Sports

4:20 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The Belmont Stakes is moving to Fox Sports as part of an eight-year deal beginning in 2023. The deal announced Wednesday between Fox and the New York Racing Association includes NYRA Bets as the title sponsor of the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown series. NYRA

7:53 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN We kick off 2022 waiting and wishing for the marquee fights — the ones that can make boxing the focal point of the sports world, if only for a day, and the kind of fights that were in short supply in 2021. The anticipated undisputed heavyweight championship bout between Tyson

8:04 AM ET If 2022 has the same drama, excitement and confused chaos as 2021, I’m going to need to book an AirBnB in the mountains of Tibet to decompress. OOOOOOHHHHMMMMMM. The 12 months that was 2021 was the wildest of golf cart rides. But before I save my Tibetan trip SuperHost search preferences and

5:45 AM ET World No. 1 Novak Djokovic said on Tuesday he would defend his Australian Open title at Melbourne Park this month after receiving a medical exemption from getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic, who had declined to reveal his COVID-19 vaccination status, said previously that he was unsure whether he would compete at the

7:46 AM ET The next 12 months could be some of the most interesting in MMA history. Conor McGregor is set to return from a broken leg. Jon Jones, who hasn’t fought since February 2020, could finally get a heavyweight title shot. Kamaru Usman is closing in on Anderson Silva‘s record of 16 straight UFC

12:27 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN NEW YORK — Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane has heard the chatter about whether his backcourt mate, Ja Morant, should make his first All-Star Game this season. But after Morant’s latest dominant performance — 36 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and a game-high plus-24 in 33 minutes of a 118-104

4:35 PM ET NFL NationESPN Week 17 of the 2021 NFL season featured blowouts by the Bears and Patriots, a three-touchdown game by Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase that fueled an AFC North-clinching win over the Chiefs and a comeback by the Bucs during which Antonio Brown took off his uniform and left the field during

4:00 PM ET SALT LAKE CITY — Donna Lowe-Stern didn’t know exactly what she would say. The day before, Sept. 26, her son Aaron Lowe had been killed. Now she was looking out at a room full of his mourning Utah football teammates. Coach Kyle Whittingham had asked her whether she would like to speak

8:25 PM ET The St. Louis Blues face the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night in the Winter Classic, the NHL’s annual New Year’s Day game played outdoors. Target Field, usually the home of the Minnesota Twins, is where the two teams will play. 1 Related Per the Weather Channel website, Saturday’s high in Minneapolis is

9:47 PM ET Associated Press REDDICK, Fla. — Billy Turner, who trained Seattle Slew to a Triple Crown sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont stakes in 1977, has died. He was 81. Turner died Friday at his home here where he had been in hospice care after battling prostate cancer for two years,

4:00 AM ET Real Madrid want to pair Kylian Mbappe with Erling Haaland in a forward line that would be the envy of world football — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. PLUS: Arsenal have plans to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Jump to: Arsenal’s list of Auba replacements | City goodwill towards Barca in Torres deal

2:55 PM GMT England trio Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Manu Tuilagi are expected to be fit for selection for the Six Nations which starts on Feb. 5. Both Farrell and George were injured in England’s 32-15 win over Australia on Nov. 13, with the fly-half requiring surgery on his ankle. Tuilagi was forced off

7:15 AM ET It was, in the final quarter of the horrible 2020, when it seemed as though society had finally succumbed to its own appetites and irresponsibility, that baseball was somehow being made an example of. So much loss could not be happenstance. Six Hall of Famers — signatures to their time and instrumental

7:14 AM ET TAMPA, Fla. — Amanda Serrano steps off the elevator at the JW Marriott hotel in Tampa. In five hours, she’ll be next door in Amalie Arena riding another elevator up to a platform, and then she’ll begin her ring walk in front of a sold-out crowd for her 44th professional fight. But

3:34 PM GMT Premiership Rugby leaders Leicester Tigers have confirmed an investigation by the league into allegations of historical breaches of salary cap rules. The Times reported on Tuesday that the league’s salary cap director Andrew Rodgers is investigating a third-party company called Worldwide Image Management over payments made to Leicester players from the company.

12:44 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Brooklyn Nets announced Tuesday that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and LaMarcus Aldridge had cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Aldridge has been in the protocols for two weeks, while Durant and Irving both entered them 10 days ago. Brooklyn had a massive COVID-19 outbreak across its roster, with

8:00 AM ET Every year in every sport brings ups and downs, memorable performances, the emergence of new stars. In mixed martial arts, the leading fight promotion, the UFC, has eight weight classes for men and four for women and ran 43 fight cards in 2021, making plenty of room available onstage for athletes to

5:49 AM ET Dominic Thiem has pulled out of next month’s Australian Open to work towards regaining full fitness after a long-standing wrist injury, the former world No. 3 said on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Austrian, who has not played since suffering the injury at the Mallorca Open in June, was unable to defend his U.S.

5:52 PM ET SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers resumed practice Monday after a long holiday weekend without starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. That’s because Garoppolo suffered at least a right thumb sprain early in Thursday’s 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans. However, a league source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Garoppolo is dealing

9:41 AM ET Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning is headed to Oregon as the Ducks’ new head coach, but he’ll first call defensive plays for the Bulldogs in Friday’s game against Michigan in a College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. Lanning, 35, was hired as Oregon’s coach on Dec. 11 to