NBA eyes jackpot with MGM Casino deal

Print
NBA eyes jackpot with MGM Casino deal

In the first such deal between a major US sports league and a casino, the NBA and WNBA will share official data with MGM Resorts International. Terms of the deal announced Tuesday were not disclosed, other than it’s a multiyear arrangement. The partnership comes after a Supreme Court ruling in May that cleared the way for states to legalize sports betting. The Las Vegas-based casino giant will pay the NBA for that data to use in determining outcomes of various bets. ‘‘I know the value of data,’’ MGM chairman and CEO James Murren said. ‘‘To be able to have the official NBA data for sports bettors around the world is very valuable. I was willing to, and I've paid for that.’’ NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the leagues believe they’re getting adequately compensated for the data. ‘‘It’s a leap of faith on both sides,’’ Silver said. ‘‘It’s a deal moderate in length where I think we can both step back and assess as we go and see, ‘Is it working? Is this deal fair? Are we providing the consumers with the right type of experience?’ ’’ MGM will be an official casino partner for the league, but will not have exclusive rights to the data. The NBA still can, and likely will, try to make deals with other casinos who will be offering sports betting in various states or through mobile apps.

Celtics announce preseason slate

The Celtics will open their four-game preseason slate with a Sept. 28 game against the Charlotte Hornets at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the team announced Tuesday. Boston will then play the Hornets two nights later at TD Garden before wrapping up the preseason with a home-and-home series against the LeBron James-less Cavaliers. The Celtics will play host to Cleveland Oct. 2 and travel to Quicken Loans Arena Oct. 6. This is the NBA’s second year using a reduced four-game exhibition slate. The NBA is expected to release its full 2018-19 schedule in August.

ADAM HIMMELSBACH

ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Members of the MLS All-Stars participate in training for their friendly against Juventus at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Soccer

Fans, stars converge on Atlanta

Upward of 70,000 soccer fans are expected to come to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Wednesday for the MLS All-Star Game, pitting the league’s best players against Italian powerhouse Juventus. The top five individual game crowds in MLS history have all been in Atlanta, which has eclipsed 70,000 for every regular-season match in which the upper deck has been open. The target to beat for an All-Star Game is 70,728, which was the record turnout for the 2010 match at Houston’s NFL stadium. Juventus didn’t bring along five-time FIFA Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still recovering from the World Cup. The MLS team also will be missing one of its top players — LA Galaxy star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who chose to not to make the cross-country trip to Atlanta after playing three league matches over a nine-day span. The New England Revolution will have a representative in midfielder Wilfried Zahibo, who has three goals and four assists in 16 games.

Tony Avelar/Associated press

Serena Williams had a rough night, suffering a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Johanna Konta in the first round of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif.

Tennis

Serena suffers worst loss of her career

Serena Williams lost her opening match at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., falling, 6-1, 6-0, to Johanna Konta in a match that took 52 minutes and was the most lopsided defeat of her career. Williams, 36, had never won only one game — she won her serve for the initial game Tuesday then not another . . . Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki pulled out of the Citi Open in Washington because of an injured right leg, when the US Open tuneup also lost defending champion Ekaterina Makarova in the traditional manner. Wozniacki hasn’t played a match since losing in the second round at Wimbledon on July 4. She now has less than a month to get ready for the US Open, which starts Aug. 27. The No. 4-seeded Makarova lost her first-round match at the hard-court tournament to Ana Bogdan, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. Sloane Stephens, the reigning US Open champion, moved into the second round with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Stephens will next face Andrea Petkovic, who won her opener on Monday. Later, Stan Wawrinka’s rough season continued with a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3) loss against 234th-ranked qualifier Donald Young and Marcos Baghdatis advanced with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Benoit Paire, who drew boos from spectators after a racket-breaking, equipment-tossing tantrum.

Golf

Johnson advances at Women’s Amateur

Get Sports Headlines in your inbox:

The most recent sports headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.

Top-seeded Shannon Johnson (Thorney Lea) defeated Cheryl Krueger (Orchards), 5 and 4, to advance at the 115th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship at George Wright Golf Course. Following the round of 16 Wednesday morning, the quarterfinals will kick off in the afternoon in Hyde Park. The semifinals and the final 18-hole match will be held Thursday . . . Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle has opted not to seek further treatment in his long fight against leukemia and will receive palliative care at home, his family announced. The 36-year-old Lyle, who won twice on the Nationwide Tour in 2008, was diagnosed with leukemia as a teenager and suffered recurrences of the disease in 2012 and 2017. In a post on Lyle’s Facebook page, his wife Briony wrote that Lyle had ‘‘reached his limit’’ and that he and his doctors had agreed that a ‘‘positive outcome’’ was no longer achievable. Lyle underwent a bone marrow transplant last December following a recurrence of acute myeloid leukemia. Lyle twice beat acute myeloid leukemia, in 1998 and 2012, and was able to return to play professional golf. He made an emotional comeback to the golf course during the 2013 Australian Masters in Melbourne before using a medical exemption to play on the PGA Tour in 2015. He played four seasons on the US tour, where he earned $1.875 million in 121 tournaments.

Football

Manziel to get first CFL start

Johnny Manziel will take a major step in his attempt at career revitalization Friday night, when the quarterback will start for the Montreal Alouettes at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It will be his first appearance in a professional football game since December 2015, when he took his final snaps for the Cleveland Browns before the NFL franchise cut the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner months later after numerous off-field incidents. Montreal (1-5) has burned through four quarterbacks already, with Drew Willy, Matt Shiltz, and Jeff Mathews all getting injured — the Alouettes’ offensive line has allowed 23 sacks through six games — and Vernon Adams Jr. mostly ineffective in Thursday night’s 44-23 home loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Miscellany

Suffolk Downs preps for weekend of racing

Suffolk Downs will host its third live racing and food truck festival weekend. Nearly 150 horses have been entered for Saturday’s 13-race card, which features more than $500,000 in total purses and awards and is highlighted by the $100,000 Jill Jellison Memorial Dash. Sunday’s card features 12 races . . . Five-star basketball recruit Terrence Clarke announced Monday that he is transferring from Rivers to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., for the 2018-19 school year. Clarke is a 6-foot-6-inch sophomore wing from Dorchester who is ranked No. 2 on the ESPN 25 for the Class of 2021 . . . Vincenzo Nibali, winner of the 2014 Tour de France, will return to training in a few days after undergoing back surgery following a crash in this year’s race. Nibali, 33, broke his 10th vertebra on the climb up to Alpe d'Huez on July 19 when a fan caught a camera strap on his handlebars. The statement said the operation ‘‘consisted of the injection of biocompatible cement into the body of the vertebra.’’ . . . Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling will miss the start of the NHL season because of a right wrist injury. The 22-year-old Swede had surgery Tuesday and the expected recovery time is 14 weeks. Chicago acquired Forsling in a 2015 trade with Vancouver for Adam Clendening. Forsling, a fifth-round pick by the Canucks in 2014, had three goals and 10 assists in 41 games last season . . . Authorities in Los Angeles say a power outage at Dodger Stadium that caused a 23-minute delay of Monday’s game between the Brewers and Dodgers was caused by a Mylar balloon that made contact with overhead electrical equipment. The city utility said there are approximately 150 Mylar-related outage incidents citywide annually

Read more http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNGSC8PVOrDOVKgAmCyYMgw-dYtblw&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779986951861&ei=w4FiW9i4KYz8hgHlzoWgAw&url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2018/07/31/nba-eyes-jackpot-with-mgm-casino-deal/Tn0b2BNuQl5kpgtmyaOkTP/story.html