In a Truth Social post on Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested that the Iranian national soccer team should not come to the U.S. for the FIFA World Cup this summer — remarks that some social media users interpreted as a threat. “The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,”…
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Amid blowback over New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch’s appearances in the Epstein files, Tisch and his siblings are looking to transfer their ownership stake in the famed franchise to their children, according to ESPN.
The outlet reports:
New York Giants co-owners Steve, Laurie and Jonathan Tisch are requesting to transfer their stakes in the team to their children’s trusts, according to an NFL memo obtained by ESPN. The move is subject to approval by the league’s finance committee, the memo shows. If approved, Steve, Laurie and Jonathan Tisch would ‘no longer own any interest’ in the Giants, the memo states. ‘Prior transfers to these Trusts were completed pursuant to 2023 and 2024 Finance Committee approvals,’ states the memo, which is dated March 11. ‘The Sellers now propose to transfer their entire remaining interests, totaling 23.1% of the Club, to the Trusts. … Following the transactions, the Sellers will no longer own any interest in the Club.’
Last month, I wrote about questions the NFL has faced following the release of emails in the Epstein files that show Tisch asked sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein to connect him with women in 2013, years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor. The emails also showed that Tisch invited Epstein to attend multiple Giants games.
Tisch described his previous ties to Epstein as “a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments.”
“I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island,” Tisch continued. “As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply
The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s brewing labor crisis is in focus as the star-studded card many envisioned for Donald Trump’s White House UFC event dims.
Trump is planning to host several UFC fights on the White House lawn later this year as part of his self-aggrandizing — and potentially self-enriching — celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary. The UFC fights are being hosted on June 14, which is also Trump’s 80th birthday, as part of a corporate-backed program called Freedom 250, which Democrats fear may be used as a slush fund for Trump or his associates.
Some people interested in watching this had hoped for a card filled with household names, such as Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey or Jon Jones, perhaps. But those hopes appear to have been sacked, leading to what some combat sports reporters have described as an underwhelming slate of fights. (As in the world of prizefighting, reversals are certainly possible.)
Issues over the notoriously anti-union UFC’s compensation and its treatment of fighters are being brought to the fore amid grumblings over the middling card. UFC CEO and President Dana White, who has previously rebuffed calls to increase fighters’ pay, earlier this week denied claims made by Jones that he’d been “lowballed” in an offer to fight at the White House. White said Jones was never in consideration for the White House card, a somewhat sad claim, given Jones’ pro-Trump antics.
But allegations of athlete exploitation are nothing new for the UFC.
As pro-labor media outlet More Perfect Union notes in a video report published late last week, fighters’ claims about the UFC locking them into exploitive contracts remain, even as the
NBA coaches Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers joined a dozen other current and former coaches and athletic officials to condemn political interference with college campuses in a joint statement issued Thursday.
The statement highlights the effects this repression is having on athletes — and comes the day before President Donald Trump’s press event featuring a cadre of sports figures he’s assembled to “fix” college sports with the help of a right-wing oil baron.
Educational repression has been an integral part of Trump’s agenda in his second term. His administration has targeted and incarcerated students who’ve expressed political views it opposes, and it’s threatened schools’ funding unless they agree to take steps like eliminating diversity programs, giving up control over their curricula and making a host of other changes favorable to conservatives. Several Republican-controlled states have imposed their own restrictions on what students can say, learn and organize around at schools across a range of educational levels.
The public statement signed by Kerr and Rivers, who coach the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively, was issued under the banner of “Coaches for Campus Freedom.” Other signatories to the letter include former Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim, current Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker, former Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffett McGraw, current Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones and former Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein.
It reads, in part:
Right now, at both the federal and state levels, acts of political interference threaten the independence of our colleges and universities. Punitive cuts to research funds, censoring of curricula, intimidation of university leaders and faculty, and the deployment of federal enforcement officers on college
I’m 48 years old, and I have been a New York Giants fan since I was a child. I’m also the survivor of a childhood sexual assault perpetrated by someone who was never held accountable. Files released by the Department of Justice four weeks ago reveal that Giants co-owner Steve Tisch was one of many prominent men who enjoyed a cozy relationship with the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And I can no longer, in good conscience, be a fan of the New York Giants as long as Tisch remains a part of the team’s ownership group.
Giants co-owner Steve Tisch was one of many prominent men who enjoyed a cozy relationship with the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
To be clear, Tisch hasn’t been accused of any crimes, but documents show that he and Epstein exchanged email messages in 2013, roughly four years after Epstein served prison time for soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell hadn’t yet been arrested over the allegations that they’d sexually abused women and girls.
But what was already known about Epstein should have been enough to scare Tisch away from any association with him. In some of those emails, Tisch is asking Epstein to connect him with women. One message reads, “Curious to know about (redacted) I will contact (redacted) ..pro or civilian?” The files indicate that the two corresponded frequently over email before Epstein requested that they move their chat to the phone.
In a Jan. 30 statement, Tisch, also a film executive, wrote of Epstein, “We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and
They call themselves the “Blade Angels.” U.S. Olympians Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito are known across figure skating and, increasingly, among spectators for their technical skill and precision, creativity and camaraderie. Above all, they are known for their authenticity. In a sport still largely defined by traditional, narrow ideas of femininity and grace, Liu and Glenn are not stereotypical figure skaters. They lean into their athleticism. They are open about what they like and who they love. Liu is unabashedly alternative and Glenn is queer. Which means, whether or not they medal, their very presence at the 2026 Winter Games is political.
Whether or not they medal, their very presence at the 2026 Winter Games is political.
For all of the Olympics’ celebration of sport, athleticism and international goodwill, the Games have long been a stage for political statements: Think the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016; the U.S. and Soviet boycotts in 1980 and 1984, respectively; or U.S. medalists raising their black-gloved fists on the Mexico City podium in 1968 to highlight racial injustice.
The 2026 Games already feel especially charged, not only with some countries eager to defeat U.S. athletes as a sort of rebuke to the Trump administration, but also because the administration is at ideological odds with some outspoken American athletes. “It’s a confusing time to be wearing the Stars and Stripes,” U.S. cross-country skier Ben Ogden said Thursday. There “are aspects of being American I’m not proud of.” The announcement that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit would join the U.S. delegation — ostensibly to provide security — has added to tensions.
Skating events began Friday, with Liu and Glenn competing on behalf of a homeland in