Tag: sports

Federal Court Bars NCAA from Enforcing NIL-Recruitment Ban After Legal Challenge by AGs of TN and VA

Kaitlin Housler
Skrmetti UT

The Eastern District Court of Tennessee granted Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s preliminary injunction request in his lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) illegal name, image, and likeness (NIL)-recruitment ban on Friday.

Through its NIL recruitment ban, the NCAA prohibits prospective student-athletes from discussing potential NIL opportunities with schools and collectives prior to enrolling. Specifically, the ban prohibits student-athletes from negotiating with collectives, reviewing NIL offers before making enrollment decisions, and adequately considering the full scope of NIL-related services a school might offer upon enrollment.

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America First Legal Demands Answers After Biden DOJ Intervenes in Virginia School District’s Adoption of Youngkin Trans Policies

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Trans Flags

America First Legal is demanding answers after the Justice Department under President Joe Biden intervened in a Virginia school district’s adoption of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policies that center parental rights in transgender issues.

“The Department of Justice seems to suggest that protecting the constitutional rights of parents and students will lead to ‘hate crimes,’” Ian Prior, senior adviser at America First Legal, told The Daily Signal in a written statement Monday. “Once again, we are witnessing the top law enforcement organization in the land come unglued from reality and unmoored from its core functions, all in the name of opposing anyone that doesn’t approve of its state-approved message.”

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Wisconsin Lawmakers Introduce Save Women’s Sports Act,’ Dems Cry Discrimination

M.D. Kittle

Two Badger State Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that would keep biological males who identify as female from competing in K-12 and collegiate sports in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Legislative Transgender Parent and Non-Binary Advocacy Caucus is crying foul, asserting the legislation is discriminatory and detrimental to the youth trans community.

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Gallup Poll: Over Two-Thirds of Americans Oppose Transgender Participation in Sports

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The latest poll from Gallup suggests that an overwhelming majority of Americans remain opposed to so-called “transgender” people participating in sports for the wrong gender, despite ongoing social and political efforts to normalize such practices.

As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the poll shows that a staggering 69 percent of respondents believe people who identify as “transgender” should remain in the sports that correspond to their actual biological gender. This marks a 7-point increase from a similar survey taken two years prior.

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Florida Will No Longer Ask Students About Menstrual History on Medical Form Required to Play Sports

Just the News

Florida schools will no longer ask student-athletes to share their menstrual histories to play high school sports, after an effort to make the optional questions mandatory.

The state’s High School Athletic Association’s board of directors voted 14-2 Thursday in an emergency session to adopt a proposal to remove the questions from a pre-participation physical evaluation form, according to NBC News. 

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Rep. Diana Harshbarger Introduces Legislation to Block Biden’s USDA from Stripping Funding from Certain Schools’ Lunch Programs

Cooper Moran

Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) and Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06) introduced legislation to block President Joe Biden’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) from threatening to strip funding from the National School Lunch Program.

According to the lawmakers, the Biden Administration is attempting to force school districts to allow students to use whichever bathroom or play various sports they prefer, not based on biological sex.

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Pennsylvania Senate Passes Bill Against Biological Males Competing in Women’s Sports

Bradley Vasoli
Person swimming

Pennsylvania’s Senate voted 30-20 last week to approve legislation banning biological males from competing in females’ school and college sports programs.

Sens. Judy Ward (R-Hollidaysburg) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-Jacobus) offered the measure so that female athletes need not compete against males who, they noted, have “distinct and meaningful physical advantages over women” including greater height, bone density, heart size and lung size.

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Commentary: The Long, Slow Death of ESPN

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So our readers will know, for the near entirety of your author’s life, pro and college sports have been an obsession.

Looking back on it, probably an unhealthy one. Age and maturity and the vicissitudes of 21st-century life are sharply curtailing the fever, though I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully quit LSU and the Saints (though a possible change in geography might do it; I used to be a Lakers and Yankees fan as a kid and couldn’t give a tinker’s damn about either team now).

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Commentary: Nonsensical Gender-Bending Ideology Ends When Women Say It Does

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people in swimming pool

I have always tried to follow a “live and let live” philosophy. That meant as long as someone isn’t harming anyone else in any way, it was none of my business and people should be allowed to do what they want and be who they are. I draw the line, however, when those choices intrude on someone else’s life. And what these days we are instructed to call transgender “acceptance” often does.

In 2019, I explained how, after receiving a diagnosis specific to women in 2018, I joined what I thought was an exclusively female support group online. For months this group was a salve to my soul at a low point in my life. That was until our group was infiltrated by a biologically born male who urged the administrators to make inclusive changes for him. Because of one person, our group rules were changed from feminine terms to gender-neutral, and in order to continue participating in the group, we had to conform to the new rules of inclusivity. 

It felt like such a violation of privacy to share intimate, personal experiences with others knowing that there was a man with unknown intentions in our group. I took my exit knowing that the administrators were not standing by me and the other women who held my frustrations. 

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Three More States Consider Bills Banning Men from Women’s Sports

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Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma are the latest states considering bans on biological males participating in girls’ and women’s sports, with all three states passing legislation Thursday addressing the issue.

The Arizona legislature passed two bills addressing transgender issues that currently await Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s signature. If enacted, one bill will ban biological males from girls’ sports teams while the other will ban gender reassignment surgeries for minors.

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Commentary: Women’s Opportunities Are Being Taken Away by ‘Womxn’

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, colleges and universities are hosting events to celebrate womxn, not women.

In an effort to become more inclusive of those that deny biological reality, higher education is in fact erasing women’s opportunities to excel in academics, athletics, and career tracks.

I am proud to be a woman. Women have been pivotal to our society. But making women compete with men undermines females’ ability to achieve success.

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Iowa Is Second State in 2022 to Ban Men from Women’s Sports

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Women's volleyball game

On Mar. 3, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed House Bill 2416, which bars men from competing against women in sports at “all school levels.”

“The bill also requires that only female students, based on their sex, may participate in any team, sport, or athletic event designated as being for females, women, or girls,” the new legislation reads.

“This is a victory for girls’ sports in Iowa,” Reynolds said on Mar. 3, surrounded by a room of female athletes as the bill was officially enacted. “No amount of talent, training or effort can make up for the natural physical advantages males have over females. It’s simply a reality of human biology.”

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Governor of Iowa Signs Bill Banning ‘Transgender’ Individuals from Women’s Sports

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Kim Reynolds

On Thursday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) signed a bill that will completely ban so-called “transgender” individuals from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, forcing them to remain with the teams of their actual biological gender.

The Hill reports that the bill, House File 2416, had previously passed the Iowa State House in February and was passed by the State Senate on Wednesday. Both chambers are controlled by Republican majorities.

The new law declares that “only female students, based on their sex, may participate in any team, sport, or athletic event designated as being for females, women, or girls.” The bill clearly defines “sex” as the “biological sex” listed on the individual’s birth certificate, and encompasses sports teams at all levels of school, community college, and college.

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Penn Swimming Has ‘Fallen Apart’ as School Breaks Records with Biological Male on Women’s Team

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man doing a butterfly stroke in swimming pool

Conflict and distrust between athletes has shaken the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team as transgender swimmer Lia Thomas dominates the sport at the national level, according to Sports Illustrated.

Several people affiliated with the team spoke to Sports Illustrated under the condition that their names not be used, the outlet said. “I’m not about to be labeled as transphobic,” one swimmer reportedly said.

Team leadership has supported Thomas competing against women, and the school’s athletic director told female swimmers who were upset about competing against a biological male to consider going to therapy through the campus counseling program, according to Sports Illustrated.

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‘Enormous Misunderstanding’: Peng Shuai Backtracks Sexual Assault Allegation in Controlled Interview

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Peng Shuai with tennis racket in hand

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai walked back her allegations of sexual assault against a former top official, calling it an “enormous misunderstanding” during a controlled interview on Monday with French newspaper L’Equipe.

“Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” Peng said in the interview with L’Equipe, delivered in front of a Chinese Olympic official, who translated her comments from Chinese, the AP reported. Interview questions were reportedly submitted in advance, and the format of the interview did not appear to permit follow-up questions.

“This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world,” Peng told L’Equipe, the AP reported. “My wish is that the meaning of this post no longer be skewed.”

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NCAA Officer Resigns amid Transgender Policy Controversy as Reports of Lia Thomas’ ‘Entitlement’ Surface

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Dorian Rhea Debussy

Dorian Rhea Debussy, a member of the NCAA Division III LGBTQ OneTeam program, recently resigned over the organization’s updated policy on transgender athletes. 

“I’m deeply troubled by what appears to be a devolving level of active, effective, committed, and equitable support for gender diverse student-athletes within the NCAA’s leadership,” Debussy said, according to Fox News, after the national organization adopted a “sport-by-sport” approach to determining transgender athlete’s eligibility to compete on opposite-gender teams. 

According to Fox News, Debussy said, “As a non-binary, trans-feminine person, I can no longer, in good conscience, maintain my affiliation with the NCAA.”

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Transgender Ideology Threatens Future of Sports, Warns Former University of Minnesota Swimmer

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people in swimming pool

A former member of the women’s swimming and diving team at the University of Minnesota has sounded the alarm against the inclusion of biological men in women’s athletics.

On Dec. 19, Jenna Stocker published an article in National Review that called transgender athletes an “affront to the fairness of sports.”

“Nothing has threatened the future of sports more than transgender integration,” she said.

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Commentary: Great Americans Gone in 2021

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Angelo Codevilla and Rush Limbaugh

The February 17 departure of Rush Limbaugh got the most attention, and deservedly so. To instruct and entertain simultaneously is a tough task, and Limbaugh performed in fine style. There may never be another. 

That description also applies to Angelo Codevilla, who died at 78 on September 21. His “remarkable intellect and insights,” were on full display over a long and productive career. For his many readers, and those who didn’t know him at all, the brilliant scholar might have saved the best for last. 

Born on May 25, 1943, in Voghera, Italy, Angelo Codevilla came to the United States in 1955 and became a U.S. citizen in 1962. The eager immigrant earned degrees at Rutgers, Notre Dame, and Claremont Graduate School and taught at Georgetown, Stanford, and Boston University. Along the way, Codevilla served in the U.S. Navy, as a foreign service officer, and a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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Commentary: It is Time to End Corporate Sports Welfare

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Man swinging a golf driver

One of the biggest complaints the American people have about the federal government is that Washington, D.C. is infected with cronyism and special-interest favoritism. In the area of tax policy, the corporation with the best tax lobbyist usually gets preferential treatment.

Look at the Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) as a case study in how wealthy, professional golfers are getting a subsidy from the federal government to make even more money. Just like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the PGA enjoys tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization.

This tax status has been a big moneymaker for the PGA. ESPN reported back in 2013, that “the PGA Tour’s nonprofit business model has allowed it to avoid paying up to $200 million in federal taxes over the past 20 years, and its tournaments—designed to benefit local charities—operate in ways that fall short of acceptable charitable practices.” While the Biden Administration is intent on soaking the middle class for more taxes, apparently wealthy sports organizations don’t make that list. Just goes to show you, yet again, how unfair the U.S. tax system is; the middle class gets soaked while the well-connected elites game the tax code to add tens of millions annually to their bottom lines.

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Student Shatters Women’s Swimming Records After Switching from Men’s Team

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Person swimming

Lia Thomas, a swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, shattered records after transitioning from male to female and joining the women’s team.

Thomas, who is biologically male, competed for three years on the men’s team before moving to the women’s team after transitioning, the Daily Mail reported. NCAA rules require males to undergo at least one year of testosterone suppression treatment before they can compete in the women’s category.

Thomas’s top time for the 500 Free event in the male category was 4:18.72. Thomas won the 500 Free while competing against Villanova and participated in eight regular season events as a male in the 2019-2020 season.

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Trump, Wife Delight Braves Fans, Upset Liberal Writers by Doing Tomahawk Chop at World Series

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Donald Trump and crowd at the MLB Braves World Series game, doing the tomahawk chop

Former President Donald Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump joined Atlanta Braves fans Saturday night in doing the team’s signature Tomahawk Chop during a raucous Game 4 of the World Series.

The Trumps attended the game in a suite at Atlanta’s Truist Stadium, where the hometown team was playing the Houston Astros. The Braves won 3-2 to take a 3-1 advantage in the series.

The former first family joined in when fans started the Chop. Their participation lit up liberals and some sports writers on Twitter.

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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Backs West Michigan University Athletes Seeking Vaccine Exemption

The Center Square
Two football players who attend Western Michigan University

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Maloney’s preliminary injunction, which allows 16 Western Michigan University (WMU) athletes to continue playing intercollegiate sports despite refusing a Covid-19 vaccine shot.

Appellate Judges Ralph B. Guy, Jr., David W. McKeague, and Chad A. Readler issued their opinion confirming WMU violated the athletes’ First Amendment rights by denying their requests for a religious exemption from the mandate. This decision is now binding precedent in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

“The University put plaintiffs to the choice: get vaccinated or stop fully participating in intercollegiate sports,” the opinion says. “The University did not dispute that taking the vaccine would violate plaintiffs’ ‘sincerely held Christian beliefs.’ Yet refusing the vaccine prevents plaintiffs from participating in college sports, as they are otherwise qualified (and likely were recruited) to do. By conditioning the privilege of playing sports on plaintiffs’ willingness to abandon their sincere religious beliefs, the University burdened their free exercise rights.”

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Former Soccer Player Hope Solo Says Megan Rapinoe Would ‘Bully’ Teammates into Kneeling for Anthem

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Hope Solo holding up jersey

Hope Solo, the former goalie for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, said during an interview on Tuesday that her teammate Megan Rapinoe would resort to bullying tactics to coerce the other players into kneeling during the National Anthem, Fox News reports.

“I’ve seen Megan Rapinoe almost bully players into kneeling because she really wants to stand up for something in her particular way,” Solo said on the podcast “All of US: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Show.” However, Solo noted, “it’s our right as Americans to do it in whatever way we’re comfortable with,” before going on to describe the kneeling phenomenon as “very divisive.”

For this reason, Solo said she was relieved when the National Anthem was removed from the beginning of the game “to really remove that decision from athletes, because that’s very tough.”

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Suni Lee Wins Individual All-Around Gold

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Suni Lee kissing her gold medal

American gymnast Sunisa “Suni” Lee won gold in the women’s individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, ESPN reported.

Lee received a total score of 57.433, beating out Brazilian Rebeca Andrade’s score of 57.298 and becoming the sixth American to win the women’s individual all-around at the Games, ESPN reported.

“The waiting game was something I hated so much, but when I saw my score came out on top, it was so emotional,” Lee said after winning, according to ESPN. “It doesn’t feel like real life.”

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After Testing Positive for COVID, Olympic Athletes Summarily Expelled

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Olympics ring logo in dark in Tokyo

Five U.S. athletes have tested positive for coronavirus prior to the start of the Tokyo Olympics, crushing their dreams of competing in the world’s largest sporting event.

U.S. men’s basketball player Bradley Beal tested positive on July 15 which made him unable to travel to Tokyo, USA basketball announced in a tweet.

U.S women’s tennis star Coco Gauff announced on twitter that she tested positive for COVID on July 18. Gauff, 17, received her positive test in Tokyo, and has been barred from competing in the Olympic games, according to the tweet.

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Biologically Male Middle School Student Can Run on Girls’ Cross Country Team, Judge Rules

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Man running on a gravel road during the day with a blue shirt on

A biologically male middle school student may run on a girl’s cross country team this fall in spite of West Virginia’s new law banning biological males from women’s sports, U.S. Circuit Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ruled Wednesday.

Lawyers from the ACLU-West Virginia had argued that HB 3293 would unfairly prevent the 11-year-old student, Becky Pepper-Jackson, from participating on a girls cross country team.

Goodwin issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday allowing Pepper-Jackson to “sign up for and participate in school athletics in the same way as her girl classmates.”

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Louisiana Governor Vetoes Bill Banning Biological Males from Women’s Sports

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John Bel Edwards

Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have banned biological males from women’s sports.

“As I have said repeatedly when asked about this bill, discrimination is not a Louisiana value, and this bill was a solution in search of a problem that simply does not exist in Louisiana,” the governor said in a statement, according to the Associated Press, adding that “even the author of the bill acknowledged throughout the legislative session that there wasn’t a single case where this was an issue” in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act would have prohibited biological males from participating in female intercollegiate, interscholastic, or intramural athletic sports “that receive state funding.”

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University of Michigan Professors Recommend Taking Down Legendary Football Coach’s Name from Arena

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Yost Ice Arena

A committee of professors at the University of Michigan has recommended that the university strip the name of a former football coach from the university’s ice hockey arena.

Fielding Yost, the namesake of Yost Ice Arena, coached the Michigan Wolverines football team to multiple national championships during the first half of the twentieth century, but he had an adverse effect on the well-being of black athletes when he was active, the professors claimed.

“In naming the Field House after Yost, the University chose to place one man’s contributions to football and to athletics above the profoundly deep and negative impact he had on people of color,” wrote the President’s Advisory Committee on University History.

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Oklahoma Governor Weighs in on Former OU Volleyball Player Suing for Exclusion Over Conservative Views

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University of Oklahoma volleyball player Kylee McLaughlin

A spokeswoman for Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt expressed support Friday for former University of Oklahoma volleyball player Kylee McLaughlin, who has accused the university of violating her First Amendment rights by excluding her from her volleyball team over her conservative views.

“Governor Stitt fully supports every individual’s right to freedom of speech and thought,” the governor’s communications director Carly Atchison told the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday afternoon. “It’s shameful that young people on college campuses, and in today’s world even K-12 classrooms, who dare dissent from the left’s agenda are being punished.”

McLaughlin is suing the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, volunteer assistant coach Kyle Walton, and OU volleyball head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton for a minimum of $75,000, according to the lawsuit, saying that the school discriminated against her for expressing beliefs that “did not fit the culture” at OU. She formerly served as both a team captain and first team All-Big 12 player in 2018 and 2019, according to OU Daily.

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Lee Signs Slew of Bills, Including Tax Deals for Titans, Smokies

The Center Square
Nissan International Stadium

Tax deals for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and minor league baseball’s Tennessee Smokies were signed into law this week by Gov. Bill Lee.

The governor also signed two bills that are key cogs in his criminal justice reform initiative. They aim to reduce recidivism and keep lower level offenders related to substance abuse and mental health out of jail and in community-based alternative programs.

The Titans deal is estimated to have a $10 million annual sales tax impact on the state. It will allow the team to retain sales tax revenue from all events at Nissan Stadium and keep half of the tax revenue from a planned mixed-use development around the stadium to use toward future stadium upgrades.

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Legal Sports Betting Clears First Hurdle in Georgia General Assembly

The Center Square

Legislation legalizing sports betting in Georgia has cleared the Georgia Senate and will be considered in the House.

Senate Resolution 135 would amend Georgia’s Constitution to legalize sports betting as a game played through the state lottery, which already is a legal form of gambling in the state.

The resolution cleared the Senate, 41-10, last week. If SR 135 passes the House, Georgians would vote on the constitutional amendment in the 2022 general election. Sports betting would then be legal by January 2023.

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Let Them Play Minnesota Calls Out Walz for ‘Ignoring the Science’

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Let Them Play MN, a nonprofit, issued a press release outlining its concerns regarding the newest guidelines for youth sports.

A guidance released by the Minnesota Department of Health on Dec. 28 requires all youth sports players to wear masks during practices and, when the time comes, during games. A few exceptions exist, including wrestling, gymnastics, and swimming and diving.

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Ohio Allows High Schoolers to Wrestle, but Forbids Shaking Hands Before or After Matches

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The state of Ohio is allowing the high school wrestling season to proceed this winter, but with some rather head-scratching COVID-based rules and regulations.

As you may know, wrestling is the one sport which features a very high degree of bodily contact. And in this coronavirus-laden atmosphere, one might think that, of all sports, it should be skipped this year.

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