As break-ups go, Wayne Rooney's split with D.C. United seemed to come out of nowhere.

Rooney arrived in the nation's capital just over 12 months ago and almost immediately achieved icon status with the DCU faithful, scoring 12 goals and adding seven assists to spark the Black-and-Red to an unlikely spot in the MLS playoffs.

He has been similarly effective in 2019 and D.C. is in postseason contention, but Tuesday brought the news that Rooney, who still had two-and-a-half years to run on a contract that sees him earn a $3.5 million salary in 2019-20, will join English Championship side Derby County in a player-coach role when the winter transfer window opens in January. A source told ESPN that the move will see the 33-year-old take a pay cut.

DCU co-owner and CEO Jason Levien confirmed to ESPN FC much of what transpired and had been reported in recent days: While Rooney continues to enjoy life in MLS, his family had found it difficult to settle and is eager for a return to England. Rooney took a short trip home after a July 18 match against FC Cincinnati to not only heal some nagging injuries but get in some family time. Upon his return, he expressed concerns.

"When [Rooney] came back he said he had a strong desire to return home, and not just to the U.K., but to his house where he lives, and didn't know if he was going to be able to continue after this season, or for the full [length] of his contract," said Levien, who noted Rooney had "never lived outside of a 30-40-mile radius his entire life until he came to Washington."

"We talked about that," Levien added, "and the personal side of it, and what it meant for the club and what it meant for him, and how we could accept that and make the best out of the situation for everybody, and be supportive of what was going on with his personal life, his need to move back home."

During last week's All-Star Game festivities, player and club plotted a way forward. Derby County's situation, with Philip Cocu newly installed as manager, appealed to Rooney, who desires to get into coaching, and the broad strokes of a deal were hashed out over the weekend with the club's CEO, Steve Pearce. Rooney flew to England on Monday night and finalized the move the following day.

"The opportunity came up for me to join Derby County in January, as a player but also as a coach, which was important to start that transition for the next stage of my career," Rooney said in an interview with DCU's website. "But also for my family and myself to be back in England around our extended family and friends was part of the reason also."

D.C. United sources confirmed that there is no transfer fee involved in the deal and that the marketing agreement attached to Rooney's contract, which has been reported as a seven-year deal worth $2.5m, will no longer apply. The team is exploring a "different relationship" with the player, according to one source.

Rooney will leave behind enduring memories, like the Herculean effort last season against Orlando City when, with his goalkeeper committed upfield, he tackled the ball away from Will Johnson at midfield, then turned and dribbled before launching a laser-guided cross that Luciano Acosta headed home for the game winner.

In conjunction with the opening of Audi Field, Rooney helped galvanize a franchise that had been stuck in the doldrums, content to exist on a shoestring budget as efforts to get a stadium plodded along. Further, he gave the team considerable cachet in the crowded D.C. sports market.

One certainly can't begrudge Rooney for putting his family first, but while there does not appear to be any acrimony over his departure, there is a sense that his contribution will be less than it might have been; not because he performed poorly, just not long enough. It also leaves the impression that DCU's momentum has been arrested.

"Legacies come from winning trophies," Rooney admitted this week, and that he is not leaving immediately means there is time to add to his American story. Ben Olsen's side is fourth in the Eastern Conference and targeting a playoff run, but this news dents optimism and that trend will continue if Acosta, whose contract is up at the end of the season, also departs. Further, the loans of Bill Hamid, Leonardo Jara and Lucas Rodriguez expire at the end of the 2019 campaign.

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Levien, though, does not believe that DCU's upward trajectory will be overly affected.

"We never thought that Wayne was going to stay here forever," said Levien. "We anticipated probably being here the full length of his agreement with us, but we're good and we're in a very different place than before Wayne arrived. We've got our stadium, we've got a lot of momentum from that. We've grown our fan base, we've grown the visibility of our club in a big way the last two seasons. We don't plan to rest on our laurels or stop there. We want to take it to a whole new level."

Hours after Rooney's move was announced, DCU traded for Felipe Martins. It has also lined up the signing of forward Ola Kamara and sources confirmed a Washington Post report of talks with Argentine midfielder Mateo Garcia over a $3 million transfer. The reported interest in Mesut Ozil, while tantalizing, represents a very different value proposition.

While those moves will soften the impact of Rooney's eventual departure, more needs to be done. The former England captain represented a unique opportunity in terms of name recognition and ability and in the last 12 months proved his worth on and off the field. The extent to which Kamara, Garcia or any others pick up slack is not yet known.

Before his sacking last year, Jose Mourinho would often dismiss change at Manchester United as having come "too late" and their £80m signing of Harry Maguire on Monday will not have changed his opinion.

Maguire was one of the few defensive targets Mourinho and United's recruitment team agreed about last summer -- the Portuguese boss even made a personal plea after the 2018 World Cup -- but the club felt Leicester were asking for too much money and talks never got off the ground.

Fast forward 12 months and Maguire is finally a United player. After an initial phone call in May, it took more than two months for executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and chief negotiator Matt Judge to talk Leicester down from £85 million, plus another £10m in add-ons, to the £80m they agreed upon.

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After a breakthrough in talks on Friday, the 26-year-old signed a six-year contract at Old Trafford a few days later, with the option of another 12 months. It is the longest deal United have ever offered a player and the fee paid is a world record for a defender.

In an inflated market, though, United feel they have got a fair deal for a proven Premier League performer and England international. There are several reasons why.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted to bring in a player with leadership qualities. Having played alongside Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel and Denis Irwin, the United boss felt the dressing room lacked focus and direction.

Privately, Solskjaer is already talking about Maguire as a future club captain. He will wear the No. 5 shirt and is seen as what United staff call an "attitude leader"; the club were impressed that he did not bring an entourage when he arrived at Carrington for his medical at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, only his agent Kenneth Shepherd.

After completing four hours of tests and a lengthy MUTV interview, Maguire chose to spend a quiet evening at the Lowry Hotel while his girlfriend, Fern Hawkins, went out in Manchester. No wild celebrations, just focus on the job at hand.

United had reason to be happy, though. Manchester City were also interested in Maguire and it was telling that, after Sunday's Community Shield, Pep Guardiola made a point of congratulating his club's crosstown rivals before saying that City "could not afford" the £80m fee.

Good on the ball and with a talent for driving into midfield from the back, Maguire is a Guardiola-type player, but his arrival at Old Trafford is evidence that Solskjaer is trying to change the way United play.

The new man and Victor Lindelof will first-choice at centre-back, with the idea that attacks will start from United's half, rather than from direct balls into Romelu Lukaku, who might leave the club this month, or Marouane Fellaini, who departed in January.

Maguire's arrival could impact other central defenders, who include Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, Marcos Rojo and, specifically, Chris Smalling, who was jettisoned from the England squad by Gareth Southgate after 31 caps because he is not as good on the ball as, among others, Maguire.

Smalling did not play a minute of United's final two friendlies against Kristiansund and Milan -- before Maguire had arrived -- and while the new contract he signed in December means he could refuse to move, it would not be a surprise if he was left out of the matchday squad when Chelsea visit Old Trafford to kick off the Premier League season on Sunday.

Even if no one else comes in, Solskjaer believes Maguire's arrival has taken United's summer spending from adequate to impressive.

After five years of scatter-gun deals, Solskjaer has tried to follow a plan. Three British players -- Dan James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Maguire -- have come in for around £145m, all with the idea that they can improve. Just as important, they are signings that alter the dynamic of the dressing room.

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Solskjaer has a group of key British players that also includes Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Scott McTominay. Though the manager was born in Norway, having played for 11 years under Sir Alex Ferguson in a successful team built around Keane, Irwin, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham, he understands the importance of a homegrown core.

United certainly did not get Maguire, or Wan-Bissaka for that matter, on the cheap, but the club have been willing to push the boat out because these players are seen as a key part of what Solskjaer is trying to achieve both on and off the pitch.

As negotiations with Leicester reached a climax, United assistant Mike Phelan told Maguire he was the only defender they wanted this summer. His seven-year contract underlines how important the club think he will be to their future and, though he may not have the Instagram followers of Paulo Dybala or sell the same number of shirts as Gareth Bale, for Solskjaer he's a marquee signing, who can change a lot at Old Trafford.

Jofra Archer tuned up for a likely Test debut at Lord's next week with a six-wicket haul for Sussex's 2nd XI in his first red-ball appearance for nearly 11 months, before hitting a 99-ball 108 for good measure.

In the bucolic surrounds of Woodmancote, in rural West Sussex, Archer took two early Gloucestershire wickets with the new ball, before adding four more across two further spells in the morning session to end with 6 for 27. In all, he bowled 12.1 overs, and looked fully fit, coming in off his full run-up with good pace and hostility.

Archer came in at No. 6 with Sussex teetering at 52 for 4, but after being dropped at slip on 13, he punished George Drissell's offspin and scored freely off the seamers to reach his first hundred in a Sussex shirt.

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He suffered a glancing blow from an Adrian Neill bouncer after reaching his hundred, but continued batting after a quick concussion test from Sussex's physio.

Archer missed out on the England XI for the defeat at Edgbaston, having been named in the 14-man squad despite playing through the pain of a side strain for the majority of the World Cup. With James Anderson ruled out of the second Test, he is now in line to make his debut.

Captain Joe Root said before the Edgbaston Test that Archer's omission would "give him time to get absolutely ready and fit". But Jason Gillespie, Sussex's coach - who was not present, instead preparing for the evening's Blast game against Glamorgan - said that Archer "has to play" at Lord's.

"I was surprised he didn't play the first Test, to be perfectly blunt," Gillespie told TalkSPORT radio. "It's easy to say that in hindsight, but he's 100 percent fit, ready to go.

"He had to start the first Test, but the powers that be decided he wasn't quite ready. They thought he'd not played enough red-ball cricket … but the same people were saying he hadn't played enough 50-over cricket and he's gone and been the leading [England] wicket-taker in the World Cup.

"He adds another dimension to this England bowling attack - he's got pace, bounce, movement off the seam, through the air. Four or five-day cricket is his best format, so appreciate how good he is."

England coach Trevor Bayliss had said he hoped Archer would "just get through a number of overs" in the game, and Archer bowled eight with the wind behind him in his first spell. He struck twice, first removing Tom Price, a 19-year-old opener who feathered an edge to wicketkeeper Joe Billings - no relation of Sam - before Gareth Roderick, Gloucestershire's usual Championship keeper, fished outside his off stump and fended a catch to third slip.

Archer also hit Milo Ayres, another of seven teenagers in the Gloucestershire side, on the grille with a back-of-a-length ball that rose sharply off a noticeably quick, hybrid wicket, and despite batting on Ayres was visibly shaken.

Archer's second spell, which came after an end change, lasted only two overs. His first ball was driven down the ground by Matt Brewer, the No. 8, but Archer uprooted his off stump with a perfect outswinger three balls later.

In his final spell, back at the end he had started at, he removed Nos. 9 and 10 in quick succession - caught in the slips and clean bowled - before getting rid of top-scorer Greg Willows to finish with 6 for 27 in his 12.1 overs, Gloucestershire bowled out for 79.

Chris Jordan, Archer's close friend and team-mate, arrived at the ground just in time to see him walk off for lunch, and said that he was "more than ready" to play in the second Test.

"He's been good ever since the end of the World Cup," Jordan said. "He had that week break which did him a lot of good, freed his mind, rested his body, and as you can see in the couple of T20s he's played, and the session here today, he's more than ready.

"You've seen that every time a challenge is put in front of him he seems to rise to it. He's very competitive, and he sets himself high standards more than anything and he'll be looking to live up to those: going into the second Test he'll be a big, big asset for England."

That this was Archer's first red-ball game since a Championship appearance for Sussex last September is telling for two reasons.

Firstly, it demonstrates just how hectic Archer's schedule has been. Since the end of the county season last year, he has played almost non-stop in the T10 League, Big Bash, and IPL, before going straight into the England side for the World Cup warm-up series against Pakistan. It was, perhaps, no surprise that he found himself in "pretty excruciating" pain by the end of that tournament.

Secondly, it demonstrates the extent to which England have found themselves reliant on Archer so early in his international career.

Root and Bayliss have both highlighted their desire for a "point of difference" bowler in their attack, and Archer, Olly Stone, and Sam Curran all fit into that category. But with his World Cup showing counting in his favour, it seems that he is the most likely candidate to replace Anderson at Lord's, despite his opening burst here representing his longest competitive spell in almost a year.

As if to highlight Archer's rise, he was warned off speaking to the media present, and Sussex even hired a steward to ensure he remained off-limits.

His effort with the bat, for all its flamboyance, is unlikely to count too much in his favour, given the opposition as well as the number of allrounders already in England's lower middle order. His innings combined fluency and fortune: there were elegant cover drives and lusty blows over long-on, as well as an early chance put down at slip. He reached his hundred off 84 balls to put Sussex firmly in the driving seat.

Billings, Sussex's keeper, said that he was stood "certainly a bit further back than normal" to Archer, and that this was the quickest spell he had kept to in his brief career.

"I kept to Tymal [Mills] last week up at Horsham," he said. "That was pretty similar, but I think [this] wicket had a bit of extra pace and carry in it."

The messy fallout from South Africa's disastrous World Cup campaign is now out in the open. Various internal communications leaked to the media over the last few days have hinted at a somewhat fractious end to the tenures of both Ottis Gibson, the head coach, and Mohammad Moosajee, the long-standing team doctor and manager.

Over the weekend, the entire coaching staff of the men's team were let go amid a major restructuring exercise. It has since emerged that Cricket South Africa went back on an agreement - in principle at least - to extend Gibson's contract until 2021.

At a CSA board meeting in February the extension was agreed, and an independent director was asked to redraft a new contract. The specifics of the contract, however, appear to have been a stumbling block.

"I first spoke with Ottis, and I said I would like to suggest that the board have a look at your contract, with a possible extension," CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe explained at a press conference on Tuesday. "Ottis responded by saying that he would more or less look at being employed until 2021, and that's what I should suggest to the board. I did suggest that to the board. The board deliberated on that.

"What the board essentially said to me, to quote verbatim, was, 'we're agreeing that you can go ahead and extend the coach's contract, subject to him agreeing to key specific pointers in his contract changing'. Part of that being EPG [transformation targets], part of that being communication, part of that being performance. We went back to the coach, together with the now acting Director of Cricket and communicated that to the coach, of which he said he could not immediately agree until he saw what his contract looked like."

It has emerged since that the board was concerned at the team missing their transformation targets for the second year in a row, forcing them to enact a policy which would give Moroe final sign-off on team selections and enhanced ability to ensure targets were being met. However, that decision was made without taking the views of Gibson or selection convenor Linda Zondi, resulting in further friction.

"Now, that meeting is essentially the same meeting where this policy of selection was spoken of," Moroe continued. "Obviously it is well documented now in the media that the coach was not really be happy about the board now wanting to activate this policy."

This forced the board to quickly backtrack. It was subsequently reported that transformation targets wouldn't apply at the World Cup. "The perception that was already put out there was that the board, together with the CEO, was intending to interfere in selection, which wasn't true," Moroe said. "To dispel such notions or rumours, we just simply put the policy on ice.

"Similarly, with Ottis not agreeing, that's one of the decisions that emanated from that meeting. That caused the board to say, 'listen because the coach is not agreeable to a few things that we're already saying, lets rather put his contract on ice as well' and judge him the same way we said we would from the first, which is his performances at the World Cup'."

The result was that Gibson went to the World Cup unsure of his long-term future as South Africa's coach. There were more tensions yet, over the participation of several key players in the IPL, which preceded the World Cup. Gibson wanted his players back early, but Moroe is understood to have not forced the issue with the BCCI for the worry of potential financial consequences.

According to reports from leaked communication, Moroe confirmed to Gibson that it had been decided at an April 6 board meeting that CSA wouldn't be able to financially compensate the players for shortened IPL gigs, which is said to have further disappointed Gibson.

The outgoing South African coach wasn't the only member of the team management left disgruntled by events leading up to South Africa's reshuffle. It has also been revealed that there was an attempt to remove Moosajee from his position in September last year. However, Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis are said to have met CSA president Chris Nenzani to secure his position.

Last week, ahead of CSA's board meeting, Moosajee informed the board that he didn't want to continue, apparently also unhappy that he had been removed from CSA's Exco, a senior executives committee on which Moosajee had been able to directly represent the team he managed. The Exco forms part of the chief executives committee, on which sit both CSA and South African Cricketers Association chief executives.

The subject of CSA's strained relationship with SACA was also a talking point at Tuesday's press conference. SACA launched legal action against CSA on the eve of the World Cup over the restructuring of domestic cricket and Moroe said CSA are seeking to avert litigation with SACA by meeting with them to iron out any differences.

"It would be irresponsible for me to say no, we're willing to go to court at all costs," Moroe said. "If we have to we will, to defend our views as CSA. But yes, it is our hope that we don't go to court. At the end of the day, we are family with SACA and I'd like to think that whatever differences might be on the table, as family we should be able to sit around a table and thrash out those differences and essentially agree to move on. Whether the one party might still be unhappy to a certain extent or not, that should be irrelevant."

UAE 152 for 8 (Ashfaq 56, Braat 3-26) beat Netherlands 138 for 9 (O'Dowd 65, Mustafa 3-30) by 14 runs

Opener Ashfaq Ahmed's half-century and offspinner Rohan Mustafa's three-wicket haul ensured UAE wrapped up the four-match T20I series against hosts Netherlands at the Hague. Netherlands opener Max O'Dowd made the highest score of the game - 65 off 54 balls - but his innings went in vain as his side slumped to their third successive defeat. The final game of the series will be played on August 8.

After being inserted, UAE started strongly, with Ashfaq leading the way. He hit 56 off 41 balls - his second fifty in three innings - including five fours and two sixes. He was aided by a series of contributions from the middle order. Medium-pacer Sebastiaan Braat and left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar then slowed down the innings by claiming combined figures of 8-0-47-5. Mohammad Boota, however, hit two sixes towards the end of the innings to help his side pass 150.

Netherlands then wobbled around O'Dowd in their chase. They were reduced to 53 for 4 in the 10th over, but O'Dowd took the chase deep. He was the eighth Netherlands batsman to be dismissed, in the penultimate over. The hosts needed 25 off nine balls with two wickets in hand after O'Dowd was run out, and they ended up short by 15 runs. Mustafa took 3 for 30 while Qadeer Ahmed picked up 2 for 18.

Western Storm 126 for 3 (Knight 41) beat Loughborough Lightning 125 for 6 (Jones 65, Davies 2-24) by seven wickets

England captain Heather Knight shrugged off the disappointment of a heavy defeat in the Ashes to lead Western Storm to a winning start in the Kia Super League.

Knight hit 41 as Storm eased to a seven-wicket win over the 2018 runners-up Loughborough Lightning, who were always up against it after posting a 20-over total of 126 for 6 at their Haslegrave Ground, despite a fine 65 from Knight's international team-mate Amy Jones. Storm completed their victory with 18 balls to spare after Knight and India batsman Smriti Mandhana had added 54 in just over seven overs for the second wicket.

Both fell to Sarah Glenn, both caught in the deep by Georgia Adams, who held on to a superb diving effort at long-off to deny Knight as she closed in on a half-century. But a couple of wickets for the promising legspinner was a small consolation for the home side.

Lightning had made an awful start when they batted, losing two of their overseas stars in the opening two overs after Georgia Elwiss had decided to bat first, neither of whom made a run.

The West Indies allrounder Hayley Matthews was out to the second delivery of the innings, leg before to England seamer Freya Davies. Sri Lanka's Chamari Atapattu was next, top-edging offspinner Claire Nicholas on the leg side as she tried to get off the mark, wicketkeeper Rachel Priest having time to jog round and take the catch.

When Elwiss became the third out for a duck, bowled by India offspinner Deepti Sharma, Lightning were 15 for 3. Storm could hardly have wanted a better start, conceding only three boundaries in the Powerplay overs as the home side limped to 27 for 3.

All three had come off the bat of Jones, who put behind her dismal white-ball form in the Ashes series to take charge, posting her second half-century in Lightning colours during a partnership of 77 for the fourth wicket with South Africa's Mignon du Preez.

She had a let-off on 44 when she was dropped at deep backward square off Nicholas, fielder Danielle Gibson picking up an injury in the process, but might have had added to her seven boundaries but for Storm's excellent ground fielding.

Jones lofted rookie Alex Griffiths for six over the short straight boundary and eventually fell for 65, a reverse sweep off Nicholas plucked out of the air nicely by substitute fielder Nat Wraith at short third man.

Good support came from du Preez, who hit 29 on her maiden Lightning innings before 17-year-old seamer Griffiths claimed her first KSL wicket, trapping the experienced former South Africa captain leg before with a full delivery. Georgia Adams made a useful 15 from 17 balls, Jenny Gunn cleared the boundary with her first hit and Kathryn Bryce, on her Lightning debut, struck the last ball of the innings for four but the total never seemed likely to be enough.

Storm, for whom Fran Wilson hit an unbeaten 33 and Davies took 2 for 24, have been the most consistent side since the KSL launched in 2016, appearing at every Finals Day so far and winning the competition in 2017. They will fancy themselves to go a long way again.

"We are looking at Rishabh Pant as the future." This was Virat Kohli, point-blank, when asked about the 21-year old's role in the Indian set-up going forward.

Batting at No. 4 in each of the three T20Is, Pant repaid the team management's faith following two poor outings in Lauderhill. On Tuesday, he crafted his second T20I half-century, an unbeaten 65 that he constructed during the course of a 106-run third-wicket stand with Kohli that helped India canter to victory and a 3-0 whitewash.

"He's got a lot of skill and talent," Kohli said. "It's about winning and finishing games like these and gaining confidence, which he wants to do as well. It's about giving him a bit more space to ease himself into international cricket and not putting too much pressure because of the way he's played in the IPL.

"At the international level, you need to tackle pressure differently and play yourself into the whole set-up. He has come a long way since he started. If he plays like this more regularly, we will see his potential shine for India."

Kohli was equally effusive in his praise for Deepak Chahar and his ability to swing the new ball, a hallmark of his game that MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming have harnessed well at Chennai Super Kings over the last two years.

The India captain felt Chahar's new-ball skills were "right up there with Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar]" and that the 26-year-old had done well for himself. "Deepak is very similar to Bhuvi, he's lethal with the new ball," Kohli said. "Bhuvi has bit more experience at the death. Getting a lot with the new ball in any condition has been his USP in the IPL too."

Chahar and Pant's contributions consigned West Indies to their sixth successive T20I loss. Carlos Brathwaite, their captain, accepted he needed to perform better to begin with, but also stressed on being "close to finding their perfect combination" with an eye on next year's T20 World Cup, which they will enter as defending champions.

"The skipper needs to perform firstly," he said. "We need to get a way of playing. We've had a few changes in and out. We haven't had a period of time where we've got together and played as a unit. That's something we need to do after the CPL. We've seen some restructuring in the batting order from game to game, we are still trying to finding out our perfect combination, I think we're a lot closer now."

An alternate local telecast of Washington Redskins preseason games will feature a live interactive prediction contest with cash prizes, the latest sign of the NFL's methodical shift toward a more accepting position on sports betting.

Starting with Thursday's preseason opener at Cleveland, NBC Sports Washington Plus will show the "Predict the Game" broadcast. The game footage will be lined by graphics featuring stats correlated to the prediction contest, with propositions popping up at the bottom of the screen at varying points in the game. The contestants who have the most correct responses in each quarter will win $1,000.

The Redskins are the first NFL franchise to create an alternate broadcast centered on a prediction contest. Washington also was the first NFL team to partner with a daily fantasy sports operator and the first to put its team marks on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

"We're proud to be the first NFL club to do this and it follows a line of innovations that we've had along this space," Redskins senior vice president Scott Shepherd told ESPN on Tuesday.

Participants in "Predict the Game" could be asked as many as 80 questions about outcomes taking place during the game. For example, "Will rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins throw a touchdown pass in the second quarter?" A chime will sound on the broadcast, alerting contestants that a new question has hit the board.

Damon Phillips, senior vice president and general manager for NBC Sports Washington, said they have been discussing at what points during the game to pose the questions.

"Between series? After a commercial break?" Phillips said. "We're going to experiment to figure out what the right rhythm is, and we're going to find out a lot in the first game."

During the NBA season, NBC Sports Washington Plus offered a similar broadcast built around a prediction contest on select Washington Wizards game. Those broadcasts included traditional betting propositions, including money-line odds and over/under totals.

After discussions with the NFL office, the Redskins' alternate broadcasts will not feature point spreads, odds or over/under totals.

Phillips said the betting-centric alternate broadcasts on Wizards games this past season were a success.

"We were able to create a new way to engage with fans that we didn't have last year," Phillips told ESPN. "There was more time spent on our digital properties as the result of those broadcasts."

In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal statute that had restricted regulated sports betting to primarily Nevada. Since the ruling, legal sportsbooks have started operating in nine states outside of Nevada: Arkansas, Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. Several additional states are gearing up to enter the bookmaking business in the coming months.

While the NBA and NHL have fully embraced the evolving sports betting landscape in the United States, the NFL remains the most cautious of the professional sports leagues. Shepherd said the alternate broadcast doesn't represent a first step into sports betting for the league.

"But it's certainly something from a club perspective and an innovation perspective, we want to be on the forefront of emerging trends and new opportunities that are out there," Shepherd said. "We want to engage with our fans and really begin that conversation and begin that overall experience as legal sports betting is coming online. The NFL, from a legal sports betting perspective, is taking a more cautious and methodical approach versus the other leagues that have fully opted in."

The "Predict the Game" broadcast is considered a pilot. There are no current plans to continue it during the regular season, but it hasn't been ruled out, either, a spokesman for NBC Sports Washington told ESPN.

Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, have placed their Brookline, Massachusetts, home on the market for $39.5 million.

The couple's next-closest property, at Silo Ridge Field Club in Armenia, New York, is nearly 3 hours from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. They also own a place in New York City -- and reportedly have been looking in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Alpine, New Jersey.

Brady and the New England Patriots have agreed to a new deal that will pay him an additional $8 million this season, increasing his 2019 salary to $23 million, but includes void years for 2020 and 2021, a source told ESPN's Field Yates.

This means Brady and the Patriots will have to revisit negotiations before the end of the 2019 league year to extend the contract, and it is expected they will do so. The Patriots have agreed not to use the franchise tag on Brady, according to a source.

"It's a unique situation I'm in -- 20th year with the same team, I'll be 42 years old. So pretty much uncharted territory for everybody," Brady said Monday.

Representatives for running back Ezekiel Elliott have told the Dallas Cowboys that he will not play during the 2019 season without a new contract, a source close to the situation told ESPN's Josina Anderson on Tuesday.

The source added that at this time, it is not likely that Elliott's holdout continues into the regular season, based on the belief that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to get a new deal done before Week 1.

Elliott informed the Cowboys in January that he would not play without a new contract, the source said.

On Monday, former NFL running back Eric Dickerson said on FS1's "Undisputed" that he spoke with Elliott's agent, Rocky Arceneaux. According to Dickerson, Arceneaux said it was possible Elliott would miss part of the regular season, but that they didn't want that to happen.

Jones said last week that he thought the front office would reach a deal on a contract extension with Elliott, but that it would need to allow the Cowboys to keep all their talent "under the same roof." The Cowboys also are negotiating extensions with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver Amari Cooper.

The owner also said he does not believe there is a time when a deal has to be in place, such as the start of the regular season.

The Cowboys insist they have made solid offers to all three players that would put them at least in the top-five contracts at their positions and have been frustrated at the lack of engagement in negotiations, a source told ESPN's Todd Archer.

Speaking Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, executive vice president Stephen Jones said he does not believe there is enough momentum to finalize deals with Prescott, Cooper or Elliott while the Cowboys are in Oxnard, California, for training camp. The Cowboys break camp in Oxnard on Aug. 15 before heading to Hawaii for their preseason game on Aug. 17 against the Los Angeles Rams.

"We've been generous on our offer," Jones said of Elliott's contract.

He mentioned the Le'Veon Bell deal, which averages $13.5 million with the New York Jets, in relation to the Elliott discussions. Todd Gurley's deal with the Rams averages $14.375 million and is at the top of the running back market.

Bell weighed in on Elliott's contract talks on Tuesday:

they gotta pay up, period ?? https://t.co/M08n7VQCsc

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 6, 2019

Since the start of Cowboys training camp, Elliott has been in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to work out, sources previously told ESPN.

Elliott continues to be subject to a fine of $40,000 per day, and the Cowboys also can come after a prorated portion of his signing bonus. If he does not report before Saturday's preseason opener at the San Francisco 49ers, he could be fined a regular-season game check of roughly $226,000.

He is under contract through 2020 and is set to make $3.853 million this season and $9.09 million next season.