Russia/Ukraine impact on sports

Like many, the sports world has been appalled by Russia’s unnecessary invasion of Ukraine on February 24. And it hasn’t come without severe ramifi cations for Russian sports bodies, who have had to deal with not only the consistent issue of Russian athletes doping, but the dictatorial actions of their government to boot. FIFA and UEFA jointly announced on February 28 that Russia would be suspended from competitions. This comes off the back of numerous countries, including the three in their World Cup playoff group (Sweden, Czechia, Poland), refusing to play the Russian national team. The announcement effectively ended Russia’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup, and also led to Spartak Moscow, who qualifi ed for the UEFA Europa League Round of 16, being expelled from the tournament. Long-time Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has long been linked to ties with Putin and who was recently placed under sanction by British Parliament, has left his shares of the club to trustees, aiming to save his skin and Chelsea’s reputation. Chelsea have now been put up for sale as the club’s activities have been heavily restricted, from losing main sponsor Three to being banned from selling tickets. Prospective buyers ranging from the Cubs-owning Ricketts family to a consortium including Dodgers owner Todd Boehly have been lining up to own the prestigious English club. Lokomotiv Moscow manager Markus Gisdol, in his fi rst season with the team following spells in Germany with Hoffenheim, Hamburg, and Koln, left his spot in protest of the Russian invasion, as did Krasnodar manager Daniel Farke. The former Norwich City manager had been in the job for less than a week before stepping down. Ice hockey is arguably Russia’s favorite sport, and the IIHF has hit them hard. They followed UEFA and FIFA’s lead by suspending Russia (as well as Belarus, who has been Russia’s only ally) from international competition; the IIHF also rescinded Russia’s rights to host the 2023 World Junior Championship. Russia’s domestic league, the KHL, has also seen a couple of teams, Jokerit Helsinki and Dinamo Riga, leave the competition due to the invasion. Jokerit looks likely to rejoin the Finnish Liiga, and Dinamo Riga are reportedly in talks to join the mainly-Austrian IceHL, which also boasts teams from Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Czechia. It has also surprisingly impacted the world of Formula One. The title sponsor of American team Haas is Russian chemical manufacturer Uralkali, part of the Uralchem group owned by Putin crony Dmitry Mazepin. If that name sounds familiar, his son Nikita is one of the team’s drivers, and Uralkali’s sponsorship is dependent on Nikita driving for the team. However, with Dmitry’s close ties to Putin, Haas have distanced themselves from Uralkali, removing their logo from the car and changing their livery on the fi nal day of the fi rst preseason test to an all-white car with the Haas logo. And on Saturday, March 5, Haas announced that they had dissolved their partnership with Uralkali with immediate effect; Mazepin would no longer be driving for the team as a result. Team owner Gene Haas, when interviewed at the Pennzoil 400 (he’s a part owner of the Stewart-Haas NASCAR team), confi rmed that the team would be able to survive without Mazepin’s funding and that his NASCAR team sponsors had placed pressure on him to cut ties with Uralkali as the team aimed to stay. They announced Kevin Magnussen, who previously drove for the team from 2018 to 2020, as Mazepin’s replacement, and he immediately set the fastest lap on the second day of offi cial preseason testing as Haas looks to seriously contend for points in 2022. Athletes across the world, from Ukraine and Manchester City left back Oleksandr Zinchenko to Russian stars like tennis player Andrey Rublev and Dynamo Moscow striker Fedor Smolov, have spoken out against Russia’s horrifi c actions. The immense show of support from teams across the globe, like Real Madrid and West Ham, has been beautiful to see. This will continue to affect the sports world for months and maybe even years to come. I feel for the Russian athletes who had nothing to do with their leader’s decision to invade Ukraine, but there needs to be some sort of punishment for it, and what governing bodies like FIFA and the IIHF have done so far is fi tting. Sometimes it can go a bit too far, like the banning of Russian and Belarussian athletes from the Paralympics (the athletes who worked four years for this don’t deserve to lose it because of their reckless leaders) but these are justifi ed and necessary actions that needed to be taken. The sports world is not taking Russia’s antagonistic war lightly. Their harsh response to the country proves it.

One of the sport-related consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen Nikita Mazepin, son of Putin-linked oligarch Dmitry, lose his seat at Formula One team Haas. Photo by Wikimedia

USWNT, U.S. Soccer Federation settle their equal pay lawsuit

By MADISON JOLLEY ‘23 News Editor

GOALLLLLLLL! Now in the middle of Women’s History Month, a huge win has been granted to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT)! On February 22nd, a $24 million dollar settlement was reached between the USWNT and the U.S. Soccer Federation following the fi ling of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, a lawsuit over unequal pay with men’s team players. According to the settled terms, U.S. Soccer will pay men and women an equal rate in the future in all non-competitive games (friendlies) and tournaments, including the World Cup. Captain of USWNT, Megan Rapinoe spoke with NBC the next day on this major milestone. “For us, this is just a huge win in ensuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past, but set the next generation up for something we only dreamed of”. “We are really in the midst of an incredible turning point in women’s sport.

If you’re not paying attention to this right now and what’s happening in women’s sport, you’re sleeping on the whole thing.” The lawsuit was fi led back in March of 2019 by 25 players, including Rapione, Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn, and the now-retired Hope Solo, and Carli Lloyd. It cited years of ongoing institutionalized gender discrimination against the players in their compensation and working conditions. Though this has been a problem for years, the U.S. Soccer Federation is only making changes now. According to NBC, FIFA awards $400 million in prize money for the 32 teams at the 2018 men’s World Cup, and $38 million for France who was the champion. On the contrary, for the women’s cup, FIFA awarded $30 million to the 24 teams and $4 million to the U.S. who won the World Cup. USWNT stars like forward Alex Settlement terms Morgan gained both a $24 million state that U.S. Soccer will pay $22 settlement and a promise of equal pay. Photo by Wikimedia million to the players in the case and an additional $2 million into a separate account to benefi t USWNT players in their postcareer goals and charitable efforts related to women’s and girls’ soccer (which calculates up to $50,000 for each player).

Tom Brady ends retirement, returns as the Buccaneers QB

By KYLE GOLDSTEIN ‘24 and TIMUR MARKOWITZ ‘24 Staff Reporters

The GOAT is back. Just over one month after he announced his retirement, Tom Brady has stated that he will be returning to the Buccaneers for his 23rd season, premiering as the oldest active player in the NFL, as when the season begins he will be 45 years old. As the NFL’s career leader in yards passing and touchdowns, as well as with the most Super Bowl rings of any player ever, his effect on football is unprecedented, and his legacy carried enough weight to guarantee him into the Hall of Fame. However, his short lived retirement of 40 days was ended when he posted that he had “unfi nished business” on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Supposedly, his wife and family are supportive and happy with his decision to unretire and play football for his 23rd season. Speculation has risen from his sudden change of mind, with an investigation called concerning recent bets. Last week, many different bettors placed wagers for the Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl prior to the announcement of him not retiring. The Vice President of Westgate Superbook stated that he believed the amount of bets and the money that was wagered indicated that information concerning his unretirement was leaked prior to the announcement. Furthermore, the football thought to have made Bardy’s fi nal touchdown was sold for $518,628. However, with his return, its worth has signifi cantly decreased, being valued at nothing above $20,000. In response to

“His short lived this, Tom Brady retirement of 40 days attempted to make up this was ended when he loss through providing one posted that he had Bitcoin to the

‘unfi nished business’ buyer, currently worth $41,242. on his Twitter and This means the Instagram accounts.” buyer has just over one tenth Brady will return for a of the money spent on the 23rd season in the NFL. football. What makes this worse is that FTX, the company which Brady asked to provide a singular Bitcoin, is one in which he has equity. Despite its bizarre nature, his decision will undoubtedly alter the 2022-2023 NFL season in various ways, not just in terms of the game, but also the sports betting and anticipation. However, the question arises, how many more NFL seasons should one expect Tom Brady, who will be 45 next season, to play?