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🚨 HEADLINES
⚾️ NL MVP duel heats up: Shohei Ohtani and Pete Crow-Armstrong are now in dead heat for the NL MVP (-110) after both went nuclear with nearly identical games on Monday (4-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI). PCA's second blast was a walk-off to reach 30 HR and 30 SB on the year. ⛳️ LIV cancels finale: LIV Golf has officially canceled its team championship in Michigan, the latest in a series of setbacks. This week's event in Indianapolis will now be the season finale as the reeling tour tries to reimagine itself "as a fundamentally new league" moving forward. 🎾 Williams sisters lose in reunion: Venus and Serena Williams played their first official doubles match together since 2022 on Monday at the Cincinnati Open, where they fell in three sets to Peyton Stearns and Marta Kostyuk in the first round. 🏈 Colts add Allen: The Colts have struck a one-year, $8.32 million deal with Keenan Allen, whose 1,055 career receptions rank second among active players (behind Travis Kelce's 1,080) and 13th all-time. That's music to Daniel Jones' ears. 📉 Nike hits 12-year low: Nike stock dropped 4% on Monday for its lowest close ($39.09) since September 2014. The stock has now plummeted nearly 80% from its all-time high in 2021 amid sales declines and persistent turnaround skepticism.
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
📈 THE NEW FACE OF SPORTS OWNERSHIP
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
How rich do you need to be to buy a professional sports team? As valuations soar, being a regular old billionaire isn't enough anymore. Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports: In spring of 1979, Jerry Buss received the phone call he had been waiting for. Jack Kent Cooke was ready to sell off his Southern California sports empire. Cooke had just gone through an acrimonious split with his wife of 40-plus years. He needed an influx of quick cash to help pay for a divorce settlement that would ultimately cost a staggering $41 million. Buss began cozying up to Cooke as soon as he learned the media and real estate tycoon might be amenable to making a deal. For more than a year, Buss periodically visited Cooke in Las Vegas to talk basketball, build rapport and discuss the framework of a potential sale. By late May, a Monopoly-like deal came together that The New York Times labeled "the largest single financial transaction in the history of professional sports" — and also the most "confusing" and "complicated." Cooke demanded that Buss acquire New York's iconic Chrysler Building for him, as well as properties in several other states. In return, Cooke sold Buss the Forum for $33.5 million, the Los Angeles Lakers for $16 million, the Los Angeles Kings for $8 million and his sprawling 13,000-acre ranch in the Sierras for $10 million. "When it was all done, there were enough escrow papers to fill a library and enough lawyers to fill the Forum," Jeanie Buss recalled in her 2010 memoir, "Laker Girl."
Jerry and Jeanie Buss, pictured in 2006. (M. Phillips/WireImage)
Flash forward: What seemed like an exorbitant price at the time looks like a bargain decades later as valuations skyrocket. The team Buss paid $16 million for a half-century ago just sold for $12.5 billion — and the Lakers are far from the only sought-after franchise in pro sports. Sportico last week valued the Cowboys at $15.5 billion and eight other NFL franchises at more than $10 billion. The Warriors are worth more than $11 billion, according to both Forbes and Sportico. Same with the Knicks, per JP Morgan. Even a forlorn franchise like MLB's Athletics has soared in value despite currently playing home games in a Triple-A stadium and having an owner notorious for investing as little as possible in the on-field product. A franchise that sold for $180 million in 2005 is now worth $2 billion, according to Forbes.
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
The end of the family business? Jerry Buss envisioned the Lakers as something his family could own for generations. But the same explosion in value that made his children extraordinarily wealthy has made that model increasingly difficult to sustain. When teams are worth $10+ billion, the pool of individuals who can buy them shrinks — while the incentive for heirs to cash out grows as institutional capital rushes in. Which brings us to Monday: The Buss family released a statement announcing their intention to sell their remaining 17.8% stake in the Lakers to the new majority ownership group. Hours later, Jeanie Buss — Jerry's eldest daughter and the current governor of the team — said that she will contest any attempt to sell, setting the stage for a potential legal fight over the final remnants of the family business.
⚾️ WHO WANTS THE FINAL PLAYOFF SPOT?
(MLB)
They're calling it the best worst playoff race in MLB history. Up for grabs: The race for the American League's final wild card spot is hilarious. Just a bunch of mediocre-to-bad teams duking it out for a spot in the postseason… where one of them will inevitably get hot and make the World Series. Baseball, baby! FanGraphs:Playoff odds by team
🏈 THE PRESEASON POLL IS HERE
(Yahoo Sports)
The Big Ten has the top two teams in the preseason AP Top 25, with Ohio State (40 first-place votes) coming in at No. 1 and Oregon (14 first-place votes) coming in at No. 2. Rounding out the top five: Georgia, Notre Dame (6 first-place votes) and Texas.
Wire-to-wire? The Buckeyes will try to become the first preseason No. 1 since 2017 (Alabama) to finish the season on top of the rankings. Last year's preseason No. 1 team, Texas, finished ranked No. 12. Notably absent: For the first time since 2011, Clemson finds itself unranked in the preseason poll. The Tigers received just 112 votes, making them technically the "No. 26" team in the country.
Who takes a tumble? In 22 of the past 23 seasons, at least one AP preseason Top 10 team finished the year unranked. Three did last year: No. 2 Penn State, No. 4 Clemson and No. 9 LSU. Which Top 10 team(s) will crash out in 2026?
📺 THE NBA'S NATIONAL ATTRACTIONS
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
The NBA released its national TV schedule last week, including games airing on NBC, Peacock, ESPN, ABC and Prime Video. The allocation of games tells us much about who the league and its broadcast partners view as the biggest draws and most marketable teams. Maxed out: Teams can play a maximum of 34 nationally televised games. Just four teams received that maximum allotment: the 76ers, Spurs, Lakers and Knicks. Represented are LeBron James' new team, Victor Wembanyama, the most expensive franchise in sports history and the reigning champs. Risers and fallers: Offseason roster movement can produce significant shifts in television visibility, with some teams gaining exposure and others losing it. Giannis Antetokounmpo's move to Miami produced a 36-game swing between his new and old teams.
Risers: 76ers (+20 games), Heat (+20) Fallers: Bucks (-16), Clippers (-13)
Out in the cold: Five teams are tied for the fewest nationally televised games in the league. The Nets, Grizzlies, Bucks, Pelicans and Kings share that unwanted distinction, ensuring that they'll be nearly invisible outside of their local markets in the year ahead. Condolences to all the Zach Edey and Domantas Sabonis superfans out there, as well as those still holding Zion Williamson stock. This story first appeared in Yahoo Sports Biz, our new sports business newsletter authored by Dylan Dittrich. Sign up here to receive it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
📺 WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, AUG. 18
PCA is doused by his teammates after Monday's walk-off blast. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
⚾️ White Sox at Cubs The Crosstown Series continues tonight at Wrigley Field (8:05pm ET, TBS), where the second-place Cubs (73-53) host the first-place White Sox (65-59) following Monday's series-opener — a 7-5 Cubs win on Pete Crow-Armstrong's walk-off homer in the 10th. Party like it's 1906? If the standings hold, this will be the first time since 2008 that both Chicago teams make the playoffs (not including the COVID-shortened 2020 season). And though it's a long shot, that leaves open the possibility for the first Windy City World Series since 1906. More to watch:
🏀 WNBA: Fever at Tempo (7pm, ESPN); Dream at Aces (9pm, ESPN) … Indiana (23-12) goes for its fifth straight win in Toronto (10-23); Vegas (24-12) vs. Atlanta (21-13) is a potential first-round playoff matchup. 🎾 Cincinnati Open: Round of 32 (11am, Tennis) … Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and more take the court.
🌍 GEOSPORTS
Exciting news! GeoSports is back in Yahoo Sports AM, and I'll be writing the questions every Tuesday. Starting next week, we'll also be adding standings and prizes. How to play: You'll be asked five trivia questions that combine sports with geography (like the question pictured above). Tap where it happened! The closer you are, the more points you get. Play today's round.
🍿 WATCH: "CONFESSIONS OF A JUMBOTRON ADDICT"
Yahoo Media Group and The Nonfiction Hotlist invited filmmakers worldwide to submit documentary shorts for recognition and distribution. Nearly 1,000 filmmakers answered the call — and now, the results are in! Five films were selected in the Sports category, and we'll be sharing one each day this week ahead of our inaugural Film Festival this weekend.
Title: Confessions of a Jumbotron Addict Director: Mickey Duzyj Runtime: 9 minutes
About the film: For one Brooklyn Nets superfan, getting on the Jumbotron is more than a game, it's a mission. Armed with outrageous dance moves and boundless enthusiasm, he turns a personal obsession into an unforgettable quest for connection, celebration, and a place in the spotlight. Watch now.
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