Sports
WNBA Finals expanding to best-of-seven in 2025
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during the Changemaker Day event at Parsons Leadership Center at Camp South Mountain in Phoenix on July 18, 2024. The WNBA Finals will expand to a best-of-seven series for the first time in 2025, the league announced Thursday ahead of Game 1 of the 2024 championship series between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx.
The league has never seen a best-of-seven playoff series, but the 2025 Finals will mark the first and utilize a 2-2-1-1-1 format — meaning the higher seed will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 and the lower seed will host Games 3, 4 and 6.
Among other changes on the way for the burgeoning league, the regular season will grow from 40 to 44 games for each team as the expansion Golden State Valkyries begin play.
“We are seeing an incredible demand for WNBA basketball, as reflected in the number of cities pursuing expansion franchises, fans attending games and engaging with our social and digital platforms in record fashion, and game broadcasts and streams being consumed like never before,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “The incredible demand for WNBA basketball makes this the ideal time to increase the regular season to 44 games per team and expand the (Finals) to a best-of-seven series.
“These changes will create more opportunities to watch the best players in the world compete at the highest level and give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports.”
The league is also tweaking the format of the best-of-three first round of the playoffs. Rather than the higher seed hosting Games 1 and 2, it will be the home team for Games 1 and 3, with the lower seed getting a chance to host Game 2.
“The new 1-1-1 structure for the First Round of the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google will guarantee a home game for both teams in a series, which was a priority based on discussions with the WNBA’s team presidents, head coaches, general managers and the Competition Committee,” head of league operations Bethany Donaphin said.
The league’s surge in popularity, fueled in large part by Fever phenom Caitlin Clark, helped it land a new media rights deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon worth $2.2 billion over 11 years. Under the new deal, the semifinals and the WNBA Finals will rotate among Disney, NBC and Prime Video.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jerry Kelly holds on to win 'indescribable' Senior Open title
Jerry Kelly hits out of a bunker on hole No. 14 during round 3 of the Kaulig Companies PGA Championship, July 11, 2026, at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Jerry Kelly turned a clutch bunker shot on the final hole into a birdie and won the ISPS Handa Senior Open by two shots on Sunday in Auchterarder, Scotland.
Kelly, 59, delivered his third consecutive round of 2-under-par 68 on The King’s Gleneagles course and finished at 10-under 270 to win the fifth and final major tournament of the season.
Matt Gogel, Darren Fichardt of South Africa and Cameron Percy of Australia all finished two shots back in a tie for second place.
With a one-shot lead on the par-5 closing hole, Kelly found the bunker with his second shot. The Madison, Wisc., native put the bunker shot to within 4 feet and made the putt for his first Senior Open title and his third major victory on the Champions Tour.
“It’s indescribable to win it,” said Kelly, who now has 15 overall victories on the Champions Tour. “The senior Claret Jug is the trophy that I’ve wanted as an over-50 golfer other than any other. To do it in Scotland, at the home of golf … I mean, I’m absolutely speechless.”
Tied for the lead with Percy at the start of the final round, Kelly was 2 under through five holes before his first bogey of the day at No. 6. He bounced back by birdieing the par-3 eighth. Kelly also had a bogey at No. 11 before he reeled off six consecutive pars that led into his birdie at 18.
“My brain, actually, was the most successful part of my game,” Kelly said. “In the past I would have gotten down that I wasn’t striking it the way I’d like to strike it. But instead of worrying about that, I just went and took care of the next shot.
“I learned a lot about myself today, and I wish I would have learned it about 20, 30 years ago.”
Gogel worked his way into contention with a 7-under 63 in the final round as he shot a 4-under 30 on the front nine. He also had birdies at Nos. 10 and 12 to close the gap, then wrapped his round with his seventh birdie of the day at No. 18.
“Certainly by 10, when I had a two-putt birdie there, I was thinking, ‘Geez, we keep this thing going, we have a chance to get a high finish,'” Gogel said.
Percy (even-par 70) had a rocky ride in the final round and was at 2 over the front nine. He had his first birdie of the day at No. 10 before another bogey at No. 11. He gathered himself down the stretch for two more birdies but was unable to collect another at the 18th.
Percy missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have put more pressure on Kelly.
Fichardt shot a 4-under 66 to close in on Kelly. He started his round with a bogey on the first hole, but had a strong finish with birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 18.
Kely remained undaunted with his one-putt birdie to win it.
“To be on this trophy, to be a part of this trophy, to be a part of the R&A — I just love it over here, I really do,” Kelly said. “It brings it full circle that I didn’t do what I wanted to in the Open Championship but to get it done here, I mean, I’m over the moon.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees OF Cody Bellinger out 4-6 weeks with Grade 2 hamstring strain
Jul 25, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger (35) hits an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the sixth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images New York Yankees All-Star outfielder Cody Bellinger was diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and faces a recovery timeline of four to six weeks, manager Aaron Boone said Monday.
Bellinger was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday after injuring himself rounding first base during a win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
His injury is the latest blow for a Yankees lineup that hasn’t featured Aaron Judge (rib) since the start of June or Giancarlo Stanton (calf) since April 24. Neither Judge nor Stanton have been cleared to resume baseball activities.
Bellinger, 31, was named the All-Star Game MVP earlier this month thanks to his two-run single in the first inning of the American League’s 4-0 victory.
The former NL MVP is in his second season in New York and played 102 of the Yankees’ first 104 games leading up to the injury. He has batted .259 with 11 homers, 53 RBIs and 55 walks this year.
In 1,259 career games for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2017-22), Chicago Cubs (2023-24) and Yankees, Bellinger is a .260 hitter with 236 homers, 748 RBIs and 114 stolen bases.
The Yankees recalled Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. However, they are starting utility player Max Schuemann in Bellinger’s usual spot in left field for the second day in a row as they begin a series Monday at the Chicago White Sox. Jones will start the game at center field.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Stanford players take first step toward collective bargaining unit
Sep 13, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal linebacker Ernest Cooper (44) during the third quarter against the Boston College Eagles at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Founded five years ago as an advocacy group for athletes, the College Football Players Association announced on Monday that Stanford football players have formed the CFBPA’s first chapter led by active athletes — a first step toward what the group hopes will eventually become a collective bargaining unit.
Regarding who the athletes will negotiate with, CFBPA founder and executive director Jason Stahl points to the conferences.
“We are very optimistic that other chapters will be announced soon,” Stahl, a former faculty member at the University of Minnesota, told The Athletic.
After communicating with Stanford players for more than a year, Stahl met with more than 50 players at the school’s campus in Palo Alto, Calif., late last month. The Cardinal players elected fifth-year offensive lineman Fisher Anderson and fifth-year linebacker Ernest Cooper as player representatives.
“We (at Stanford) have always had a pretty tight relationship with the NFL Players Association,” Anderson said on a podcast produced by the CFBPA, which was founded with a goal of organizing players from major colleges. “Last year when this opportunity came about, it made me think if this is something that has had such a benefit on the National Football League, could it be done on the college football level?”
Stanford third-year defensive lineman Benedict Umeh echoed his teammate’s sentiment.
“Whenever I leave those meetings (with the NFLPA) I think, ‘Why don’t we have one of those?'” Umeh told The Athletic.
A bipartisan bill, the Protect College Sports Act, introduced in May by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), is unlikely to be voted on before the session ends in early August, The Athletic reported last week.
The bill aims to establish antitrust protections and national compensation standards for the NCAA and college conferences. Without it, college sports leaders believe that collective bargaining with athletes could create stability and ensure compliance with antitrust laws without needing government involvement.
“Standardization is necessary,” Umeh said. “The congressional bill could serve toward that purpose, give us the legal scaffolding to get everything in place. The issue with a congressional bill, in my eyes, is the players don’t get much of a say at all.”
This isn’t the first time college athletes have tried to form a union, but none of the previous movements have panned out, including Northwestern football players in 2014 and Dartmouth men’s basketball team in 2024.
Stahl in 2020 was involved in another athlete-organized movement initiated by Pac-12 players and, the following year, started the CFBPA.
In 2022, he attempted to organize Big Ten athletes to negotiate better long-term medical benefits and possibly a share of conference revenue. The plan also fizzled out despite some progress, especially at Penn State.
Although schools have been allowed to pay athletes directly since 2025 as part of a revenue-sharing plan, the athletes are not technically being paid to play. The compensation is for their name, image and likeness (NIL), and the players are regarded as independent contractors.
“The schools are paying us to play,” Umeh said.
A wide variety of state labor laws could make it difficult for the CFBPA to operate nationwide. Therefore, Stahl said the CFBPA hopes Division I players will establish local chapters and negotiate collectively with their respective conferences.
“College football players deserve a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their athletic, academic and economic futures,” Stahl said. “Stanford football is the first of what the CFBPA envisions as 17 ACC football chapters, creating the framework for conference-wide player representation and, ultimately, collective bargaining.”
–Field Level Media
