Sports · Monday, 21 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Savers' retirement money helped buy baseball's Dodgers and basketball's Lakers, a lawsuit says

Mark Walter owns two of the biggest clubs in American sport. A class action filed this week says the insurance companies he owns put 42 per cent of their customers' money into businesses he controls, while telling regulators the figure was 3 per cent.

3% vs 42%

what Walter's insurers reported holding in connected firms, against what the lawsuit says they held

the gap is about $17bn of customers' money, and the companies call it a labelling error [1]

$10bn to $12.5bn

what basketball's Lakers were valued at when Walter bought in, and when he agreed to sell

the two deals are fourteen months apart [3]

1 in 3

of the NBA's clubs have changed majority owner since 2020

the owners elected Micky Arison, who has held the Miami Heat for 31 years, to chair their board [3]

The lead story — what happened

Mark Walter owns baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers and bought control of basketball's Los Angeles Lakers last year. [1]
A class action filed this week says two insurance companies he owns moved their customers' savings into his own web of businesses. [1][4]
The companies told regulators that 3 per cent of their money sat in firms connected to them. The lawsuit says the real share was about 42 per cent, close to $17bn. [1]
Delaware Life and Clear Spring sell annuities. You hand over a lump sum and the company pays you a fixed income for years. [1]
The law tells an insurer to report any money it puts into businesses its own owner controls, because that money is no longer at arm's length. [1]
Walter's companies called the gap an internal labelling error. [1]
The suit says the fund that money went into helped pay for the Dodgers in 2012 and for the Lakers in 2025. [1]
Federal prosecutors in New York sent grand jury subpoenas in February, and the US markets regulator opened its own inquiry. Both were disclosed in a March filing. [2]
Ira Rosner, 67, who is bringing the case, says he bought a policy in April and was told about the investigation in June, after his penalty-free window to withdraw had closed. [1]
Adam Silver, who runs the NBA, said the league checked Walter before approving him and found no red flags. [2]
Walter agreed in August to sell the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5bn valuation, fourteen months after buying at $10bn. [3]
The insurers in Walter's group are among the country's major sellers of annuities. [5]

Told regulators3%

Lawsuit says42%

The share of customers' money the two insurers reported as sitting in businesses connected to their owner, against the share the lawsuit says was really there.

Who is involved

Mark Walter

the American businessman who owns baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers and bought control of basketball's Los Angeles Lakers; the lawsuit names him and his insurers
Delaware Life and Clear Spring

two insurance companies Walter owns that sell annuities, a policy you buy with a lump sum for a fixed income later; both received grand jury subpoenas in February
Ira Rosner

a 67-year-old customer in Florida who bought one of those policies in April; he is bringing the class action
Adam Silver

the commissioner of the NBA, the top basketball league in the United States; he said the league found no red flags when it checked Walter
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

the federal prosecutors examining whether the insurers reported their investments honestly

How it unfolded

2012 Walter's group buys baseball's Dodgers [1]
2025 he buys control of basketball's Lakers at a $10bn valuation [3]
Feb 2026 federal prosecutors in New York send grand jury subpoenas to his two insurers [2]
Apr 2026 Ira Rosner buys an annuity policy and says nobody mentions the investigation [1]
Aug 2026 Walter agrees to sell the Lakers at a $12.5bn valuation [3]
17 Sept the class action is filed in Florida [1][4]

Where this points

Watch whether the prosecutors in New York turn their subpoenas into charges. A criminal case would have to settle which figure is right: the 3 per cent the insurers reported, or the 42 per cent the lawsuit alleges. [1][2]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Clubs changing hands fast High↑

Mark Walter agreed to sell basketball's Lakers fourteen months after buying them. [3] Nearly a third of that league's clubs have changed majority owner since 2020. [3] In baseball, the San Diego Padres sold for $3.9bn against $800m in 2012. [28]

Spending past the limit High↑

American colleges may share $21.6m with their players this year, and at least 20 are believed to spend above $30m on football alone. [9][10] A US senator's report says 94 per cent of the biggest college sports programmes spend more than they bring in. [8] In England's second division, clubs are borrowing to match the ones dropping down from the top league. [6]

Rulings that never arrive Building→

The Premier League charged Manchester City in February 2023 and no verdict has been published. [11] A barrister called the delay incredible as the hearing passed its second anniversary. [11] The federal inquiry into Mark Walter's insurers has run since February with no charges. [2]

Leagues looking for a leader Building↑

Women's basketball in the United States is hiring a commissioner after Cathy Engelbert said she would retire. [12] A new women's baseball league's own chief executive describes a power struggle on its board. [13] Basketball's club owners chose their second longest-serving owner to chair them. [3]

Players paying their own way Steady→

Women footballers in England's lower divisions take second jobs around training. [18] The Philippine tennis player Alex Eala chose the Asian Games over a compulsory tour event and may be fined for it. [24] Five American leagues and their player unions asked gambling regulators to ban bettors who threaten athletes. [14]

The rest of the day

29 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Basketball's owners keep selling up

Mark Walter agreed to buy control of the Los Angeles Lakers last year at a $10bn valuation, then agreed in August to sell to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at $12.5bn. [3] The Buss family had owned the club since 1979 and passed it down for nearly fifty years. [3] Nearly a third of the NBA's clubs have changed majority owner since 2020, and the league's governors have elected Micky Arison, who has owned the Miami Heat for 31 years, to chair their board. [3]

Why it matters — Owners vote on everything a league does, and they hire the commissioner and can sack him. When they keep leaving after a year or two, Adam Silver is the only person in the room who was there the last time a question came up. [3]
03
A US Senate bill for college sport nears a vote

The US Senate voted 74-24 on 15 September to open debate on the Protect College Sports Act, and a final vote is expected within days. [7][8] The bill, written by Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, would give American college sport protection from competition law and cut players to one free transfer between schools. [7][8] All four Black senators who are Democrats voted against it, and the NAACP, the oldest civil rights group in the United States, opposes it. [7]

Why it matters — Senator Chris Murphy said the bill protects a system of exploitation. [7] The House of Representatives has failed repeatedly to pass earlier college sports bills, so the margin in the US Senate is what its sponsors are pointing to. [7]
04
Colleges spend past their own pay limit

Colleges in the four richest American conferences may share up to $21.6m a year directly with their athletes, under a court settlement, and most put about 75 per cent of it into football, roughly $16m. [9] Reporters who spoke to more than 70 people inside the sport estimate at least 20 programmes are spending above $30m on football rosters, and a few reach $50m. [9][10] The extra comes from booster collectives, pools of donor money that pay players outside the school's own accounts. [9]

Allowed to share$21.60m
Some now spend$50m
What a college may pay its athletes directly this year, against the highest football roster spending reporters could find.

Why it matters — No college has to publish what it pays, so agents and rival coaches cannot check a figure. One general manager said the secrecy lets agents reset the market whenever they like. [10]
05
A soft landing becomes a head start

Clubs relegated from the Premier League, England's top football division, receive about 50m pounds in their first season down and 40m in the second. [6] Every other club in the second division receives about 5.5m. [6] A report covering ten seasons to 2024-25 found clubs on those payments took in 59.7m pounds a year on average against 21.3m for the rest, and won promotion 31.4 per cent of the time against 7 per cent. [6] The report says the others are now spending unsustainably to keep pace. [6]

Relegated club, year one50 m pounds
Everyone else5.5 m pounds
What a club in England's second division receives each season, depending on whether it has just come down from the top division.

Why it matters — The payment exists so a relegated club does not collapse. It also hands that club a wage budget nobody else in the division can match, and the clubs chasing it borrow to try. [6]
06
Manchester City's case reaches two years

The Premier League charged Manchester City in February 2023 over its financial reporting, after an investigation that started in 2018, and no verdict has been published. [11] The hearing passed its second anniversary this week. [11] Nick de Marco, a barrister who has worked on other football cases, called it a most incredible delay and questioned the claim that sports arbitration is quicker than the courts. [11] The club denies wrongdoing. [11]

Why it matters — Richard Masters, who runs the Premier League, said last month the case had taken longer than he expected and that clubs rarely raise it with him. [11] Every season that passes is another season City have played with the charges unresolved. [11]
07
Ice hockey looks at a 33rd club, in Texas

Gary Bettman, who runs the NHL, said the league is exploring a second team in Texas, in Austin or Houston, and has signed an agreement giving the Friedkin family about six months to choose. [20] The family has agreed to put in $3.5bn, covering both the entry fee and the cost of building an arena. [20] The league last added clubs in 2017, in Las Vegas, and in 2021, in Seattle. [20] Its revenue last season was between $7.5bn and $8bn. [20]

Why it matters — The Dallas Stars have played in Texas since 1993, so a second club there splits a market the league already holds. [20] Asked which city should be next, players named Quebec City, Houston and Arizona three times each. [21]
08
Baseball's labour deal runs out on 1 December

Major League Baseball's agreement with its players expires on 1 December, and a lockout, where the owners shut the sport down until a deal is signed, is widely expected. [28] A former general manager of sixteen years set out this week what each side has put on the table, and said the current deal works best for the richest clubs, the best-paid players and their agents. [28] He noted the San Diego Padres sold for $3.9bn against $800m in 2012, and the Los Angeles Angels have agreed a sale at a $4bn valuation. [28]

Why it matters — The argument is about a salary cap, a limit on what a club may spend on players. Owners want one and players refuse, and the people the current rules serve worst are first-year players and the lowest-earning clubs. [28]
09
Leagues ask regulators to ban abusive bettors

The NFL, MLB, the NBA, the NHL and MLS, with their player unions, wrote to American gambling regulators asking for lifetime bans on bettors who harass athletes, coaches, staff or their families, or threaten them with violence. [14] They also asked for one standard way to report abuse, and for betting companies to monitor and flag accounts linked to it. [14] Sports betting has spread across the United States since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling opened it up. [14]

Why it matters — Earlier this year the Big Ten athletes commission asked for limits on bets about individual players, for the same reason. [14] Any ban would be applied by the betting companies themselves, since the leagues do not hold the accounts. [14]
10
Women's basketball hunts a new commissioner

The WNBA is looking for someone to replace Cathy Engelbert, who has announced her retirement, in the league's 30th season. [12] Players are earning record salaries in front of the biggest crowds the league has had, while the season has been taken over by fights about transgender athletes, objects thrown onto courts and online abuse of players. [12] Enes Kanter Freedom, a former NBA player, was escorted out of a Chicago Sky game in August, banned from the arena, and has since sued the club. [12]

Why it matters — More than a dozen players, coaches and executives said waiting for the noise to die down has not worked. The players' union director said it has left players unsafe in arenas, at home and online. [12]
11
A new women's baseball league is fighting itself

The Women's Professional Baseball League threw its first pitch on 1 August, the first professional women's baseball in the United States since the 1950s apart from a brief attempt in the 1990s. [13] Its own chief executive, the Canadian lawyer Keith Stein, describes a power struggle on the board. [13] A board member, Mina Kim, went to court over the summer demanding to see the league's finances, and there are open questions over whether the majority owner ever put money in. [13]

Why it matters — Four teams played a full season and women's baseball came back. What is unsettled is who actually paid for it, and that decides whether there is a second season. [13]
12
Saudi league pays players to share match links

The Saudi Pro League has launched a scheme called Share and Earn, which lets players and online creators post links to matches and take a share of the money those links bring in. [15] Anyone clicking is taken to a streaming service the league owns. [15] It runs in sixteen countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, South Korea and Greece. [15] Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Al Nassr and has more than a billion followers across his accounts, would earn the most if he takes part. [15]

Why it matters — Leagues have always sold their matches to broadcasters. This one pays its own players to bring viewers straight to it, so a player's follower count becomes a reason to sign him. [15]
13
A hockey club's president leaves after thirty years

Mike Priest, president of the Columbus Blue Jackets, has announced his retirement after about three decades with the club and with JMAC, the McConnell family holding company that owns it. [23] John H. McConnell II, grandson of the club's founder and son of its majority owner, will take on his duties for the immediate future. [23] Priest did not comment on the decision. [23]

Why it matters — The job passes to the founder's grandson rather than to an outside hire, so the club keeps both its owner and its management inside one family. [23]
14
Washington ties up a 21-year-old for eight years

The Washington Capitals signed the forward Ryan Leonard to an eight-year extension worth $84m, an average of $10.5m a season, hours before ice hockey's new labour agreement took effect. [22] Leonard is 21 and scored 20 goals in 75 games last season. [22] The new agreement is more restrictive on contracts, and the league's spending limit is expected to rise sharply. [22]

Why it matters — Clubs pushed deals through before the deadline to lock young players in on the old terms. Players took guaranteed money rather than wait to find out what the new rules allow. [22]
15
Portland's owners go all in on women's sport

Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal own the Portland Thorns in women's football and the Portland Fire in women's basketball through RAJ Sports. [27] Last year they lost out on buying the Portland Trail Blazers, the city's NBA club, to a group led by Tom Dundon. [27] They then sued one of Dundon's partners and dropped the case within a month, settling out of court. [27] Speaking this week, Bhathal Merage said the family is focused on its women's teams in Portland. [27]

Why it matters — They are betting that women's basketball and football are the better long-term investment, in a city where the men's club's future under its new owner is unsettled. [27]
16
Ipswich investigates racist abuse of its winger

Ipswich Town said it is investigating racist abuse posted online about Abdul Fatawu, its 22-year-old Ghanaian winger, after he was sent off in the club's 1-0 defeat at Everton on Saturday. [19] The club called the abuse completely unacceptable and said it is investigating alongside the Premier League. [19]

Why it matters — A club can ban someone from its own ground, but the posts were made on platforms neither the club nor the league owns. [19]
17
Footballers with second jobs

A new episode of the television comedy Ted Lasso shows a second-division women's footballer delivering food between training sessions. [18] Reporters who looked at the real game found players doing exactly that. [18] Players in England's lower women's divisions take internships, deliver takeaways and fit childcare around training, because the pay does not cover a life. [18] In one scene a law school dean brushes off a player's professional career as a hobby rather than a job. [18]

Why it matters — The top of women's football now pays properly. One division down, players are subsidising their own careers, and those are the players who drop out first. [18]
18
A tennis player picks her country over her ranking

Alex Eala, the Philippines' best-known tennis player, is at the Asian Games in Aichi, Japan, instead of the China Open, a WTA 1000 tournament that highly ranked players are required to enter. [24] Missing it without an approved waiver can bring a fine and a zero score for that event in her ranking. [24] The Philippine Tennis Association has formally asked the tour for an exemption. [24] Eala won two bronze medals at the 2023 Asian Games and gold at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games. [24]

Why it matters — Rankings are built to reward players who turn up at the tour's own events. National team competitions sit outside that system, so playing for her country costs Eala points she cannot get back. [24]
19
Japan and India meet at cricket for the first time

Japan's women played India at Twenty20 cricket for the first time on Friday, in the quarter-finals of the cricket event at the Asian Games in Aichi. [16] India, the sport's richest and strongest nation, won comfortably. [16] Japan's men meet India on Monday in Sano, the home of Japanese cricket, in a game billed as the Suzuki Cup and tied to 75 years of formal relations between the two countries. [16] Japan's captain, Mai Yanagida, took up cricket at university after growing up with baseball. [16]

Why it matters — Japan is a baseball country, and the cricket association's chief executive says people there now know what cricket is but have never tried it. [16] A game against India, on television, is the cheapest way to change that. [16]
20
Middlesex win a trophy after ten years

Middlesex beat Leicestershire by 31 runs at Trent Bridge to win English cricket's One-Day Cup, the county's first trophy since the 2016 County Championship. [17] Toby Roland-Jones, who sealed that 2016 title with a hat-trick at Lord's, bowled all ten of his overs in one spell and took 3 for 27. [17] The club has money and governance troubles off the field that this does not fix. [17]

Why it matters — Ten years to the week after his hat-trick at Lord's, the same bowler decided the final. [17] Roland-Jones said it had been a long time since he played in front of a crowd like that. [17]
21
Blackburn's striker asks the fans to come back

Dapo Afolayan, a forward for Blackburn Rovers in England's second division, said the club needs its supporters in the ground to succeed, after a home crowd he described as loud. [29] He talked about fans spending hard-earned money to travel, and about wanting to give them the bragging rights at work on Monday. [29]

Why it matters — He is one of the few players to say out loud that the result depends partly on how many people show up. [29]
22
Crystal Palace keep their midfielder

Adam Wharton, a 22-year-old midfielder at Crystal Palace, said he is happy to stay until his contract ends in three years, after Manchester City showed interest in him over the summer. [30] Palace made clear he was not for sale. [30] Wharton said he stays away from transfer talk and that his agent tells him nothing, because there is no point knowing if he is not going anywhere. [30]

Why it matters — A club with a player on a long contract can simply refuse, and Palace did. The player's own indifference to the talk is what makes the refusal hold. [30]
23
Nkunku goes back to where it worked

Christopher Nkunku has returned to RB Leipzig on a season's loan from Milan, the Italian club he joined after two difficult years at Chelsea. [31] He was the German league's player of the season at Leipzig before leaving for London in 2023. [31] He said he needs to enjoy football again, and that neither he nor the club hesitated over the deal. [31] He scored in a 5-0 win over Hamburg. [31]

Why it matters — A loan parks a large salary somewhere else for a year while the player tries to get his value back. Both clubs need the same thing to happen. [31]
24
Newcastle's new manager concedes four

Newcastle United conceded four goals at Leeds United, something they had not done in a Premier League game since a 4-1 defeat at Liverpool on 31 January. [32] Matthias Jaissle, who took charge this season, gave a blunt one-word verdict on the performance. [32] The midfielder Joe Willock gestured an apology towards the travelling supporters. [32]

Why it matters — It is the first heavy defeat of Jaissle's time in charge, and it came against a promoted side with momentum rather than a European power. [32]
25
A weekend of players carried off

Green Bay's receiver Jayden Reed was taken off on a backboard on the second play against the New York Jets, and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele was carted off with a leg injury on the very next play. [33] New England's right guard Mike Onwenu broke his right ankle in the first quarter of a 20-3 win over Pittsburgh. [34] The Los Angeles Chargers' tight end David Njoku left on a cart with a knee injury against Las Vegas. [35] Indianapolis ruled out their main receiver Alec Pierce with a heel injury. [36]

Why it matters — Four starters went off in one Sunday, three of them on carts. [33][34][35] Pierce's injury is on the same leg he had operated on in March. [36]
26
A cleared defender still cannot move

Joey Porter Jr., a cornerback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been cleared of the back injury that kept him out of two games in a row. [37] The club says it has received no trade offers for him and is not trying to move him. [37]

Why it matters — No offer has been made, so a fit player stays where he is. [37]
27
The race women were told they could not run

The women's 800m was added to the Olympics in 1928 and then dropped for 32 years, after reports, later shown to be false, claimed the runners had collapsed with exhaustion. [38] The International Olympic Committee decided women were too frail for the distance. [38] It is now one of the most anticipated events on the track, and Audrey Werro this month finished 0.42 seconds outside the world record. [38]

Why it matters — A decision taken on bad evidence in 1928 removed the event from two generations of runners. [38]
28
A senator uses a football broadcast

Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who co-wrote the Protect College Sports Act, appeared on ESPN's College GameDay, the network's Saturday morning college football programme, and used the slot to argue for his bill. [39] Reporters went through his statements afterwards and questioned several of them. [39] The US Senate voted to open debate on the bill three days later. [7][39]

Why it matters — The audience for a Saturday football show is exactly the audience the bill is about, and he reached it without a single question from an opponent. [39]
29
Two American football games decided late

Darius Cooper scored a late touchdown as the Philadelphia Eagles came from behind to beat the Tennessee Titans. [40] Tyler Shough pushed in from close range near the end for the New Orleans Saints to beat the Baltimore Ravens 24-17. [41] Neither team was ahead until the closing minutes. [40][41]

Why it matters — Both winners were behind and both games turned on one play in the last minutes. [40][41]
30
Coaches say the Melbourne trip was too far

Sean McVay, head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, said he hopes his team never plays in Australia again, after losing 27-7 to the San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 11 September. [25][26] He added straight away that it was not about the atmosphere. [25] The Rams arrived a little over 24 hours before kick-off; the 49ers had been there almost a week. [25] Three of four 49ers players and staff asked said they would go back to Australia only on holiday. [26]

Why it matters — The Rams hold the NFL's marketing rights in Australia and have made fifteen trips there in five years. [25] Their own head coach has now said the game should not come back. [25]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why the hired boss gets stronger every time an owner sells

Nearly a third of basketball's clubs have changed owner since 2020, and each sale takes away somebody who sat through the last argument.

The twist

The owners hold every vote in the league. The more often they sell, the more often they have to ask the employee who was there the last time it came up.

The picture

46 yearsThe Buss family owned the Lakers

14 monthsMark Walter owned them

Jerry Buss bought basketball's Lakers in 1979 and his family held them until 2025. The owner who followed agreed to sell fourteen months after buying.

How it works

Club owners own the league and vote on everything
They hire a commissioner, and they can sack him
Owners now sell after a year or two, not a lifetime
Each sale takes away somebody who sat through the last argument
The commissioner sat through all of them
So more gets settled by the person they employ

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Basketball's owners keep selling up

With a third of the clubs newly owned, the governors picked Micky Arison, an owner of 31 years, to chair their board - reaching for the one person who remembers.
Manchester City's case reaches two years

The charges have outlasted managers, players and directors, so the only body still working on them is the league's own panel.
Women's basketball hunts a new commissioner

The owners are arguing in public, and the post they are filling is the one that has to hold the league together between them.
A hockey club's president leaves after thirty years

Columbus loses the man who ran it for three decades, and the duties go to the founder's grandson rather than an outside hire.

Where you've seen this

A company with a new boss every two years

the people who remember why a rule exists are the long-serving staff, not the chief executive

A school whose governors keep changing

the head teacher ends up deciding what the school is for

A block of flats where owners keep selling

the managing agent decides, because no resident has been there long enough to argue

The catch

A long stay is not the same as good judgement. Someone can sit in the same seat for thirty years and be wrong the whole time.

And the whole of it

This is not only about basketball. Most of us are inside something - a workplace, a school, a street - where the people formally in charge keep changing, and somebody further down knows how it has always been done. That person holds no vote, and they decide a great deal.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Mark Walter's insurance companies promised ordinary customers a fixed income for life. A lawsuit says those companies put about 42 per cent of the money into businesses he controls while telling regulators the figure was 3 per cent, and that some of it helped buy baseball's Dodgers and basketball's Lakers. [1] The NBA checked Walter before approving the Lakers purchase and says it found nothing. [2]

Why it works on us — An annuity is sold on the word safe, so a customer told their money sits in low-risk assets has no reason to go looking for where it actually went. [1]

Who gains

Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner — Every owner who sells takes away someone who remembers the last decision, and Silver is the one person who was there for all of them. [3]
Mark Walter — He agreed to sell basketball's Lakers at a $12.5bn valuation fourteen months after buying at $10bn. [3]
Clubs relegated from the Premier League — They receive about 50m pounds in their first season down against 5.5m for everyone else, and won promotion 31.4 per cent of the time over ten seasons. [6]
The richest American college football programmes — The $21.6m sharing limit covers school money only, and booster collectives push real spending above $50m with nothing to publish. [9][10]
Cristiano Ronaldo and other players with large followings — The Saudi Pro League will pay them a share of the money their own match links bring in. [15]
The Friedkin family — Their $3.5bn buys entry to a league whose clubs shared between $7.5bn and $8bn of revenue last season. [20]

Who pays

Annuity holders at Delaware Life and Clear Spring — They were sold an income guaranteed by the insurer's own strength, and the lawsuit says 42 per cent of the assets behind it sat in their owner's other businesses. [1]
Ira Rosner — He bought a policy in April, had until late May to withdraw without penalty, and says he was told about the federal investigation in June. [1]
Second-division clubs in England with no parachute money — They take in 21.3m pounds a year on average against 59.7m for the clubs coming down, and a report says they are spending beyond their means to compete. [6]
Women footballers below the top divisions in England — They take second jobs and internships around training because the pay does not cover a life. [18]
Alex Eala — Playing for the Philippines at the Asian Games means missing a compulsory tour event, which can cost her a fine and a zero ranking score. [24]
WNBA players — Their union's director says the league's wait-it-out approach has left players unsafe in arenas, at home and online. [12]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether the 3 per cent figure was a mistake or a decision.

Walter's companies call it an internal labelling error and the lawsuit calls it concealment. Neither account has been tested in court. [1]
02

What the federal prosecutors in New York will do.

Grand jury subpoenas went out in February and nothing has been charged since. The US markets regulator is running a separate inquiry. [1][2]
03

What the NBA's check on Mark Walter actually covered.

Adam Silver said the league spoke to government agencies, the insurance industry and other leagues and found no red flags. He has not said whether anyone at the league knew of the February subpoenas. [2]
04

When anyone will rule on Manchester City.

The charges were laid in February 2023 and the hearing passed its second anniversary this week with no verdict and no date. [11]
05

What American colleges actually pay their players.

No college has to publish it. The best figures available came from reporters asking more than 70 people inside the sport, and the answers for the same school varied widely. [9][10]
06

Whether the Protect College Sports Act becomes law.

The US Senate voted 74-24 to open debate and a final vote is expected within days, but the House of Representatives has failed repeatedly to pass earlier versions. [7]
07

Whether baseball loses games next year.

The labour agreement expires on 1 December and a lockout is widely expected. Neither side has published what it has offered. [28]
08

Who actually funded women's professional baseball in the United States.

A board member went to court demanding the league's finances, and it is unclear whether the majority owner ever put money in. [13]
09

Whether Alex Eala is fined for missing the China Open.

The Philippine tennis association has asked the tour for an exemption and the tour has not answered. [24]

04 Hope carry this

Middlesex won English cricket's One-Day Cup at Trent Bridge, beating Leicestershire by 31 runs. It is the county's first trophy since 2016, and Toby Roland-Jones, who sealed that title with a hat-trick at Lord's, took 3 for 27 ten years to the week later.

Also true today

Japan's women played India at cricket for the first time, in the quarter-finals at the Asian Games. Japan's captain, Mai Yanagida, took up the sport at university after growing up playing baseball, and the two men's teams meet on Monday in Sano.
The women's 800m was dropped from the Olympics for 32 years after false reports that the runners had collapsed. This month Audrey Werro finished 0.42 seconds outside the world record, in one of the most anticipated events on the track.