Josh Harris, who reached an agreement to buy the Washington Commanders last month, will meet with the NFL's finance committee Wednesday, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.

It's another step towards a possible vote by NFL owners to approve the sale this summer.

Harris has been working with the NFL to make the required adjustments to his offer to complete the sale, a source told ESPN. He'll meet with the eight finance committee members in New York.

The Washington Post first reported the meeting.

At the owners meetings last month, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, a member of the finance committee, said Harris needed to get in compliance with NFL guidelines -- from the debt load to the amount of equity in the offer. A prospective owner must have a 30% equity stake in the team and can't take on more than $1.1 billion in debt.

The Harris group also has 20 limited partners, according to a source, and each one must be vetted for financial and security reasons.

A spokesman for the Harris group declined comment.

Harris signed an exclusive agreement with Dan and Tanya Snyder on May 12 to buy the Commanders for a record $6.05 billion, pending approval by NFL owners. It topped an offer by Steve Apostolopoulos of $6 billion.

Last year, the Walton family reached an agreement to buy the Denver Broncos on June 7 for $4.65 billion. They had only three limited partners. The owners didn't vote to approve until Aug. 9.

Multiple sources familiar with the process have expected Harris' deal to be completed, citing the motivation by owners to move on from Snyder as well as for Harris to buy his hometown team.

Harris was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and attended high school in Washington, D.C. Sources have said the Snyders are motivated to move on as well.

It remains uncertain when the sale will be completed, though if all goes well Wednesday -- the committee will also meet separately in subsequent weeks -- it could be resolved this summer and possibly before training camp opens in late July.

Irsay said last month that a special session could be scheduled sometime after July 4.

Once it's recommended for approval, Harris would need votes from 24 of the 32 owners.

"I think we'll get it to a place where it will be approved," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last month.

All-NBA forward Julius Randle underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle and is expected to be ready for the New York Knicks' training camp in the fall, the team announced Saturday.

The procedure, which was performed Friday and considered successful, will allow Randle to resume basketball activities later this summer and be fully recovered for the start of the 2023-24 season, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

Randle played through two significant ankle sprains in the final stages of the Knicks' season when he became aware of the probable need for surgery, but he decided to push through the injury to remain in the lineup for New York's run to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

After playing the first 77 games of the season, Randle missed the regular season's last five games with the first sprained ankle. He reinjured the ankle in Game 5 of the first-round series against Cleveland, and eventually missed his lone game of the playoffs: Game 1 vs. Miami in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Randle averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds during the regular season, earning All-NBA and All-Star honors for the second time in his Knicks career.

Briton Neal Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have reached the French Open men's doubles quarter-finals.

Reaching the last eight equals Skupski's best result at Roland Garros, while Koolfhof made the semi-finals in 2020.

Neither have won a men's doubles Grand Slam title.

The British-Dutch pairing broke in the penultimate game of the match, which lasted eight minutes and proved to be crucial.

Also on Saturday in the men's doubles, Briton Joe Salisbury will play his third-round match with American partner Rajeev Ram. The second seeds take on Argentinian pairing Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, who are the 14th seeds.

Jamie Murray is also in action with partner Michael Venus of New Zealand, taking on third seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Jean-Julien Rojer from the Netherlands.

Skupski will return to the court later on Saturday with Mexican partner Giuliana Olmos in the mixed doubles. They are the third seeds and face Indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi and Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop in the second round.

Lloyd Glasspool and American Asia Muhammad face the fifth seeds in their second-round match against Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Australian Matthew Ebden.

Fourth seed Casper Ruud came from behind to end Zhang Zhizhen's hopes of making Chinese tennis history at the French Open.

Norway's Ruud will next face Chile's Nicolas Jarry or American Marcos Giron.

A runner-up here last year, Ruud is seeking a first Grand Slam title.

Among the other seeds playing on Saturday at Roland Garros is Danish world number six Holger Rune, with the 20-year-old taking on Argentina's Genaro Alberto Olivieri, who at 231 in the world is the lowest-ranked player to reach the third round in Paris this year.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina pulled out of the French Open shortly before her third-round match because of illness.

"I was not sleeping well two days. I had fever, headache," she said.

"It's difficult to perform, to run and even breathe. So I think that was the only right decision I could make."

Rybakina, seeded fourth, was seen as a main contender for the clay-court Grand Slam, having won the recent Italian Open and breezed through her opening two matches without dropping a set.

Rybakina is part of the emerging 'big three' on the WTA Tour, alongside Polish world number one Iga Swiatek and Belarusian world number two Aryna Sabalenka, with the trio having won the past four Grand Slam titles between them.

They are the leading players on the WTA Tour this season, although Rybakina is still fourth in the 52-week rankings - behind American Jessica Pegula - after not receiving points for winning Wimbledon last year.

Two-time French Open champion Swiatek plays her third-round match in Paris later on Saturday, while Australian Open champion Sabalenka is already through to the last 16.

"Of course I'm really upset not be able to play, but I guess that's life. There is a lot of ups and downs," said Rybakina.

"I wanted to give 100%, and obviously I'm far from being 100%.

"I was already not feeling good yesterday and the day before, so I didn't sleep two nights and had some fever.

"I really tried on the warm-up, but I feel that the right decision is to withdraw, because it's really tough to play with these conditions."

Sorribes Tormo, ranked 126th in the world after injury problems last year, moves into the fourth round and will take on Russian 23rd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova or Brazilian 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

London Irish have been served a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs over an unpaid tax bill.

But on Friday petitions were filed at the High Court against London Irish Holdings Limited and London Irish Rugby Football Ground Limited.

Irish could yet be suspended from the top flight of English rugby.

For the club to avoid suspension, they must complete a takeover or demonstrate they have the funding to operate for the entire 2023-24 season.

The winding-up petition came on the day that the UK government appointed independent advisers to support rugby union bosses as they attempt to preserve the future of the professional game after the failures of Worcester and Wasps last season.

HMRC would not comment specifically on London Irish but a spokesperson said: "We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and only file winding-up petitions once we've exhausted all other options, in order to protect taxpayers' money."

As part of the Rugby Football Union's latest 6 June takeover deadline, the Exiles have been told they must ensure the May payroll for all staff and players is paid in full - with only 50% received so far.

An American consortium is in discussions to take over the the club, who have debts in the region of £30m, but has yet to provide proof of funds to the RFU, as well as other documentation needed for the purchase to be approved.

The 2023 Stanley Cup Final begins with Game 1 between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers on Saturday night.

As a service to those fans who haven't been following every shot, save and overtime thriller of the 2023 NHL postseason, here is the lapsed fan's guide to the Stanley Cup Final -- a quick primer on the conference champs, how they got here and what to look out for in the series.

More: Playoff Central
Tale of the tape
Mega preview
Experts picks
Conn Smythe Watch

When was the last time these teams were in the Stanley Cup Final?

The Panthers last played for the Stanley Cup in 1996, the third year of their existence, when they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

The Golden Knights made the Stanley Cup Final in the first season of their existence, losing to the Washington Capitals in 2018.

Do they have history?

On the ice, not really. The Golden Knights are 6-3-1 against Florida all-time, including 5-0 in Vegas. Off the ice, they do have one unique connection. During the 2017 expansion draft, then-Panthers GM Dale Tallon exposed forward Jonathan Marchessault, who was coming off a 30-goal season. That was enticement for the Golden Knights to then trade for forward Reilly Smith, whose five-year contract extension was set to kick in that season for Florida.

It would go down as one of the biggest blunders of the expansion draft. Marchessault and Smith became foundational players for Vegas and remain on the team to this day. Marchessault is their second leading scorer in the playoffs and has scored 348 points, including 150 goals, in 432 games with Vegas.

How are the Panthers playing for the Stanley Cup?

The team couldn't repeat its results from last season, dropping 30 points in the standings and needing a Pittsburgh Penguins collapse at the end of the season to secure the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Their reward: a first-round meeting with the Boston Bruins, who had just set new NHL records for wins (65) and points (135) in a single season.

But the Panthers knew better than anyone that winning the President's Trophy doesn't promise anything in the postseason. Down 3-1 to the Bruins, star forward Matthew Tkachuk scored an overtime goal in Game 5 on the road to give Florida new life. Their wild 7-5 win back in Sunrise led to a Game 7 in Boston, where forward Carter Verhaeghe's overtime goal left the Bruins and the rest of TD Garden in stunned silence, completing one of the biggest upsets in Stanley Cup playoffs history.

The Panthers never looked back after that, going 11-1 to win the Eastern Conference in spectacular fashion.

The Toronto Maple Leafs won their first playoff series since 2004 before meeting Florida, and many felt the lifting of their burden could lead to their first Stanley Cup win since 1967. The Panthers had other plans, thanks to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

He entered the postseason in Game 3 against the Bruins after Alex Lyon earned the first three starts in that series. In Game 1 and 2 in Toronto, he stopped 69 of 73 shots to lead Florida in two straight wins. They'd take the series in five games. A week later, Toronto parted ways with its general manager Kyle Dubas.

To kick off the Eastern Conference final, the Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes played one of the most memorable games in NHL history: a four-overtime thriller totaling 139 minutes and 47 seconds, the sixth-longest game in NHL history. Tkachuk scored the game-winner in Game 1; he'd do the same in overtime of Game 2 and then again with five seconds left in regulation in Game 4 to complete a sweep of the Hurricanes.

"Who else, right?" defenseman Aaron Ekblad said of Tkachuk. "What he's done [this season] is unexplainable."

Where did playoff hero Matthew Tkachuk come from?

The last 12 months have been quite a ride for the Panthers. They won the President's Trophy in 2021-22 with the NHL's best regular-season record and then won their first playoff round since 1996. But then the Tampa Bay Lightning swept the Panthers in Round 2, which meant the end for Florida interim head coach Andrew Brunette. Florida hired former Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice, who has now coached the fourth most games in NHL history (1,767).

But the real stunner last offseason was a blockbuster trade: Florida sent leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau and top-pairing defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames for star winger Tkachuk, who had informed them that he didn't intend to sign another contract with the team.

Florida GM Bill Zito had been talking with Huberdeau on an extension, but he said that Tkachuk was a "unicorn" player: Offensively dominant, defensively strong, an agitator on the ice and a superstar personality off the ice.

Tkachuk immediately inked an eight-year deal when traded to the Panthers, giving Florida a 25-year-old player coming off a 100-point season.

He had 109 points for Florida, and is a finalist for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.

The Panthers have a collection of strong offensive players. Captain Aleksander Barkov is considered one of the NHL's most complete talents. Forwards Sam Reinhart (seven goals), Verhaeghe (six goals) and Sam Bennett (four goals) have been playoff difference-makers.

But Tkachuk has blossomed into a superstar during the playoffs, from his goal celebrations to his recent hang with Shaq and Charles Barkley on TNT's NBA pregame show. He has been a leader on the ice and their motivator off the ice, keeping the team in its underdog mindset, like when he said of facing Boston: "It's going to take pretty much a perfect effort to win one game in the series against everything they have over there."

They'd win four of them.

How are the Golden Knights playing for the Stanley Cup?

After missing the playoffs for the first time in their short franchise history in 2021-22, the Golden Knights fired head coach Pete DeBoer and hired Bruce Cassidy, who had just been axed by the Bruins. They'd finish with 111 points, atop both the Pacific Division and the Western Conference as a whole.

Cassidy helped bring a better defensive structure to the Knights, which certainly helped them during a tumultuous year with their goaltending. Starter Robin Lehner missed the season with offseason hip surgery. The Knights used five goalies in the regular season, from rookie Logan Thompson to former Los Angeles Kings star Jonathan Quick. Laurent Brossoit started in the playoffs for Vegas before he was injured in the second round, leading to Adin Hill taking the crease.

The Knights' run to the Stanley Cup Final has been dominant at times, but without the epic moments that defined the Panthers' run in the East.

They made short work of the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, taking the series against an injury-diminished opponent in five games. The Edmonton Oilers were next, as stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl sought their first Stanley Cup. Players like center William Karlsson mitigated the Edmonton superstars' impact -- Draisaitl had only one assist in the last four games of the series -- while the Knights outscored the Oilers 15-9 at even strength to earn a six-game series win.

"Our 5-on-5 game, I think it's been good all year," Marchessault said. "We were down 1-0 and 2-1 quite often in that series and we battled back."

In the Western Conference final, they met an old friend: DeBoer, now coaching the Dallas Stars, who eliminated the Seattle Kraken in seven games. Vegas won two overtime games at home to open the series and then humiliated the Stars on the road in Game 3. The Golden Knights scored three times in the first 7:10 of the game, thanks in part to Dallas captain Jamie Benn's ejection for cross-checking Vegas captain Mark Stone in the jaw, for which he earned a two-game suspension. They chased starter Jake Oettinger and cruised to a 3-0 series lead.

The Stars battled back without their captain to win twice, but he returned in Game 6 only to see the Golden Knights humble them again with three first-period goals en route to a 6-0 shutout for Hill and a six-game series win.

"I think Vegas went to another level," DeBoer said.

The next level? Playing for the Cup for the second time.

Are these the same Knights as the expansion team that made the Final?

Back in 2018, the expansion Golden Knights shocked the sports world by making the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Capitals. Of course, the sports world at large didn't realize that the NHL's changes to its expansion draft rules allowed Vegas to put together a pretty solid team -- both in selecting players and leveraging those rules to force teams into unbalanced trades.

The general manager from that team, George McPhee, is now president of hockey operations. His assistant GM back then, Kelly McCrimmon, is now the general manager. Six current Golden Knights played during that remarkable postseason: Forwards William Carrier, Karlsson, Smith and Marchessault; as well as defensemen Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore.

"The first trip was just kind of overwhelming. You've never been there before. Maybe you took it for granted a little bit back then," Karlsson said after Vegas eliminated Dallas. "Five years later, there's been ups and downs. You realize that this opportunity doesn't come around too often."

The intervening years saw the Golden Knights make some tough choices with beloved personnel from that "Golden Misfits" team, jettisoning players like Marc-Andre Fleury, Nate Schmidt and Alex Tuch. But in the process, they added big-contract stars from other teams like defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and center Jack Eichel.

What's the most compelling matchup in the Stanley Cup Final?

The superficial answer is Eichel vs. Tkachuk, as two of the biggest American-born stars in the NHL face off for their first Stanley Cup wins -- the kind of matchup that has fans crossing their fingers that the NHL returns to the Winter Olympics in 2026, to join a generation of American stars as teammates.

But the most compelling matchup of the Final is in goal. Bobrovsky, or "Playoff Bob" as he's known, has gone 11-2 with a .935 save percentage and a 2.21 goals-against average. He's been absolutely dominant for the last two rounds, allowing two goals or fewer in eight of nine games. He signed a monster seven-year, $70 million contract in 2019 that the two-time Vezina Trophy winner hadn't lived up to yet. Winning the Stanley Cup would certainly rewrite that narrative.

On the other side of the ice is 27-year-old Canadian-born goalie Adin Hill. He's never been a starter. He played 27 games in the regular season. It's his crease now because Brossoit was hurt in Game 3 against Edmonton, but Hill has owned it: 7-3 with a .937 save percentage and a 2.07 goals-against average.

"I've worked very hard my whole life to get to the NHL and to be here," Hill said. "It's exciting being on a team that's this good and has chance to really do it all, I'm grateful and I'm excited about it."

What's the biggest X factor in the series?

It has to be rust vs. rest for the Panthers.

The Panthers last played on May 24. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Panthers' nine-day break between games before the Stanley Cup Final is tied for the fourth longest in NHL history. The teams ahead of them are the 1919 Montreal Canadiens, whose Final was cancelled after five games because of the flu epidemic; and the 2019 Boston Bruins and 2003 Anaheim Ducks, who both lost the Cup in seven games.

Florida has been riding a wave of momentum. They win a four-overtime game and then come back to win another overtime game, that kind of thing. Maurice acknowledged that this break probably breaks that momentum, too.

"There's a challenge to this. You can't stay in that emotional environment that you are," he said. Yet there's also a benefit to it that the Knights won't have.

"But an opportunity is to heal up players," Maurice said. "We'll take the rest. If it takes us a while to get into it, we have to hold water until we do."

Who are the top playoff MVP candidates?

The Conn Smythe Trophy is based on a player's performance during the entire postseason, not just the championship round. The award is voted on by an 18-person panel of Professional Hockey Writers Association members.

In our poll of potential voters, Tkachuk had a slight lead on Bobrovsky on the Panthers' side. Eichel lead all Golden Knights players, followed by Marchessault, Hill and Karlsson.

Keep in mind the Conn Smythe has been awarded to a player on the losing team in the Stanley Cup Final five times, although not since Jean-Sebastien Giguere in 2003.

Finally, should this be a competitive series?

Absolutely. These are two teams that compete hard, play physically and have dominated opponents during their respective runs. The Golden Knights have been building to this moment since they entered the league in 2017 -- their owner, Bill Foley, said at the time that he wanted to win a Stanley Cup within six years. The Panthers could be a team of destiny based on their journey to the Final.

Whoever wins, it'll be for the first time, and that alone makes for a fascinating series.

Carlo Ancelotti has said he has "no doubts" that Karim Benzema's future lies at Real Madrid after ESPN reported that the forward had decided to leave the club and accept an offer from Saudi Arabia.

Benzema, 35, had been expected to stay at Madrid until June 2024, but it emerged this week that he was considering a lucrative move to Saudi side Al Ittihad.

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The forward would not be drawn on the subject during an award ceremony in Madrid on Thursday, telling Marca that "for the time being I'm here" and "reality isn't the internet."

"Benzema is ready to play tomorrow," Ancelotti said on Saturday, in a news conference ahead of Madrid's final LaLiga game of the season against Athletic Club. "He has another year on his contract. So I think we have no doubts here."

It had been widely reported that Benzema's contract at Madrid had been extended by another year -- until 2024 -- after he won the 2022 Ballon d'Or, but that extension has not been made official.

"[Benzema] is right. Reality isn't the internet," Ancelotti said. "I'm not good with technology ... The media is very important, but we have to deal with this well. I agree with Karim that the internet isn't reality."

Benzema has struggled with persistent injuries this season -- missing the 2022 World Cup with a hamstring problem -- but has still managed 18 goals in 23 LaLiga appearances.

"Club legends should retire at Real Madrid," Ancelotti said. "That's the thought of all Real Madrid fans, and of the club. Then you have the personal thoughts of a player ... but it's my thought personally, and the club and the fans."

Ancelotti was asked about reports linking Tottenham Hotspur and England forward Harry Kane with a move to the Santiago Bernabeu to replace Benzema.

"I've said many times that Harry Kane is a great player," he said. "But he's a Tottenham player. We have to respect the player, and Tottenham too."

Madrid are facing a busy summer. Marco Asensio, who is out of contract this summer, confirmed on Saturday that he would be leaving, after eight years at the club, when his contract expires -- ESPN reported this week that the forward has been in talks with Paris Saint-Germain -- while the contracts of midfielder Dani Ceballos and defender Nacho Fernandez are both up this month.

"There are players here with contracts, and players whose contracts are up," Ancelotti said. "Next season we'll have a different squad. But the squad will be very competitive."

Madrid won the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup this season but were eliminated by Manchester City in the Champions League semifinals and will kick off on Sunday 11 points behind LaLiga champions Barcelona.