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Fifteen years ago, mixed martial arts league Ultimate Fighting Championship sold for $2 million. Back then, the sport featured bone-crushing, blood-smearing action that was dismissed as “human cockfighting” by Sen. John McCain. Now, the UFC is changing hands for $4 billion. Hollywood mega-talent agency WME/IMG’s acquisition of the league is a major bet on the power of live sporting events in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. And the deal is viewed by sports business experts…

PRO BASKETBALL SAN ANTONIO (AP) San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan is finally calling it a career. Duncan announced his retirement after 19 seasons, five championships, two MVP awards and 15 All-Star appearances. It marks the end of an era for the Spurs and the NBA. Duncan was the No. 1 overall pick out of Wake Forest in 1997 and teamed with Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to…

Your teams on the go or at home. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android. A new service academy policy will allow athletes who graduate from Army, Navy and Air Force to pursue professional sports immediately after graduation, the Air Force confirmed Monday. The Colorado Springs Gazette first reported the new policy. The academies made the change in its policy in May. Previously, athletes who graduated…

Russia’s only athlete allowed to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics has been branded a traitor on social media and told to compete for Ukraine instead. The country’s track and field athletes were banned from competing in the upcoming Olympics in Brazil over allegations of mass doping. Long jumper Darya Klishina was granted permission by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to compete, as they announced she met…

NEW YORK – Olympics fans hoping that a Games in the Americas would convince NBC to finally broadcast the Opening Ceremonies live have been left disappointed again. Even though Rio de Janeiro’s time zone is just one hour ahead of the east coast of the United States, the much-watched spectacle will be televised and streamed online on…

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It’s the MLB All-Star break, and one story that continues to resonate across the sport of baseball is the play of both the Washington Nationals and their star Bryce Harper. The Nats entered the break with a six-game lead in the NL East and the second-best record in the NL, and Harper has continued to rip the cover off the ball with 19 home runs and 52 RBI heading into…

Every year, MLB’s All-Star game brings together the best players from each league to form two superteams. For one game, we get to see Jose Fernandez as a reliever against lineups in which Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera hit back to back. But unlike the NBA’s fantasy rosters made real, we never get to glimpse how dominant such a talent-laden squad would be against normal MLB competition. So with a…

Fifteen years ago, mixed martial arts league Ultimate Fighting Championship sold for $2 million. Back then, the sport featured bone-crushing, blood-smearing action that was dismissed as “human cockfighting” by Sen. John McCain. Now, the UFC is changing hands for $4 billion. Hollywood mega-talent agency WME/IMG’s acquisition of the league is a major bet on the power of live sporting events in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. And the deal is viewed by sports business experts…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

The United States’ women’s gymnastics team has nothing to fear at the upcoming Rio Olympics. Barring some forces beyond their control, like China locking probable all-around champion Simone Biles in a restroom for the entire competition, they will win gold. On Sunday, July 10, the US selected the five women who will win gold in Rio. Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian, and Laurie Hernandez have made the…

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said driving on newly reconfigured and repaved Kentucky Speedway was “not fun.” Tony Stewart said “none of us want it to be like it was here.” and suggested that the Goodyear tires used in last Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 were so hard they could be frozen and used as giant hockey pucks in the NHL. But other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, particularly winner Brad Keselowski…

Cole Pearn, the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr., spoke with NASCAR officials about the costly penalty the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team incurred during Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. The bottom line? Pearn and Truex may have been upset with the penalty for illegally passing the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick on pit road. But NASCAR absolutely stands by…

Every year, MLB’s All-Star game brings together the best players from each league to form two superteams. For one game, we get to see Jose Fernandez as a reliever against lineups in which Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera hit back to back. But unlike the NBA’s fantasy rosters made real, we never get to glimpse how dominant such a talent-laden squad would be against normal MLB competition. So with a…

Note: Don’t whiff on this special FanDuel offer. Win your first contest or get your money back (up to $10) to keep playing Try FanDuel now! If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve probably spent the better part of the last week arguing about All-Star selections. Who deserved it? Who didn’t? Who was snubbed? Who’s to blame? It’s endless fun. So why not do the same for Fantasy Baseball? The criteria…

1:43 PM ET Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email print comment TROON, Scotland — Jordan Spieth dealt golf’s return to the Olympics yet another blow Monday, telling International Golf Federation officials just before a news conference that he would not be playing next month in Brazil. Spieth joins Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy in deciding to skip the Games, mostly due to concerns about the Zika virus that is prevalent…

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said driving on newly reconfigured and repaved Kentucky Speedway was “not fun.” Tony Stewart said “none of us want it to be like it was here.” and suggested that the Goodyear tires used in last Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 were so hard they could be frozen and used as giant hockey pucks in the NHL. But other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, particularly winner Brad Keselowski…

Note: Don’t whiff on this special FanDuel offer. Win your first contest or get your money back (up to $10) to keep playing Try FanDuel now! If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve probably spent the better part of the last week arguing about All-Star selections. Who deserved it? Who didn’t? Who was snubbed? Who’s to blame? It’s endless fun. So why not do the same for Fantasy Baseball? The criteria…

“There ought not never have been no time called too early.” Troy Maxson, former Negro Leagues baseball star turned trash collector in August Wilson’s Fences. For some of baseball’s greatest players, a time called too early happened before 1947, the year Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball. On Tuesday, when the MLB plays its All-Star Game at San Diego’s Petco Park, I’ll be thinking about those Negro League greats and…

NextVR teams up with Major League Baseball to show the T-Mobile Home Run Derby in virtual reality for the first time.