I Dig Sports
Surbiton Trophy: Top seed Dan Evans shocked by Gabriel Diallo in second round
Dan Evans' grass-court campaign took an early blow as he suffered a surprise defeat in the second round of the Surbiton Trophy.
The British number one was beaten 7-5 6-2 by Canada's world number 146 Gabriel Diallo.
Top seed Evans had started his Wimbledon preparations early at the south London Challenger event after his first-round exit at the French Open.
Andy Murray, seeded second, plays in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Elsewhere in Thursday's action, there were mixed results for Britain's women with Katie Boulter and Lily Miyazaki among those advancing to the quarter-finals.
Boulter, who could replace the injured Emma Raducanu as British number one next week, defeated compatriot Sonay Kartal 3-6 6-3 6-4, while Miyazaki beat Eden Silva 6-4 7-5 in another all-British affair.
Isabelle Lacy also progressed to the last eight without hitting a ball after her opponent Sachia Vickery withdrew, while Katie Swan advanced after Oceane Dodin retired injured with the Briton 5-3 up in the first set.
But there was defeat for British number four Harriet Dart, who lost 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 to Germany's Tatjana Maria.
England women: Rugby Football Union offers new contracts with 'significant enhancements'
England's women have been offered new deals with "significant enhancements", the Rugby Football Union says.
BBC Sport understands the contracts contain a big pay rise, although the RFU does not disclose player salaries.
Contracts running up to three years - mainly one-year deals were offered before - are among the improvements, while the number of players contracted will increase by two to 32.
England - beaten finalists last time - will host the next World Cup in 2025.
The Red Roses won the 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam and the players offered the new contracts will be announced by the RFU in July.
England and Bristol prop Sarah Bern described the contracts as a "great development" and "a reflection of how far things have moved on in the women's game".
The RFU says other "enhancements" include improved match fees, better opportunities for off-field development and agreements around "revenue sharing if business targets are exceeded".
Despite not yet having taken over the team, future Red Roses head coach John Mitchell was involved in the debate about the new contracts, alongside England coaches Louis Deacon, Lou Meadows and Sarah Hunter, with input from RFU executive director of performance Conor O'Shea and head of women's performance Charlie Hayter.
Christian Day, the general secretary of the Rugby Players Association, was also involved in the contract talks and described them as "ground breaking".
Day added: "As the world's number one ranked women's team, the Red Roses have long been trendsetters in terms of both on-field performance and the off-field support made available to players.
"To maintain this position, and indeed to continue to grow the gap as other nations seek to level up, it was vital that the players' contracts would be advanced at a time of unprecedented growth and opportunity for women's rugby."
Alongside the 32 players on full-time contracts, there will also be six transition contracts to "support aspiring Red Roses".
Michael Feagles fires 59 in opening round of KFT'S BMW Charity Pro-AM
Michael Feagles made a left-to-right, curling 30-footer for birdie on his final hole Thursday to shoot 59 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am.
It marked the ninth sub-60 round all time on the Korn Ferry Tour and the second this year.
Mac Meissner shot 59 in April's Lecom Suncoast Classic. Prior to that, no one had broken 60 on tour since 2017. The lowest score ever recorded on the KFT is a 58 by Stephan Jaeger at the 2016 Ellie Mae Classic.
Feagles had never shot better than 64 in his KFT career, which includes 33 previous starts.
The 25-year-old former Fighting Illini began the opening round at Thornblade Club – one of two courses in rotation with the pro-am field in South Carolina – on the 10th hole.
He turned in 6-under 30 and was 7 under through 13 holes. That’s when he birdied in, carding circles from No. 5 to his par-3 finisher a the ninth.
Even with the historic round, Feagles only leads by two shots. Josh Teater carded a 10-under 62 at Carolina Country Club.
Feagles will play Carolina CC on Friday while Teater will move to Thornblade.
Rory McIlroy shoots 71 after 'most uncomfortable' press conference on Wednesday
It's been a hectic week for Rory McIlroy.
Two days ahead of his three-peat bid at the RBC Canadian Open, a bombshell was dropped that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour are joining forces with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV Golf.
The Northern Irishman has been the PGA Tour's staunchest defender the past year, and Wednesday he once again met with the media, a press conference he called, "the most uncomfortable I've felt in the last 12 months."
After that, however, McIlroy was finally able to knock the weight off his shoulders and focus on becoming the first player to three-peat on Tour since Steve Stricker at the 2011 John Deere Classic.
"I got a good night's sleep last night," McIlroy said after a first-round 1-under 71. "So it was nice to sort of recharge the batteries. I would say my energy levels on Tuesday and Wednesday were diminishing quite quickly. But I slept well last night and honestly felt — it was an early start this morning. Alarm went at 4:15. But I felt good out there."
This week's shocking news was still on McIlroy's mind after he teed off Thursday morning, but he quickly redirected his focus to his round.
"Rosie (Justin Rose, his playing partner) and I said, 'All right, no chatting until lunch so that we can actually concentrate on what we're doing out there,'" McIlroy said. "We started to get in a conversation walking down the first and we're like, 'No, let's stop this. Let's just focus on our golf and we'll say what we want to say when we get inside.' So it was nice to play a round of golf and focus on something else for those five hours we were out there."
Those five hours, though, didn't go as McIlroy, the world No. 3, may have hoped. He sits four shots off the opening lead, but lost strokes off the tee, tee to green, approach and around the green. He also hit only six of 15 fairways.
"Need to do a better job of just putting my ball in play off the tee," he said. "Then from there, the golf course is still quite scoreable."
McIlroy, 34, is looking for his first Tour win since October's CJ Cup. He finished T-7 in his last two starts at the PGA Championship and the Memorial. He played in the final group Sunday at Muirfield Village but shot a final-round 75.
Trying to put that round in his rear-view, he was hoping to head into next week's U.S. Open with a victory under his belt. But Tuesday's curveball certainly made that task more difficult.
However, after an exhausting 48 hours, McIlroy's attention is again on his scorecard — not what the PGA Tour's future may look like.
"This is business and my job is playing golf, at the end of the day," he said. "So the more that I can focus on that and focus on the birdies and the bogeys instead of the stuff that's happened in the board room, I'll be much happier."
Every top club wants a No. 9 striker, but who are the best options?
As the summer transfer window edges ever closer (find out when it opens across Europe here), there's one thing that's clear: most of the continent's top clubs are looking to sign a new No. 9 striker.
With Erling Haaland's 52 goals in 52 games for Manchester City this season proving that a central goal scorer is a key part of any team, a number of teams will be looking to the transfer market to boost themselves in this position.
Here's some of the options who could be available, and which clubs would suit them best.
- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
REAL MADRID
Harry Kane, 29, Tottenham Hotspur
Karim Benzema, arguably one of best centre-forwards ever, has left Real Madrid to join the Saudi Pro League and it would be logical to replace him with a world-class goal scorer of proven pedigree. If Madrid had been signing a backup, they could have gone down the "up-and-coming" route, but now they need instant quality -- alongside, sources say, a planned loan deal for Espanyol's Joselu.
While there are several No. 9s in world football that could score regularly for Madrid, Kane is the only one available who can offer the hold-up expertise, off-the-ball work and creativity to the level of Benzema. In fact, he represents the closest match to the Frenchman's skillset.
But, even with the England captain entering the final year of his contract, don't expect any swift resolution here. If he moves abroad -- and some outlets have reported that the chance to beat Alan Shearer's Premier League record tally of 260 may keep Kane (who has 213) in England -- Spurs will inevitably demand a transfer fee of over €100 million. And Madrid are already set to spend in excess of that to bring in Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.
MAN UNITED
Victor Osimhen, 24, Napoli
With Manchester United's takeover moving slowly, it's hard to predict what kind of budget manager Erik ten Hag will be handed this summer. If they have over €100m to spending on a new striker and Kane slips out of their hands, the club should be frontrunners to land Osimhen, who was Napoli's top scorer (31 goals in 39 games across all competitions this season) as they lifted the Serie A title.
The Nigeria international may not have Kane's penchant for dropping deep or playmaking (Kane touches the ball about twice as often as Osimhen per 90 minutes), but he guarantees relentless piercing runs between opposing defenders and his finishing is among the best in Europe.
Having arrived for €75m from Lille three years ago with plenty to work on, the 24-year-old has continuously polished his game and now appears more patient and precise in the build-up phase. Napoli would want around €150m to let him leave but those who have watched him closely believe Osimhen is still some way off reaching his potential.
BAYERN MUNICH
Randal Kolo Muani, 24, Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt snapped up Kolo Muani on a free transfer from Nantes last summer and he scored 23 goals in 46 games this season. The France international, who also impressed for his country at the 2022 World Cup, is contracted for another four years, so Frankfurt are reportedly looking for a transfer fee of over €75m.
Linked to practically all the elite clubs vying for a focal point in attack, it seems a lower risk for Bayern to make a move for him given how he has adapted to the Bundesliga so quickly.
Fast and tall, with quick feet, he averages over three dribbles per 90 minutes. Tactically, he'd be a good fit for Bayern as he sets up goals (10 assists in the Bundesliga this season), links up well with teammates in the final third, and creates space for midfield runners.
CHELSEA
Dusan Vlahovic, 23, Juventus
After a lacklustre season with Juventus, where he scored 14 goals in 42 games, the prospect of signing the 6-foot-3 striker comes with questions. Can he find his way back to the version of himself where he scored 20 goals in 24 games before moving to Juve from Fiorentina for €70m in January 2022? Are his recent troubles of a physical, mental, or tactical nature -- or a bit of everything? Is there too much risk in spending Juve's desired fee of €70m-€80m to sign him?
A competent scouting and coaching team should come up with most of the answers, but an inexperienced owner and a club in chaos (like Chelsea) may not wish to part with a huge slice of their transfer budget on a player whose recent form and stats are unlikely to generate much enthusiasm.
But as much as Vlahovic's recent career trajectory is a mystery, it's not so long ago that his fine touch, unstoppable left-footed strikes, excellent link-up play and well-directed headers from his Fiorentina days placed him among the best strikers in Europe. It could be a risk that pays off.
TOTTENHAM
Rasmus Hojlund, 20, Atalanta
Without European football next season, Tottenham might have to settle for signing a player of potential rather than the finished article in the event that Kane departs.
Although the 20-year-old Hojlund has been linked with every top club in Europe over the past few months -- especially after scoring five goals in four games for Denmark since making his debut in September -- there are reasons why a move to Spurs may not be as ridiculous as it seems. Rather than being signed as a back-up, Hojlund should be high on the agenda for any coach who likes his forwards to press and play on the front foot -- as new Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou does.
The left-footed Hojlund is more of the speedy, physically robust, penetrative, "handful" kind of No. 9 -- and, yes, stylistic comparisons to Haaland have been made -- than the high-scoring all-rounder he could be replacing. Yet there's enough potential to work on to justify some tactical rejigging to fit him in.
JUVENTUS
Marcus Thuram, 25, Borussia Monchengladbach
With Vlahovic possibly on the way out, Arkadiusz Milik unlikely to stay and Moise Kean not guaranteed to score double figures, a new centre-forward appears an obvious part of Juventus' comprehensive summer rebuild.
Thuram won't be short of offers, given he is out of contract, and the France international has plenty of clubs to choose from. But he would offer Juve the attacking energy, freshness, directness and power they've been lacking this season.
Being confined to the Europa Conference League is not the ultimate selling point, but Juventus -- despite their current financial and legal troubles -- remain a prestigious name in European football. And who knows, perhaps a return to the city of his formative football years (he spent some childhood years in Turin, as his father Lilian established himself as a Juve legend) would count for something too?
Australia have flaws to exploit in the Ashes - Winfield-Hill
It is something she and her England team-mates have seen first-hand. The issue, however, has been an inability to take advantage when those flaws have presented themselves. Something must change to ensure the upcoming women's Ashes do not play to type.
Australia have triumphed in three out of the last four series, and arrive as defending World Champions in both ODI and T20I formats. Winfield-Hill herself has only tasted success in four of those 23 matches against them.
The tourists are undoubtedly favourites going into the multi-format series, which begins with a five-day Test match at Trent Bridge on June 22. The key for Winfield-Hill, however, is to ensure England approach the series without any baggage. Only then can England take the pressure moments that present themselves within games, something they have often failed to do in the past.
"There's absolutely nowhere to hide," said Winfield-Hill. "An Ashes series is the toughest thing you will ever play.
"I think the belief we have to connect with, and the thing we have to do better, is when they're a collective and we're a collective is to have a little bit more belief, get in the dogfight a little bit more. Probably the biggest difference in the past is not necessarily being skills, it's probably cricket smarts.
"But I think it's probably playing the game situation more logically and riding those high-pressure moments better than we have done in the past because when you look at previous Ashes series, they've just held on that little bit longer and then the pressure will subside and you get a window. Whereas we've potentially not held onto that and cracked too early and then the floodgates open.
"They have flaws as well. We've seen when they've been put under pressure in finals they've shown the same weaknesses if you can match them for long enough. It's relentless."
"You need balance," said Winfield-Hill. "A good changing room environment has good balance between senior players and youth. I think that is a really big thing, to have enough players that don't have battle scars, going in with that naivety that it is just cricket, there is no history because they haven't played in the Ashes before.
"It's a good thing, to be open-minded. They know what to expect because they have watched it, but it's different being out there. I think that's a strength of the squad. You can't hide, there are scars. We have had some really tough Ashes series in the past. You need youngsters to go in and give it a red hot crack because they don't have that history."
As for her own role this summer, the 32-year-old is more at ease. She expects to play some part, most likely in the three T20s sandwiched between the Test match and the three ODIs.
Winfield-Hill was part of the squad which travelled to South Africa for the T20 World Cup in February, although her last appearances for England were in four of the five T20Is on the tour of West Indies at the end of 2022 and she is not an England contracted player.
Following her stint for Oval Invincibles in the Hundred during the last English summer, she went on to play in the Big Bash League for Melbourne Stars, PSL and FairBreak Invitational tournament. That allowed her to continue testing herself against high-level opposition while her international appearances were limited. Without those competitions, she feels she would not have been able to regain her place in the England squad after being dropped midway through the 50-over World Cup early last year.
"Without the game growing in a franchise space I'd be long gone probably," Winfield-Hill said. "But because I had the opportunity to go and play in different competitions, I managed to just keep my foot in the door and they're obviously seen as well-respected competitions. If you score some decent runs in that you're obviously in a very good space."
Regarding for her role now, she senses a level of duty when it comes to England, who will name their Ashes squad next week. While she is focusing on getting the best out of herself, she acknowledges her status as a senior player and knows the importance of embracing it for the rest of the group.
"It's a fine line really because I'm not a constant in that England set-up, I'm not a contracted player anymore so it's just striking that balance.
"The youngsters, their job is to play, flourish and learn on the job really. I think the way I try to do it is just the way I am in terms of how I operate, how I communicate. I enjoy helping the youngsters on their way and I think a lot of the time it's not something that needs to be forced on you - you're a senior player so you have to be someone to look up to.
"You spend a lot of your career being really selfish and just wanting to punch out performances, don't you? And you're very tunnel vision in terms of 'I need a score' and I think something that's enabled me to play as well as I have the last couple of years is letting go of that. I'm still very ambitious, I still have lots of desire to keep playing for a long time but I have probably taken the pressure off myself. In terms of going into other environments as well, you can't just go in and be focused on yourself and your own job.
"You have to get around the new team, meet new people and help youngsters. I think that's been really good for me. I've played in quite a few teams - I keep thinking it's the teams but it's me getting old - where I am thinking there are loads of youngsters where actually I'm the common denominator here."
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
Seamers build on Steven Smith's ton to give Australia control
India 151 for 5 (Jadeja 48, Boland 1-29, Lyon 1-4) trail Australia 469 (Head 163, Smith 121, Siraj 4-108) by 318 runs
Australia's bowlers showed India just where they had gone wrong on day one, their quicks settling into the perfect length on a still helpful Oval pitch as their side took control of the World Test Championship final. By stumps on day two, Australia had reduced India to 151 for 5 in reply to their first-innings total of 469.
For all that, India's major issues came about not because they picked four quicks but because of how they bowled. On a pitch bouncier than the typical Indian surface, they needed to pitch the ball fuller than the traditional good length to challenge the stumps consistently and bring all modes of dismissal into play. They didn't do this consistently enough, and even though their bowlers fought back through the first half of day two to take 7 for 142, it perhaps came a little too late, because they had let Australia run away to 327 for 3 on day one.
Bowled out almost exactly halfway into the day's play, Australia's fast bowlers came out and showed how it's done, on a pitch that was now beginning to sport cracks all over its surface. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins overpitched frequently at the start of their new-ball spells, and Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill got off to a breezy start, but it seemed a matter of time before the quicks figured out the ideal length - full but not driveable.
Cummins hit this length with the last ball of the sixth over, nipping it in and trapping the half-forward Rohit in front. Then Scott Boland, a bowler seemingly designed in a lab to bowl in these conditions, bowled a wicked in-dipper - to follow nine probing dot balls to the two openers - that Gill fatally shouldered arms to.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli then put on 20 either side of tea, looking in good touch but always wary of the seam movement and occasional inconsistent bounce that characterised this surface, before Cameron Green produced a replica of the Boland ball that had bowled Gill. Pujara produced a replica of Gill's response, and India were 50 for 3, all of their top three either bowled or lbw.
It became 71 for 4 when the returning Starc joined the party with a vicious delivery to Kohli, slanted across from left-arm over and taking off from a length. Kohli, pressing onto the front foot, was in no position to negotiate it safely; all he could do was glove the ball to second slip.
Rahane could have fallen soon after, had Cummins not overstepped when he bowled a peach that straightened from that perfect fullish length to beat his outside edge and hit his back pad roughly in front of off stump. Rahane reviewed after being given out on the field, and replays picked up the no-ball; ball-tracking showed two reds and an umpire's call verdict on the line of impact.
Jadeja, who profited from Australia's bowlers - Starc in particular - overpitching frequently to him, rattled along at close to a run a ball, while Rahane, returning to Test cricket for the first time since January 2022, ticked over more sedately while looking just as fluent. India would have hoped their partnership extended to stumps; Lyon punctured those hopes, striking with his ninth ball of the match.
Things improved, though, with a sustained short-ball attack at Head's body finally yielding success when the left-hander gloved Siraj down the leg side on 163. Mohammed Shami then produced a beauty to send back the No. 6 Green, slanting a full ball in from wide of the crease to draw a loose drive away from the body.
Smith was next to go, pushing away from his body at an innocuous Shardul Thakur away-curler to play on for 121. India had struck three times before Australia reached 400, and may have hoped to wrap up their innings not too long after, but a counterattacking 48 from Alex Carey carried the score past 450. Carey rode his luck - particularly against Umesh Yadav who beat his bat repeatedly in a short spell after lunch - before he fell in familiar fashion, lbw attempting a reverse-sweep against a stump-to-stump delivery from Jadeja.
That was the only Australian wicket to fall to spin; Siraj ended as India's most successful bowler, finishing with figures of 4 for 108, while Shami and Thakur bagged two apiece.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
'We've worked out ways we can challenge him' - England prepare to target Smith
Ominous signs ahead of the Ashes? No doubt. But for a player with a Test average of 59.55 in these conditions - now 61.60 - who has 11 centuries against England, the hosts did not need a reminder of Smith's qualities ahead of next week's first Test at Edgbaston.
"He loves batting in England," Pope said. "It's obvious he knows these conditions, knows his game inside out. So there's a lot of respect for him."
Even with the 2-2 scoreline, the gap between the two sides four years ago was Smith-sized. As such, there are plans afoot to avoid a repeat.
Though Ben Stokes has preached about England solely focussing on themselves and carrying forward their expansive methods, plenty of analysis has gone into combatting Smith this time around. The onus seems to be on matching the batter's unorthodoxy with similar tactics with the ball and around field placings.
"There's also a lot of talented bowlers in our changing-room who have worked out ways we can challenge him - both edges as well," Pope said. "So, I think that's probably going to be the main thing for ourselves. Can't say too much but there's probably slightly different plans this time.
"He's been an amazing player for a long time and had a lot of success in all different conditions. But what we've been good at as a team is we've used different approaches, not necessarily hitting the top of off the whole time in getting wickets and finding ways to get 20 wickets in a match, whoever's batting.
"Steve Smith is a highly-skilled batter and scores a lot of runs. But I think, for him, we might be looking at even quirkier ways to challenge him, test him out and make him as uncomfortable as we possibly can to try and get his wicket."
There is hope England's style itself might prove a distraction. Speaking last month, Stuart Broad relished the idea of Smith dancing down the track and chipping to long-on through enticing him into some Bazball of his own.
"That's exactly the bubble that we've got to try and get him out of," Pope said. "He's got his routines - his slightly longer routines - before he faces each ball, and he won't be ready until he's done all those routines. And that's, again, what's made him successful is that stubbornness.
"We know exactly how he's going to operate, how he's going to want to score his runs and he's not going to move from that during this five-match series whether he scores runs in the first two or three matches or not. It's just knowing how he's gonna approach it and try and sit and negotiate that as best as we can."
Even with the focus on taking out Smith, Pope could not help but state his admiration for a rival. Particularly one who has his game down to a tee.
It is a state of being Pope is reaching. The 25-year-old believes his batting is "a lot better" than it was when he last played Australia on the 2021-22 tour. Pope averaged just 11.16 across three matches in the 4-0 defeat, and looked set for a spell out of the team coming into the 2022 summer.
But with Stokes taking over as captain and preaching a more positive approach, reinforced by head coach Brendon McCullum, Pope has thrived at No. 3. A maiden double-century last week against Ireland was his third three-figure score under Stokes, taking his average to 43.25 since the last summer. The career average after 36 caps is now a healthier 35.27.
He hopes that upward trend continues over the next couple month. And it will be no surprise if he takes a few cues from Smith given how highly he regards Australia's No. 4.
"Watching him go about his stuff other than when it's against us, I really enjoy watching him bat," Pope said. "I find it intriguing the way he does his angles and the way he changes his trigger for different bowlers - the way he negotiates different challenges in different conditions.
"From a pure cricket fan point of view, he's someone I respect. A player who averages 60 in recent times in Test cricket - it's amazing what he's done. I've got a lot of respect for him as a fellow batter.
"Hopefully he doesn't score too many against us. But what he's done in however long since his debut has been seriously impressive."
Ollie Pope was speaking on behalf of Radox, the Official Shower Gel of England Cricket #FeelRefreshedWithRadox
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
Big Ten unveils new football sked model for 2024
The Big Ten in 2024 will introduce a football schedule model that includes 11 protected matchups across the conference, eliminates divisions and targets a robust overall rotation as the league expands to 16 members with USC and UCLA.
The "Flex Protect Plus" model maintains a nine-game league schedule and contains both guaranteed annual matchups and rotating ones. Beginning in 2024, every conference pairing will take place at least twice in a four-year span, once at each member school's home stadium.
The list of annual protected matchups, which features historic rivalries and trophy games, varies in number between Big Ten teams.
The protected games are: Michigan-Ohio State, UCLA-USC, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Indiana-Purdue, Michigan State-Michigan, Iowa-Minnesota, Illinois-Northwestern, Iowa-Nebraska, Maryland-Rutgers, Iowa-Wisconsin and Illinois-Purdue. The Big Ten on Thursday announced all opponents for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, although specific dates will be finalized later.
Teams also will have opponents they play in both 2024 and 2025 -- called "two-plays" -- that will change for the 2026-27 cycle. For example, USC and Penn State will play in both seasons, as will UCLA and Nebraska.
Big Ten chief operating officer Kerry Kenny told ESPN that overall flexibility became the biggest priority with the schedule model, which generated about a year of discussion. The conference considered models that included no protected annual games, or 1-3 protected games per school, before deciding that a varied approach could preserve the most important pairings and create the best rotation so players could compete in every stadium. According to Kenny, the Big Ten reviewed 171 different versions within the Flex Protect Plus model.
"It's done in two-year increments, so that allows you to be a little bit more responsive to competitive trends, responsive to changes in the postseason model," Kenny said. "Look, we don't know how the CFP committee is going to evaluate teams in this expanded playoff, but we're pretty darn sure that this model that we're putting forward and the depth of the games and the quality of games, that's going to send a pretty strong and significant message."
The division-less model will feature the top two teams competing in the Big Ten championship game. Tiebreaker specifics will be announced at a later date. Since implementing the East and West divisions in 2014, the East division winner has won every Big Ten title.
Kenny said that while divisions had advantages, they also limited the frequency of compelling matchups. Under the current division model, Indiana-Purdue is the only protected annual cross-division matchup. Kenny said the Nebraska-Michigan series, where Michigan visited Nebraska in 2012 but did not go back until 2021, often came up in discussions.
"That's a nine-year gap for two historically competitive, some of the winningest programs in the history of the sport, and Michigan fans and Nebraska fans only got to experience that game in Lincoln twice since Nebraska joined the league," he said. "So competitive is important and postseason access and TV, but it comes down asking the question: 'What makes us a conference? What makes us feel like we're really tied together in a meaningful way?'
"Playing each other more and not less has some impact."
When examining different schedule models, the Big Ten asked its schools to list the most important matchups -- historic rivalries, regional games, trophy games -- that they would want protected annually in a non-division format. The schools then were asked about their "non-negotiables," Kenny said, as well as games they would like to play frequently but not annually.
Iowa, which first played both Minnesota and Wisconsin in the late 1890s, preserved both games along with Nebraska, a regional series that has been played the day after Thanksgiving since Nebraska joined the Big Ten.
Penn State, meanwhile, has zero annual protected opponents in the new model. The Penn State-Ohio State game has often shaped the league and CFP race, but will not be played in 2025 after taking place at Beaver Stadium in 2024.
"The more protected matchups you've included in the model, the less flexibility you had to create a really balanced model for everybody," Kenny said. "So 11 was where we capped it. Penn State doesn't have any protected matchups, but they see more teams three out of four years, the way that the model will be built moving forward, that might be a little more geographic to them."
USC's initial Big Ten schedule in 2024 will feature Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin at home, and Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue and UCLA on the road. UCLA's first Big Ten slate includes Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and USC at home, and Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Rutgers on the road.
Both newcomers will play every Big Ten school at least once by the end of the 2025 season, and every existing Big Ten team will play either at UCLA or at USC during the same span. Kenny said increased travel and a third time zone factored into the 2024 and 2025 opponents, as did avoiding repeat sites from the 2023 schedule and maintaining the alternating five-four split -- five league home games one year, four league home games the next.
"We needed to make sure that we did a good job of balancing not having really extreme travel distances for them, of one school having to go to their five furthest possible opponents in Year 1," Kenny said. "You have to balance Eastern time zone schools, Central time zone schools."
Michigan's 2024 trip to USC will mark its first since 1958. USC will visit Penn State for the first time since 1994.
UCLA will visit Michigan Stadium for the first time since 1996 and host Ohio State for the first time since 2001.
The Big Ten first introduced divisions in 2011 when Nebraska joined the league as its 12th member. The initial divisions, named Legends and Leaders, were formed to achieve competitive balance based on team performance data. Certain annual rivalries were sacrificed, like Wisconsin-Iowa.
But the division names drew widespread mockery, and the league scrapped them in 2013 and then went with the geographic designations, which began when Maryland and Rutgers entered the league in 2014.
Bud back as WC beer brand despite Qatar fiasco
Budweiser will still be the official World Cup beer through the 2026 tournament in North America, after brewer AB InBev renewed with FIFA on Thursday despite a troubled time with men's 2022 World Cup host Qatar.
Two days before the tournament began in Qatar, World Cup organizers withdrew a longstanding promise to let fans at stadiums buy beer with alcohol.
The move blindsided the brewer, whose Budweiser brand has been the World Cup beer since the 1986 tournament.
FIFA seemed unable to protect AB InBev under pressure from Qatar in a dispute that appeared to be a potential breach-of-contract issue for soccer's world body. The nation signed up to honor FIFA's commercial partners when it started bidding to be host in 2009.
Though sales of Budweiser dropped in stadiums, the global publicity over the dispute arguably boosted the brewer and left little doubt which brand was tied to the World Cup.
A renewal for the 2026 World Cup seemed a done deal even during the dispute in Doha. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said then that relations with AB InBev were good and handshakes had been exchanged before arriving in Qatar.
There was no mention of past problems Thursday in a FIFA statement confirming AB InBev would sponsor the Women's World Cup that kicks off next month in Australia and New Zealand, and the men's 2026 tournament that will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico and will increase to 104 games from 64.
"FIFA World Cup tournaments are the most popular sporting events in the world," AB InBev chief marketing officer Marcel Marcondes said. "We are deeply connected to the fans and to football all over the world, which is why we're excited about extending the relationship with FIFA."
The value of the renewal was not stated. The sponsorship was reported to be about $75 million for the previous World Cup.
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
