Early Signing Day Winners, Cuban MLB Players Won’t Defect, Senators Hatch & Schumer’s Gambling Bill
FOOTBALL
Many high school football recruits were signed on Wednesday, a newly instituted early college football signing day. Traditionally, recruits signed their letters of intent in February, but last year a majority of the freshman college class were signed early. According to USA Today, the clear winner of the day was Alabama who signed Florida running back Trey Sanders, while the biggest surprise of the day was Michigan flipping safety Daxton Hill back after he said two weeks ago he was switching his allegiance from Michigan to Alabama. For their full list of winners and losers, click here.
BASEBALL
Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) agreed to a deal allowing Cuban baseball players to play on a US team without defecting. Rob Manfred, the MLB Commissioner, said, “For years, Major League Baseball has been seeking to end the trafficking of baseball players from Cuba by criminal organizations by creating a safe and legal alternative for those players to sign with Major League Clubs. We believe that this agreement accomplishes that objective and will allow the next generation of Cuban players to pursue their dream without enduring many of the hardships experienced by current and former Cuban players who have played Major League Baseball.” The FCB will first get a percentage of an MLB player’s contract as a release fee before allowing them to negotiate their individual contracts and come to the US on work visas.
OTHER
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill intended to establish standards on sports betting and provide “world-class safety measures to protect consumers, preserve the integrity of sporting events, and ensure the propriety of the sports wagering market.†The Sports Wagering Market Integrity Act of 2018 also requires wagering operators to use data provided from the sports leagues (with the intent of providing another source of revenue for the leagues).
