📰🏟️ Another Kawhi scandal?
Plus: Best fastball in baseball history…
Good afternoon. The top-5 sports stories of the day are at your fingertips. Let’s get right to it.
—Kyle
1) Tigers to trade SP Tarik Skubal, per reports
After blowing a 7-0 lead and losing to the Orioles yesterday in a game that Skubal started, the Detroit Tigers are now reportedly planning to trade the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner.
- According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Tigers (51-58) aim to make their ace left-hander available “within the next day or two,” after losing steam in a recent push for playoff contention.
- The Dodgers and Brewers are seen as leading candidates to land Skubal, who’s the consensus best player available ahead of the MLB’s Aug. 3 trade deadline,
- In other deadline news: the Angels traded RP Chase Silseth and C Logan O'Hoppe to the Rangers for minor league 3B Angel Arredondo.
Who’s in the running for Skubal?
2) Kawhi Leonard could be involved in another scandal
The NBA superstar was revealed to be a secret investor in a controversial taxpayer-funded soccer club in Rhode Island, per a joint investigation by the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, WPRI-TV Target 12, and Hunterbrook Media.
- Rhode Island FC’s stadium project in Pawtucket has been heavily subsidized by the public to the tune of $110M+, which was initially tied to a larger development that included affordable housing.
- But no housing has been built after 3 years, despite local approvals, with the project now seeking additional taxpayer funds—raising questions about the public investment.
- The news comes as Leonard is under a year-long NBA investigation over alleged cap circumvention with the LA Clippers, which reports say could now stretch into 2027.
A new chapter in the Kawhi saga
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3) NFL Flag Championship earns highest rating yet
The 3rd annual NFL Flag Championships, a multi-day event featuring championship teams from regional tournaments hosted by all 32 NFL clubs, plus 12 international tournament winners, has set a new record for viewership.
- Nielsen data shows 14.3M people tuned in last weekend across ABC, ESPN, and other Disney-owned platforms.
- That includes a peak of 1.1M average viewers for the girls high school division title game, roughly the same as an average regular-season WNBA game on major networks.
- Overall, average viewership for the NFL Flag Championships increased 50% compared to last year.
NFL captures the flag football audience
4) Jake Paul’s combat sports company acquires MMA league
Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) is merging with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) to create a new mixed martial arts company under the MVP banner.
- Since its launch in 2018, the PFL has established itself as home to the best MMA talent in the world outside the UFC.
- The move is part of MVP’s recent push from boxing into MMA, with the Jake Paul-led company hosting its first MMA event in May on Netflix (headlined by Ronda Rousey’s return to the sport).
- Paul, an online influencer-turned-boxer, has repeatedly promised to shake up the UFC’s hold on the MMA industry, and also teased his eventual competitive MMA debut.
Paul is taking his talents to MMA
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