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Leaders of the College Football Playoff issued an ultimatum to the Rose Bowl this week, giving a self-imposed deadline of Wednesday to determine whether the CFP can expand in time for the start of the 2024 regular season, and if the game’s most storied bowl can’t agree to the terms, it’s possible it could be excluded from the New Year’s Six bowl rotation in the next contract, sources told ESPN.

“We want the Rose Bowl,” a CFP source said. “We have a good partnership with the six bowls we are affiliated with. We do. And we want to continue with that. I hope the Rose Bowl will be part of that, but there’s no guarantee in any of that. None.”

If the CFP doesn’t expand in time for the 2024 season, it will lose roughly $450 million in potential gross revenue. There is mounting pressure to make a decision this week — possibly as soon as Tuesday.

While the Rose Bowl’s position in an expanded CFP isn’t the only obstacle that slowed the process, it is the last and most complicated. The discussion centered on one of the most lucrative television windows in college sports. Laura Farber, the chair of the Rose Bowl management committee, told ESPN earlier this month the game wanted to maintain the exclusive broadcast window on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. PT in years that it would also host a CFP semifinal.

The Rose Bowl was willing to temporarily concede its relationship with the Big Ten and Pac-12 to host a quarterfinal game in 2024 and 2025, but in return asked for assurances in the new contract. There is no contract in place beyond the current 12-year deal, which runs through the 2025 season.

“We continue to have daily conversations with the CFP board of managers, and we remain hopeful we can come to an agreement,” a Rose Bowl spokesperson told ESPN on Tuesday.

Farber told ESPN in November the bowl was willing to be flexible.

“For anyone to say that the Rose Bowl Game is the sole reason right now that expansion may not happen before the current cycle runs out is categorically wrong,” Farber said. “Yes, we need to work through the details of our contract and our separate broadcast agreement, but we remain open to that.”

A CFP source said it was fair to call it an ultimatum, but not a threat. CFP leaders are asking the Rose Bowl to reconsider some of the guarantees it’s seeking in the next contract. When the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick negotiate the next TV deal, they are unanimous in their desire to have multiple TV partners. ESPN is currently the sole rights holder through the 2025 season. A source said the CFP has assured the Rose Bowl it will do everything it can to work around the Jan. 1 2 p.m. PT slot, but has asked all of the bowls to take a leap of faith because the commissioners can’t be bound to promises that will or won’t impact the value as they’re trying to negotiate the next deal.

“We’re to the point where we’ve got to make a decision moving forward,” a source said. “That’s where we are.”

For the CFP to expand during this current contract, everyone involved — including all New Year’s Six bowl games, the CFP and ESPN as its exclusive rights holder — have to unanimously agree. Multiple sources told ESPN the calendar had been determined — the presidents and chancellors met Nov. 16 and figured out the revenue distribution, according to one source. The last piece of the puzzle was the Rose Bowl. When the next contract is negotiated, it doesn’t have to be unanimous — making it much easier to move on without the Rose Bowl and/or the Big Ten and Pac-12 votes.

The self-imposed deadline of Wednesday was issued because the host cities are running out of time and have bent over backward to accommodate the CFP to this point while they try to work out the details. In mid-August, the CFP announced Atlanta will host the national championship game in 2025, followed by Miami in January 2026.

With pressure mounting to make a decision quickly to expand in time for the 2024 season, discussions intensified Monday morning, when several members of the CFP’s board of managers held a meeting. The 11 presidents and chancellors who comprise the board of managers have the ultimate authority over the playoff.

In the proposed 12-team format for 2024, the Cotton and Orange bowls would stay true to the current agreement and host semifinals, and in 2025, the Fiesta and Peach bowls would also host semifinals as currently planned.

On Sept. 2, the CFP’s board of managers unanimously voted to expand the CFP to 12 teams in 2026 but encouraged the sport’s commissioners to try to implement it as soon as 2024. The original 12-team model, first made public in June 2021, includes the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large teams.

The rankings of the teams will continue to be determined by the CFP selection committee, which will remain largely unchanged.

The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four with each receiving a first-round bye. Teams seeded five through 12 will play each other in the first round. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in bowl games on a rotating basis, and the championship game will be at a neutral site, as under the current four-team format.

“I don’t want it to just come down to the Rose Bowl as the reason we don’t start it early, I really don’t, but it may be,” a CFP source said. “We said this from Day 1 — there may be any number of reasons we can’t. We’re really down to one remaining issue.”

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Landeskog scores 1st NHL goal in nearly 3 years

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Landeskog scores 1st NHL goal in nearly 3 years

Perhaps the only detail more emphatic than the goals in the Colorado Avalanche‘s 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars Saturday night, was the impact provided by their captain, Gabriel Landeskog.

Landeskog, who returned in Game 3 of this Western Conference first-round series after missing nearly three seasons while recovering from a knee injury, scored his first goal since June 20, 2022, in a multi-point performance that saw the Avalanche tie the series at 2-2 in Game 4 at Ball Arena. Game 5 is Monday in Dallas.

“It means a lot,” Landeskog told reporters after the win. “Obviously, I’ve envisioned scoring again for a long time. There obviously days when I didn’t know if I was ever going to score again. It obviously feels good. It’s a tight playoff series in a big game here at home. To get to do it here at home in front of our fans obviously means a means a lot. Super exciting. Hopefully more to come.”

A short-handed goal from Logan O’Connor midway through the first period followed by a late power-play goal from Nathan MacKinnon staked the Avalanche to a 2-0 lead entering the second period.

That set the stage for Landeskog, who was in the slot when Brock Nelson fed a pass that the 32-year-old winger launched for a one-timer that beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for a 3-0 lead.

Landeskog, who was playing on the second line, was instantly mobbed by his teammates on the nice such as Samuel Girard, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews and Nelson, who joined the Avalanche at the NHL trade deadline.

As Landeskog returned to the bench, he was congratulated by the entire team which also included a hug from a smiling MacKinnon, who along with Landeskog, have been with the franchise for more than a decade.

“I was just proud of him again,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the game. “I was proud of him regardless of if he scores or not because I know what he’s gone through, and I know how difficult that was. I think that takes it to another level. You know he wants to come back and contribute like he did in the past and he’s off to a great start.”

Landeskog’s goal was the latest milestone in what’s been a lengthy recovery from a chronically injured right knee. He missed what amounted to 1,032 days since his last NHL game.

In that time, the Avalanche have remained in a championship window but have dramatically altered their roster. The Avs have nine players from that championship team who have remained with the franchise and have since reshuffled a roster that led to them re-acquiring defenseman Erik Johnson, one of Landeskog’s closest friends, in their bid for the fourth title in franchise history.

Even with all the changes, there were still questions about when they could see Landeskog return to the lineup. And if Landeskog did return, what he could look like?

His first professional game in three years came April 11 with the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate where he logged 15 minutes. Landeskog would then score a goal and get an assist in his second and final game.

And much like his AHL stint, all it took was two games for Landeskog to score and have another two-point performance.

While Landeskog’s goal became the most celebrated moment of the evening, what he did to help create the Avalanche’s fourth goal was an example of why he’s so crucial to their title aspirations.

Landeskog played a pass to Nelson who then found a Girard for a shot from the point that gave the Avs a 4-0 lead in the fourth. In the time Landeskog passed the puck, he anchored himself at the net front to gain position on 6-foot-7 Stars defensemen Lian Bichsel to screen goaltender Casey DeSmith, who replaced Oettinger for the third period.

Jockeying with Bichsel, who is six inches taller and 16 pounds heavier, allowed Landeskog to test both his strength and that right knee to gain leverage.

The result? Girard’s shot found space in traffic with Landeskog making it hard for DeSmith to see the puck.

“He’s a big boy,” Landeskog said with a smile. “He’s a big strong guy, a physical player and hard to play against. I was trying to get in front of their goal, and he was trying to get me out of there. It was a good battle.”

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Duran steals home, leaves Red Sox in amazement

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Duran steals home, leaves Red Sox in amazement

CLEVELAND — Jarren Duran barely had time to catch his breath after tripling in the third inning. It didn’t matter, he had already made up his mind to run again.

Duran pulled off Boston’s first straight steal of home plate in exactly 16 years, scoring on the next pitch from Doug Nikhazy as the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday.

“(Third base coach Kyle Hudson) heard him tell the umpire that he was working from the stretch, so I decided I was going to go on the first pitch,” Duran said. “It was just to keep the offense going and cause a little chaos. I knew I had it.”

As Nikhazy went from the windup, Duran broke for home. He slid headfirst and slapped his right hand on the plate ahead of Bo Naylor‘s tag. Umpire Brock Ballou’s safe call was upheld in a video review.

“Under the new rules, he’s kind of the perfect player,” Boston manager Alex Cora said of Duran. “We saw a window there and he took advantage of the situation.”

It marked the first straight steal of home plate by the Red Sox since Jacoby Ellsbury against the Yankees on April 26, 2009. Duran’s two previous thefts of home were part of double steals last season at Tampa Bay on May 21 and at the White Sox on June 7.

“It was really a cool play and a cool sequence of events there,” Red Sox pitcher Walker Buehler said. “He’s one of the most exciting players in baseball. After watching him from afar, it’s been fun to see him up close this season.”

Nikhazy, a 25-year-old left-hander, was making his major league debut and had already allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings. With Rafael Devers in the batter’s box, he said he took “a peek” at Duran before delivering the ball.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt praised Duran for making “a head’s up baseball play” because third baseman José Ramírez was off the line, but his starting pitcher blamed himself.

“He had taken a big jump and he took off immediately,” Nikhazy said. “In the moment, I chose to make the pitch as opposed to stepping off. Ultimately, when I saw him, I should have stepped off.”

Duran went 3 for 5 with three runs and two RBI in the nightcap. He was hitless in four at-bats in the first game, which Cleveland won 5-4.

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Mariners shut down Gilbert (elbow) for 2 weeks

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Mariners shut down Gilbert (elbow) for 2 weeks

The Seattle Mariners placed right-hander Logan Gilbert on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a right elbow flexor strain.

The All-Star pitcher left his start Friday night against the Miami Marlins after three perfect innings because of right forearm tightness.

An MRI revealed a Grade 1 flexor strain, the team said. Gilbert won’t throw for two weeks, at which point he’ll be reevaluated.

Gilbert, 24, entered Friday’s game with a 1-1 record, 2.37 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 20⅓ innings. He is 42-31 with a 3.55 ERA in five big league seasons, all with the Mariners.

In other moves announced Saturday, Seattle recalled left-hander Tayler Saucedo and right-hander Troy Taylor from Triple-A Tacoma, and designated righty Casey Lawrence for assignment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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