CNN – Sports

By CNN Sports staff Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy has defended players’ rights to compete in the Saudi International next year. The event in February, which used to be on the European Tour but has since moved to the Asian Tour, has already confirmed a field of high-profile names, including Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson.

By Amanda Davies and Jack Bantock, CNN Mercedes entered the 2021 Formula One season seeking an eighth-consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championship double. That double is still possible but with two races to go, Red Bull and Max Verstappen have proven quite the irritants to Mercedes during 2021. While Mercedes leads the constructors’ championship, Verstappen holds

By Amy Woodyatt, Ben Morse, Nectar Gan, Emmet Lyons and Alicia Lloyd, CNN The International Olympic Committee (IOC) held a second call with Peng Shuai on Wednesday and said that the Chinese tennis star “reconfirmed” that she was safe and well given the “difficult situation” she is in, the sporting organization said on Thursday. One

By Travis Caldwell, CNN The collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ union expired at 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, leading to the first official work stoppage in professional baseball since the 1994-95 seasons. The lockout will prevent players from using team facilities as well as free agents from signing new contracts

By CNN Sport staff LeBron James was sidelined by the NBA’s Covid-19 health and safety protocols and, as a result, missed Tuesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings, a team spokesperson confirmed to CNN. It is unclear if James had tested positive for Covid-19 or whether he had come into close contact with someone who had.

By Kevin Dotson, CNN Michigan Wolverines head football coach Jim Harbaugh will donate the bonus money he’ll earn this season to employees of the athletic department who were impacted by Covid-19-related pay cuts, Harbaugh said. Harbaugh secured a $500,000 bonus Saturday when the Wolverines defeated rival Ohio State Buckeyes to secure the Big Ten East

By Matias Grez, CNN With “no clear indication” that recent measures implemented by governing bodies and social media companies have done anything to tackle racism in football, worldwide players’ union FIFPro wants to help set up an independent research center to gather data on incidents of abuse. The research center is part of FIFPro’s new

By Jack Bantock, CNN It was an unhappy birthday for Russell Wilson on Monday Night Football as the quarterback saw his potential game-tying pass intercepted to seal a 17-15 loss for the Seattle Seahawks (3-8) against the Washington Football Team (5-6), scuppering a dramatic comeback. Playing on his 33rd birthday, Wilson threw a 32-yard touchdown

By Amanda Davies and George Ramsay, CNN With less than a year to go before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, questions surrounding host nation Qatar’s handling of humanitarian issues show few signs of abating — specifically concerning the state’s anti-homosexuality laws. Nasser Al Khater, the chief executive of the tournament’s organizing committee,

By Travis Caldwell, CNN Louisiana State University announced Tuesday morning Brian Kelly has been hired as the school’s head football coach. Kelly will be introduced on Wednesday. Kelly — Notre Dame’s head coach since the 2010 season — will replace current LSU head coach Ed Orgeron. LSU announced October 17 the school and Orgeron will

By Kevin Dotson, CNN In an exclusive interview with Golf Digest, Tiger Woods spoke publicly about his golfing future for the first time since his car crash earlier this year. “I think something that is realistic is playing the tour one day, never full time, ever again, but pick and choose, just like Mr. (Ben)