Videos Said to Be of Peng Shuai Don’t Resolve Questions About Her Safety

By BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN AND CHRISTOPHER CLAREY from NYT Sports The editor of a state-run newspaper on Saturday shared two clips said to be of the Chinese tennis star on Twitter. But they are unverified, and the head of the WTA called them “insufficient.”https://nyti.ms/3x7WuJ8

An N.B.A. Female ‘First’ Hopes It’s Not Such a Big Deal Soon

By BY SCOTT CACCIOLA from NYT Sports Lisa Byington, the league’s first full-time female play-by-play broadcaster, with the Milwaukee Bucks, said she’s proud but hopes the novelty has a short shelf life.https://nyti.ms/2YKEwPM

Howie Rose Steps Away From Mets, but Plans to Return Next Year

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Sports The longtime play-by-play broadcaster is undergoing treatment for an undisclosed medical condition. “The doctors tell me the prognosis is good.”https://nyti.ms/3BoJTlz

Broadcaster Apologizes for ‘Inappropriate’ Images Aired During Olympic Parade

By BY NEIL VIGDOR from NYT Sports The South Korean broadcaster MBC showed photographs associating pizza with Italy, Chernobyl with Ukraine and Count Dracula with Romania in its coverage of the opening ceremony.https://nyti.ms/3rDAzqn

Why the Grand Slam Tournaments Risked Playing Hardball With Naomi Osaka

By BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN from NYT Sports Leaders in the game noted that Osaka’s decision to bypass news conferences came as major media organizations had been cutting back on tennis coverage for years, a troubling dynamic for a sport that battles for exposure.https://nyti.ms/3vLGQBF

At French Open, Separation in Interviews Makes for Some Odd and Lost Exchanges

By BY KAREN CROUSE from NYT Sports “I miss you guys,” Grigor Dimitrov said while sitting in an empty room and staring at a checkerboard of faces on video.https://nyti.ms/3cYt324

ESPN Employees Say Racism Endures Behind the Camera

By BY KEVIN DRAPER from NYT Sports In meetings and conversations among colleagues, ESPN employees have criticized the career pipeline and diversity of top leadership, eliciting a promise from executives to do better.https://nyti.ms/3eptv8u

Oklahoma State’s Gundy Apologizes for Wearing Shirt of Right-Wing Channel

By BY ALAN BLINDER from NYT Sports Gundy’s players threatened a boycott when he wore a shirt promoting One America News Network.https://nyti.ms/2N1hCdX

The Athletic Lays Off 8 Percent of Staff

By BY KEVIN DRAPER from NYT Sports The sports journalism subscription website said the cuts affect 46 employees, including journalists and others in its business department.https://nyti.ms/2BDR8wB

TPG in Talks to Acquire Goal, the Soccer Website, for $125 Million

By BY TARIQ PANJA from NYT Sports DAZN Group is in final stage talks to sell the popular soccer website Goal.com to the investment firm TPG as it raises cash for its money-losing sports streaming platform.https://nyti.ms/3dzj8Qa

Closing Off Locker Rooms, but Not the Stands, Over Coronavirus Concerns

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Sports The four major active sports leagues in the U.S. decided to bar nonessential individuals, including reporters, from clubhouses and locker rooms. But thousands of fans are still attending the games.https://nyti.ms/338mYuV

Seymour Siwoff, Master of Sports Statistics, Is Dead at 99

By BY RICHARD GOLDSTEIN from NYT Sports As head of the Elias Sports Bureau, which he took over in 1952, he supervised record-keeping for baseball, football and other professional sports.https://nyti.ms/2DwRtiq

ESPN Host Bob Ley Retires After Nearly 40 Years With the Network

By KEVIN DRAPER from NYT Sports Ley was described as the conscience of ESPN and pushed for hard news and sober reporting on the leagues.https://nyti.ms/2xgtMaK

The Knicks Are Fined $50,000 For Barring The Daily News

By KEVIN DRAPER from NYT Sports The team and the newspaper have a long-running feud over coverage. But the league said the Knicks violated a policy requiring access to some events.https://nyti.ms/2FtRvZG

End of the Line (in Print, Anyway) for ESPN: The Magazine

By MARC TRACY and KEVIN DRAPER from NYT Sports The lush, large periodical will continue as a digital-only publication, as print-focused sports media outlets struggle.https://nyti.ms/2GN7AJT

Jemele Hill Is Joining The Atlantic and Ready to Talk Politics

By SANDRA E. GARCIA from NYT Sports After 12 years at ESPN, and a controversial 2017, Ms. Hill will be a staff writer at The Atlantic.https://nyti.ms/2NTradI

The Bizarre Theater of the World Cup Press Conference

By SARAH LYALL from NYT Sports Reporters offering gifts, coaches in bad moods, and players dancing around historical commentary: The tournament’s most banal ritual can get pretty weird.https://nyti.ms/2uhJctk