Sports

Dec 22, 2022 World Rugby will encourage elite competitions to have a shot clock for penalties and conversions from Jan. 1, with sanctions to be issued for time wasting as part of plans to speed up the game in 2023 – a World Cup year. The guidelines have been designed by the global governing body

7:58 AM ET Naoya Inoue became the undisputed bantamweight champion after earning an 11th-round KO victory on Dec. 13 in Tokyo. The win also earned him eight first-place votes from our ESPN’s pound-for pound 21-member panel, moving him closer to Terence Crawford at No. 1. In his other fight this year, Inoue scored a second-round

Dec 19, 2022 A highly anticipated middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa will not happen at UFC 284 as planned, sources told ESPN. The UFC still has the 185-pound contest officially listed on its website for the UFC 284 event, which is scheduled to take place on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia, but

10:03 AM ET Augusta National Golf Club announced Tuesday that any golfer who qualified for the Masters tournament based on its previous criteria will be invited to play in 2023, including 16 players who are currently competing in the LIV Golf League. Six past Masters champions are part of the group that defected from the

12:00 PM ET ON THE AFTERNOON of Sept. 21, Phoenix Suns employees logged onto an all-hands Zoom session led by team president and CEO Jason Rowley. Hours earlier, Robert Sarver had announced he was selling the Suns and Phoenix Mercury amid continuing and widespread anger over his conduct as majority owner. While employees eagerly anticipated

10:27 AM ET Stephen HolderESPN INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor is feared to have a high ankle sprain and seems “likely” to miss the remaining three games of the season, a team source told ESPN. The Colts have not made any final decisions on Taylor’s fate, but considering his injury to

Dec 18, 2022 ESPN News Services MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams has been awarded a wild-card entry to play at the Australian Open next month, 25 years after she played the Grand Slam tournament for the first time. The 42-year-old Williams has reached the final twice in Australia, including a loss to her younger sister,

1:13 AM ET Bowl season is finally upon us! Our reporters are breaking down the best of the games from notable performances, breakout players and so much more. Full schedule | Results Saturday, Dec. 17 Frisco Bowl: Boise State Broncos 35, North Texas Mean Green 32 In his first season at Boise State, freshman running

5:40 PM ET Bradford Doolittle Close ESPN Staff Writer Sports reporter, Kansas City Star, 2002-09 Writer, Baseball, Baseball Prospectus Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus Member, Baseball Writers Association of America Member, Professional Basketball Writers Association David Schoenfield Close ESPN Senior Writer Covers MLB for ESPN.com Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with ESPN.com since 1995

Dec 16, 2022 England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) on Friday approved the application by a bidder for the planned takeover of Wasps but rejected another for Worcester Warriors after an assessment by the governing body’s Club Financial Viability Group. Financially-hit Wasps and Worcester have both been suspended for going into administration and will drop from

10:00 AM ET The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has flown by. Wedged into the middle of the European club season, it has had to. It’s hard to believe that the tournament began 26 days ago, yet so much has transpired in that time, including whittling down a field of 32 to just France and

Dec 16, 2022 The NHL trade market has been gummed up by a lack of salary-cap room this season. It also doesn’t help that so many teams are within a reasonable distance of playoff seeds, unable to determine their position in the market. When the NHL trade deadline arrives on March 3, the contenders and

Dec 15, 2022 Associated Press SANDUSKY, Ohio — Hailie Deegan will drive full time in the NASCAR Truck series next season with ThorSport Racing. ThorSport formally added Deegan to its driver lineup Thursday as it announced a manufacturer move from Toyota to Ford. Deegan, a 21-year-old California native, will race in the Truck series for

9:15 AM ET The UFC will end its year with a main event highlighting one of the promotion’s most interesting divisions. Sean Strickland will take on Jared Cannonier in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in a critical middleweight battle. Both men are coming off losses against elite fighters, and the winner

Dec 15, 2022 Associated Press LONDON — Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal were honored by the International Tennis Federation as its 2022 ITF World Champions on Thursday after each claimed two Grand Slam titles this season. The ITF determines its awards based on criteria that include all events and give special weight to the four

Dec 14, 2022 December 14, 1947 was a Sunday afternoon. Yes, most of the men who gathered in Daytona Beach, Fla. on that chilly, gray day were dressed in suits. But no, it was not a church service. Far from it. There was entirely too much brown liquor on the table and cigar smoke in

Dec 13, 2022 Former England coach Eddie Jones will take charge of the Barbarians for their game against a World XV at Twickenham in May, the team said on Tuesday. Jones, 62, was sacked by England’s Rugby Football Union last week following a year in which England won only five of their 12 tests. 2

Dec 13, 2022 Mike CoppingerESPN Naoya Inoue, ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer, has proved peerless through 24 fights as he cruised to another inside-the-distance victory on Tuesday in Tokyo. Paul Butler was no match. He really wasn’t ever expected to be. The Englishman was simply there to hand over his WBO belt to Inoue, who

8:00 AM ET The NBA is renaming its annual regular-season MVP award after Michael Jordan, the player who topped ESPN’s ranking of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team named last season. The league unveiled the newly designed Michael Jordan Trophy on Tuesday, along with five other reimagined trophies named after league pioneers that will now be

6:24 PM ET SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters Monday morning, he didn’t have much in the way of injury updates on key players such as receiver Deebo Samuel and quarterback Brock Purdy. That’s because Samuel and Purdy were among a handful of Niners still having further