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In one of the most significant announcements in NASCAR history, chairman and CEO Brian France confirmed that a deal has been struck between the sanctioning body and the Sprint Cup team owners to create a charter system. In effect as the 2016 NASCAR season prepares to kick off this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, the new charter system addresses three key areas — participation, governance and economics — to promote…

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<!– –> BLACKSBURG – Former Virginia Tech baseball player and current Pittsburgh Pirate minor league manager Wyatt Toregas was the featured guest at the Hokies’ ninth annual Baseball Night in Blacksburg, held Saturday evening, Feb. 6, in the West Side Stadium Club of Lane Stadium, and his speech and Q&A session was a hit with the crowd. Toregas, who last played baseball at Tech in 2004 and was…

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Updated 6:38 AM ET, Tue February 9, 2016

Enlarge Image Sports Stadium is designed to rival Twitter but had problems during the Super Bowl. Facebook Super Bowl 50 dominated online chatter Sunday, but Facebook in particular couldn’t keep up with the game at times. About 60 million people used Facebook for 200 million posts, likes and comments about the match between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, the world’s biggest social network said Monday. They also turned to…

The sudden death of an athlete is a rare, but tragic event that often commands national attention. Each year in the United States, as many as 100 deaths occur on the playing field due to an unexpected heart condition. These tragic losses can cause confusion and fear for parents whose kids participate in sports, but it is important to understand the real risks before reconsidering a young athlete’s participation in…

An average of 111.9 million television viewers watched Super Bowl 50, making the game the third-most-watched broadcast in the U.S. Many gathered with friends or family to watch the game in an illustration of how sport can bring people together. An NFL locker room is a collection of individuals from multiple walks of life and different parts of the country who have been brought together to create one force. Hall…

Not familiar with the League Cup in England? It’s a pretty big deal in the soccer world. Absolutely first class. Fabulous. If you saw it, you’d love it. Arguably no one has done more for the game’s growth in the United States than Donald Trump. Just no one. And really, he’s happy to have done it. American football? It’s a fine game. Trump likes football. He knows…

Lemov was thrilled to hear from U.S. Soccer. But he was nervous, too, like a fanboy unexpectedly pulled up onstage. He understood teaching, and it so happened that he loved soccer, but he didn’t know whether his work would translate for coaches—or whether they would listen. Lemov started playing soccer when he was about 7 and still has the build of an athlete, tall and broad-shouldered. He was never a…

7:37 PM ET print NASCAR has set a news conference for Tuesday, when it will announce the implementation of a franchise-like system, according to those with knowledge of the discussions. Now that the paperwork is signed, how much one of these franchises — “charters,” as NASCAR will call them — is worth in the coming years is as big a guess as picking the winner of the Daytona 500. The…

The United States won most medals at the last Olympics in London in 2012, so any disruption to its presence would be important for the Rio games. Global health authorities suspect the mosquito-borne Zika virus has caused a spike in Brazil of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by an abnormally small head. As a result, the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency Feb. 1, and the U.S. Centers…

LONDON—Watch out, warns Arsenal Football Club manager Arsène Wenger: A mass exodus of soccer talent from Europe to China may be under way, encouraged by record-breaking transfer fees and fat salaries. Yes, China. This is a country where the national men’s team is a humiliating failure, reflecting a long history of corruption and match-fixing at a league level. In FIFA’s latest world rankings it sits just one place above the…

Aptos High and Sonoma State alum Matt Manfre was named Pajaro Valley High’s baseball coach on Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. The 23-year-old is the youngest baseball coach in Santa Cruz County. Twenty-three-year-old Matt Manfre was named Pajaro Valley High’s baseball coach Friday, ending the school’s three-month search and making him the youngest head coach in Santa Cruz County….

Star Cuban infielder Yulieski Gourriel and his younger brother slipped away from their hotel in the Dominican Republic early Monday in an apparent effort to launch careers in Major League Baseball. The departure of Yulieski and his brother Lourdes was confirmed with remarkable swiftness by Granma, the Communist Party newspaper in Cuba that serves as an outlet for official government statements. The paper said on its website Monday morning that…

NORMAL — The Illinois State baseball team’s first outdoors action usually comes when the Redbirds head south to open their season. Pleased that unseasonably warm weather has allowed his team to play at Duffy Bass Field each of the past two weekends, second-year coach Bo Durkac believes, “I don’t think you can understate that. We were able to get out and get a lot of stuff done. It…

5:37 PM ET print Ballparks, they are a-shrinking. For the fourth time in the past five seasons, at least one ballpark has moved in its fences. Following Citi Field in 2012, Petco Park and Safeco Field in 2014, then Citi Field again in 2015, Marlins Park will feature a smaller playing field when it reopens its doors in 2016. The Miami Marlins‘ stadium endured a significant renovation to its outfield…

When a team within your division wins the World Series, there is a sense of jealousy and “why not us” seeps into the brain. Out of the 19 matchups in 2015, Kansas City only had a 10-9 edge. The Indians outscored the Royals in those games 90-78. While the division was well out of hand (13.5 game back), Cleveland finished the 2015 season only 4.5 games out of the Wild…

Enlarge Image Sports Stadium is designed to rival Twitter but had problems during the Super Bowl. Facebook Super Bowl 50 dominated online chatter Sunday, but Facebook in particular couldn’t keep up with the game at times. About 60 million people used Facebook for 200 million posts, likes and comments about the match between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, the world’s biggest social network said Monday. They also turned to…