The Rays’ days in the Tampa area could now be numbered after the Pinellas County, Fla., county commission on Tuesday delayed for a second time a vote to issue previously approved bonds as part of a planned $1.3 billion ballpark.

A deal struck last July called for the county to supply $312.5 million in tourist tax dollars toward the stadium. But catastrophic hurricane damage to Tropicana Field, as well as the greater Tampa area, and the recent commission election of opponents to the ballpark deal, changed the dynamic surrounding the Rays substantially. So when it comes to issuing the bonds to fulfill that prior pledge, significant questions persist, and the commission members voted by a 6-1 margin to give themselves more time to review the funding.

That vote follows a prior vote, by the same margin, last month to delay the bond issuance.  During the often-tense public meeting, commission members even suggested that Rays owner Stu Sternberg could be looking for a way to exit the stadium deal and pin the blame on the county.

“They are not great partners,” commission member Rene Flowers said of the Rays. “I think they want to take their toys and go back home.”

The bond issue will now be revisited on Dec. 17.

The Rays will be playing the 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, where the Yankees hold their spring training. But the Rays’ future beyond that is increasingly uncertain.

Strong Words

Prior to the commission hearing, the Rays sent a lengthy letter to the county officials, laying out that the original 2028 target to open the ballpark is already gone because of the initial move to delay the bond issuance. Preliminary stadium work has been suspended, and the project’s price tag is now rising because of it, the club said. The Rays are responsible for all costs beyond the $600 million total contribution from the public sector, including overruns. 

“A 2029 ballpark delivery would result in significantly higher costs that we are not able to absorb alone,” team presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld wrote. “[The] enormous investment of human and financial capital has been jeopardized by the county’s failure to live up to its July agreement.”

But if the goal of the letter was to facilitate a deal, it largely backfired, as instead, the tone of the commission proceedings darkened considerably.

“The idea of rushing this deal concerns me,” said county commissioner Dave Eggers. “I am not going to feel rushed by statements that were made by the Rays.”

The season has not started well in Philadelphia: The Sixers are tied for the NBA’s worst record at 2–11. 

The abysmal start prompted a team meeting Monday night following a loss to the Heat, according to ESPN, during which Tyrese Maxey even called out 2023 MVP Joel Embiid for consistently being late to team activities. Embiid has played in just three games so far this season after dealing with injuries and a three-game suspension to start the year. 

Before this season, the Sixers were projected to challenge the Celtics and Knicks at the top of the Eastern Conference after adding nine-time All-Star Paul George in the offseason. Maxey was coming off a Most Improved Player campaign, and the alarm bells hadn’t rung about Embiid’s injuries. The team was projected to win around 50 games.

It’s no surprise why the NBA and its broadcast partners decided to feature Philadelphia in 21 nationally televised games (not including NBA TV), the seventh most in the league. That included an opening-week matchup against the Bucks when both George and Embiid were out, which averaged 1.71 million viewers, down about 33% from last year’s comparable window that featured the Knicks and Celtics.

Flexing Off the Sixers

It’s possible the Sixers recover and make a playoff push—we’re only 20% of the way into the season. But the NBA and its partners may begin considering flexing the Sixers out of primetime games.

The NBA has flexed some games already this season, when they announced on Nov. 13 three different changes, including swapping a Nov. 22 game on ESPN between the Bucks and Pacers—both of whom have underperformed to start the season—with a Pelicans game against the Warriors, who have started strong and have notable viewership draw Steph Curry.

The league’s rules about flexing games are not as clear as the NFL’s, where most games require at least 12 days’ notice before flexing. This lead time is important for the league’s partners, who need to adjust their coverage plans.

Fortunately for the NBA, the Sixers will not play their next nationally televised game until Christmas when they visit the Celtics. It’s unlikely the league will change its Christmas Day schedule, but many of Philadelphia’s remaining national TV games will be in January.

There’s a case to keep the Sixers on TV, especially if George and Embiid begin to play as expected. Both are averaging well below their career points per game averages, and shooting below 40% from the field.

But there’s also the risk of Embiid simply resting during key games, particularly on back-to-backs. The Sixers have already been fined $100,000 by the league for violating a player participation policy when Embiid sat out of their home opener. The Sixers have two more national TV games during a back-to-back stretch: Jan. 2 against the Warriors on TV and Jan. 15 against the Knicks on ESPN.

The LPGA Tour’s richest season yet is set to conclude this week with someone finally breaking Lorena Ochoa’s 17-year-old record for prize money won in a single season.

Whoever wins this week’s CME Group Tour Championship will surpass the $4,364,994 that Ochoa earned in 2007 when she won eight tournaments, including the Women’s British Open. 

That’s because this week’s first-place prize is a record $4 million (double last year’s payout), and all 60 golfers in the field have already won enough money this season that the winner’s check would vault them over Ochoa. Linnea Strom’s $540,968 is the lowest prize money total coming in.

Ochoa’s record wasn’t closely contested until 2022, when Lydia Ko fell $591 short, winning $4,364,403 on tour that year. On Sunday, Nelly Korda added to her landmark year by becoming just the third golfer to win more than $4 million in one season, following her seventh victory of 2024 at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican (after a highly watched practice round with Caitlin Clark), which brought her total to $4,164,430.

Even if Korda doesn’t win this week, she can surpass Ochoa’s mark with a top-five finish, and could still end up with the single-season record, depending on who wins the tournament. Second place pays out $1 million, third $550,000, fourth $350,000, and fifth $260,000. Eight other golfers have already won more than $2 million this season, and 21 others over $1 million.

Overall, the LPGA Tour’s total prize money in 2024 amounts to a record $125.95 million, up from $101.4 million in 2023.

“It’s a really big topic,” No. 7–ranked Jeeno Thitikul said in an interview with Front Office Sports. Thitikul won this season’s Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which earned her a $1 million bonus, in addition to the $2.1 million she earned in tournament prize money. “It’s really nice for us to have [a lot of] support because we’re trying to make the tour bigger,” Thitikul said.

The purse for the Tour Championship, which tees off Thursday at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla., is $11 million (a $4 million increase from 2023), which is second only to the $12 million handed out at the U.S. Women’s Open this year.

Rafael Nadal took the court Tuesday at the Davis Cup, his first match since getting knocked out by Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Paris Olympics in July. 

It also ended up being the final match of his illustrious 23-year tennis career as Spain was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup. The 38-year-old announced last month that he would retire from tennis after the tournament.

Nadal lost to Botic van de Zandschulp, which snapped a 32-match winning streak for him at the Davis Cup. Spain stayed alive after Carlos Alcaraz defeated Tallon Griekspoor, but the Dutch duo of Wesley Koolhof and van de Zandschulp prevailed over Marcel Granollers and Alcaraz in the decisive doubles match to eliminate Nadal and the host nation.

Despite the loss, Nadal’s participation in the Davis Cup should mean he will clear $135 million in career earnings, assuming an equal split among the five members of Spain’s team. Each quarterfinal team will earn $535,714, which comes out to about $107,000 per member. Nadal had made $134.95 million entering the tournament.

An All-Timer

Nadal will go down as one of the most successful athletes in all sports. He was a member of the legendary Big Three in men’s tennis, which also included Djokovic and Roger Federer. The three are the only men with at least 20 Grand Slam titles.

The Spaniard also holds the record for the most wins in a single Grand Slam with 14 in the French Open, which garnered him the nickname “King of Clay.”

Nadal also became an impactful influence off the court. From his endorsements, appearances, and other business endeavors, he’s estimated to have earned more than $415 million, according to Forbes, which is nearly three times as much as he’s earned as a tennis player.

Nadal has held his most notable deals for more than a decade. He signed an apparel deal with Nike in 2000, Babolat for his rackets in 2001, partnered with Kia in 2004, and added Richard Mille in 2010. He’s become the face of Nike tennis—his famous raging bull logo was released in 2013—especially after Federer left the Swoosh in 2018 for Uniqlo and On. 

Alcaraz, the 21-year-old Spanish star who cites Nadal as his tennis inspiration, has also signed deals with many of Nadal’s partners, including Nike, Babolat, and Louis Vuitton.