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In lieu of traditional All-Star festivities, the NHL opted to put on an international best-on-best tournament this season. The resulting 4 Nations Face-Off has been a resounding success, attracting massive viewership and surprising cultural relevance, which has extended to the sports betting realm.

Sportsbooks across the United States report that the 4 Nations games thus far have outperformed average regular-season NHL contests. DraftKings says that its four most-bet hockey games of the season have been from the tournament, while FanDuel says that 4 Nations contests are averaging over six times as many bets as an average NHL game this regular season.

In particular, Saturday’s first USA-Canada matchup — an epic 3-1 victory for the Americans — was, bar none, the most-bet hockey game of the season. FanDuel says that the contest saw 13 times more bets than all of the 3-on-3 games that made up last year’s NHL All-Star event combined, and 11 times more bets than an average NHL game this regular season.

Caesars Sportsbook’s head of hockey Karry Shreeve says that the book is handling “seven to 10 times” more money for each game, with the first North American rivalry showdown bringing in even more.

“That game we saw just as much handle as we would in a Stanley Cup game,” Shreeve told ESPN. “I think there’s a chance that for Thursday’s final, we could get up to almost Game 7 numbers, which is just incredible in terms of what you’re asking for in the middle of February for hockey. I mean this is completely unexpected and certainly unprecedented.”

While the storied USA-Canada rivalry always raises the stakes, this year’s iteration seems particularly heated given the long layoff of best-on-best action, “words that have been exchanged” between both teams, as well as “politically” motivated sentiments off the ice, per DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello.

“I think that all throws a little fire into it,” Avello told ESPN. “This is something that the fans love and these games are being bet heavily. This game Thursday is going to be a monster as far as betting is concerned, would outdo any All-Star Game.”

With the elevated bettor attention and subsequent higher handle, bookmakers are putting their most diligent work into setting the lines for Thursday night’s championship.

“The 4 Nations has been great from a betting engagement standpoint, particularly as fans look for marquee events coming out of football season,” ESPN BET director of North American trading Adrian Horton said via email. “Thursday night feels like a Stanley Cup Final game from a trading perspective.”

That means the books are expecting a low total. Shreeve points out that, during last year’s playoffs, Game 7s were seeing only “three or four goals,” as teams tend to tighten up when the stakes are highest. As such, Thursday’s over-under has sat at a consensus 5.5 for much of the week and has only juiced further to the under (-135 at ESPN BET); BetMGM reports 30% of bets on the under, but 39% of the money.

Additionally, the money line has stayed remarkably close all week, with ESPN BET keeping the game a pick ’em at -110 for each side. USA is getting a majority of the action at major American sportsbooks, leading BetMGM trading manager Christian Cipollini to say, “Canada winning would be a good outcome for the sportsbook.”

That said, there has been perhaps more support than expected for Canada: ESPN BET reports 46.1% of bets and 46.5% of handle backing the Canadians and BetMGM reports a 5% positive money split on their side. That tension, just as it should be felt on the ice in Boston, is keeping this betting line feeling truly championship-caliber.

“This almost has a Game 7 feel to it, which is absolutely incredible, and so we’re going to treat it as such,” Shreeve said.

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OSU’s Bjork tells CFP: Calendar change needed

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OSU's Bjork tells CFP: Calendar change needed

LAS COLINAS, Texas — Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told leaders of the College Football Playoff on Tuesday that the sport’s calendar needs to change, and it’s a critical component as they consider the playoff’s future format.

Bjork, just months removed from watching his Buckeyes win the national title, attended a portion of the annual CFP spring meetings to provide feedback with the three other athletic directors who participated in semifinals and hosted first-round games: Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, who is part of the CFP’s management committee along with the 10 FBS commissioners.

Bjork said CFP executive director Rich Clark asked if he had one major point he wanted to make before leaving.

“We’ve had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive,” Bjork told ESPN. “When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff … but it all gets impacted by the calendar. I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don’t fix our calendar as an industry, then we’re going to continue to have unintended consequences.”

Bjork shared with the commissioners the perspective of a school trying to win a national title while classes had begun Jan. 6. Ohio State’s academic advisers traveled with the team to the semifinal and national title game, he said, but some athletes missed class and the school had to apply for waivers around the countable athletically related activities, which limits schools to 20 hours of practice time while classes are in session.

“When you don’t have class, there is no limit to CARA hours,” he said, noting that Texas started classes later. “It created some disadvantages. It all goes back to what’s countable CARA hours, NCAA structure. The portal is the next big conversation after the House case and truly what kind of rules can we set? Will we have the authority around transfer rules to set some parameters?”

Bjork said the transfer portal needs to move to a 10-day period in May for fall sports because if the NCAA House settlement is approved, most of the players are going to be signing revenue share agreements with the schools from July 1 to June 30.

“May makes the most sense” to align player contracts with the portal, Bjork said.

Bjork, who said he’s on the implementation committee for the House settlement, said “if everyone follows the structure, it’s going to be a great structure.”

“And everyone has to follow the rules,” he said, “and agree that this is the structure, which we have to. If we don’t do that, then what good is the settlement?”

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Stanton joins Yankees mates for batting practice

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Stanton joins Yankees mates for batting practice

CLEVELAND — New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton took batting practice with teammates Tuesday as he continues to recover from elbow issues.

Stanton took swings before the game at Progressive Field as the Yankees prepared for the middle game of their series against the Cleveland Guardians.

While Stanton has been working behind the scenes, this was the first time he has taken outdoor batting practice. Manager Aaron Boone did not mention anything about Stanton’s progress during his pregame availability.

Stanton, 35, has been dealing with tendinitis in both elbows, with the ailment known as “tennis elbow” shutting him down since spring training. He has said his elbows also bothered him last season and that it’s a matter of pain tolerance.

The team does not have a timetable for Stanton’s return to their lineup. It’s likely he’ll have to go on a minor league rehab assignment before he’s ready to play in major league games.

Stanton is in his eighth season with New York. Last season, he hit 27 homers and drove in 72 runs in 114 games, and in the postseason, he was among the club’s top hitters. As the Yankees advanced to the World Series, he finished with 15 hits, including seven home runs, and 16 RBIs.

Stanton has 429 homers in 15 seasons with the Yankees and Marlins.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: White Sox’s Pérez likely out for year

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Source: White Sox's Pérez likely out for year

Chicago White Sox left-hander Martin Pérez will likely miss the remainder of the season with an elbow injury that landed him on the injured list last weekend, a source told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

Pérez has an injury to the flexor tendon but will not need reconstructive Tommy John surgery, according to the source.

Pérez, 34, worked three innings in a 10-3 loss to the Red Sox on April 18 before leaving with the injury. He took the loss, giving up four runs and five hits, and was placed on the IL the next day.

Chicago signed Pérez to a $5 million, 1-year contract in January.

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