Sports

10:56 AM ET Any unvaccinated NBA player with temporary visa status who leaves the country will be unable to reenter the United States, according to a memo obtained by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday. For example, a player who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 would be unable to reenter the United States after playing in

9:06 PM ET Associated Press LAUSANNE, Switzerland — After five weeks of concern about the safety of tennis player Peng Shuai in China, the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it cannot give any certainties about her case. The IOC’s two video calls with the Grand Slam doubles champion are the only reported contacts Peng has

8:32 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The GMS Racing majority purchase of Richard Petty Motorsports will be called Petty GMS Motorsports going into next season and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty will be chairman of the new two-car Cup Series team. Petty GMS Motorsports revealed its plans for 2022 at the NASCAR

11:15 PM ET Those of us in the word business are running out of ways to say that the AFC playoff picture is complete chaos. There are teams near the top that have a decent chance to fall out of the race entirely, and there are teams outside the top seven that could still wind

3:00 PM ET College football bowl season is almost here. There will be 44 bowl games, including the College Football Playoff and the national championship games, beginning Friday, Dec. 17, and ending on Monday, Jan. 10. Here’s a look at all of this season’s games. (All times Eastern) Bowl schedule Go perfect in your bowl

12:48 PM ET Medina Spirit, the Thoroughbred who won the 2021 Kentucky Derby under suspicious circumstances, has died according to Dr. Jeff Blea, the California Horse Racing Board’s equine medical director. The 3-year-old racehorse collapsed after a workout at Santa Anita Park on Monday morning during which he completed five furlongs. It was his second

7:00 AM ET ESPN staff The first game of the 2022 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament is scheduled for Feb. 9. It’s still not certain that NHL players will be competing in the Beijing Games. Here’s a look at the issues, concerns and challenges facing the NHL and the players just two months away from

7:00 AM ET As much as it might feel like it, the baseball world has not completely shut down. While the thrilling rush of free-agent signings and trades from the past few days will cease for now because of the lockout, there is a lot of baseball business still to be conducted. One of the

12:29 PM ET Caitlin Murray There have been underdog teams in the 2021 MLS Cup playoffs, and then there is Real Salt Lake. You’d be forgiven if you didn’t predict they’d get this far — please forgive us, Utahans. To call RSL’s path to the MLS Western Conference final on Saturday a bumpy one would

9:24 PM ET Associated Press Urine testing of Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit has shown that a steroid present in the colt’s system came from a topical ointment and not an injection, according to an attorney for trainer Bob Baffert. Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid betamethasone after winning the May 1 race and

3:34 PM ET The UFC is finalizing a middleweight bout between Jack Hermansson and Sean Strickland to headline an event in February, sources told ESPN on Friday. Contracts have not yet been signed for the 185-pound contest that will serve as the main event at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 5, but they should be

11:09 AM GMT England will begin their quest for a fourth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title away at Scotland on March 26 after the fixtures for next year’s competition were announced on Thursday. The 2022 edition, returning to its traditional format after COVID-19 enforced changes this year, will take place in a six-week window in

7:47 PM ET Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Chase Elliott held on to one of his NASCAR titles Thursday night when fans voted him most popular driver for the fourth consecutive year. Elliott was both the reigning Cup champion and most popular driver this season, but he was ultimately beaten by new Hendrick Motorsports teammate

7:48 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN George Kambosos Jr.’s victory over Teofimo Lopez shook up the lightweight division in ways few could have anticipated, setting the stage for a scintillating stretch of fights in one of boxing’s deepest divisions. Now that Kambosos stands as the guy at 135 pounds, the hierarchy looks drastically different than it

2:41 PM ET Associated Press The head of the women’s professional tennis tour announced Wednesday that all WTA tournaments would be suspended in China because of concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former high-ranking government official in that country of sexual assault. Peng dropped out of

3:20 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Miami Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo will undergo surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, the team announced Wednesday. Sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Adebayo is expected to be out for four to six weeks, which would cause him to miss between 15 to

2:26 PM ET Tiger Woods offered hope of a return but also a sobering assessment of his situation in his first interviews since a serious car crash in February. Speaking at his first news conference Tuesday, a day after a lengthy video conversation with Golf Digest was released, Woods expressed gratitude for being alive and

7:02 AM ET The most exciting weekend of what was perhaps the greatest season in recent college football history brought us to this: 10 conference championship games that will decide as many as three spots in the College Football Playoff. If we can assume No. 1 Georgia will make the playoffs whether it wins or

6:00 AM ET KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Minnesota Vikings are like a lot of NFL teams in 2021 in that their game days have been stressful. They’ve just taken it to an extreme. The Vikings beat the Seattle Seahawks 30-17 in Week 3, but their other 10 games have been settled by one score,

3:19 PM ET After an offseason in which ardent New York Mets fans had been injected by rare optimism, New York’s 2021 season flamed out in epic fashion and was riddled by chaos throughout. The ensuing weeks provided a snapshot of the fallout — the game’s brightest minds rejecting overtures to lead their baseball operations

7:00 AM ET The Montreal Canadiens‘ encore to their Stanley Cup Final appearance last season has been an abject disaster, as they have a 6-15-2 record. With general manager Marc Bergevin in the last year of his contract having not signed an extension, it felt like a regime change was coming. Did it ever arrive

8:09 PM ET Benfica‘s Primeira Liga match at Belenenses on Saturday was abandoned amid extraordinary scenes after their COVID-hit opponents were forced to name a team of nine players, including two goalkeepers. Benfica took advantage of their numerical superiority to rack up seven goals by half-time before Belenenses returned with only seven players for the

3:31 PM GMT The men’s Barbarians match against Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday was cancelled 90 minutes before kickoff after four players and two members of the staff in the Barbarians camp tested positive for COVID-19, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said. The Samoan players came out onto the pitch and sang their national anthem

7:32 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Teofimo Lopez bounced off the ropes, thrusting his entire body into each side of the ring, before stopping in the center and doing a backflip. Then he lay down on the mat and added a few snow angels for good measure. Lopez had plenty to be exuberant about on that

1:53 AM ET INDIANAPOLIS — LeBron James was napping in the city that never sleeps on Monday when the NBA announced that the Los Angeles Lakers star would be suspended for the first time in his 19-year career and have to miss Tuesday’s game against the New York Knicks. “Rob [Pelinka] called me. I missed

10:28 AM ET Ryan Hockensmith GLENN MISTICH TOOK slow, tiny steps toward the entrance to the Superdome. His hands shook inside the gloves he wore to carry a monstrous 17-pound dish covered in foil. His wife, Leah, and three young kids bounced alongside him. A friend, New Orleans radio personality Bob DelGiorno, was also walking

7:59 AM ET Valentina Shevchenko was inside of a boxing gym in Newark, New Jersey, preparing to go on a run. It was the fall of 2019, and the next day Shevchenko would start filming an MMA movie alongside A-list star Halle Berry. To prepare for the shoot, Shevchenko was cutting weight, and the run

7:39 AM ET It would be tough to top the kind of drama that Bryson DeChambeau found himself part of in 2021. He won just once on the PGA Tour, but the man who transformed his body in less than two years to become the tour’s longest driver certainly was a major topic of discussion

6:28 PM ET For the first time in the eight-year history of the College Football Playoff, a team from a Group of 5 conference has cracked the top four in the selection committee’s rankings, which would assure it a spot in one of the two semifinals games on New Year’s Eve. Cincinnati, one of just

7:00 AM ET The Edmonton Oilers have your attention. Superstar captain Connor McDavid has created a season’s worth of highlights in a span of a few weeks, starting the campaign with a 17-game points streak. Leon Draisaitl leads the league in points (35 in 17 games, for a 2.06 per-game average). Here’s the list of

7:00 AM ET We’re back with the fourth edition of free-agent superlatives — and this year’s free-agent class is certainly the most super we’ve seen in several years. What’s not so super is an offseason that may hit a wall thanks to the impending work stoppage at midnight on Dec. 1, when the owners will

8:30 AM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent In an alternate universe, Mauricio Pochettino’s Manchester United have just cruised past Watford to keep pace with the Premier League leaders and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is preparing his Molde team for a trip to Brann. Instead, the reality is that Solskjaer, who was meant to hand over the reins to

8:52 PM GMT Kathleen McNamee TWICKENHAM, London — There is an argument to be made that England’s dramatic 27-26 win over South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday was Eddie Jones’ greatest masterclass. Much has been made of this England side since the summer, but no longer will fans be able to jibe this team as