MLB's scrambled list of highest-paid players | Big moves in esports | A soccer owner's salary cap dream

Plus: Why the Baseball Hall of Fame has Dr. Fauci's mask

Football

The Big Ten and the Pac-12 have postponed their fall football seasons, but Power 5 conference players including Clemson star Trevor Lawrence and American Athletic Conference players like South Florida's K.J. Sails are campaigning to play. (Of course, the players are also demanding a union-like structure and some form of collective bargaining.) The season cancellations pose a challenge for programs already facing deficits that often rise into the tens of millions of dollars.

A viral video showed Broncos players walking through a "sanitizing" mist that is supposed to protect against the coronavirus. Does it work? A doctor explains the science.

Soccer

Sheffield United had a stellar season, finishing ninth in the Premier League despite expectations it would be relegated, but financial challenges remain. The team's Saudi owner, Prince Abdullah, thinks the NFL could offer a solution, telling us that "their model is better than our model." Coincidentally, the third and fourth tiers of English soccer are introducing a salary cap, seeking to aid the many clubs that were teetering even before the pandemic. But the new system could spell the end of the English soccer pyramid.

Tennis

Maria Sharapova is staying busy in retirement, inking a long-term partnership with Therabody and joining the company's advisory board. "Maria wanted to be more than just an investor," Therabody's CEO tells us.

Pro Basketball

Each game in the NBA bubble features about 320 fans virtually in "attendance," with their images displayed on screens next to the court. Two fans who have participated detail the experience: the league's rules, the system's glitches and the reason they have to "pre-react" to big shots.

Auto Racing

Toyota is parting ways with a young driver in a Nascar dilemma of its own making.

Esports

Activision Blizzard has hired a president of sports and entertainment to boost its two city-based esports leagues: Tony Petitti, Major League Baseball's deputy commissioner and COO. "This model of being on every device in every geography, at every touch point, that's what's really critical for the growth of esports in the future," the company's CEO tells us.

At 14, Minna Stess is the youngest member of the U.S. national skateboarding team. Now she has become the youngest member of the esports organization XSET as well.

Featured Story

With the spread of Covid-19 shortening the season and erasing stadium revenues, MLB's ten highest-paid players are set to pull in a collective $152 million this year, down from $315 million last year. The changes to players' pay also mean our earnings ranking has a new No. 1, with $19 million in salary and endorsements. Who is baseball's new top man? See the full list here.

Hot Reads

Early Regional Sports Network TV Ratings And Ad Sales For MLB Are Up Compared With 2019

Dodgers Are Focusing On Stadium Future With Contactless Tech, Analytics For All And Facial Recognition

Upon Further Review

Esports powerhouse Team Liquid is entering a new game, having signed one of the top Valorant squads in Europe. It may soon find itself with new competition on our list of the most valuable esports companies, though: Enthusiast Gaming has acquired Omnia Media, the producer of hundreds of YouTube gamer channels and the talent representative for gaming influencers including Pokimane and Anomaly. "Gaming is the new social network, and we're building it," says Adrian Montgomery, the CEO of Enthusiast, which has a market value of $90 million. In our most recent ranking, the top 12 esports companies were all worth at least $120 million. See the full list here.

The Last Word

“We have so much more than bats, balls, hats and gloves. We have Dr. Fauci’s mask.”

Tim Mead

Baseball Hall of Fame president Tim Mead has one of the few jobs where it pays to live in the past. Now that the Hall is allowing limited numbers of guests again, after being forced to close for 102 days amid the pandemic, he's looking to reflect the times, trying to procure official scoresheets and Covid-19 test kits so the museum can tell the proper story of the 2020 season. For more on Mead's path to the presidency and his ambitious plans for the institution, read the full story here.