United States-China tension is spilling into sports: The U.S. is considering a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

The potential boycott of the Winter Games could be in concert with other countries, though it is not immediately clear which ones. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken summarized America’s reasoning as it weighs its options.

“China uses coercion and aggression to systematically erode autonomy in Hong Kong, undercut democracy in Taiwan, abuse human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and assert maritime claims in the South China Sea that violate international law,” he said.

Olympic boycotts were once common. 

• 18 countries boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, a response to the U.S.-led 66-country boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in the Soviet Union. 
• 34 countries boycotted the 1976 Olympics in Canada after the nation allowed in New Zealand, despite its rugby team violating an International Olympic Committee ban on touring in South Africa, which was still under apartheid.

The Trump Administration launched a trade war against China, causing both nations to issue tariffs on the other, and blamed China for the spread of COVID-19. The Biden Administration recently sanctioned two Chinese officials over human rights abuses on the Uyghur population.

Japan is set to host the Summer Olympics, originally planned for 2020, starting in July. Those games, while not a platform for international tensions among superpowers, have dealt with a slew of issues around who will be able to attend, rising costs, and sexism among Japan’s Olympic Committee leadership.

New York is legalizing online sports betting, but wagering will come at a cost. 

Backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a tentative agreement has been reached to allow online sports betting in the state, but through a model that is lottery-run and limits the number of sportsbooks. The agreement will be passed as part of New York’s $200 billion fiscal year 2022 budget. 

More on New York’s lottery-run plan:

• Only one or two sportsbooks would operate online betting in the entire state.
• There will be a higher tax rate than the 12% seen in NY casinos. 
• State tax revenue would reach about $500 million annually.

New York first legalized sports betting in 2013 but limited action to casinos. A federal case in 2019 expanded betting to retail sportsbooks, but now New Yorkers will be able to indulge from their phones or computers.

“We hope everyone in our state who has been spending money in New Jersey or Pennsylvania or perhaps illegally will try us and stay with us,” Sen. Joseph Addabbo told The Action Network. 

Last year, New Jersey saw a sports betting handle of $6 billion, while Pennsylvania funneled $3.5 billion through its sportsbooks. Online sports betting could potentially make up 90% of New York’s betting handle. 

DraftKings and FanDuel could be front-runners to operate mobile betting in New York, according to Cuomo.

The MLB All-Star Game is moving 1,400 miles west and one mile up.

Denver will host the midsummer classic after Major League Baseball pulled the game from Atlanta following the passage of Georgia’s controversial elections law.

Rockies owner Dick Monfort is among the owners MLB commissioner Rob Manfred consulted before moving the game out of Atlanta. Manfred also spoke with the Players Association, Players Alliance — a group of current and retired Black players — and corporate sponsors before making the decision.

Opponents of the move have noted that Colorado also has voter ID laws and three fewer days of early voting, but the state’s ID requirements are less stringent, and, because the state mails all voters an absentee ballot automatically, Colorado has one of the highest voter turnout rates in the U.S.

The move also takes All-Star events and potential revenue from a city that is just over 50% Black to one that is 9.2% Black, for a game that will honor one of baseball’s most prominent Black legends, Hank Aaron.

The Rockies hosted All-Star festivities once before, in 1998. The game typically brings around $60 million to $89 million in economic activity to the host city. Cobb County’s travel and tourism bureau estimates that Georgia’s losses from MLB’s decision to move the event out of Atlanta will exceed more than $100 million.

Coors Field is known as a hitters’ paradise due to the rarified air, which allows the ball to fly further and cuts into the movement on certain pitches.

“The Home Run Derby would be pretty legendary,” said Rockies pitcher Jon Gray, before the announcement was made.