Raphael Stevens

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    in Football

    Wary of Other Leagues’ Battles, N.F.L. and Players Agree on Terms to Return

    The N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association have finalized the last key financial issues related to this season, paving the way for an on-time start to the regular season on Sept. 10.In the deal reached late Friday after a vote by the union’s 32 team representatives, the salary cap — or the maximum amount teams can spend on their rosters — will remain at just under $200 million per team this season. But the cap will have a minimum of $175 million next season. Any shortfalls in revenue next year will be made up by reducing the salary cap through the 2023 season.The owners also agreed to a player proposal to scrap all preseason games to reduce the risk of infection.The sides had already agreed on several measures to reduce the risk of infection from the coronavirus as teams return to camps, meetings and practices, including outlining who can be inside team facilities and daily player testing for the virus.But the owners and the players’ union had remained deadlocked on thornier questions, even as players began reporting to team facilities this week, leading some star players to start a public relations offensive on social media pushing for their concerns. Those included how much players will be paid if the season is shortened or canceled, and how to reduce the players’ share of the loss of revenue if teams do not allow fans at games this season. More

  • 163 Shares199 Views

    in Football

    Washington’s N.F.L. Team Will Retire Its Logo and Adopt a Temporary New Name

    Washington’s N.F.L. team will retire Redskins branding and adopt a placeholder team name until it can decide on a permanent name, the organization said Thursday, weeks after announcing it would yield to pressure from sponsors and activists and drop the name it has used for nearly 90 years.“For updated brand clarity and consistency purposes, we will call ourselves the ‘Washington Football Team’ pending adoption of our new name,” the team said in a news release, adding that the logo would be retired by the start of the 2020 season in September.The team also said it would roll out an aesthetic that would reflect the direction of the new franchise as it changes.The team’s Twitter account and official site on Thursday took on the temporary name and logo, a large W, though images of original logo remained in some places and its web address using the old name remained unchanged.The team also tweeted a design for new uniforms, which featured its existing color scheme and a numeral on its helmet instead of the drawn profile of a Native American face.The team advertised forthcoming “Washington Football Team” merchandise, and on its website shared prototypes of the temporary logo, uniform concepts and field designs that included an N.F.L. logo at midfield. The end zones in its mock field design read “Washington Football Team, Est. 1932.”Team officials did not return messages seeking comment on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether fans — if spectators are allowed at all during the coronavirus pandemic — would be allowed to wear merchandise with the old logo to games. It was also not clear whether the team would eventually change its distinctive burgundy and gold colors, a move sought by Native American groups and nearly 150 federally recognized tribes in a letter sent to N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell this month.The team is scheduled to open its season Sept. 13 against the Philadelphia Eagles.On July 13, 10 days after announcing it would review the 87-year-old team name and under mounting pressure from corporate sponsors, fans and Native American activists, the team said it would drop its logo and the name “Redskins,” a term many had long considered a racial slur.The team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, had previously been uncooperative in changing the team’s name, but said the new name would “take into account not only the proud tradition and history of the franchise but also input from our alumni, the organization, sponsors, the National Football League and the local community it is proud to represent on and off the field.”The name change came after weeks of national unrest following the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in late May, and as much of the country quickly moved to change historical representations that use racist symbols.Last month, the Washington franchise spent several days removing a monument and remembrances honoring its former owner, George Preston Marshall, from team facilities and its website. The change came amid pressure on the team to acknowledge Marshall’s resistance to signing and drafting African-American players and his decision in 1933 to name the team the “Redskins.” A memorial of Marshall, which had stood in front of R.F.K. Stadium, the team’s former arena, was removed by a city agency after being defaced.Last week, the team was once again in the spotlight as 15 women said they were sexually harassed while employed by the team. More

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    in Soccer

    New Women’s Soccer Team, Founded by Women, Will Press Equal Pay Cause

    Kara Nortman’s path to owning a professional women’s soccer team began in Vancouver, British Columbia, when she went looking for a women’s soccer jersey during the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Nortman found some, eventually, without players’ names on the backs.“I just didn’t understand why it was so hard,” Nortman said. “I was trying to get people to take my money. Why could nobody take it?”A Southern California native from a sports-driven family, Nortman, a venture capitalist, soon became devoted to women’s soccer, following the top division in the United States, the National Women’s Soccer League, and talking about the game with anyone who would listen — including the actress Natalie Portman, whom she met at a fund-raiser. Both soon became active supporters of the U.S. women’s team’s fight for equal pay, and after last summer’s Women’s World Cup, they decided it was time to involve themselves more personally in the game.“Natalie texted me three times, just one line: ‘Let’s bring a team to L.A.,’” Nortman said.On Tuesday, their dream became a reality when the N.W.S.L. announced that it would expand to Los Angeles in 2022, with a team bankrolled by an ownership group that includes not only Nortman and Portman, but also the tennis star Serena Williams and her husband, the tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian; the media consultant Julie Uhrman; and more than a dozen former members of the U.S. women’s team.The Los Angeles team, which said it would release its name and stadium plans before the end of the year, will be the only team in the N.W.S.L. to be owned almost entirely by women. The ownership group of 33 people also includes several women of color, including the actresses Uzo Aduba, Eva Longoria and America Ferrera, and the talk-show host Lilly Singh.Perhaps befitting such a diverse ownership group — which also includes the World Cup winners Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach — the team came into being in a nontraditional way. The owners decided on a mission before approaching the league, then consulted members of the U.S. women’s national team and their players association to better understand the needs of women’s pros. The mission was clear from the start, said Uhrman, the club’s president: “Champions on and off the field.”Part of that motto, she said, would be embracing the fight for pay equity for women by bolstering media coverage of the league, securing new sponsorships and, ultimately, creating stronger revenue streams through increased viewership.“It’s our goal to have women’s professional soccer players make a living only playing women’s professional soccer,” Uhrman said.Becca Roux, the executive director of the United States Women’s National Team Players Association, said the combination of female investors, former women’s pros and people of color on the new team’s board of directors had the potential to be game-changing steps for not only the N.W.S.L., but for other major leagues. Williams and Ohanian’s 2-year-old daughter, Olympia, is also listed as an investor.“We’ve seen other athletes — mostly men — join ownership of sports teams in recent years, but not so much women because they often didn’t make enough money in their careers to buy into a sports franchise,” Roux said.Many challenges remain for the N.W.S.L. The league’s new commissioner, Lisa Baird, has helped stabilize the league since taking over earlier this year, and helped attract several deep-pocketed sponsors to help underwrite its summer tournament. But the N.W.S.L. also requested and received a loan from federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program this spring to cover the salaries of its players, who despite a recent raise still earn as little as $20,000 a year.There are nine teams in the N.W.S.L. and a 10th, in Louisville, Ky., is set to join in 2021. The N.W.S.L. kicked off its eighth season late last month amid the coronavirus pandemic with a so-called bubble tournament in Utah. The semifinals of the event, the Challenge Cup, will be played on Wednesday. The league will crown a champion with a nationally televised game on Sunday afternoon.Plans for a coaching staff and players of the new Los Angeles team, which for now is called Angel City, will become more concrete in 2021, league officials said. But the work for change off the field will start sooner, through a partnership with the LA84 Foundation’s Play Equity Fund, which promotes access to sport for young athletes, particularly those of color.“You just need a ball, some dirt and some grass, which makes it the most played sport in the world,” Nortman said. “Getting access to soccer and other sports into those communities is critical.” More