WNBA, WNBPA meet as clock ticks for season

The WNBA and the WNBPA are “set to meet Tuesday to continue discussions” on reaching a new CBA as a deadline to get the season started looms, according to a source cited by the AP. The meeting comes on a day the league has said that “at least a handshake agreement” on a new deal would “need to be done to start the season as scheduled.” The source added that the two sides “exchanged proposals over the weekend with the league sending one on Saturday.” The season is currently scheduled to start May 8 (AP, 3/10).

Viewership for F1’s season opener on Apple TV is unknown, but downloads for the streaming service more than tripled their daily average last weekend, at least on Android devices, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. The 2026 season started Down Under in Melbourne, with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team taking the checkered flag in first and second positions. The first race of the five-year Apple U.S. media rights deal appeared to go off largely without a hitch on the broadcast side, with few reports on social media of outages or buffering issues.

Fans had multiple options for how to watch the race, including Sky Sports’ feed, the F1 TV broadcast and individual in-car cameras. On Saturday, Apple TV’s daily active users increased 58% from the prior day, Sensor Tower told SBJ. Its data also showed that, on the day of the race, U.S. downloads were up 243% and daily active users were up 176% when compared to the prior 30 days on the platform.

Sensor Tower said its data only reflects Android devices and doesn’t include Apple iOS pre-installs or Apple TV in-app revenue. Liberty Media and F1 execs have been signaling in recent weeks that they view current viewership tracking methods as being archaic and that they don’t intend to judge the performance of the deal solely upon comparing Apple’s viewership to ratings with the prior partner, ESPN. No ratings info on the race has been released.

On the F1 Reddit page, a thread after the race about the Apple stream had 160 comments, with the original poster writing: “I really really like the HDR stream, it makes a huge difference during the race. The track looks much better and feels more immersive! The F1 TV in-race commentary is okay but Apple needs to add the option to switch to the Sky Sports audio feed along with all the other audio tracks from the F1 TV app. … Overall it’s a good start but there’s definitely room for improvement.” Another poster wrote: “Honestly I thought it was great. I was usually watching on a sketchy stream site before, but I have Apple TV regardless and this is infinitely better.” There were some complaints about the quality of the picture, with one comment on Reddit reading: “The picture quality today was shit, might as well watch standard definition.” Another read: “The quality in the Apple TV app this year compared to the F1 TV app last year seems to be garbage. Colors are washed out and video is a bit choppy under heavy camera movement.”

The NCAA will begin “monitoring its officials in this year’s basketball, baseball and softball championships with ProhiBet,” a technology by Integrity Compliance 360 that “crosschecks anonymized identification data with sportsbooks to flag impermissible bettors.” IC360 works with sports leagues and sportsbooks to “track the betting market.” In addition to the background checks that officials must pass to be eligible for the postseason, their “names will be uploaded to the ProhiBet system, anonymized and then crosschecked with customer data at participating sportsbooks.” The NCAA said that if any suspected violations are discovered, it would “consider whether the activity could merit removal of the referee’s championship officiating duties” (ESPN.com, 3/10).

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark called President Trump’s college sports roundtable last week “very constructive,” and “underscored his belief that the SCORE Act is the best path forward for college athletics.” Yormark, speaking Tuesday before the start of the Big 12 Tournament, said, “Coming out of that meeting, I think there’s real momentum for the SCORE Act, and we need it. I think it’s the best path forward. It provides us with meaningful guiding principles when you think about federal legislation.” While the SCORE Act has “widespread support,” getting it through Congress remains a “monumental task.” Yormark noted the bill “offers federal protection” as well as “liability protection, so we can enforce the rules, which we aren’t currently doing.” He also mentioned the bill “has great student-athlete protections.” The SCORE Act offers schools a “certain level of protection, especially amid a growing number of lawsuits being filed by athletes across the country” (AP, 3/10).

Carolina Panthers fans will “pay an average of 12% more” for season tickets this season, the fourth straight year the team has raised prices. The Panthers “emailed season ticket renewal notices” on Tuesday morning, “alerting fans to the price hikes.” A team spokesperson said that the 12% figure is a “blended average, meaning some seats could have increased more or less than that, depending on location.” The deadline to renew season tickets is May 1. A team spokesperson said that the Panthers are “in step with the rest of the NFL, as 75% of the league’s 32 clubs are raising prices next season.” The Panthers ranked 26th in non-premium ticket prices in 2025 and are “projected to be 23rd in 2026.” The price hike comes as Bank of America Stadium begins its $800M makeover (CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/10).

Some seats, like some in the upper bowls, “won’t experience that high of pricing increases,” while others “will experience more than 12%.” For the most affordable seats, the increase is “only $8 per game — from $510 to $590.” An increase of some sort “wasn’t necessarily surprising,” as the Panthers increased their season-ticket prices by 6% in 2025 and by 4% in 2024. Ahead of 2026, fresh off a season in which the Panthers won the NFC South and hosted a playoff game for the first time in a decade, another “price hike — and a steeper one — seemed likely” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/10).

Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty, Eagles WR DeVonta Smith and Saints RB Alvin Kamara are among the biggest new names confirmed to participate in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, recently relocated from Saudi Arabia to BMO Stadium in L.A. due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Fanatics Studios released the full rosters of players Tuesday, including 15 new ones to join previously announced participants including Eagles RB Saquon Barkley and team captains Raiders minority owner Tom Brady, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, Commanders QB Jayden Daniels and Bengals QB Joe Burrow. The newly identified participants include: Pro Football HOFer Luke Kuechly; former NFLer Tyrann Mathieu, Commanders LB Von Miller; Jeanty; Kamara; Rams WR Davante Adams; Ravens WR DeAndre Hopkins; 49ers FB Kyle Juszczyz; Commanders WR Deebo Samuel; Chargers S Derwin James Jr.; Steelers CB Jalen Ramsey; free agent WR Stefon Diggs; YouTube streamer IShowSpeed; and boxer Terence “Bud” Crawford.

Along with two teams including NFL players, the full men’s national flag team will participate in the three-team event. Tickets went on sale Tuesday.

“Napoleon Dynamite” stars Jon Gries, Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez have joined the ownership group of the Northwoods League’s Richmond Flying Mummies. The trio played the characters Uncle Rico, Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro Sánchez respectively in the film. The Flying Mummies will begin their inaugural season on May 25 at McBride Stadium in Richmond, Ind. (Flying Mummies).