The men's NCAA Basketball Tournament begins on Tuesday, March 17 with two of the First Four matchups. These are the four games that are used to determine the final four teams in the main 64-team bracket. To some, they're known as the "play-in games" although they've officially been part of the men's tournament since 2011.
The Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have decided they will partner with MLB, which will produce their games for the 2026 season and beyond. The Tampa Bay Rays are also part of that mix, according to media reporter John Ourand, who first broke the news. The Cardinals, Royals and Brewers have formally announced the transition.
Last week, nine MLB teams terminated their contracts with Fanduel Sports Network's owners after a roughly four-year saga including non-payments, threats of non-payment, threats of bankruptcy in an attempt to lower payments, general non-good faith dealings, and nearly a year of bankruptcy hearings. Now Main Street Sports Group is back, offering those teams three-year contracts to own their broadcast rights if they can manage to find a new owner for FanDuel Sports Network.
Teams can lose draft picks and pay a ton in luxury tax, but it doesn't seem to be a deterrent. So for overspending, I would allow a generous soft cap, as MLB has now. Then for every 20 million dollar increment of spending above the cap, you start the season with a loss. So sure, Dodgers, blow out the soft cap if you don't mind starting 0-4.
Levante are newly promoted to La Liga, and so are very much the underdogs against the defending champions and current league leaders. Barcelona's 3-0 win over Mallorca last weekend put them top after one round of fixtures, and they'll be looking to inflict similar damage here. With 92 goals from these sides' past 23 meetings an average of 3.8 goals per match we might be in for some more drama,
Fans across the world will be able to watch the 2025/26 LaLiga live as Barcelona defend the title they won by four points ahead of Real Madrid last season. The league's rights packages include a new deal in the UK and Ireland as part of a multi-year agreement allowing fans to watch the likes of England forwards Jude Bellingham, of Madrid, and Barca's Marcus Rashford. In the US, supporters will be looking forward to watching USMNT midfielder Johnny Cardoso, who joined Atletico Madrid from Real Betis for a fee of $34.8 million (£25.5m) during the summer.
