Sports

8:22 AM ET The first event on the PGA Tour schedule in 2022 is a small one. Only 38 players will tee it up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The reason? You have to win to get in. Only tournament champions from the previous 12 months are invited to the Plantation Course at Kapalua

8:49 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com World No. 1 Novak Djokovic‘s hopes of winning his 10th Australian Open in 2022 were all but dashed on Thursday after he was denied entrance into Australia. Djokovic arrived in Melbourne late on Wednesday night, just a week-and-a-half ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam. The 34-year-old had been granted

4:20 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The Belmont Stakes is moving to Fox Sports as part of an eight-year deal beginning in 2023. The deal announced Wednesday between Fox and the New York Racing Association includes NYRA Bets as the title sponsor of the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown series. NYRA

8:00 AM ET IT’S A FEW hours after dusk on a Monday in early December, and the Golden State Warriors‘ gleaming spaceship, the Chase Center, is about to transform into a vibrating dance party. The frenzy will be identical to those created by superstar Stephen Curry‘s one-man scoring blitzkriegs, but Curry will be swaying and

7:53 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN We kick off 2022 waiting and wishing for the marquee fights — the ones that can make boxing the focal point of the sports world, if only for a day, and the kind of fights that were in short supply in 2021. The anticipated undisputed heavyweight championship bout between Tyson

6:55 AM ET NFL NationESPN Now that 2021 is in the rearview and we’re now in 2022, the NFL Power Rankings are looking ahead. While there are still playoff berths to be earned and championships to be won, we decided this was a perfect time for each franchise to give a New Year’s resolution for

7:00 AM ET NICK SABAN HAD mixed emotions as he left his home in south Florida on Jan. 3, 2007 and headed for the airport. Initially, he hadn’t been interested in leaving for Alabama, and had said so publicly. He was committed to being the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He loved and respected

7:00 AM ET The players’ association of the Premier Hockey Federation had high expectations for its next executive director. Fortunately for attorney Alex Sinatra, whom the PHF has tapped to fill that vacant post, its requirements didn’t include any actual hockey-related skills. “They assured me that not having played hockey and me not knowing how

4:30 PM ET Just as was the case 12 months ago, soccer exists amid mankind’s fight against an enemy few could imagine would ever become real. But there is hope… Most are a little better off than at this time last year and, if there is some light to have come out of the darkness,

9:47 PM ET Associated Press REDDICK, Fla. — Billy Turner, who trained Seattle Slew to a Triple Crown sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont stakes in 1977, has died. He was 81. Turner died Friday at his home here where he had been in hospice care after battling prostate cancer for two years,

8:28 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim The shiny brass-and-leather belts worn by UFC champions do not merely signify achievement and ascendance. For the select few fighters who earn them, these esteemed titles can bestow an aura of invincibility. Yet nothing is forever. Among the 12 weight classes in the UFC, seven fighters now wear championship belts

2:55 PM GMT England trio Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Manu Tuilagi are expected to be fit for selection for the Six Nations which starts on Feb. 5. Both Farrell and George were injured in England’s 32-15 win over Australia on Nov. 13, with the fly-half requiring surgery on his ankle. Tuilagi was forced off

2:18 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has tested positive for COVID-19, casting doubt on her place in the Australian Open beginning Jan. 17. The 30-year-old Russian confirmed she has the coronavirus and is isolating after arriving in Australia on Tuesday. “I was fully vaccinated and was preparing for

8:30 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN After 2020 significantly cut down the volume of fights and memorable moments fans are accustomed to in boxing, 2021 delivered in a major way. Looking back at the last 12 months, the year could best be described as “the year of the upset,” with several key title fights that going

7:00 AM ET From 2012 to 2021, MLB teams spent a collective $16.66 billion on free agency. Thirty-one players received deals valued at $100-plus million and another 55 received $50 million or more. Some of those deals paid huge dividends — Max Scherzer‘s seven-year contract with the Nationals was the best of the big-money signings.

1:05 AM ET The Los Angeles Lakers were seemingly in control, up by 13 late in the third quarter, before Ja Morant nearly outproduced them on his own down the stretch in the Memphis Grizzlies‘ 104-99 win on Wednesday. Morant scored 16 of his 41 points from the 3-minute, 38-second mark in the third through

12:11 PM ET OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson will return to practice Wednesday as Baltimore heads into what is essentially a must-win game against the Los Angeles Rams. Jackson, who is dealing with a right ankle injury, is expected to have limited participation, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said before Wednesday’s practice. Sidelined

12:43 PM ET Jordan Davis knows what he’s supposed to say now — that the SEC championship game was weeks ago, that Georgia‘s loss was a setback but hardly the end of the journey, that the Bulldogs’ date with Michigan in the College Football Playoff (Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App) has nothing at all

7:40 AM ET ESPN staff The NHL returns to action Tuesday after the league took an extended holiday break due to increased COVID-19 cases. There haven’t been any games played since Dec. 21. The ESPN+ exclusive schedule continues on Tuesday with the Tampa Bay Lightning hosting the Montreal Canadiens and then the San Jose Sharks

7:05 PM ET Associated Press KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Martha Earnhardt, the matriarch of one of NASCAR’s best-known families, has died. She was 91. Grandchildren Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller said in a statement that she died Saturday night. “As we grieve her loss and begin to imagine life without our beloved ‘Mamaw,’ we