Sports
Joy and pain for Rahal Letterman Lanigan aces in Portland
Lundgaard was the closest opposition to the Penske-Chevrolet trio in qualifying, and with Josef Newgarden’s early engine-change penalty dropping him to eighth on the grid, the #30 RLL car started third.
Lundgaard drafted behind Scott McLaughlin and Will Power down to Turn 1 on the opening lap, and when the latter flicked to the outside to take the racing line, Lundgaard stayed on the inside, entering Turn 1 and Turn 2 wheel-to-wheel with the championship leader, and carrying more momentum so that he grabbed second place exiting Turn 3.
There he would remain for the opening stint, with Power in close attendance, but when Lundgaard pitted for the first time, a slight refueling issue and strong out-laps from the Penske driver after his stop meant the RLL driver slipped to third. There he remained, but towards the end of the stint he dropped back from the top two as his car appeared harder on scrubbed Firestone alternates. Switching to scrubbed primaries for his third stint meant Lundgaard was easily passed by Pato O’Ward and then Newgarden, but he appeared to be set for a top-five finish.
However, stalling as he left his pitbox for a third time dropped him to 10th, and while he climbed to eighth, trying to pass Alexander Rossi for seventh caused him to outbrake himself at Turn 1, slide into the runoff where he collected an advertising banner. That obliged Lundgaard to run a slow lap to the pits to have the offending item removed, and dropped him to 21st place.
So although his Rookie of the Year rival David Malukas had a poor day too, finishing 14th, Lundgaard saw the gap between them reduce from 11 points to five.
“It was not the end that we wanted obviously,” he said. “The start was good with taking second place and the overall pace was good but we will learn from our other challenges and move on.”
By contrast, Graham Rahal was very positive about his climb from 11th to fifth, despite not quite snatching fourth from O’Ward’s damaged car in the closing stages. Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Photo by: Gavin Baker / Motorsport Images
“A top-five is like a win for us today,” said Rahal who has seen the RLL team coming to the fore in the second half of the season. “I would have loved to get Pato there at the end and thought we had the pace to do so. I had been setting him up for about 15 laps prior to get it done so to not do it, I’m a little salty.
“But the guys did a wonderful job in the pits. I’m really proud of everyone at Honda, everyone at RLL for keeping their heads down and getting us here. And really proud to represent United Rentals. We raised a lot more money for Turns for Troops so thank you so much to them for all of their support. The list goes on.
“For Total, we’ve had good success with this car. We’ve had a fast car here in Portland and hopefully next year we can come back and get a win.”
The third RLL car of Jack Harvey had a more subdued weekend, starting 17th and finishing 15th.
“We’re just lacking a little bit of speed right now and we’re trying to figure out why it’s not quite gelling,” said Harvey. “I’m not sure what it is but I think we are making progress. It’s subtle and not as quick and as much as I would like.
“The positive part of today is the pit stops were very good, so I have to say thanks to the guys on pit lane for that.
“Obviously, it’s getting towards the business end of the championship now and I just want to go to Laguna Seca and try and get the best finish we can and hopefully have our best finish of the year.” Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Photo by: Gavin Baker / Motorsport Images
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.
Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
The trial lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
During his closing remarks, Carmody showed an April, 2017, NFL memo that showed the league was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.
The league maintained it had the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs said that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Other professional sports leagues were also keeping an eye on this case since they also offer out-of-market packages. A major difference though is that MLB, the NBA and the NHL market their packages on multiple distributors and share in the revenue per subscriber instead of receiving an outright rights fee.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year the case could proceed as a class action.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to cool rooms in the Athletes Village, which will house more than 15,000 Olympians and sports officials over the course of the games, using a system of cooling pipes underneath the floors.
The average high in Paris on Aug. 1 is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). The objective is to keep the rooms between 23-26 degrees (73-79 degrees Fahrenheit). The rooms will also be equipped with fans.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said about the plans for the Olympics.
According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that. The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million.
The Olympics mark the most important stop on the athletic careers of the 10,500-plus athletes who will descend on Paris, which has led some high-profile countries to undercut environmental efforts for the sake of comfort.
“It’s a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strath Gordon explained to The Post.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers seemed determined to keep playing. And playing. And playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series with Florida’s 3-2 victory in four overtimes early Friday, with the game ranking as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
Matthew Tkachuk’s goal came at the 19:47 mark of the fourth OT to end this one, which marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history and the longest game in franchise history for each team.
The longest game in NHL history came on March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime on Mud Bruneteau’s goal at 116 minutes, 30 seconds of extra play.
Florida’s previous record for longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado. Carolina’s previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
The only good news for the teams is they had an extended break before this series began. Carolina closed out New Jersey exactly a week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
But this game ended roughly six hours after Thursday night’s puck drop, and the teams have a Game 2 in less than 48 hours.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
