stating that Berhalter was still a candidate to resume his post as U.S. manager.

A U.S. Soccer spokesperson told ESPN last month that "nothing has changed" with regard to Berhalter's candidacy. On Tuesday, ESPN reported that both Club America and Sparta Rotterdam were considering Berhalter for their coaching vacancies.

The USSF, which appointed Matt Crocker as sporting director in April, said it expects to name a permanent head coach in August. Callaghan will oversee the USMNT for the Nations League finals June 15-18 and the biennial Gold Cup after that.

The U.S. plays Mexico in the Nations League semifinals Thursday night in Las Vegas, with the winner playing Canada or Panama in the final.

Speaking ahead of the Mexico match, CBS broadcaster and former U.S. star Clint Dempsey took issue with the amount of time the USSF was taking in naming its next coach.

"I think that they need to hurry up and make that decision because we're running out of time," Dempsey said. "I think we took too long in terms of appointing our sporting director and we're taking a little bit too long in terms of appointing our manager, because time is of the essence."