Weekend Rap

The Rapids drew 75,824 fans to Empower Field at Mile High on Saturday for a match against Inter Miami, a milestone secured by lobbying MLS to bring Lionel Messi to Denver. The attendance figure was the second-highest single-game mark in MLS history, a monumental showing for a team that has ranked near the bottom of MLS attendance in recent seasons.

Rapids CBO Haley Durmer, who joined the organization last July, described the club’s participation in a formal but unpublicized process to convince the league to put a home game against Inter Miami on the 2026 schedule. Since Messi joined MLS in 2023, Inter Miami’s road matches have driven massive crowds across the country and provided clubs with an unmatched opportunity to reach new fans.

But unlike Eastern Conference teams, who are guaranteed to host Inter Miami once per season, only three Western Conference teams have the chance each year.

Two other Inter Miami matches already eclipsed 70,000 fans, 75,673 vs. LAFC on Feb. 21 and 72,026 vs. D.C. United on March 7.

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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said “way down the road,” he could see the league have a division in Europe, but said the short-term focus is on a “really successful standalone league in Europe.” During an appearance on “The Carton Show,” Silver noted advances in supersonic air travel that could make travel substantially easier. Silver: “They’re saying by 2030, they’re going to have supersonic jets again, because travel’s a big concern ... but I could definitely imagine we could have a division in Europe, and obviously it’s a very global game.” Silver noted basketball is the No. 2 sport in Europe, but represents “about 1% of the revenue. ... From a commercial standpoint, it’s miniscule.” He also said a key driver for a potential European league will be potential arenas with mixed-use opportunities. Silver: “It’s not just bringing in potentially an NBA-type team, but also same thing you’ve seen market by market in the United States that sort of started with this LA Live complex where it’s an arena ... together with retail, commercial space, residential. So it looks like a really big opportunity we’re spending time on” (“The Carton Show,” 4/17).

Suitors are “weighing a deal for at least” founder Casey Wasserman’s stake in The Team, formerly known as Wasserman, “ahead of a crucial deadline” in the agency’s sale. Sources said that several investors have “expressed interest in the agency,” including United Talent Agency; the private equity firm Permira; former Endeavor chair Patrick Whitesell; and a bidding group including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and software company Avail CEO Chris Giliberti. The deadline to “submit formal expressions of interest is Monday.” Other suitors are “also looking at Wasserman,” though it was “not clear on Saturday which of the potential investors would submit a formal indication of interest.” Sources said the future of the sale will “rest partially in the hands” of Wasserman, who “has a say in the deal negotiations.” Sources said that bankers working on the deal have “told prospective bidders that they can submit offers for Mr. Wasserman’s stake, the entire company or anything in between.” Wasserman and the agency’s owners since 2022, Providence Equity Partners, may “ultimately opt not to sell” Wasserman’s stake or the entire agency “if the offers are not large enough” (N.Y. TIMES, 4/18).

WWE announced an attendance of 50,816 for Night 1 of WrestleMania at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, a decrease from 61,467 for Night 1 last year in the same venue. Attendance has been a topic of speculation in the days leading up to the event. “Vegas is the perfect city, and I would have taken the over,” host John Cena said in announcing the attendance while acknowledging the speculation. WWE set gate record last year and WWE President Nick Khan said at CAA World Congress of Sports last week that, “We think it’s going to get close to that record, but fingers crossed.” Night 2 begins at 6pm ET, with the first hour on main ESPN (SBJ).

Among the celebrities spotted on Night 1: NFL players George Kittle and Jahmyr Gibbs; Pacers G Tyrese Haliburton; ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith; boxers Terence Crawford and Conor Benn; comedians Tony Hinchliffe, Jeff Ross and Funny Marco; and actor Chuck Zito (SBJ).

T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas has a busy schedule, alternating among WWE and the NHL first-round playoff series between the Golden Knights and Mammoth. The arena hosted “Smackdown” on Friday, and is scheduled to host Game 1 today, “Monday Night Raw” on Monday and Game 2 on Tuesday (X, 4/17).

Photos of a 42-ounce tomahawk steaks available at WrestleMania 42 went viral after being posted by the X account of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The premium item, which included the WrestleMania logo seared onto the bone, was sold for $142.99, to work into the “42” theme (SBJ).

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Industry leaders said that the worldwide viewing audience for the World Cup final “could exceed 1.5 billion.” Verizon SVP/Global Solutions Daniel Lawson, during a World Cup panel at the Connected America 2026 event at the Irving Convention Center, said the World Cup will “likely be the most-watched sporting event in the history of the planet, the most-watched live event in the history of the planet.” Lawson said if viewers “don’t notice us, then we’ve done a great job.” He added, “It should be an invisible experience.” Inside the Fox Sports’ offices in L.A. is a “countdown clock in the lobby marking the preparation time left until the World Cup kicks off.” Fox has been using “proactive monitoring for a few years to try to anticipate a degradation in signal and move it to an ‘alternate path’ ahead of the viewer ever noticing.” Fox Sports VP/Field Operations & Engineering Kevin Callahan said that they have “backup to survive even a ‘drunk fan cutting what they think is a rope that ends up being our fiber going back into the broadcast compound.’” Callahan: “We are hopefully prepared for every scenario, but every scenario has a different backup contingency” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/17).

Former Alabama football coach and Predators minority owner Nick Saban has “been assisting majority owner Bill Haslam during recent in-person interviews" for the team’s open GM position. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on his “32 Thoughts: The Podcast” said, “I believe that in this round of in person (interviews), Nick Saban’s played a pretty big role. I think he’s asking questions, I think he’s sizing up the candidates.” Saban became a minority owner in December. Haslam said that he “wants to make the hire in time for the NHL draft in June, but ideally by sometime in May” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/18).

Fever C Aliyah Boston became the first player in WNBA history to “sign an extension on the EPIC (exceptional players on initial contracts) clause” that was introduced in the new CBA. It allows players who have made All-WNBA teams to “renegotiate their fourth-year contracts up to the max, as long as they also sign an extension with the team.” The clause allows the Fever to “bypass a restricted free agency period,” which would have gone into effect in 2027, and keep Boston for three additional years. Sources said that Boston “will make $1 million in 2026, then the supermax, which is 20% of the team’s cap, for three seasons from 2027-29.” Her $1M salary will replace her projected fourth-year rookie scale salary of $574,612. Boston was eligible for the full regular max of $1.19M in 2026 through the EPIC clause, but she “opted to take slightly less” in order for the Fever to “make some additional free agency signings.” The Fever are the only team that have two players eligible for EPIC contract extensions in their respective fourth years, with G Caitlin Clark up for an EPIC raise in 2027. There are three players league-wide that have eligibility for EPIC, with Wings G Paige Bueckers able to negotiate in 2028 because of her All-WNBA second-team nod in 2025 (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 4/18).

Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s “murky future immediately jumped to the forefront” as soon as the team was eliminated in the NBA play-in tournament by the Suns on Friday. His situation “only highlights rampant uncertainty for a franchise built on stability the past 12 years.” Kerr in his postgame news conference “sounded open to not returning for another season as coach.” He “plans to take a week or two to gather his thoughts before convening” with owner Joe Lacob and GM Mike Dunleavy. Kerr said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I still love coaching, but I get it: These jobs all have an expiration date.” He added, “If that’s the case, I’ll be nothing but grateful for the most amazing opportunity any person could have -- to coach this franchise in front of our fans in the Bay, to coach Steph Curry and [Draymond Green], the whole group. So it may still go on and it may not. I don’t know at this point.” The general feeling among people around the Warriors, at least before Kerr spoke publicly late Friday night, is he will “probably return.” That is “not a certainty by any means,” but Kerr is “still engaged on the job, and he still feels a strong bond to Curry and Green.” Kerr said, “I don’t want to walk away from Steph. I’m definitely not coaching somewhere else next year in the NBA.” When Green was asked if he could imagine not having Kerr as his coach, he “momentarily became emotional.” Green: “No, I couldn’t.” Curry said, “I want Coach to be happy. … I’m not going to try to tell anybody what to do. He knows how I feel about him” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/18).

In San Jose, columnist Dieter Kurtenbach wrote, “You tell yourself this can’t be the coda. Not for this opus. Not for the greatest show basketball has ever seen. Right? But like everything else with this latest vintage of Golden State basketball, we are left to wait in the purgatory of the offseason.” While the NBA Playoffs -- once “famously dubbed the ‘Warriors Invitational’ by Draymond Green -- tips off this weekend without them, the Warriors will part amid dejection.” This summer will be a “time for introspection, reflection, and, if they can manage it, extension” (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 4/18).

The purse for the JM Eagle LA Championship golf event has been increased by $1M to $4.25M, JM Eagle CEO Walter Wang announced. The event has the largest purse on the LPGA Tour other than the majors or the Tour championship. The winner’s share is $712,500. Sei Young Kim enters today’s final round with a two-stroke lead at El Caballero Country Club. JM Eagle is the world’s largest producer of plastic and PVC pipe (SBJ).

Win for America, a super PAC backed by sports betting companies and founded in November, reported raising $41M in the first quarter of the year, with that total coming “entirely from three companies: DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics.” This comes as a “new class of players is gearing up to spend big money in the midterms.” New campaign finance reports reveal the “explosive growth of a motley group of moneyed interests.” Win for America is “focused so far on state legislative races” (POLITICO, 4/17).

The Trump administration has “urged professional football’s leaders to induct” former President Theodore Roosevelt into the sport’s Hall of Fame. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said, “I think we’re going to see Theodore Roosevelt inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.” Burgum added that he “had met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the Oval Office” as part of discussions for next April’s NFL Draft, which is set to be hosted on the National Mall. Burgum said Roosevelt’s induction into the HOF will “be announced on the Mall.” The NFL and the Pro Football HOF did “not immediately respond to questions Saturday about efforts to induct Roosevelt.” No former U.S. presidents are in the Pro Football HOF. Roosevelt intervened into football more than a century ago when he “convened college coaches and other officials to discuss safety questions threatening the sport.” Historians have said that Roosevelt played a “crucial role by forcing a national conversation around football safety, rather than leaving it to factions that could not agree on next steps.” Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library CEO Edward O’Keefe said, “He helped invent the forward pass” (WASHINGTON POST, 4/18).

Nike has “removed a sign at one of its Boston stores that some felt was exclusionary.” The sign, which was placed at the company’s retail location on Newbury Street, featured block text that read: “Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated.” The sign was placed in the store ahead of the 130th Boston Marathon on Monday. Nike in a statement said, “During race week in Boston, we put up a series of signs to encourage runners. One of them missed the mark. We took it down, and we’ll use this moment to do better and continue showing up for all runners.” After the controversy, Asics countered with its own sign in Boston: “Runners. Walkers. All welcome. Move your body, move your mind” (MASSLIVE, 4/17).

Hundreds of fans of Premier League club Chelsea “marched alongside their counterparts” from Ligue 1 club RC Strasbourg at Stamford Bridge. The demonstration was “fueled by growing resentment toward BlueCo,” the investment group led by Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbal. The protest was marked by “blue smoke, flares, and banners expressing frustration at the club’s current direction.” Fans from France “specifically travelled to London to voice their anger, with many feeling that Strasbourg has been relegated to a ‘B team’ or ‘feeder club’ role since the BlueCo takeover.” March organizer David Cook said, “The protest march alongside fans of RC Strasbourg is promoting a single, unified message: Blueco out. ... This is not about entitlement; this is about standards.” The anger from the pre-match march “quickly filtered into the stadium as Chelsea’s on-field struggles continued.” During a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United, fans were “heard chanting ‘we want our Chelsea back’ in a clear signal of the disconnect between the stands and the boardroom.” The loss was a “historic low,” representing the first time since 1912 that the club has lost four consecutive league games without scoring (GOAL, 4/19).

A skydiver “crashed into the Lane Stadium scoreboard before Virginia Tech’s spring football game” on Saturday. Virginia Tech officials on X said that the skydiver “was safely secured and is currently stable” following rescue efforts. Virginia Tech officials in a statement said, “Our primary focus remains on their well-being. We extend our sincere appreciation to the first responders, event staff, and medical personnel for their swift, coordinated and professional response.” Video footage “showed the skydiver’s parachute landing between the ‘C’ and the ‘H’ on the Virginia Tech lettering on top of the scoreboard before first responders rescued him” (AP, 4/18).

N.Y. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday made reference to then-Hawks G Trae Young‘s play against the Knicks in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2021 when answering a question about “how unaffordable tickets to games have become.” Mamdani, during a news conference, said, “I think first, I would say that I blame Trae Young, and I think it’s always important to blame Trae Young.” He added, “We have seen sports become more and more of a luxury commodity. And that is not what it always used to be.” Mamdani: “I do wish, however, that all of these tickets were far more affordably priced. … When the Knicks do well, you feel it across this whole city, and it’s not just for those who can afford to go to the games.” Young, who now plays for the Wizards, posted a response on X, saying, “Remember what happened the last time the Mayor of that City had my name in his mouth during a time like this… #DontBlameMeWhenItHappensAgain.” Young’s response was referring to when former N.Y. Mayor Bill de Blasio mentioned him in a press briefing during the playoffs in 2021 (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 4/17).