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LIV Golf finally admits Team Championship is canceled

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LIV Golf has canceled its Team Championship, scheduled for Aug. 27-30 at The Cardinal in Plymouth, Mich., after weeks of tour officials insisting the event would take place as scheduled.

LIV’s announcement on Monday made official what had become increasingly obvious: that the championship — originally envisioned as the highlight of the breakaway tour’s season and its entire team-focused model — was not going to happen, even if LIV officials had repeatedly denied reports to the contrary and kept the event on the public schedule.

The Cardinal showed no signs of construction in recent weeks, including the grandstands and hospitality areas that dominate every professional golf tournament. LIV only stopped selling tickets last week, days after Fox Sports, LIV’s U.S. broadcast partner, removed the event from its TV listings.

At least three LIV players — Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin and Adrian Meronk — went so far as to make alternate plans, putting themselves on the entry list for the DP World Tour’s British Masters, which is held the same week.

This is the second event to be canceled in the wake of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) decision in April to withdraw future funding for the upstart league. One of the first moves was to “postpone” the event scheduled for New Orleans in June, citing the summer heat in Louisiana and the attention that would otherwise be on the World Cup. Both were known issues well before the event was scheduled.

On Monday, LIV announced that the team champion will be determined during this week’s event in Indianapolis. “By concluding the season now, we can put our full resources behind what comes next and maintain the operational rigor this transition demands,” LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said in a statement.

LIV also announced that its planned post-round concerts for Indianapolis, featuring country singer Thomas Rhett and DJ Disco Lines, have been canceled, citing “unavoidable changes in the entertainment program.”

O’Neil has been pitching a “LIV 2.0” to private investors, hoping to keep the league afloat with a new business model — fewer events and smaller purses, with players given a majority equity share in hopes they’ll continue to play on the rebel circuit.

But LIV’s plans have absorbed one direct hit after another in recent weeks.

The Asian Tour announced last month that it will partner with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour moving forward. LIV had previously worked with the Asian Tour to give playing opportunities to its golfers, as well as to meet requirements to receive Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.

And the DP World Tour has notified players to expect financial penalties if they attempt to play on both tours in 2027, citing its conflicting events rule.

The league has faced deep uncertainty around its future since losing the PIF’s support — a move that also saw PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan step down from the league’s board of directors. In response, LIV brought in an independent board, with two new members, Gene Davis and Jon Zinman. Davis is the CEO of a consulting firm that specializes in turnaround management, with past and current clients that include Spirit Airlines and Weight Watchers.

There are ongoing financial liabilities as well. Mobii, which produced LIV’s “Any Shot, Any Time” feature on its broadcasts, sued the golf circuit for $1.13 million for outstanding unpaid invoices and breach of contract. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Miami last month, alleges that LIV paid all of its bills in 2025 but stopped making payments this year.

LIV filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) on July 8 in New York, a legal step that is necessary for potential layoffs.

The Athletic‘s Brendan Quinn and Brody Miller contributed to this report.

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Mavericks, Stars resolve dispute, plan to stay in American Airlines Center through 2031

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The outside of the American Airlines Center in April. The scoreboard shows the Dallas Stars logo.

The American Airlines Center will remain the home of the Mavs and Stars, at least for now. Stacy Revere / Getty Images

The Dallas Mavericks are no longer engaged in a legal battle with their co-tenant at American Airlines Center, the Dallas Stars.

On Monday, the Mavericks and Stars released a joint statement saying they had put their issues behind them.

“The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars have reached an agreement that resolves the outstanding matters between the two organizations,” the statement read. “American Airlines Center will continue to serve as the home of both teams at least through the 2030–31 season.”

Tensions between the teams became public in October when it was revealed that the Mavericks had filed a petition for injunctive relief over what they said was a breach of contract.

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The Mavericks alleged that the Stars agreed in 1998 to keep their team headquarters within Dallas city limits — an agreement the Stars had been in violation of since 2003, when the team’s headquarters opened in Frisco — and that the Stars weren’t paying their fair share of renovations needed to maintain American Airlines Center, the building in Dallas’ Victory Park neighborhood that the teams have shared since 2001.

The Mavericks and Stars will continue playing at American Airlines Center for the next five seasons, but both teams appear headed elsewhere shortly thereafter.

In June, the Mavericks entered into an option agreement to purchase 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall in North Dallas. The Mavericks’ intention is to move into a new arena that they own ahead of the 2031-32 NBA season.

The Stars, meanwhile, could leave Dallas entirely. In June, the Stars said that they had signed a letter of intent to move forward in developing a sports and entertainment district in Plano, a suburb roughly 25 miles north of downtown Dallas. Under this plan, Plano taxpayers could cover as much as $700 million of what’s expected to be a $1 billion project.

The Mavericks have been involved in multiple lawsuits since Patrick Dumont and Miriam Adelson bought a majority share in the team from Mark Cuban in December 2023. In July, Cuban’s lawyers filed a Rule 202 petition in which he alleged that he was entitled to information being withheld from him in the Mavericks’ bid to develop a new arena and sports entertainment district. The back-and-forth between Cuban’s and Dumont’s lawyers died down in August, when Cuban withdrew his petition.

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Jack Whaley: Emotional golfer credits dad for US Amateur glory

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It was very much a family affair for Jack Whaley as he became only the third Englishman to triumph in the US Amateur Championship on Sunday.

The 22-year-old from Doncaster had his dad Andy caddying for him as he beat American Jay Leng Jr 4&3 in the final.

As a result, Whaley earned a place in the fields for the Masters, US Open and The Open at St Andrews in 2027, and an automatic berth in the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team that will take on the United States at Lahinch in Ireland on 5 and 6 September.

But years of being supported on his golf journey, by his father in particular, and the emotional embrace and victory speech at Merion suggested this moment will take some topping for Whaley.

“It’s probably the best thing and me and my dad will probably ever experience together,” Whaley told BBC Sport.

“He said to me yesterday, ‘right, I’m retired now, I’m one for one’. And we all thought it was hilarious. I don’t think he’ll caddie again, but I think he’ll definitely remember this one and I will for a very, very long time.

“He was just telling me that he was just very proud and we’ve done really well to get it this far and there’s no reason why it couldn’t be me that could win – and I think he’s the one that really kept me going.”

Having missed the cut at the same event 12 months ago and sitting 90th in the world amateur golf rankings, Whaley’s success was far from guaranteed.

Victories over Jackson Ormond, Bowen Mauss, Christian Cavaliere, Adam Bresnu and Carter Loflin prior to Sunday, ensured his dad was forced to alter his travel plans and extend his stay in the United States.

“It’s been a bumpy ride, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. We’re here now, so it’s great. It is a fantastic achievement,” said Whaley.

“Obviously we’ve not had good good results in the past, and he was due to go home on Saturday.

“I think he was expecting to do some sightseeing and go to Washington towards the end of the week if I missed the cut. On Friday night, we had to change his flight and get the car extended for an extra couple of days.”

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Chelsea: Co-owners Todd Boehly and Mark Walter explore selling stakes in club

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Boehly currently serves as Chelsea chairman but is due to be replaced at the end of the season by a Clearlake-appointed representative under a pre-agreed arrangement, made when the consortium bought the club from Roman Abramovich for £2.3bn in 2022.

It would represent a further reduction in Boehly’s influence, having initially been the public face of the takeover before serving as interim sporting director during the first transfer window under the new ownership.

Since 2023, Eghbali has become the most influential figure at Chelsea and has been heavily involved in transfer dealings, while a number of senior executives have left the club within the first two years of the ownership.

Some sources at Chelsea and in the ownership group play down the rift and highlight pictures of the pair together at key matches, notably at Chelsea‘s FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City.

But Chelsea‘s ongoing plans either to redevelop Stamford Bridge or move to a new stadium have been a source of tension.

Although both Boehly’s camp and Clearlake are understood to favour a move away from the current site, there are differences over the design and scale of the project, which Boehly hinted at in an interview with Bloomberg last March.

“We have to think long term about what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said.

“We have a big stadium development opportunity that we have to flesh out. That’s going to be where we’re either aligned or we ultimately decide to go different ways.”

Chelsea and representatives for Boehly, Walter and Clearlake have declined to comment.

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