🏎️ MLB Plays Game at NASCAR Track

Dallas Stars Youth Hockey Monopoly, Doncic Contract, Yankees Manager Faces Criticism, and more!

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Sportie Newsletter
August 04, 2025

🏀 Basketball

Luka Dončić agrees to 3-year, $165 million max extension with Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers view Luka Dončić as the future of the franchise. The team inked the 26-year-old to a three-year, $165 million max extension Saturday.

Per ESPN's Shams Charania, Dončić's deal features a player option in 2028, and he is now eligible for a projected five years and $417 million in 2028.

“Today, Luka Doncic chose the Los Angeles Lakers," said Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka during a Saturday press conference. "And that is a monumental moment in Lakers history. We could not be more grateful."

NBA to Play 6 Games in Europe Over Next 3 Years

The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic will play regular-season games in Berlin on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, and in London on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026.  The league also announced that it will play regular-season games in Manchester and Paris in 2027 and in Berlin and Paris in 2028.

The games will be held at Uber Arena (Berlin), The O2 (London), Co-op Live (Manchester) and the Accor Arena (Paris).  The dates and participating teams for the games in 2027 and 2028 will be announced prior to the 2026-27 and 2027-28 NBA seasons, respectively.

🏒 Hockey

They control everything’: How the Dallas Stars monopolized Texas youth hockey

Unlike the NFL, NBA and MLB, a handful of NHL teams are intimately involved in running the youth levels of their sports in their regions – perhaps none more than the Stars. In Dallas, the Stars spent decades turning what was once seen as a community good into a lucrative arm of their for-profit enterprise. 

At a time of increasing commercialization of youth sports nationally, hockey is particularly vulnerable to capture by corporate interests.

Whereas baseball and soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts are ubiquitous in parks and schools, fewer than 3,000 ice hockey rinks exist across the U.S., largely because running them is so expensive.

⚾️ Baseball

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone Responds to Heavy Criticism From Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez

Aaron Boone has responded to the harsh assessments levied on his team by two former New York Yankees veterans.

On Fox's pregame show before Saturday night's Speedway Classic, the panel discussed the Yankees' recent struggles. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were harsh in their assessments of the current roster and its manager. They didn't hold back.

"They make way too many mistakes," Jeter said. “And you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams. It just doesn’t happen. They had baserunning mistakes today—you saw [Trent Grisham] getting thrown out at home plate. You can’t continue to do it. You have to clean it up."

Record-breaking attendance figure for MLB Speedway Classic announced as 91,032

This MLB Speedway Classic was first announced nearly a year ago as part of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s push to take MLB to places where baseball isn’t played every day live. MLB played a game at the "Field of Dreams" movie site in Iowa in both 2021 and 2022. Alabama and North Carolina, too.

MLB didn’t try to sell every ticket inside the speedway that drew 156,990 for the Battle of Bristol college football game in 2016. The track, with a racing capacity of 146,000, meant the final attendance number could reach 90,000 or more even with sections blocked off.