Sports
Falcons, Yandex advance to quarterfinals at BLAST Slam VI
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Team Falcons and Team Yandex each recorded a sweep on Saturday to punch their ticket to the quarterfinals of the BLAST Slam VI event.
Falcons posted a 2-0 win over Xtreme Gaming in their play-in game, courtesy of a 39-minute victory on red and 54-minute triumph on green. Team Falcons will compete again on Friday against the winner of Sunday’s clash between Team Liquid and GamerLegion.
Team Yandex notched a 2-0 win over Team Spirit in their play-in game on Saturday, courtesy of 38- and 52-minute victories on red. Yandex will be back in action on Friday against the winner of Sunday’s encounter between Tundra Esports and HEROIC.
BLAST Slam VI is a 12-team Dota 2 event that pays $300,000 to the winner and $1 million overall. The event opened with three days of group play — a round-robin, best-of-1 format in which each team played each other team once. The top two teams in the standings, Natus Vincere and OG, moved on to the semifinals of the playoffs.
The teams finishing third through eighth in the standings advanced to the play-in round — four best-of-3 matches in which the winners advance to the playoffs and the losers are eliminated. The teams finishing ninth through 12th in group play competed in the last-chance playoff, another best-of-3 format where the winners advanced to the play-in round and the losers went home.
The play-in matches will be contested Saturday and Sunday. The four winning teams will play in the quarterfinals on Feb. 13. The semifinals will be on Feb. 14 and the grand final on Feb. 15.
BLAST Slam VI prize pool
1. $300,000 (plus $100,000 in team earnings)
2. $150,000 (plus $50,000)
3-4. $60,000 (plus $29,000)
5-6. $35,000 (plus $15,000)
7-10. $22,500 (plus $6.250) — Team Spirit, Xtreme Gaming, TBD, TBD
11-12. $10,000 (plus $2,500) — REKONIX, MOUZ
–Field Level Media
Sports
Super Bowl LX ticket prices plunge hours before game
Feb 4, 2026; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Super Bowl LX signage on the Levi’s Stadium facade. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Ticket prices for Super Bowl LX continued to plunge hours before the start of Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium.
The “get-in” price for two tickets was $3,361 across several major ticketing sites as of 3 p.m. ET, according to ticket tracking service TicketData. That represented a 22% drop over the past three days — and a 50% drop since the get-in price climbed to $6,620 the day after the matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots was finalized.
The average get-in price on Thursday was $4,226. Despite throngs of fans flying in on Friday and Saturday, ticket prices continued to decline leading up to the game.
SUPER BOWL LX TICKET PRICES*
TICKET SITE: FEB. 8, FEB. 5 PRICE, JAN. 26 PRICE
SeatGeak: $3,685, $4,414, $6,776
StubHub: $3,679, $4,626, $6,689
Vivid Seats: $3,296, $4,132, $6,630
Ticketmaster: $3,510, $4,356, $6,896
*Cheapest price for two tickets together
Sunday marks the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl appearance since their XLIX loss to the Patriots 11 years ago in Glendale, Ariz. New England has appeared in three Super Bowls since then, but this is the first in the post-Tom Brady era and punctuates the Patriots’ first year under coach Mike Vrabel.
Super Bowl LX will also be the first title game held at Levi’s Stadium since Super Bowl 50 in 2016.
The record prices for Super Bowl LVIII two years ago in Las Vegas, where get-in prices topped $7,000 shortly after the matchup between the 49ers and Chiefs was finalized, aren’t in jeopardy. The average get-in price ultimately rose to a record of nearly $8,900 before dipping to just over $7,000 on game day.
Last year’s Super Bowl prices eventually dropped to an average of $2,109 on game day, due in large part to New Orleans’ limited hotel capacity along with what was dubbed “Chiefs fatigue” leading into the game dominated by Philadelphia against Kansas City.
Seattle remains a consensus 4.5-point favorite to beat New England in Super Bowl LX. The lines have been consistent among major sportsbooks at 4.5 points for the past week.
–Derek Harper, Field Level Media
Sports
Balanced Cincinnati tramples UCF by 20
Feb 8, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats center Moustapha Thiam (52) battles for the loose ball against UCF Knights center John Bol (7) in the first half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images Baba Miller scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead all five starters in double figures as Cincinnati controlled visiting UCF by a 92-72 count in Big 12 play on Sunday.
Moustapha Thiam posted 15 points and seven rebounds as he returned to action against his previous school after missing the last two games with an ankle injury.
Jizzle James scored 15 points and Jalen Celestine added 14 for Cincinnati (12-12, 4-7), which pulled away with a 14-2 second-half run and reached the 90-point mark for the first time in Big 12 play since a Feb. 5, 2025, win at UCF.
Chris Johnson and Jordan Burks each scored 16 points to lead the Knights (17-6, 6-5), who lost their second straight game by 20-plus points to scuff their NCAA Tournament resume after a three-game win streak.
Themus Fulks, UCF’s leading playmaker and second-leading scorer, was held scoreless and had just two assists in 19 minutes. He played just four minutes in the second half.
As they did against West Virginia on Thursday, the Bearcats were able to assume control in the opening 20 minutes.
Cincinnati took a 21-13 lead before UCF’s Jamichael Stillwell (14 points) knocked down a jumper with 5:30 left to cap a 6-0 run and forge a 26-26 tie. But Cincinnati caught fire and closed the half on a 14-2 run, highlighted by a pair of Celestine 3-pointers to end the half.
The Bearcats opened the second half by scoring the first nine points to take a 49-30 lead, capping a 23-2 run that seemingly gave Cincinnati control of the game with 18:13 to play.
UCF coach Johnny Dawkins removed Fulks shortly thereafter and he did not return until there was less than eight minutes left.
Meanwhile, UCF unleashed an 11-0 run that featured three straight 3-pointers — one by Chris Johnson and two by George Beale Jr. — to draw within 62-56 with 9:33 left.
Thiam hit a baseline jumper to end the UCF rally and James added a deep three from the left wing to spark a 9-0 spurt and restore Cincinnati’s lead to double figures at 71-56.
After a Stillwell jumper, Cincinnati scored seven straight points to push the lead back to 78-58 with six minutes remaining.
–Field Level Media
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