It has taken a while but Wales hooker Ken Owens will finally make his first British and Irish Lions Test start on Saturday in the series decider against South Africa.

Now after 82 Wales caps, which includes three World Cups, two Grand Slams and four Six Nations titles, the 34-year-old Scarlets skipper will at last have a treasured Lions number two jersey.

"It is my first start which I am hugely proud of and a Test series decider against the world champions is right up there as one of the biggest games in my career," said Owens.

"Starting is a slightly different role but the fundamentals of the game are the same. The way we are going to want to start this Test match is very similar to creating that impact around the team later on.

"It's about being accurate, bringing that energy early on and making sure the set-piece is in a good place to give us the opportunity to do what we want to do."

Owens will pack down in the front row alongside Scarlets team-mate Wyn Jones who was due to make his Lions Test debut in the first match before a shoulder injury ruled him out of the opening two games.

"I was hugely proud of Wyn getting the call in the first place and devastated a couple of days later when he was ruled out," said Owens.

"I'm glad he's managed to get himself back to fitness and got that starting jersey. He has been outstanding for Scarlets and Wales over the last couple of years and it's great to have the opportunity to play for the Lions."

Owens knows though that, along with Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong, trying to gain at least parity with the strong Springboks scrum presents its challenges for the new-look Lions trio.

"We know the challenge they bring, it is something they pride themselves on and something we pride ourselves on," said Owens.

"The set piece was pretty good the week before, we didn't get some stuff right last week so we know there are fixes.

"Myself and Wyn come into start and freshen things up. It's is going to be a huge challenge for us but we are confident in our ability."

The last two Lions series have gone to a decider with the tourists defeating Australia convincingly eight years ago when Alun Wyn Jones was captain for the Sydney success and Warren Gatland was head coach.

"Alun Wyn and Warren have been there and done it, they've seen it all," added Owens.

"Having them around the place and their experience, it's huge. It's rubbed off on everybody in the way we've prepared and everyone has been committed to this week. That has been led by Warren and Alun Wyn.

"Warren is very calm, he knows how to get the best out of the players whether it's a small conversation here or there.

"He has been at his best with that stuff this week. You can sense the confidence and experience he brings by the way he enters team meetings and the way he talks."

Owens was involved heavily in the series decider four years ago against New Zealand. He was caught up in a late controversial incident that saw the All Blacks awarded a scrum rather than a penalty after the Wales hooker was deemed offside.

The match ended in a draw and the series was tied. That levelled series scenario will be the same again this weekend with no plans for extra time, despite Gatland hinting this week it could be something that is looked at.

"It was strange right at the end of the game against New Zealand, everybody not really knowing what was happening but they were the rules," said Owens.

"We haven't spoken about a draw this week for us. We are concentrating on the victory."

Despite the Springboks' dominance last weekend when they levelled the series, Owens insists success for the Lions is possible.

"The confidence is still there and we know and trust our processes and what we are trying to achieve," said Owens.

"We are here for a huge decider and are in a good place. We know the challenge coming from South Africa because they are going in the same position, so it all bodes well for a great finale."

The New Jersey Devils have signed free-agent forward Tomas Tatar to a two-year, $9 million contract, general manager Tom Fitzgerald announced Thursday.

Tatar had been a bit of a throw-in -- with Nick Suzuki -- when he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens by the Vegas Golden Knights for Max Pacioretty in September 2018. While Suzuki has become what the Canadiens were hoping, Tatar has exceeded expectations.

The 30-year-old has scored at least 20 goals six times in his 10-year career, most recently with the Canadiens in 2019-20, when he had a career-high 61 points and led the team in both categories.

But his playoff performance leaves something to be desired. He had only two goals in 10 games in 2019-20. This season, he had one assist in five games and was a healthy scratch in the other 17 games as the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Final.

Tatar is coming off a four-year deal with a cap hit of $5.3 million. He entered the NHL as a second-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.

The Colorado Rapids have finalized a transfer to send United States international left-back Sam Vines to Royal Antwerp in Belgium.

After completing his medical evaluation, Vines will sign a three-year contract with one option year, Royal Antwerp announced Thursday. The transfer fee was undisclosed.

Er is een akkoord tussen Colorado Rapids & RAFC omtrent Sam Vines! ??
De linksback legt zijn medische testen af en zal nadien een contract voor 3 seizoenen ondertekenen met één jaar optie! ❤️?#RAFC #OneRedFamily pic.twitter.com/OCMDTRzlfj

— Royal Antwerp FC (@official_rafc) August 5, 2021

Vines, 22, made his debut for the Rapids in 2018 and has appeared in 53 games in the past four seasons, including 49 starts, and quickly established himself as one of the best left-backs in Major League Soccer.

He received his first cap with the national team against Costa Rica in 2020, and played a significant role for the United States during its recent run in the Gold Cup, where it beat Mexico, 1-0, in the final. He appeared in all six matches and scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against Haiti in the opener.

Vines is the latest in a growing list of MLS Homegrown players to make the jump to Europe this season, joining FC Dallas midfielder Tanner Tessmann, who moved to Venezia FC in Italy's Serie A and is expected to be joined by Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio imminently.

Real Madrid are considering taking legal action against LaLiga and CVC Capital Partners after the Spanish league agreed to sell 10% of its business to the investment fund for €2.7 billion, sources have told ESPN.

Barcelona are pouring over the finer details of the deal with CVC, which LaLiga announced on Wednesday, sources have told ESPN, because they have doubts about voting it through at the general assembly on Aug. 12.

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The league's executive committee have already unanimously approved the sale, but it must be ratified at the general assembly next week.

League sources said that despite the concerns some clubs have about the deal, they believe it will be voted through because only two-thirds of the 42 voting clubs in the top two tiers of Spanish football must be in favour.

Spanish news outlet El Independiente first reported on Thursday that Madrid were weighing up taking action for asset misappropriation. The report said that Madrid feel the sale "endangers" their business opportunities by allowing CVC to take make money from, for example, television rights without the club agreeing to the deal.

For their initial investment, CVC will pocket 11% of the money raised by LaLiga through the sale of television rights and sponsorship for the next 40 years.

El Independiente also added that Barca and a third club, Athletic Bilbao, were in opposition to the sale.

Sources at Madrid have told ESPN there's been no definitive decision yet but confirmed they are looking at what legal action is available to them.

They feel they have managed their finances well in the wake of the pandemic and that a quick cash fix now goes against their interests while benefitting other clubs. They also want a more exhaustive explanation to the clubs about the agreement and what it means long-term beyond the short-term injection of funds.

The money raised from the sale will be distributed among the clubs in the form of a loan, repayable over a significant number of years. The payments will be based on the contributions the clubs have had since the centralisation of audiovisual rights in 2015, with Madrid allocated around €261 million and Barca €270m.

The clubs must spend at least 70% of the money on investments related to long-term growth, 15% on refinancing their debt and 15% can be used to increase their league-imposed spending limits.

Barca would appear to be one of the clubs to gain the most from the agreement as they have been badly hit by the pandemic financially. The investment would increase their league-imposed spending limit and could help to register Lionel Messi's new contract with the league.

However, sources at Barcelona say they are not so certain the deal will be "beneficial" for the club.

League sources say they don't understand Barca's doubts because, according to them, they have held various meetings with the Catalan club this summer and president Joan Laporta had been well briefed on LaLiga's intentions by the league's president, Javier Tebas.

Meanwhile, Athletic's opposition is down to the club's philosophy of not signing players from outside the Basque Country and Navarra. Therefore, they would not see the benefits that other clubs may reap because they're working in a much more limited market.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him with the conference through 2026, it was announced Thursday.

The extension comes on the heels of Sankey overseeing the addition of Big 12 powers Oklahoma and Texas to the conference last week. The Sooners and Longhorns will bring the total number of SEC teams to 16 in 2025.

"College athletics is in the midst of a transformational period, and the SEC is fortunate to have a highly impactful leader to guide us forward at this critical time in our history," conference president Jere Morehead, the University of Georgia president, said in a statement.

"He has effectively introduced change and advancement for the conference while respecting the institutional traditions that make the SEC unique. His leadership and ability to foster collaboration through the COVID-19 pandemic helped establish a framework for all of college sports, and those leadership skills will be critical as we move forward with change in the years ahead."

Sankey, 57, took over as the SEC's eighth commissioner after Mike Slive stepped down in 2015. Slive died in 2018.

In December, Sankey helped broker a 10-year agreement with Disney that will give ABC and ESPN exclusive broadcast rights to SEC football and basketball games starting in 2024-25 and continuing through 2033-34.

"I am grateful for the support of the SEC's presidents and chancellors, and for the continuing opportunity to serve our universities while supporting the student-athletes of the Southeastern Conference," Sankey said in a statement. "We are in the midst of a time of change for college athletics, and I look forward to working with the SEC's campus leaders to identify a path forward that will sustain the incredible success of our Conference and provide opportunities for young people to grow academically and challenge themselves athletically."

Sankey now finds himself as one of the longest-tenured Power 5 commissioners in college athletics -- second only to the Big 12's Bob Bowlsby, who was introduced in 2012.

In the past two years, the Big Ten hired Kevin Warren, the ACC hired Jim Phillips and the Pac-12 hired George Kliavkoff to lead their respective conferences.