• Some charter planes commissioned for the NCAA tournament may also be used by ICE, which operates the planes for “immigration enforcement flights.” Read the story. 
• Fox Sports said it averaged 5.02 million viewers for Monday’s World Baseball Classic game between the U.S. and Mexico. Read the story.
• The WNBA and WNBPA left a second round of late-night negotiations in Manhattan without a deal, but they acknowledged movement had been made. Read the story.
• The PGA Tour is waiting for some of the legal questions around prediction markets to be answered before deciding whether to partner with platforms. Read the story.

Tony Dungy ⬇ The former NFL head coach announced he will not return to NBC’s Football Night in America. Dungy has been a staple of the network’s NFL coverage, joining NBC in 2009 alongside Rodney Harrison. He primarily appeared on the pregame show but also made select appearances in the broadcast booth as a color commentator.

Alabama ⬆⬇ Head coach Nate Oats spoke Wednesday about how NIL impacts his recruiting strategy. “We want players who come here for reasons that don’t have money at the top,” he said. “I think when you take players in, that money is the number-one thing, you end up with problems.” He later said he has a hard time believing the legitimacy of some of the name, image, and likeness numbers reported for players at other universities.

Bobby Hurley ⬇ Arizona State announced the head coach will not have his contract renewed, ending his 11-year tenure in Tempe. Hurley leaves ASU with a record of 185–167 and three NCAA tournament appearances, last reaching March Madness in 2023. The head coach agreed to a two-year contract extension after the 2023 tournament, which saw his base salary increase by $200,000 to $2.8 million. 

The Players Championship ⬇ A pair of top-50 players have withdrawn from the PGA’s flagship event. Ryan Fox was the first to back out, exiting the competition five hours before he was set to tee off due to an illness. World No. 4 Collin Morikawa played one hole before tweaking his back during a practice swing on the 11th tee, forcing him to withdraw.

6

The number of different leagues and events represented in the top 10 of the latest weekly report from Nielsen of the most-watched sports events, setting a new record. The agency’s report for the week of March 2–8 included appearances by NCAA men’s basketball (Nos. 1 and 5), the NBA (Nos. 2, 9, and 10), the PGA Tour (No. 3), the World Baseball Classic (Nos. 4 and 8), NASCAR (No. 6), and UFC (No. 7). The spread marked the widest variety of leagues and events to be featured in the top 10 since Nielsen began issuing the weekly report in September, along with the introduction of the Big Data + Panel measurement process.

Can you rank the top five most expensive tee times in the United States?